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| Prof Lipumba |
Tanzania’s economic development would face a major setback if the
government fails to solve public workers’ disputes before they down tools.
The opposition Civic United Front (CUF) sounded the alert yesterday
when commenting on the recent teachers’ strike, which was outlawed by the court
last Thursday.
CUF national chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, told a news conference at
the party’s headquarters that the government and workers should have a tendency
of solving disputes between them through discussion.
He said CUF was not pleased by the way the government has been dealing
with teachers’ problems which resulted in a strike.
Last week, the Labour Division of the High Court declared the4
teachers’ strike illegal and ordered them to go back to work.
“Workers’ strike is the result of the government’s secrecy, laxity,
dictatorship and neglecting workers’ concerns for a long time,” he said.
He added that teachers have fundamental demands that the government
failed to tackle during the past decade.
He criticised President Jakaya Kikwete’s reactions over the teachers’
demands on salary increase, saying he was supposed to say what the government
could afford to pay instead of just saying the government lacks budgetary
muscles to increase their salaries by 100 per
cent.
However, Prof Lipumba said it was possible for the government to
provide satisfactory salaries to its workers if it reduced unnecessary
expenditure by buying expensive cars, foreign trips, and high allowances to
public servants in some institutions.
He wondered why the government through Chama cha Mapinduzi cheated
teachers that they were keen to solve teachers’ problems, including salaries
after the 2010 deneral election.
Source: The Citizen,http://www.thecitizen.co.tz, reported by Bernard Lugongo
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