Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda, second left, says he will propose a bill to parliament that would see women receive 40% of their husbands' salaries every month. File picture: Xinhua/John Badi Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda, second left, says he will propose a bill to parliament that would see women receive 40% of their husbands' salaries every month. File picture: Xinhua/John Badi
Dar es Salaam - The regional commissioner of Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam city, Paul Makonda, has announced that he will request the country's parliament to introduce a controversial bill, to have 40 percent of men’s monthly salaries deducted and credited to their wives' bank accounts.
Makonda said he did not want women to be frustrated due to lack of money, an independent pan African News channel, Alternative Africa, reported.
Local media reported that Makonda made a pledge in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam, on Sunday,during the International Women’s Day celebrations.
"I will petition the National Assembly to introduce a law that will see 40 percent of salaries of men in formal employment deducted and credited to the bank accounts of their spouses who are housewives," Mukonda said.
The senior government official also said that there was need for stringent laws that compel men to indicate on their wills that their wives would be the sole custodians of their (men’s) property should they (men) die before their spouses.
Makonda said many widows had camped at his office seeking his intervention after they were disinherited by their in-laws upon the deaths of their husbands, K24tv reported.
He hoped that would stop deceitful married men from sexually preying on unsuspecting single women, according to the media outlet's report.
Makonda said the proposal, if adopted, would save many young women in Dar es Salaam from 'unnecessary heartbreaks'.
"I have received a lot of complaints from young women. Many women from Dar es Salaam region have been deceived many times, and they have had enough. Men have been promising to marry them, then later, they [men] ditch the ladies.
"This is something that is humiliating," Makonda said.
He recently, introduced a telephone contact so depressed women can call to seek help from his office.