Bunge Newsletter

Bunge
e
Newsletter
Issue No 007 MAY 2013
Parliament for the last seven Weeks in Budgetary Session
The 11th Parliamentary Session, which is the budget
session, is in its 7th week since it started on 9th April,
2013. Up to now 283 normal questions have been asked
and answered in the Parliament. Within this time
about 420 supplementary questions were asked and
all of them received answers from the Government.
According to the Parliamentary Standing Orders,
every Thursday, it’s Prime Minister’s questions and
up to the end of May more than 20 questions had
been asked and answered by the Prime Minister.
Despite of the normal Q&A session in the Parliament,
during this session, Parliament has also continued
discussing and approving ministries budget estimates
for the financial year 2013/14. So far 28 ministries have
already presented their budget estimates in the House.
Members of Parliament have scrutined the Government
and made sure that national development
priorities are been considered in every ministry
as a way of fulfilling their constitutional
mandate of representation, legislation and oversight.
The number of Members of Parliament who have
contributed to the budget discussions per each ministry
up to now is as follows: The Office of Prime
Minister [114 Contributors], President’s Office [17
Contributions], Office of Vice President [6 Contributors],
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperative
[45 Contributors], Ministry of Water
[43 Contributors], Ministry of Natural resources
and tourism [34 Contributors], Ministry of Justice
and Constitutional affairs [7 Contributors].
After the change of the Budget Cycle to the current
one, the entire exercise of discussing and approving
the budget estimates has received a ernomous
contributions from the Members of Parliament.
Others are the Ministry of Defense and National
Service[9 Contributors],Ministry of
Home affairs[43 Contributors], Ministry of
health and social welfare[38 Contributors],
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Ministry of Community Development, Gender and
children[9 Contributors]; Ministry of Infrastructure
[45 Contributors]; Ministry of Industry and Trade
[8 Contributors]; Ministry of Transport [33 Contributors];
Information, Youth, Culture and Sport [30
Contributors]; Energy and Minerals [24 Contributors];
East African Corporation [7 Contributors];
Despite approving the above-mentioned Ministries
budget, the Parliament has done its role of
advising the Government and asked some Ministry
to review their Ministrial Budgets they
serve before tabled for approval in the House.
This success is built on the effectiveness of the newly
created Budget committee, which has been advising
all Ministries on its budget in each sector.
The formation of this committee has been a success
in effectiveness of the Parliament specifically
in this budget session as the parliament
has been advising the Government well.
Women MPs want more skills to table
Private Member’s Bills and Motions
Chairperson of the TWPG Hon. Anna Abdallah gesturing to the Women Mps while she was opening a one day workshop on how to table Private
members motions and Bill. Right is the secretary of TWGP Hon. Angela Kairuki and sitting left is the Deputy Chair Hon. Dr. Mary Mwanjelwa
Association of Women MPs in the Parliament of
Tanzania (Tanzania Women Parliamentarian Group
- TWPG) this month conducted a one-day seminar
for all Women Parliamentarians aiming at improving
their comprehensive understanding on
the best form of self-presentation and tabling of
Private Members Bills and Motions in Parliament.
The seminar was one of the capacity building organized
by TWGP aiming at improving Women Mps in
order to effectively engage themselves in legislative
process with competent ideas that reflect people’s lives.
Opening the seminar, the Chairperson of the
TWPG Hon. Anna Abdallah (Mp) asked all its
MPs regardless of their political-party affiliation
to effectively engage with the Office of the Parliamentary
Legal Adviser on how to prepare and
table the Private Member’s Bills and Motions.
Hon. Abdallah added that, Women Parliamentarians
are responsible in solving problems facing
the peoples in the country, especially those affecting
women and children, by engaging on bringing
more bills and motions in the house that focus to
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tackle their problems. Furthermore it is the effective
way of putting the Government accountable to Wananchi
represented by Mps in the House. She added
“Honorable Members, this is my eighth term in the
House, there is still little awareness for many women
Mps on how to table Private Members Bills and Motions
in the Parliament. I believe if we take advantage
of this kind of awareness seminars, they will help us
very much to effectively draft good and convincing
Private Bills and Motions that focus on resolving people’s
problems while they meet all the Standing Orders
demands at the same time. She said Hon. Anna
Abdallah Said to the TWGP at the Msekwa Hall.
