Geita — GEITA : THE Minister of State in the President's Office, Public Service Management and Good Governance Mr George Simbachawene has said that the government plans to employ a total of 47,000 workers to address the shortage of staff in various public offices.

Mr Simbachawene unveiled the plan while speaking to civil servants in Chato District of Geita Region, noting that the shortage of staff in public offices was due to expansion of various programmes as well as various projects being executed by the government.

He further explained that in dealing with the shortage of employees of different cadres the government has been making efforts to increase the number of staff in which until August 2023 the government had successfully employed 129,074 workers.

The minister also said the government has also promoted 455,497 employees since February 2021 to August 2023 the move that increased the government expenditure to 84.3bn/- per month.

The minister noted that for the year 2022 alone, a total of 145,225 employees were promoted.

"In terms of changing the cadre, 4,866 employees have changed, while salary arrears of approximately 220.12m/- have been paid to 130,116 employees.

He said that in Chato District, a total of 2,286 employees have been promoted, 304 employees have changed cadres and 696 are new employees.

"We recognise the shortage of staff here in Chato following the establishment of new institutions including construction of 13 new schools, five new health centres, we continue working on that.

"Soon after taking over the office, our President Samia Suluhu Hassan decided to start with addressing the shortage of employees; we will improve and there will be no shortage, since it is the most potential sector," he said.

Mr Simbachawene ordered the formation of data base which will include all important information of all public servants so that it can be easier for the government to access their information in case of promotion, change of employment and payment of various claims.

Previously, the Acting Geita Regional Administrative Secretary Mr Herman Matemu said that until September 2023, employees in the region have been paid salary arrears amounting to 3.8bn/-.

He identified the areas with critical shortage of staff as health, education sectors, engineers, land surveyors, building consultants, civil servants, record keepers, engineers and drivers.