Dar es Salaam. The United Nations, whose offices are located on Mafia Street in Kinondoni, is among institutions that were affected by floods which hit Dar es Salaam since Tuesday.Spot checks by The Citizen yesterday established that many of the staff at the offices were given a day off to allow servicemen to pump water which had submerged the building out of the premises.
A handful of UN staff were yesterday seen inside the compound cleaning the premises and counting losses from the disaster which has devastated Dar es Salaam and affected services.
The security guards at the gate could not allow our reporters to access the offices. The few workers who were outside the offices declined to talk to reporters on grounds that they were not allowed to comment on the situation.
When asked why the government could not provide UN with offices in area which was not flood prone, the minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, directed our queries to the permanent secretary.Efforts to reach the permanent secretary, Mr John Haule, did not bear any fruits as he was attending a crisis meeting called by the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.
When this paper got back to Mr Membe, he said it was the UN which had the duty of asking the government for decent accommodation if it felt that the current premises were unfit to host its activities.“I can’t comment much on this issue because I am in my constituency in Lindi... but it is the UN which is supposed to ask us for office accommodation if their current premises are not suitable,” he said.
But available information indicate that UN has been allocated the current space as an alternative while efforts were being made to find a more suitable place for the international organisation.Sources from within the Foreign ministry hinted that the government was waiting for assessment being conducted by experts before approving the new offices for UN, which would house all its agencies under the One UN Programme.
“They need to consult with New York and their security departments as well as disaster management units before relocating to any other place,” the source said.
A handful of UN staff were yesterday seen inside the compound cleaning the premises and counting losses from the disaster which has devastated Dar es Salaam and affected services.
The security guards at the gate could not allow our reporters to access the offices. The few workers who were outside the offices declined to talk to reporters on grounds that they were not allowed to comment on the situation.
When asked why the government could not provide UN with offices in area which was not flood prone, the minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, directed our queries to the permanent secretary.Efforts to reach the permanent secretary, Mr John Haule, did not bear any fruits as he was attending a crisis meeting called by the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.
When this paper got back to Mr Membe, he said it was the UN which had the duty of asking the government for decent accommodation if it felt that the current premises were unfit to host its activities.“I can’t comment much on this issue because I am in my constituency in Lindi... but it is the UN which is supposed to ask us for office accommodation if their current premises are not suitable,” he said.
But available information indicate that UN has been allocated the current space as an alternative while efforts were being made to find a more suitable place for the international organisation.Sources from within the Foreign ministry hinted that the government was waiting for assessment being conducted by experts before approving the new offices for UN, which would house all its agencies under the One UN Programme.
“They need to consult with New York and their security departments as well as disaster management units before relocating to any other place,” the source said.
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