During the discussion, many Women MPs
asked TWGP leadership to organize such kind
of seminars regularly as they will impart more
understanding to Women MPs in the House.
“This might be in practice so that education always
takes place for the purpose of reminding us
with house procedures and even legal requirements
that are needed when on tabling the motion or the
Bill in the House. This will make us more competence
and able to compete with Men MPs while
Legislating. We have a lot of issues that we need to
present in the House, but sometime we lack technical
inputs on how to table them. As a result
many of us are no more vibrant in the House”. Said
one of the MP while contributing to the Seminar.
The Members agreed that they have to fulfill their
mandates of representing people effectively as the
voice of wananchi by bringing into Parliament issues
which need immediate solution from the Government.
“Parliament is the place where laws are made and
where people put the Government accountable, we
have to make sure that we do not leave that job to
Male MPs only, we are the Women in the Parliament
and we represent hundreds of Women and
Children of this country whose voices must be
heard in the House through us. So we have to ensure
that we raise the people’s voices while we are in
the Parliament by bringing in their problems to be
solved.” Said Hon. Anne Kilango Malecela (MP).
The workshop consisted of three topics namely
how to bring in a Private-Member Motion, Private
Members Bill and the Procedure to table
the Government Bills in the House. The presenters
came from the Office of the National Assembly
Parliament formed Special Committee
to defuse Mtwara Gas Crisis
Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Anne Makinda announcing
names of the Mps who will form the Special Parliamentary
Committee that will work to find out the cause of Mtwara Crisis
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon.
Anne Makinda has announced a Special Committee
with thirteen members select to probe
dispute-surrounding construction of a natural
gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam.
The dispute caused riots in Mtwara this month and
escalated on the day the Ministry of Energy and Minerals
was tabling its Ministerial Budget estimates.
The Speaker formed the Committee after the Government
had issued its statement in the house, the
Parliamentary Steering Committee met and decided
that a Special committee to be formed and listen
to residents of Mtwara over their skepticism in
the government’s plan to construct the gas pipeline.
Hon. Makinda noted that in a calm environment the
committee will tour Mtwara and meet various groups.
She urged residents to remain calm and give utmost
cooperation and speak freely on their grievances.
“I call upon residents of Mtwara to cooperate to be
open and free to speak their minds without fear. The
committee will have sufficient time to meet residents,
groups, organisations and leaders,” she said.
The Speaker announced the names of the
Members of that Commitee shortly after
the house approved the Ministry of Energy
and Minerals 2013/14 budget estimates.
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She said the committee will be guided by fourclause
terms of reference which includes probing
the source of chaos, make a follow up on
various steps taken by the government, meeting
stakeholders and get their views on gas projects
and look at any other issues related to the mayhem.
The team will be under the chairmanship of Hon.
Charles Mwijage (CCM). Other members are
Hon. Said Arfi (CHADEMA), Hon. Dalaly Kafumu
(CCM), Hon. Said Nkumba (CCM), Hon.
Cynthia Ngoye (CCM), Hon. Hamad Rashid Mohamed
(CUF), Hon. Ramo Makani (CCM) and
Hon. Muhammad Amour Chomboh (CCM).
Others in the team are Hon. Cecilia Paresso (CHADE-
MA), Hon. Rukia Kassim Ahmed (CUF), Hon.
Mariam Kisangi (CCM), Hon. Agripina Buyogela
(NCCR-Mageuzi) and Hon. Selemani Jafo (CCM) .
Budget Committee shows it relevance
The newly formed Parliamentary Budget Committee
has been showing its significance by effectively
advising the Government to prioritize issues
of National Interest in each Ministerial Budget
during the ongoing Budget session in Dodoma.
The Committee appears to be asserting
its role by querying discrepancies on
each Ministerial Budget between the policy
and the final budget in the house for approval.
Since the start of the Budget session in Dodoma,
the Budget Committee has been meeting with various
Ministries and Parliamentary sectorial Committee
to discuss and advice them on disbursements
of funds to each Ministry’s budget estimates.
Minister for Ernegy and Minerals Hon. Prof. Sospeter
Muhongo dispalying some of the Ministerial Documents
containing Ministerial Plan for Gas and Energy in the House
The committee is expected to table the report
within two weeks. It will then be debated
in the ongoing session and the recommendations
passed on to the Government for action.
Residents of Mtwara have been resisting the
construction of a pipeline to transport gas
to Dar es Salaam for electricity generation.
