Home >> Africa >> Tanzania

     Email   Print 

Tanzania: Politics Of Success Beside The Plight Of The People

Telesphor R. Magobe - 9/6/2005

The introduction of multi-party politics in Tanzania in 1992 was a positive step towards building a democratic and good governance state. This paradigm shift was welcome by the majority of Tanzanians, for it did not only "end" monolithic party politics but also opened up a new outlook and challenge of political pluralism, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Tanzania has embarked on political pluralism and economic liberalisation, which are geared towards developing equitable democracy and macro-economics. Democracy does not only mean a state with a popular or majority rule of elected representatives but also a state that respects and protects individuals and minorities and where the courts of law interpret and apply the law equally to all.1

As such democracy embraces related principles of popular control and political equality. This implies, on the one hand, people’s right to freely and directly exercise their collective decision-making in political affairs and, on the other, their right to freely appoint representatives.2

The speeches of the Finance Minister Hon. Basil P. Mramba on estimates of government revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2005/06 and that of the Minister of State, President’s Office, Planning and Privatisation, Dr Abdallah Omari Kigoda (MP), when presenting to the National Assembly the economic survey for 2004 and proposals for the medium term plan and expenditure framework for the period 2005/06-2007/08, on June 8, 2005 highlighted the third phase government's achievements and showed how the government was committed to implementing many programmes geared towards making the livelihood of Tanzanians better and safer.

They also showed how putting in place strong structures for domestic revenue collection, strengthening government donor-relationships and effective budget management has enabled the government to achieve and sustain micro-economic stability. Accordingly, the government was able to curb inflation as it fell from 21 per cent in 1996 to 6.7 per cent in 2005.

Thus, the rate of economic growth has inexorably ranked Tanzania among the top nations on the continent. This numerical substantiation of the country's economic performance is encouraging. Apparently, this is the unprecedented country's feat specifically attributed to improved performance in agriculture; whole sale and retail trade, hotels, restaurants, tourism and other services; transport and communication; and manufacturing sectors.

Every year official government reports or speeches give this positive image and elevate the third phase government to a rank higher than the preceding regimes of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Ali Hassan Mwinyi. "The performance of the Tanzanian economy at macro-level has been impressive and Tanzania is viewed as one of the top most improved countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There have been notable improvements in fiscal performance, which ensured macro-economic stability and growth achieved over the past recent years. This has enabled the government to steadily increase budget allocations to poverty reduction strategy priority sectors mostly education, health, water, agriculture and rural roads."3

ON July 29, 2005, President Benjamin Mkapa delivered his last speech to members of the National Assembly in Dodoma before he dissolved the parliament on August 5. The speech was a colourful and succinct one that obviously laid emphasis on Tanzania’s positive side, and in so doing President Mkapa underplayed the negative side and made it look virtually trifling.

He extensively covered the third phase government’s 10-year achievements and a good image his truth and transparency leadership has continually portrayed. Measuring the country’s success story against other African countries’ he said Tanzania holds a third position in gold production after South Africa and Ghana, is the most democratic country and human rights advocate in Africa and as regards to corruption his government has worked harder to fight against it and so, according to Amnesty International’s yearly report, Tanzania is now ranked among the least corrupt countries in the world.

President Mkapa divulged details of the country’s positive economic performance, whose growth rate keeps abreast with improved social services as a result of privatisation and a viable environment for both local and foreign investors with an impressive number of employment potential. While Tanzania’s success story has been a characteristic feature in every government official’s speech, its failures have often been disregarded to the extent that those who show concern for them are regarded as either blind or have their own reasons to underplay or rather disfigure the government’s notable achievements.

