Tanzania short of labour inspectors

Inadequacy of labour inspectors has been cited as a major reason behind the incessant worst forms of child labour in the country. Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) office for Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda, Jurgen Schwettmann, told a press conference yesterday that child labour was still a problem in the region and remained the organisation’s priority. “Tanzania has one of the most up to date labour laws in the world but child labour continues to thrive because there are no means of enforcing the law and the fact that labour inspectors are not enough to cover the whole country. Mr Schwettmann said he was, however, commending the country for registering steady progress particularly through the National Time Bound Programme to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the country by 2010, including child labour in commercial agriculture, domestic service, mining, and commercial sexual exploitation of children. The Deputy Minister for Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Dr Makongoro Mahanga, said lack of labour inspectors was one of the challenges facing the country. Dr Mahanga attributed the situation to unattractive salary packages and working environment but maintained that the creation of the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration (CMA) had motivated labour officers who left for greener pastures elsewhere to come back. “The challenge that lies ahead at the moment is to create favourable salary packages and better working environment to enable us get back all our officers,” he explained. He said that the ministry had put in place strategies for recruiting new employees as well as convincing the government to increase its budget to enable it expand its workforce. Mr Schwettmann said Tanzania’s political will and commitment in combating child labour provided greater chances of eliminating the problem. So far 17,000 children have been reached for withdrawal or prevention. He revealed that the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development in collaboration with ILo was preparing a National Action Plan to speed up efforts to combat the problem and that a direct monitoring and reporting system had already been established.