Local News

Half of Dar MPs unelectable –study

A NEW World Bank-funded study has revealed that people are losing trust in their representatives such that if general election was held today almost a half of Dar es Salaam MPs would lose their seats.

The study was based on mobile phone interviews with some 324 residents in the three districts of the city namely Temeke, Kinondoni and Ilala.It showed that almost six in every ten respondents (58.6 per cent) that were interviewed said they would vote against their current MPs if elections were held today.

“At the same time, our data shows that only four in ten respondents (39.0 per cent) express confidence in their MPs,” according to Ms Dorica Andrew of Listening to Dar organization.However, a majority of the people interviewed (64.7 per cent) expressed some confidence in opposition parliamentarians in serving the interest of the people.

The Listening to Dar project is undertaken by Kevin Croke, Johannes von Engelhardt and Dorica Andrew in collaboration with Datavision.The study focused on political issues and citizens’ trust in government authorities and political leaders and access to electricity to households in the city.

In its findings, the report also showed that 68.7 per cent of Dar es Salaam residents supported actions taken by the government on cabinet ministers implicated in the Controller and Auditor General (CAG)’s report.

“One in every four people (26.5 per cent) said more actions should have been taken on the implicated senior officials while only 5 per cent expressed concerns that the response had gone too far,” Ms Andrew said at a news conference in Dar es Salaam on Thursday.

Adding; “Even though the issue has been widely discussed in the media, no reliable data was available on what the people think about the political scenario.” More than half of respondents (55.9 per cent) were also of a view that the powers of the presidency should be reduced in the new constitution while those of the parliament should be increased.

Less than one in every four people 22.8 per cent were in favour of slashing the powers of the august House in the new constitution while 41.0 per cent would even like to see an increase in its political influence.On accessibility to power, the report shows that three out of four households (73.9 per cent) in Dar es Salaam are connected to the power grid.

Overall results suggest a slight but steady improvement compared to the percentage of households with access to power in November last year which stood at 66.5 per cent and 70.2 per cent in February, this year.It also revealed that only one in ten households experienced power cuts during the seven days of the week.