It’s too late, say drivers of RCs after JPM order

Bariadi. Drivers and personal assistants of regional and district commissioners and local government executive directors who had already arrived in Bariadi have said the directive by President John Magufuli to return the money they had been given as travel allowances for the Uhuru Torch celebrations has put them in a “tight spot” because they already spent the cash.

In interviews with The Citizen here, the senior government officials’ aides said they had nowhere to get the money to refund the government but argued it was not their fault they were in Bariadi for the annual event.

“We did not request to come to Bariadi for the Uhuru Torch celebrations. We were told to come and were given the money. We have spent it according to the laid down expenditure plan, because we had to sleep under a roof and eat food. What is our crime here? We think the directive to return the money is not fair at all,” said a driver of a regional commissioner, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals.

An assistant of another RC said as far as he was concerned the allowances he was given had been legally spent and he would not return even a single cent.

“Because of difficulties in looking for lodgings in Bariadi I was obliged to pay the landlord for the seven days that I would stay here. So how do I start asking him to repay me?” he queried.

President Magufuli issued a directive on Wednesday saying that all government officials, except those from Simiyu Region should go back to their work stations and return the travel allowances they had been given.

Those who had not started the journey were told to stay put while those who had already left were ordered back and to repay the travel allowances.

The order rekindled debate on the importance of the Uhuru Torch that is paraded in every district and village in the country every year “to foster peace and unity.”

The tradition started since independence. On December 9, 1961 the event was lit at midnight on top of Mount Kilimanjaro and later paraded throughout the country. But after the re-introduction of multiparty politics, the opposition have been craving for scraping the tradition that costs taxpayers’ billions of shillings annually.

Last month, teachers in Kahama District strongly objected to the decision by authorities to deduct Sh30,000 from their salaries to purchase ‘vitenge’ uniform ahead of the Uhuru Torch event in Shinyanga Region.