Minister of State in the President's Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), George Simbachawene, clarified that banning local leaders from using the official stamps was not meant to humiliate them or reduce their powers.
“The decision was reached after the government received many complaints of land conflicts arising from abuse of the official stamps. Having observed that it was only a few local leaders who went beyond their station, it has been decided to rescind the decision reached in November last year in the meantime,” he said.
“Local leaders will continue using the stamps until advised otherwise,” he added.
He added that some dishonest local leaders tend to abuse their powers and interfere with city plans which is against the law.
In the presence of Dar es Salaam local leaders yesterday, the minister urged media practitioners to educate the public that not all documents need to be stamped since only signatures of local leaders suffice to make them valid.Use of official stamps should only be where it is necessary, he said.
Despite rescinding the decision, he reminded the leaders of all possible punishments as per the Land Act of 1994 against those who will defy fulfilling their duties in accordance to the law, stressing that the government won’t hesitate to take action.
Questioned on how long the government would take to issue and declare ways forward, the minister responded: “Sessions to discuss the matter are to start soon.”
On behalf of his colleagues, Temeke Local Government leader, Bakiri Makele hailed the government’s decision, saying the ban seemed to punish innocent people, be it those in need of local government services and committed local leaders.
According to him, release of the document reduced the burden not only to people in need of the services but also the organ which would be given authority to the serve the public because nothing would be done without consulting local leaders who exactly know their people.
He added that as the response to Simbachawene’s decision, all local leaders will meet to set strategies on how to fight fraud among them.He, however, noted that fraud was prevalent in the past but in recent months much has changed.
'DART to produce new 800,000 electronic swap cards'
In an interview yesterday in Dar es Salaam, DART Public Relations Manager William Gatambi said the World Bank had shown interest to finance the plan for 800,000 electronic swap cards.
“So far, the World Bank is reviewing the tendering documents in order to identify the basic requirements in the plan and to see how they can support it,” the official said, without divulging the cost that will be involved in the production of the cards.
“Unlike the previous ones, which were produced by Usafiri Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (UDA-RT), the task will be operated by DART and we have already commenced the process for the plan,” he said.
“We are currently waiting for a report from World Bank to establish the schedule for the primary release of the cards, as we have a plan to conduct it in phases,” he added.
He, however, said DART had learnt that most of commuters who bought the cards were not using them, whereby out of 200,000 electronic cards that were produced by UDA-RT last year, only 50,000 cards were in operation.
“There is a possibility that most cards that were bought have been misplaced or
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