The Member of Parliament for Hai Freeman Mbowe

The Member of Parliament for Hai Freeman Mbowe has accused Hai district executive director Melckzedek Humbe of treating serious matters concerning the development of the people 'lightly'.

He sounded the accusation during the Kilimanjaro Regional Consultative Committee meeting convened by regional commissioner Leonidas Gama in Moshi this week.

The meeting discussed about increasing rate of environmental degradation, which has been causing river streams and other water sources to run dry.

Mbowe, who is Leader of the Opposition Camp in Parliament, said he has embarked on campaign to planting more than 3 million trees beginning end of last year when the country was celebrating 50 years of independence.

He said the campaign aimed at planting natural trees along all main roads of the district, informing that all relevant permits have already been issued by the Tanzania National Roads Agency (Tanroads).

However, he said didn’t receive the government support. According to Mbowe, during a recent full council meeting in the district, one councilor inquired about measures being taken by the district council to support his campaign, but was given ‘unsatisfactory’ answer.

The MP said the district response through its DED to the campaign which he said aimed to improve cleanliness in Hai town was that the Council couldn’t support the move because it was being implemented by a private company.

“I was deeply saddened by the response, I'm the MP there, I started the campaign for the district, the trees were not going to be planted at my home; after all, the government has been working with private companies in development matters, how come today the DED gives such a response, could it be that he does not know what he is doing, or did he do it on purpose? Is this how the government undertakes its duties," queried Mbowe.

He said it was surprising that such a senior local government leader was not aware that the government has a public-private partnership policy in place, stressing that such statements discouraged the people with good intentions to contribute to development.

For his part, Moshi Urban MP Philemon Ndesamburo criticised top officials of the Kilimanjaro National Park (Kinapa), saying that they knew all the people who were involved in degrading Kilimanjaro Forest Reserve environment, but they didn’t take appropriate measures.

He accused them of being part and parcel of the problem.

In his remarks, Gama said he was unhappy to hear what he described as a clash of statements between council executives and MPs.

He promised to follow up on the matter so that Hai residents’ interests would be protected and given top priority.