That is why even the president himself is not interested in showing how his government, for instance, is committed to addressing the people’s pressing issues but he rather ‘flies over’ them by concentrating only on what his government has positively achieved. From this, one could easily draw one or two logical conclusions: one, it could be a fear of looking at the repulsive reality that the majority of people are living, two, it could be that the president feels unable to address structural issues, for to do so could involve making decisions that hold his government accountable. This could also be one of the reasons he often says, “The people are waiting for the government to fill their pockets with money… If so, they should wait even longer…”

During previous parliamentary sessions whenever members of opposition parties presented real issues affecting the people and showing how the government was continually neglecting them, members of the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), were always apologetic about the criticisms and were reluctant to acknowledge them.

Instead, they would even stress further the positive aspect the government has achieved so far and say that the members of the opposition should acknowledge the third phase government’s achievements.

Of course many people sincerely acknowledge the positive side Tanzania has so far achieved as a nation, but this does not prevent them from challenging what still needs improvement to make the government perform better. So why is the ruling party afraid of looking at the negative side and would give an impression as if everything is absolutely fabulous?

It is true; President Mkapa’s leadership has shown notable efforts and achievements to lead the nation to the level where it is at present. But this does not mean that everything is fine. President Mkapa seems to dissociate his tenure of leadership from what is negative in the country when it comes to admitting the third phase government’s failures that obviously wait for his successor most probably on the CCM ticket candidate, Foreign Affairs Minister and International Co-operation, Mr Jakaya Kikwete.

In the past, Tanzania was an example of a peaceful nation, thanks to the vision, conviction and efforts of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere to be able to promote unity in diversity, respect and equality to all. Nowadays such values are slowly waning.

It is evident that more than any other time, there is a large socio-economic disparity between the rich and poor in the country. While a small percentage of people, who have the wherewithal, enjoy the country’s wealth and other rewarding opportunities, the majority
of Tanzanians are still caught up in a vicious circle of subsistence economy, for their incomes are just derisory and unable to support them to live decently.

Only senior civil servants or the management team receive decent salaries, multiple allowances and other competitive packages. They afford a decent living, eat enough, access decent health care either within the country or abroad, send their children to expensive schools such as international schools or go to study abroad, buy posh cars, build mansions, own big farms and get bank loans any time they want.

But ordinary people are often encouraged by government or CCM officials to believe that the government is pro-poor and their situation is much better than it was a few years ago, a merely linear comparison that does not reflect the actual cost of living.

Junior civil servants (including those in the private sector) receive very low salaries. They hardly make any savings from what they receive and salary increments to them are a rare reality to them. They cannot get bank loans, for they are not eligible for loans and those who manage to get any, complain of interest rates that do not bode well for their meagre incomes. The third phase government including the private sector can boast of job creation yes, but not decent salaries especially to the junior staff.

Farmers in rural areas are no exceptions either. Surprisingly enough during the National Assembly there are always promises on how to help them improve their farming methods, increase crop production, purchase affordable farm equipment and improve their livelihoods.

Certainly, where there is massive economic inequality there will be also socio-economic and political dissatisfaction, violence and insecurity. Increasing acts of crime such as the proliferation of light weapons, armed robbery, theft, corruption, drug use and prostitution are manifestations of socio-economic inequality. This is what is happening in the country at the moment but the government overlooks the situation. Another area that attracts criticism is the whole area of administration of justice. While those in high positions face criminal charges once in a blue moon and mostly are left free due to lack of “evidence” for ordinary people things are different. It is phenomenal that political violence and corruption are inherent in Tanzanian politics today.

While the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party enjoys police protection and support, unfortunately opposition parties do not. Often there are confrontations between leaders or members of the opposition and the police and rarely there can be any such a thing with the ruling CCM. What does this mean? Is CCM a mature, tolerant and fair party? Certainly not, only that it has strong support by hook or by crook. Although there is constitutional freedom to form political parties, there is still a tendency to fall back to a one party rule. The CCM party officials, for instance, try hard through campaigns to give an impression that other opposition parties are politically too immature to lead Tanzanians.

