Zanzibar President scraps Mapinduzi Day celebrations

Zanzibar, Unguja:

The Revolutionary government of Zanzibar has said that there will be no parade for the culmination of the 59th anniversary of the Revolution of Zanzibar this year.

In this regard, the budget of Sh450 million that was planned to fund the celebrations will be directed to solve the challenges in the education sector.

The peak of the celebration takes place on January 12 of every year where the celebrations are held at the Amaan Stadium in the isles.

Speaking to editors and journalists from various media yesterday at State House in Zanzibar, in an event that was aired live, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, the President of Zanzibar, said that the funds will be redirected to improve the teaching and learning environment in schools thereby raising the quality of education in Zanzibar.

“We usually have a parade at the Amaan Stadium. However, this won’t be the case this year for two main reasons.

“First, we have decided that to hold a bigger celebration to commemorate the revolution’s 60th anniversary,” he said.

He noted that the 60th anniversary celebration will be bigger. It will feature more things than usual. Therefore the government will have to regroup and restrategise for the bigger event.

“This year, we are opening many schools and have therefore decided to send the funds that were planned for the peak of the Revolution this year into the education sector so that our schools have enough equipment. That is the second reason,” he noted.

Speaking on the amount that had been set aside for the celebration, he said, “Initially the budget was Sh700 million. But we thought it was excessive so we tried to reduce it. We were able to get it down to Sh450 million. This is the amount we will redirect to the education sector,” explained President Mwinyi.

As in mainland Tanzania, the education sector in the isles of Zanzibar has suffering from a shortage of important equipment such as books, desks, laboratories and dormitories. These are things that President Mwinyi has said the Sh450 million will go towards and it is the hope of the government that the sector will make tremendous progress in the implementation of its projects.

Regarding the prices of products continuing to rise despite the tax reductions, President Mwinyi noted that there were reasons beyond the control of his government that kept the prices of these products from going down.

“As for our internal reasons, the prices of products have gone up because there has been drought in the mainland where these products come from and prices have gone up there too. However, we are looking at expanding the scope of our ports to be able to unload cargo in the shortest possible time,” he said.