Dodoma, Tanzania (Commonwealth Union)_Tanzania’s first female president Samia Hassan took a bold step this year to cancel Independence Day celebrations citing more urgent priorities that required that funding. She directed that the budget of USD 445,000 set aside for the celebrations be used instead to construct eight dormitories for children with special needs in primary schools across the country.
This is not the first time the country has cancelled celebrations for Independence Day. Former President John Magufuli did it twice in his term when in 2015, he diverted the budgeted funds to construct a road in Dar es Salaam and in 2020, used the funds to support medical facilities.
Hassan who is the sixth president of Tanzania, took office in March 2021 on the death of Magafuli. However, she has not followed Magafuli’s hardline divide and rule policies but instead, has progressively reversed the political direction Tanzania was taking under Magafuli’s rule.
Just last month, she lifted a ban on opposition rallies that had been imposed in 2016 by Magafuli and released the opposition leader from custody. Firmly believing in democracy and thereby inclusivity and equality, Hassan reiterated the right of political parties to hold public meetings, enabling the restoration of democratic traditions.
Not one for unnecessary extravagance, Hassan is astute in the limited budgets she has to work with and is all for ensuring her countrymen are given a better life with those budgets, than spending ostentatiously on unnecessary tamashas which are not sustainable. Hospitals, schools, elders’ homes and special needs remain high on her agenda of priorities and hence, the funding allocated for this year’s celebrations will cover the holistic aspect of sustaining accessible education for children with special needs via school dormitories.
