The Tanzanian president has
become a household name in East Africa. I imagine in most parts of Africa. His
Excellency President John Magufuli is a darling of the poor is a darling of the
poor who think that the Government system is rotten and exploitative and is
loathed by the civil servants and I imagine his fellow politicians who are
beneficiaries of the civil service system that operates in most of Africa. In
some parts of Uganda, the name is famous for other things.
When he took office, the
Tanzanian president is reported to have initiated several apparently austerity
measures intended to save money and improve performance in the Tanzanian
economy. Among the things he did included banning the Tanzanian Independence
Day celebrations. He is reported to have ordered the diversion of money
intended for the celebrations to buy hospital beds. He reduced the budget for
his own inauguration from 100,000 dollars to 70,000 dollars. He suspended Commissioner
General of the Tanzanian Revenue Authority over loss of money. He abolished
first class travel for government officials. He forbid printing of Christmas cards
at government cost. He sacked the head of the main hospital when he found
patients sleeping on the floor. He also directed various public institutions
offered at meetings. For the University of Dares Salaam, the guidelines are
circulating around on social media. These include: Removing heavy refreshments
and leaving items like pea nuts. In fact if you want to serve any refreshment
in the University of Dares Salam besides water and tea, you have to seek the
authority of the Deputy Vice Chancellor. These are heroic acts and very
appealing especially to those who are not familiar with how government works. On
Independence Day, he rode a bike to go and clean town.
President Magufuli is sending
very good signals, he is suggesting that we can use our resources in a much
better manner. He is calling for frugality and value for money. He is seeking
an improvement in government service delivery. Indeed he qualifies for a
servant leader. It is just that as Head
of State, he has used a wrong method for a very good objective. Possibly there
are worse things happening which are not visible and which he may never know. For
instance, how much revenue does Tanzania get out of its minerals and who
benefits from these minerals?
President Magufuli should go at a
policy level rather than the token actions which he cannot sustain. Heads of State
are the fountain of honour in a nation and there are some things they should
not get involved in. It is in order to show the way but be careful because
there are some things that cannot be sustained. While a Head of State can
participate in a cleaning exercise, he should not make it his business to do
so. These noble goals need a more permanent solution because the measures he is
using, he will quickly be defeated by the system and are not sustainable.
President Magufuli should look at
the development goals of Tanzania and evolve policies and strategies to achieve
these goals. For instance some time back, African governments got rid of the
policies of providing housing and motor vehicles for civil servants. Was this a
correct policy? What objective did it achieve? In the United Kingdom, the
Labour party governments built what is famously known as Council Houses which
Margaret Thatcher sold. What were the lessons? Are the ordinary British people
better off now than when they had access to government owned houses? It is
policy that will get rid of remuneration packages for civil servants not executive
decisions. Executive decisions tend to result into abuse because they favour
only a few people. Tanzania and indeed literally all African countries need to
change their policies if they are to get rid of poverty. Being frugal with the
wrong policies will benefit wrong people. We need to review our investment
policies, trade policies, foreign policies among others, we also need to evolve
strategies that will ensure that we are able to achieve these policies. What
are the policies that Rwanda has evolved that have made it what it is today.
Who is benefiting from Rwanda’s economic success. If it is still MTN
shareholders, then the policies may not be right. Bravo President Magufuli but
the journey has just started
