'Measures to be taken against those who failed Form IVs'

The Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda, yesterday
told the National Assembly that the
government will take severe measures against
those involved in last year’s Form IV exam
failures once the probe team completes its
work.
Pinda made the clarification when responding
to a question raised by Magdalena Hamis
Sakaya (Special Seats, CUF) during the Prime
Minister’s Questions and Answers session.
Sakaya had wanted to know if the government
saw the need to hold those responsible for the
students’ mass failures accountable, including
the Minister for Education and Vocational
Training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa.
“After the investigations are complete, we will
get answers and if we happen to discover that
there were individuals responsible for the
shameful action, the government will not
hesitate to hold them accountable,” the Prime
Minister said.
When Sakaya asked him to state the
government’s stance on nullifications of the
Form IV results on grounds that the National
Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta)
altered the marking system without informing
the stakeholders, the Prime Minister said the
committee he formed was still working on such
details.
“We should wait for more findings from the
probe team,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister’s probe
team on last year’s Form IV exam failures
identified NECTA as the scapegoat for the
unfortunate results in its preliminary findings.
It said the council used a new system in
grading the students’ exams.
Responding to another question raised by
Rashid Ally Abdallah (Tumbe, CUF) on ministers
involved in drug trafficking, Pinda said the
government will discipline them accordingly if
the accusations are proved to be true.
Abdallah had wanted to know the government’s
stance on accusations once made by Kangi
Lugola (Mwibara-CCM) that some ministers are
involved in drug trafficking business.
“To my knowledge, it is not true that there are
ministers involved in drig trafficking. However,
if Lugola has any proof he should bring it
forward and it will be taken to the President
from whom disciplinary actions would be
issued,” Pinda said.
In another development, the Prime Minister
said the government is working on a bill to
officiate Dodoma as the capital city of
Tanzania which will require its institutions to
be based in the area.
However, he could not say when exactly the
bill would be ready.
“This will be a huge move and currently there
are challenges that we have to address first.
For instance there is no enough water yet for
the capital city, so we have to work on
improving such infrastructures so as to attract
many firms to also move here when time
comes,” he said.
Fielding another question from Juma Nkamia
(Kondoa South, CCM) on shifting Local
Authorities Pension Funds offices (LAPF), Pinda
said most of LAPF’s activities are based in Dar
hence the government to shift them there.
Nkamia had wanted to know why LAPF is
moving its offices to the city while the
government is working on transferring most of
its activities to Dodoma.