THE PRESIDENT JOHN POMBE MAGUFULI SAVING BIL.6 FOR ARROWANCE OF UHURU TORCH

The Commissioners from across the country, to ditch tomorrow's Uhuru Torch race climax celebrations in Simiyu region and refund all travel allowances that they received to attend the event.

The Uhuru Torch race climax has been a fixture on the government’s annual big events calendar for years on end, and again this time around was set to be graced by an array of top government officials such as RCs, district commissioners, and mayors, along with their aides.

But according to a statement issued by the President's Office yesterday, Magufuli has instructed all those public officials to “cancel their travel plans” to the event in Bariadi District, Simiyu Region, and remain in their duty stations instead.

"Those (officials) who were (already) paid per diem allowances for this trip should return the money," the statement added.

Zanzibar president Ali Mohamed Shein, who is expected to be the guest of honour at the event, will now be joined only by local government leaders and residents of Simiyu Region.

The latest directive from Ikulu is in line with the Magufuli administration's wide-ranging austerity measures that have been enforced since he assumed the presidency in November last year, the statement said.

"(He) has issued the instructions as part of the implementation of the government's resolve to cut unnecessary spending and direct significant saved resources to national development activities," it added.

It listed public leaders who have been told to cancel their travel plans to Bariadi as including RCs, DCs, directors of local government authorities, mayors, district and municipal council chairpersons, who would have been accompanied by their drivers and aides, “bringing the total number of visiting officials to around 1,500.

"Since the Uhuru Torch race climax coincides with the 17th anniversary of the death of the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the RCs and DCs have instead been ordered to ‘devise their own ways’ of observing both occasions simultaneously at their duty stations.

Districts that were scheduled to receive recognition prizes at the Uhuru Torch event in Simiyu for displaying excellence in development initiatives will now have the prizes delivered to their doorsteps instead, said the statement signed by State House director of communications Gerson Msigwa.

Magufuli ordered a similar cancellation of Independence (Uhuru) Day celebrations in December last year, and the Union Day celebrations in April this year, with the same motive of cutting down on unnecessary public expenditure.

He directed that the approximately 4 billion/- which was saved from the Uhuru Day parades be spent on expanding a 4.3-kilometre section of the New Bagamoyo Road in Dar es Salaam from Morocco area to Mwenge, in a bid to ease traffic congestion in the city.

The estimated 2 billion/- saved from the Union Day bash was spent on expanding the Mwanza airport road, again in a bid to solve traffic congestion problems.

Other government spending cuts introduced by Magufuli have included strict curbs on foreign travel by public officials and public-funded seminars in posh hotels. 

SHORT HISTORY  OF THE UHURU TORCH

The kerosene torch, symbolizing freedom and light, was first lit at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, on the day that Tanzania gained its independence in 1961.

The symbolism of the torch is to shine the country and across its borders; to bring hope where there is despair, love where there is enmity, and respect where there is hatred. 

The Uhuru Torch race takes place every year starting from different parts of the country, the message being to promote self-reliance and development on a nationwide scale, and climaxes at a national event where speeches are made.

There have been frequent calls from members of the political opposition camp for the annual Uhuru Torch race to be altogether scrapped as a regular waste of public resources.