House Committee advise govt to review Taraza law

The Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure has asked the government to review the law establishing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority so that it can operate commercially instead of sticking to the present Act, which they described as obsolete and benefiting the latter country most.

The Committee made the advice on Tuesday after a trip with the Transport minister Dr Harrison Mwakyembe from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya where it toured a number of projects operated by the rail in the region.

The projects visited by the committee were the gravel factory, rail making firm at Kongolo Mswiswi in Mbarali and train engine repairing garage in Mbeya City.

Speaking during the end of their visit, some of the members of the committee said the present law which states that the head of the rail should be Zambian and should also have the last say on the transport entity has been overtaken by events and therefore should be scrapped.

Tunduru South lawmaker Mtutura Abdallah said the formation of the railway agency was governed by the politics of the time which have been on the reign in operating it, adding that it ought to ve reviewed to have the first Uhuru railway on the continent operate commercially.

The reviews put aside, he said, the Tanzanian government should put more investments in the rail beside having promoting the welfare of countrymen who work in it contrary to the present situation whereby most profit go into benefiting Zambians first.

“Two things ought to be done at the same time. One is the review of the Act governing the rail operations so as to have it run commercially for the benefit of the shareholders. But two, is the government to invest more into this agency for more productivity and the national economy,” Mtutura said.

Mariam Salum Msabaha (Zanzibar Urban West, Special Seats) it is high time the government ensured that workers in the rail were paid their salaries on time so they could work more efficiently and effectively. For a number of years now, Tazara workers, particularly those on the Tanzania side have been going without salaries for many months.

From the look of things, the lawmaker said, the law establishing the Authority is more inclined to favouring Zambia than Tanzania. She added that this was rendered so because Zambia had reviewed the establishing law. She said it was therefore the onus of the Tanzanian government to see how best to have the law in accordance with the present need.

Msabaha said if need be, each country should run the rail separately instead of sticking to the present inequitable arrangement.

Special Seats MP for Arusha Rebecca Mngodo said the Transport ministry ought to prepare a budget for the rail which should be duly passed by the parliament for more efficiency

But before this is done, she said, the law must put it clearly how Tanzanians are going to benefit from it.

For his part, Committee chairperson Prof Juma Kapuya said after the visit, the committee will advise the government accordingly on what ought to be done to revamp the ailing rail.

“We have seen how the nation is poorly fairing in Tazara, but besides we have seen many things including the good projects under the rail which are not running productively. We are going to document our observations to the government on its part in Tazara,” Prof Kapuya said.

Transport minister Dr Mwakyembe speaking said he concurred with the lawmakers’ views that the rail should now operate as a commercial entity.

He said circumstances which were governing during the establishment of the rail and the Tanzania Zambia Pipeline were aimed to save Zambia from depending on the exploitative Boer regime of South Africa. That is why the law had to favour Zambia more than Tanzania, he added.

At present, such circumstances are nonexistent, he said, adding that there is therefore a need to change the law so as to benefit the shareholders equally.

“At the moment there is no country in southern Africa under the clutches of Apartheid South Africa. All the government is governed by Africans. We need to change because the circumstances that led to the building of Tazara do not exist anymore. The rail must run commercially,” Dr Mwakyembe said.

The committee will also tour Itungi port on Lake Nyasa, Songwe international aroport, and Momba District bordering Zambia.

 

SOURCE:IPPMEDIA

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