The 532km pipeline, to be built at a cost of $1.225
billion, will transport the gas to the city to produce
2,780MW of electricity. It is a joint project
between China Petroleum and Technology Development
Company (CPTDC), a unit of China National
Petroleum Corp (CNPC), and the Tanzania
Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).
The Committee has advices each Ministry to allocate
more funds to developmental projects, which are
the main interest of the country’s development plan.
Basing on the ministerial report for the finacial year
2012/13, the Budget Committee was able to look
on the Government Efficiency on the implementation
and uses of taxpayer’s money through the projects
which are executed based on value for money.
Parliament is supposed to play an oversight role
over the budgetary process to ensure that the
nation’s priorities are adequately catered for.
After years of Parliament without this Committees
in the budget process, now MPs are agitated for
a more active role and as a result they have formed
this Budget Committee which is more transparency
and very cooperative around the budgetary process.
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NEWS IN PICTURE
Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Anne
Makinda giving worlds of consolation to the Arch .
Bishop Josephat Lebulu of the Arusha Arch-Diocese
when she led a delegation of 25 MPs to visit the
victims of the Olasite Church Bombing this Month.
The Parish priest of the Olasite parish Rev. Father
Pedy Kasterino escorting the Speaker of the National
Assembly Hon. Anne Makinda and her delegation
to see the damage of the Bombing
of the Olastite Church in Arusha
Irish Ambasador to Tanzania
Hon. Fionnuala Gilsenan paying a courtesy
call to the speaker of the National Assembly
Hon. Anne Makinda in Dodoma this Month
South Kigoma Mp. Hon. David Kafulila making
contribution during the Climate Change
Serminar in Dodoma this Month. The Serminar
was organised by the Parliament in collaboration
with UNDP under the Legislative Support
Project as capacity building to Mps and Staff
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Bunge Principal Information Officer died in Malaysia
Once again the Office of National Assembly has suffered
a great loss of its member of staff the late Ernest
Xavier Zulu. The diseased who was born on July 10th
1957 in Songea region at Maposeni – Ndilima village
passed away on May 23rd, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia after he had suffered from brain trauma followed
by head surgery towards the end of the year 2012.
The late Zulu joined Bunge in 1997 after he had
worked with the then Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation
since 1976 to 1983 as an Assistant News
Writer, The Uhuru/ Mzalendo Senior Correspondent
in 1985 to 1990, The Express Newspaper Sub
– editor in 1991 to 1994 and the Voice of Germany
(Doche Welle) Senior Correspondent in 1995
Due to his dedicated endeavor, in 2004 Mr. Ernest
Zulu was promoted to Principal Information
Officer, the position he held till he passed away.
Eager to learn more and despite of his grown age, in
July 2010 Mr. Zulu joined the Taylor University in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia to pursue the Bachelor Degree
in Media Communication and Administration, the
course which was due to an end come November 2013.
The above story speaks for itself as for how our beloved
Zulu cherished education and went after it.
Let it be a legacy and inspiration to young, old and
to all of us who knew and worked with the late Ernest
Zulu. To many he was referred to as a Teacher…
The diseased studied at Mpera Primary School in
Kahama from 1966 to 1970. For the Ordinary level
studies, the late Zulu went at Bagamoyo Secondary
School from the year 1971 to 1974 culminating
with Diploma in Journalism from the then Tanzania
School of Journalism (TSJ) in 1975 to 1976.
In his quest to quench academic thirst, in
1986 to 1987 the diseased attended International
Journalism studies in Moscow, Russia.
Survived with a widow and four children the late Zulu
in 1997 joined Bunge as a Civic Education Consultant
and in 1998 Mr. Zulu was fully employed by Office of
National Assembly as a Senior Information Officer.
The Office of the National Assembly in collaboration
with the Embassy of Tanzania in Malaysia
worked diligently to bring back to the cou
try the remains of the body of Mr. Ernest Zulu.
The Commissioner and the Mafia Island Member of
Parliament who represented the Speaker of the National
Assembly Hon. Abdul Karim Shah together
with the Clerk of the National Assembly Dr. Thomas
Kashilliah led the Bunge Staff in receiving the body and
arranging funeral ceremony which took place in Songea
at Maposeni-Ndilima village on May 31st, 2013.
The Potrait of the late Ernest Zullu
The Widow Mrs Theresia Zullu (Right) morning
her husband
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