Aggrey Mwanri

The government has registered a total of 4,583 new villages in Tanzania Mainland and gazetted the same in 2010; it was revealed in Parliament yesterday.

Deputy State Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) Aggrey Mwanri issued the statement in the House when responding to a basic question posed by Abdul-Jabir Maromba (Kibiti, CCM).

The MP had wanted to know reasons for delaying registration of new villages since 2010 when the government formed thousands of new villages in the country.

Mwanri said the government delayed to register the new villages due to another exercise of allocating new administrative areas in a bid to bring closer social services to the residents.

“This exercise impeded the allocation of villages and wards, as they were divided into parts while others were taken from one district or region to another,” said Mwanri, adding: “Registration had to wait because registration numbers are allocated through respective regions.”

He noted, “A total of 2000 villages out, of 4,583 villages have been cleared and scheduled to receive their registration certificate by August 30, 2012”. The deputy minister said the rest 2,583 are being examined before issuing them with registration certificates.

Mwanri informed the House that the government was implementing another exercise of establishing new administrative areas and in the process it has been working with regional and district councils in earmarking new villages for registration.