Deputy Minister in the President’s Office (Regional Administration, Local Government, Civil Service and Good Governance) Suleiman Jafo has issued a three-week ultimatum to Ilala Municipal Director Isaya Mngurumi to devise modern ways of revenue collection.
He made the call in Dar es Salaam on Friday during an impromptu visit at Ilala municipal market in the city and held talks with businesspeople on the challenges facing them.
The minister found out while at the market that traders were being levied by two different authorities; one being the municipality charging Sh300 per day, and a cooperative union charging Sh400 for water, electricity and cleanliness.
“I give you three weeks to put the condition of the market in order including proper revenue collection,” he ordered, adding this would help put the market in a good order.
He said the marketplace was extremely dirty while very few people benefited from revenue collected from there.
He said having gone around the market he observed a poor sewerage system that needed immediate rehabilitation to save people from contracting deadly diseases such as cholera.
“The municipal director should arrange a meeting with the traders within three weeks to find a solution to the challenges facing them.
Earlier, some traders had told the minister that they had been paying levies twice for a long time, adding that this applied even to porters without special areas for their business.
A fruit trader, Rashid Kassim, said he and his colleagues were being charged up to Sh30,000 daily as parking fees for their vehicles while offloading fruits at the market.
According to Mngurumi, the Sh400 fee was collected by the traders themselves through their cooperatives, saying at least Sh35,000 was collected as revenue on a monthly basis including others charges such as water bills.
He promised to work on all the concerns raised by the traders to improve the municipal market condition.
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