JK sets his agenda as Chadema walks out

President Jakaya Kikwete addressing Parliament in Dodoma yesterday By The Citizen Reporter President Kikwete yesterday set out his government’s agenda for the next five years in his address to inaugurate the 10th Parliament in Dodoma, which was briefly interrupted by a walkout of the opposition Chadema MPs. But undeterred by the unprecedented occurrence, the President continued with his speech, in which he laid emphasis on the need to build a middle-class economy and empower small-scale and medium entrepreneurs, farmers, pastoraslists and fishermen. Mr Kikwete outlined 13 priority areas, which, he said, his administration would concentrate on in the next five years.  But no sooner had he started speaking after being welcomed by the Speaker, Ms Anne Makinda, than members of Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) rose from their seats and headed for the exit. “Hon Speaker, as a tradition, let me start by thanking God...”, President Kikwete began his speech, which was cut short as the Chadema MPs started to file out. The opposition party’s national chairman, Mr Freeman Mbowe, who is also the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, Mr Freeman Mbowe, led his colleagues out of the chamber. Their action sparked off boos from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi MPs. Chadema’s walkout, the first ever during the inauguration of Parliament, was the continuation of their protests against what they allege was the rigging of the presidential election. Earlier in the day, the party had snubbed the swearing-in of Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda at Chamwimo State Lodge on Dodoma’s outskirts. Over a week ago, the party also boycotted President Kikwete’s swearing-in ceremony, alleging massive irregularities and rigging by the state intelligence service of the October 31 General Election, a claim the organisation has denied. According to the National Electoral Commission, President Kikwete garnered 5.2 million votes or 61.2 per cent of the 8,626,283 ballots cast, followed by Chadema’s Dr Willibrod Slaa, with 2.2 million votes or 26 per cent. Of the 20,137,303 registered voters, only 8,626,283 or 42.84 per cent, voted, making it the lowest turnout since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1992. In 2005, when Mr Kikwete was first elected President, the turnout was 72.4 per cent of the 9.1 million voters, who gave him an 80.2 per cent mandate. In the 1995 and 2000 General Elections, 76.7 per cent and 84.4 per cent of the registered voters cast their ballots, respectively. Yesterday, immediately after the Chadema MPs vacated their seats, the Civic United Front (CUF) occupied the Official Opposition’s position in the House before President Kikwete resumed his speech. President Kikwete called for speedy healing of rifts created in the run-up to and during the elections to forge national unity. He said the government would continue to equip the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) and the Police Force to safeguard the country’s borders, and protect the people and their properties. He said he had noted religious incitement during the campaigns, which had fuelled rifts that could jeopardise national unity. “The elections are over. We must now concentrate on building our country,” he said, stressing his willingness to work with fellow politicians and religious leaders to end the rifts. President Kikwete said that in the past five years, his government had managed to strengthen the Union. He said he was proud that his pledge to reconcile the Zanzibaris had been fulfilled and that for the first time since the restoration of multi-party democracy in the early 1990s, peaceful elections had been held in the Isles. “I would like to thank President Amani Abeid Karume and the CUF secretary general, Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, who is the First Vice-President in the new Government of National Unity, as Zanzibar is now a better place for everyone to live,” he said. Mr Kikwete also said his focus in the next five years would be to build a modern economy. “I want us to begin the journey towards becoming a country with a strong middle class, with industries as its main base,” he said.  Under the Agricultural Sector Development programme (ASDP) more resources would be allocated to farming. He outlined a number of strategies to improve agriculture and fisheries, including increasing the funds allocation to agriculture to 10 per cent of  the national budget, and the establishment of an agricultural bank. The government would also attract investment in new industries and revive the defunct ones. Efforts would also be made to ensure reliable power supply and infrastructure for factories. “We will establish and strengthen the Tanzania Investment Bank to lend to entrepreneurs. We will also strengthen SIDO to serve more Tanzanians,” he said. In the past five years, he said, the country had reviewed contracts with major mining firms, some of which had started to pay taxes. A new mining policy as well as legislation had been enacted to boost local participation in the sector. More than $4.7 billion was earned from minerals. The government would now acquire shares in major mining firms under Stamico. “I would like to take this opportunity to urge small-scale businessmen to join groups so as to make it easy to identify and equip them with capital,” he said. He said there were plans to establish and attract agro-processing industries as well as local processing of minerals such as gold and tanzanite. “We are determined to use our minerals to establish heavy industries and to make fertilisers from natural gas and phosphates,” he said. He said the government would continue to improve the Economic Processing Zone (EPZ) as well as Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to reduce production costs. “Tanzania is strategically located to serve the business interests of eastern, southern and central Africa countries. What we need to do is to improve our infrastructure such as railways and ports to tap into this,” he said. There were plans to expand Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, Tanga, Kigoma and Mwanza ports in collaboration with the private sector. On railways, President Kikwete conceded that the government did not handle the area well in the past five years, but said that had been a good lesson to the government. “Our efforts to improve railways failed. But we are determined that in the next five years, we will take the correct steps because we have learnt our lessons,” he said. He said Tazara and the Central Line would be rehabilitated to standard gauge level from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza and Kigoma and a new railway from Isaka to Kigali, Rwanda and Bujumbura, Burundi built. On education, he spoke of plans to improve the use of information and communication technology to keep pace with globalisation. Science labs would be built in all secondary schools. The construction of Dodoma University would be completed to pave the way for work on Mwalimu Nyerere University in Butiama and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences to begin. Mbeya Institute of Technology would be upgraded to a full university. “Our plan is to have a university in each zone in the country,” he said. Local hospitals would be equipped to reduce the number of patients who are sent abroad for treatment, he said. On the environment, he cautioned that if efforts to address environmental degradation slowed down, there was a danger that after only few years, water shortage would be very serious. The government, he added, would continue to reduce dependence on hydropower generation. He said emphasis would be put on power production from natural gas, coal, wind and solar power. “We plan to add 640MW in the national grid. We will start the development of Stieglers Gorge for those who will come after us to complete,” he said. “Our plan is to ensure that we increase the number or Tanzanians who get power from the current 14 per cent of the population to 30 per cent,” he said. He said anti-corruption legislation, including the Election Expenses Act, had helped to reduce graft in the country, but there was still more work to do to stamp out the menace. On the Judiciary, he said a special fund would be set up to speed up the dispensing of justice in the country. He said that when he constituted the Planning Commission, it was asked to break the implementation of the Vision 2025 into three phases of five years each, which would be implemented from now. He said the country should get ready as the process of establishing the East African Federation would start in the near future. He promised to form a government that would work closely with Parliament and wananchi to quickly respond to their problems. “I will form a government to work for all people, including those who did not vote for CCM. We know that they have no other government other than the one which I will form, as I am its President,” he said.