Committee says No again to Nyalandu's budget estimates.

By Gadiosa Lamtey

6th May 2015

Parliamentary Committee for Lands, Natural Resources and Environment again has  rejected the 2015/16 budget estimates for the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources. 

The committee had given seven days for Lazaro Nyalandu’s  ministry to come out of the budget shortfall.

The Committee Chairman James Lembeli said that his committee rejected the budget estimates on Monday and gave the Minister Lazaro Nyalandu a day to work out on the shortfalls but he had  presented the same report.

“We have given the minister up to May 14 to submit a clean and clear report to the Committee in Dodoma together with clear explanations as to why he had violated an agreement which required all tourists to pay national parks entrance fees thus  causing a loss of  15bn/- annually. 

“We were supposed to discuss the Natural Resources and Tourism ministry’s financial report on Monday and Tuesday but we failed to make changes,” he said.

Responding Nyalandu told the committee that his ministry could not accomplish the work in one day and requested the committee to give them more days.

In February this year, the parliamentary committee had declared it will take to task the minister Nyalandu over failure to sign Government Notice (GN) on the new fee rates for hotels in the national parks as directed by the Parliament.

Chairman of the committee – on Lands, Natural Resources and the Environment  said the minister was supposed to have signed the new rates, Lembeli told reporters in past press conference.

Apparently the government had earlier mandated tourists to only pay once to get free entrance tickets into the national parks and game reserves, but later an agreement was reached to ensure all tourists paid entrance fees as much as they enter into the national parks.

James Lembeli,  said worldwide all national parks require all tourists to pay entrance fees as they get into the parks; however, Tanzania was doing the opposite.

He warned that the ministry’s stance to defy the committee’s order that required overseeing the implementation of the agreement which will see the government losing 15bn/- as entrance fees this year.

Even then the members of the committee also expressed concerns over the ministry’s failure to impose duty fees to all tourists accommodated in tourist hotels within the national parks according to a ruling by the High Court last year.

Ester Bulaya,  member of the committee and Special Seats MP (CCM) said the government would have generated 16bn/- annually.

Seconding the legislator, Suzan Kiwanga also the committee member said the monies generated would have been spent by the government to improve social service delivery in the country. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN