Simbachawene disbands Machinga Complex board of directors

Minister of State in the President's Office -Regional Administration, Local Government, Civil Service and Good Governance - George Simbachawene disclosed the government’s move yesterday when speaking to businesspeople from across the country.

Among other issues, the minister discussed challenges including lack of spaces for business people to carry out their commercial activities.

According to the minister, the decision to suspend the board of directors was based on the fact that they left the building idle, leaving the beneficiaries (petty traders) operating from outside it.

The building, which was constructed by National Social Security Fund (NSSF) at a cost of 12.7bn/-, has returned only 50m/- to the pensions fund against expectations that the loan would have been repaid by now.

“I am disbanding the board of directors effectively from today…all people who work at the Machinga complex are incompetent and all the tenants are deemed invalid,” he said.

The building will be under the supervision of the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, who will oversee all operational activities and arrange how to distribute space to people who deserve to occupy the building.

Dar es Salaam population is growing significantly fast, far outstripping business areas, which are insufficient to accommodate the large number of businesspeople conducting trade within the city.

The only available areas are not equipped well enough to handle the business population. Some of those areas are entangled in political scandals and are characterized with bureaucracy.

The construction of the complex, which has a capacity of accomodating more than 5,000 businesspeople, started in 2006 and ended in late 2008 at the tune of 2.4bn/-.