PRIME Minister Mizengo Pinda has assured area chairpersons who demand a total of 3.1bn/- in allowances for supervising the National Housing and Population Census which took place in August, this year, that they will be paid soon.

The premier made the assurance here while addressing residents in his home village of Kibaoni at Kakuni Primary School. Mr Pinda is also a Member of Parliament for Katavi Constituency.

During the meeting, Mr Pinda was asked a question by one Wejja Hassan, as to why the area chairpersons were paid only 10,000/- putting into consideration that they left all their economic activities to accompany census officials.

In response, Mr Pinda said all leaders who worked for seven days during the exercise and those in areas where the exercise was extended will be paid since funds have already been made available. "The government has made calculations and concluded that it owes 3.1bn/- to the area chairpersons and the money will be paid in the near future," he said.

On the other hand, Mr Pinda has urged residents in the region to ensure they store enough food for their families following breakout of pests attacking maize. The PM was responding to a question by another resident, Godwin Mbassa, who had decried over increasing prices of maize in the area, which he attributed to infection by the pests on maize fields.

"The high price for maize is not because of the pests but rather due to low yields and reluctance of residents to store food," he explained. Adding; "This is forewarning to framers that they should not sell all the produce after harvesting.

You should have a habit of storing food after harvesting; the crops will attract even higher prices when the harvest season is over." In his view, every homestead in the region should ensure it stocks between 10 and 15 sacks of maize to feed their families for a year.