RC Nchimbi urges water stakeholders to go for registration of voters!

The Njombe Regional Commissioner Dr. Rehema Nchimbi has appeal to multi-stakeholders of water to come out in great numbers for ongoing registration exercise of the voters in the permanent voters register so that they can elect political leaders who will protect the water resource during the forthcoming general election.

RC said that since this year is the year of general election in which you are going to elect president, members of parliament (MPs) and ward councilors Biometric Voter Registration System (BVR), make sure you choose the right candidates who going to manage the water resources properly.

Registration started on Monday in 87 stations of 11 wards in Makambako town and will last for seven days.

She made the request on Tuesday when was officially opening the multi-stakeholders workshop of Sustainable Water Access, Use & Management (SWAUM) to Restore Perennial Flows in Great Ruaha River held at Makambako in Njombe region.

She said sustainable integrated water resources management and sustainable development, is one of which is public participation in the development of policies, plans and processes.

The workshop is jointly coordinated Rufiji Basin Water Board and WWF’s Ruaha Water Programme (WWF- RWP), with support from WWF-UK through the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

According to the WWF-TZ Freshwater and Climate Change Coordinator, Keven Robert, the Great Ruaha River is drying up and the reduced flows in the river have been recorded since the early 1990s when complete drying of sections of the river was first observed.

He said the river is now drying up completely for long periods – up to 6 months – in the dry seasons, causing among other things, water shortages for downstream villages, death of animals in the Ruaha National Park, increased conflict between different water users (e.g. crop farmers, pastoralists, fishermen/women), and water shortages at Mtera and Kidatu dams leading to serious national power cuts,” she emphasized.

The Great Ruaha River Catchment, 84,000 km2, contains 12 sub-catchments, the Usangu Wetlands, plus the downstream section to the Mtera and Kidatu dams. The programme has selected the two upstream sub-catchments of Ndembera and Mbarali, the Usangu Wetlands, and the downstream sub-catchment to the Mtera Dam, for this pilot.

Furthermore, Rufiji Basin Water Officer, Idris Msuya said WWF-RWP in collaboration with RBWO have been working jointly in implementing sustainable water access use and management (SWAUM) which aimed at restoring the flow of Great Ruaha River.

Msuya said SWAUM use multi stakeholders’ action and learning process which enables stakeholders to discuss, share, learning and reach collective decisions on the issues of water resources use and management in the catchment.

He said the meeting was meant to exploring, planning and prepare implementation strategy for water resources, use and management in Mbarali River.

SWAUM’s goal is to operate the principles set out in the Water Resources Management Act, 2009, deemed fundamental to the realization of the National Water Policy (2002) and Integrated Water Resources Management.

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