YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS: Massive creation of jobs in industrialisation debatable

If there’s a thread that consistently runs through the national fabric of the Fifth-Phase Government of President John Magufuli, it’s the call for Industrialisation.

Sworn into the highest Office in the land on November 5, 2015, Dr Magufuli inaugurated the 11th Parliament on November 20 that year.

In the event, he proclaimed industrialisation a key priority – and he’d focus on electricity development, considered pivotal to achieving meaningful and sustainable industrialisation!

The Magufuli Administration’d actively support industrialisation processes through an Industrial Development Bank (there’s already an

Agriculture Development Bank), as well as the reduction of taxes on locally-produced goods, largely including mass consumption goods such as textiles/clothes and edibles...

The objective’s to ensure Tanzania becomes a semi-industrialised country by Year-2025, with the manufacturing contribution to the GDP reaching 40 per cent! This’d be in accord with the National Development Vision-2025 which – among other things – would’ve ‘created’ a middle-income citizenry 12-13 years hence!

It’d also transform the Economy from currently being dominated by extractives (Mining, etc), erratic Tourism and Agriculture that’s threatened by rapidly-evolving Climate Change negatives! Today, Tanzania’s industrial sector comprises ‘simple manufacturing’ (53 per cent); ‘processing’ (43 per cent) and ‘assembling activities’ (4 per cent). Manufacturing consists of food-processing (24 per cent); textiles (10 per cent); chemicals (8.5 per cent), and ‘others.’ Since agriculture has traditionally been the mainstay of the economy, manufacturing generally involves processing local agricultural produce. But, many crops are still marketed in their raw form, with relatively little value-addition to them done on small-scale... Hence locally value-added products like yarn (cotton; sisal), twine (sisal), leather (‘Bora’ shoes, etc), blended coffee, tobacco products, wheat flour…

In the event, we’re told, “Tanzania’s agriculture-based value-added net output rose from $8.6 billion in 2009-to-13.8 billion in 2014!” [ July 4, and July 10, 2017].

That’s a 61 percent rise in five years: ample testimony to Tanzania’s great potential in the industrial value-addition stakes. No wonder the government is hell-bent for leather on expedited industrialisation, initially resulting in an economy that’s broadly- and diversely-based on manufacturing, processing and packaging industries for the domestic and export markets.

That’s indeed NOT an impossible dream – as already demonstrated by the likes of China, Japan, India, Malaysia, Korea-Seoul, Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, whose industrialisation efforts since the 1950s have made them ‘Economic Tigers’ to reckon with! All adopted manufacturing that led to meaningful and sustainable economic growth – an ongoing feature! [World Bank-2008: The Growth Report Strategies for Sustained Growth & Inclusive Development].

So, without prejudice, President Magufuli is ‘taking a leaf out of those countries’ book’ on Socio-Economic Development. That’s basically why and how Tanzania established some 1,423 industries in Magufuli’s first year as President – with another 19 ongoing projects!

This comes well after the government of Mwalimu Nyerere (1961-85) that saw to some industrialisation on the back of the February 5, 1967 Arusha Declaration & Tanu Policy on Socialism & Self-Reliance.

However, that dream was shattered to smithereens by the helter-skelter privatisation programme that raged under the 2nd-and-3rd-phase governments of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi (1985-95) and Benjamin Mkapa (1995-2005).

What a pity that it took half-a-century post-the Arusha Declaration for Tanzania under President Magufuli to salvage the industrialisation dream for 54 million Tanzanians whose working force of about 25 million is jobless – or underemployed, underpaid – and under-every-other-negative! While industrialisation may bring about increased volumes and varieties of manufactured goods – as well as an improved standard of living for some – it also may result in widespread unemployment and grim living conditions for the poor and working classes!