Many politicians are fond of verbal violence, pose threats to one another and to national security, attack their political opponents and sometimes they cause physical violence to other party members. No one can forget negative experiences that accompanied the 2000 general elections, especially on the Island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean, whereby several civilians were killed, some fled the country and others sustained injuries.

On January 26 and 27, 2001 "the armed security forces shot dead at least 21 opposition demonstrators (according to government figures) and probably more than 30 people (according to independent figures) who were expressing the need to hold a fresh election. Both local and international human rights NGOs received considerable eye witness testimonies indicating that these killings occurred unlawfully and in circumstances that there was no immediate danger to the lives of the security forces."4 Wherever are local party elections or campaigns it is normal to expect verbal or physical violence. Is this a sign of
political maturity?

When the government is required to account for its performance and abuse of power, it becomes extremely apologetic and uses threats or its power to silence critics. Often criticisms are looked at with suspicion but praises with pride. A recent example is when the Tanzania's Education Minister, Mr Joseph Mungai, threatened to deregister a Tanzanian NGO that produced a report critical of the government's efforts to reform primary education. The 21-page document issued by Hakielimu reviews reforms that began in 2002. It found that enrolment was lower in 2004 than 2003 and that a lower percentage of girls had enrolled, that is the number of girls in primary schools fell from 49.3 percent in 2001 to 48.8 percent in 2004.

It is true that there are still fewer teachers per pupils now than before in the country. This is not an exaggeration. One needs only to visit schools to witness this. In some parties of the country the situation is worse. For instance, the eastern region of Kilimanjaro there is an average of one teacher to 44 pupils. In the western region of Shinyanga it is one to 87. in other parties of the country the number could even be higher than that.

But for the Education Minister, Hakielimu's report was looked at negatively. "My teachers work very hard and under difficult conditions. They should be encouraged and not intimidated," he said. He threatened that “if Hakielimu continues to issue sensational statements on the performance of the education sector, I will lodge my complaints to the registrar of NGOs and ask for it's deregistration,"5 he said.

Safe motherhood is another crucial challenge. Despite the current 6.7 per cent economic growth, decent health care is still a big problem in the country. “Lack of adequate and quality essential obstetric care at the facility seems to be the general consensus of various studies conducted in different regions of the country… It is neither the mothers’ ignorance nor their lack of ability to get to the facility that is the main barrier to receiving quality care when needed, but rather the lack of quality care at the facility,” reads part of a literature review on maternal mortality and morbidity in Tanzania, March 3, 2005.

The study further indicates that “75 per cent of women dying as a result of pregnancy had been seen by a doctor and 79 per cent died in a health facility. A doctor was available in only 59 per cent of the cases in the hospital and 95 per cent in the referral centre. Only one nurse performed all duties in 21 per cent of hospital cases and two nurses in 43 per cent of referral centres. Furthermore, there was no working theatre in the district hospitals and only 9 per cent had a blood bank.”

A Unicef report says, “about 9,000 Tanzanian women die every year as they deliver babies due to malnutrition and lack of access to health care. There are 529 deaths in every 100,000 live births.” The Unicef’s findings indicate that “the country lacked a functioning social welfare programme, a hospital referral system or working antenatal care clinics. Expectant mothers, mostly living in rural areas, are expected to continue performing manual labour. They do not get quality food or rest despite being physically exhausted. So a complex mix of factors end up with a dead mother and child.” Yet such tragedies are constantly overlooked or given little attention and if one happens to raise awareness and call for urgent government intervention is intimidated and might be thrown in cell.

There are still many pressing issues that affect ordinary Tanzanians and hinder them from living a dignified life. It is my wish that those in power acknowledge this reality and do something about it. Denying it is just postponing the problem and this is what many politicians do. While acknowledging President Mkapa’s achievements, I am of the opinion that the plight of the people is constantly underplayed and this is not doing justice to Tanzanians. Sustainable development that we are all striving for was defined beautifully by the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundland Commission) in 1987 as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”6