Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology Hon. Jerry Silaa has distributed cooking gas stoves to mothers in his Ukonga state, as part of a campaign to support the efforts of the President of the United Republic of Tanzania Dr. Samia Luluhu Hassan to encourage the community to use clean energy for cooking.
Silaa was on a visit to the state where he said the use of gas is safe and saves a lot of money as well as taking care of the environment, this visit being a continuation of his visit to the state which he started on September 09, 2024.
While in the Pugu market he spoke to food traders where he asked them to evaluate the use of charcoal and gas.
“My brothers, use these gas stoves and evaluate yourselves which energy is the most expensive and choose wisely what to use,” he said.
On their part, some of the citizens who received the stoves have said that apart from the high energy cost of wood and charcoal, there are serious health effects that they experienced.
For her part Riziki Ramadhan Resident of Pugu Kona said that “I use 7 to 8 thousand shillings for charcoal per day, which is a big expense comparing to the little profit that i make after selling food and sometimes nothing at all and let not forget the health implication i get for using charcoal and wood, and so for me gas is way much better,” .
Khadija Kawegela, a resident of Pugu Kajiungeni, said that the use of gas energy will help her cook food on time and avoid spending a lot of time looking for alternative energy sources that are not environmentally friendly to health.
“ I was born in 1949, and this stove will help me a lot in my old age, I used to spend a lot of time looking for firewood and charcoal, my life is very difficult, you have actual made my life a bit easier, I personally thank you and President Samia for bringing us this progress” ,said Kawegela .