Isles deputy ministers soon to shift to Pemba
 
2007-01-26 08:58:24
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar

President Amani Abeid Karume has ordered all Isles Government deputy ministers and permanent secretaries to move their offices permanently to Pemba Island.

Pemba is regarded as the stronghold of the opposition Civic United Front, which has won the majority of votes cast in Pemba Island in all previous elections.

The landmark decision is therefore seen as designed to ease political tension in the Isles.

The Clerk of the Zanzibar House of Representatives, Ramadhan Muombwa Mwinyi, said in an interview held on the sidelines of the ongoing House session that he had been notified about the presidential order.

The President wanted the respective public officials to operate from Pemba `with a view to putting them closer to the people so that they help speed up the implementation of development projects there`, he said.

Mwinyi explained that the directive was in response to frequent complaints by some Pemba residents that all top Isles’ government offices were based on Unguja Island and the government`s authority was practically non-existent in Pemba.

Until now, top officials in the Zanzibar government have been normally making official visits to Pemba twice a year and their duties in Pemba were handled by ministerial staff.

The House Clerk said the arrangement just announced was not entirely new because it was earlier mooted in 1979 by one-time Zanzibar President Aboud Jumbe although it did not become operational.

Arrangements for providing the basic social and other support services the deputy ministers and permanent secretaries would need while in Pemba were already under way, Mwinyi explained.

Impeccable sources hinted that information on Karume’s order had already been relayed to all the relevant officials.

Recently, President Karume named Zainab Omar Mohammed as minister without portfolio with her office based in Pemba.

• SOURCE: Guardian