Many criticise President’s stand on striking teachers

Many criticise President’s stand on striking teachers

Thursday, 02 August 2012 22:32

The Citizen Reporters Dar es Salaam. Commentators yesterday criticised President Jakaya Kikwete for failure to come up with tangible solutions to major problems currently facing the education and health sectors. Commenting on his end of the month speech on Wednesday evening, they said it was not enough to state that the government was not able to meet the financial demands of the striking teachers and the  doctors. In his speech, Mr Kikwete told journalists’ at State House that the government had no money to increase salaries of teachers to levels that they are demanding.A month ago he also dismissed doctors’ demands, noting that the government could not raise enough money to pay them what they wanted. However, those who commented on the statement, said the head of State should have also come out with tangible solution to the problems.Some of the commentators expressed their discontent over President Kikwete’s reaction on the teachers and doctors’ demands, noting that he should have been considerate. They noted that Kikwete’s response when speaking at a meeting with editors at State House on Wednesday was not helpful to the ongoing strike. “It is not enough to say that the government has no money... teachers have been hearing about lavish government expenditures as well as misuse of public funds,” said Ms Elizabeth Missokia, the executive director of HakiElimu, a non-governmental organisation dealing with education. Speaking at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, she said the government needed to come up with solutions even if it is not able to meet the demands.She noted that teachers and doctors have expressed willingness to talk with the government, meaning that they are flexible. Mr Nyanda Shuli, manager for media and advocacy for HakiElimu, said the answer that the government has no enough money would not bring relief to the striking teachers and doctors. “The government should find ways to raise enough money to handsomely pay its servants.... it should also be considerate in its expenditures and plug loopholes that make it lose public funds,” he said adding: “The cost of living has gone up. If the government does not increase salaries of its workers, how are they going to survive?” For her part, the executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Dr Hellen Kijo-Bisimba, judged Kikwete’s statement as insensitive to the existing problems. “He (President Kikwete) should come up with solutions. If the government does not have enough money, so what should be done? The nation want solutions to these problems.