FLY ON THE WALL : Job losses are a necessary price to pay

Observation is one of the accepted methods of basic research, albeit a soft method which, for authenticity, always needs verification by hard facts.

Anyone who regularly traverses Mandela Road onto Morogoro Road will attest to the fact that of late, new vehicles carrying “IT” (vehicles on international transit) plates have been missing from those roads.

There was a time back in the day when they would do brisk business providing alternative transport to those heading to Morogoro, Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe and Makambako. Besides, they were a source of much needed foreign exchange at Dar es Salaam Port. Not anymore. The cargo has seemingly dried up.

In another casual observation recently, it was noted that at least three guest houses along Morogoro Road between Magomeni and Ubungo have pulled down adverts and have now, like the former Land Mark Hotel on Mandela Road, rebranded themselves as hostels.

Our economist friends are likely to trash such casual observations as unscientific. Yet facts are stubborn. The makeover has happened.

A conversation with two major employers, who are both prominent lawyers, points to similar concerns. Given their role in government in the past one can understand their angst.

Businesses are facing tough times. The once vibrant nightlife in Dar es Salaam, evidenced by adverts from Tuesday to the end of the week, has all but come to a standstill. Salons are closing and mechanics and machingas are feeling the heat as well.

Waiters at a joint that used to do brisk business opposite Mlimani City in Dar es Salaam tell me they are facing job cuts, as business is slow. At Regent Estate, a popular eatery has shut down just like Garden Restaurant and its twin towers hotels. Not even the building sector has been spared, as a salesman opines, as they try to sell timber. Should we be concerned or should we dismiss these observations as the work of fertile imagination of enemies?

There is no doubt in my mind that things will get worse before they get better and here is why. The missing IT’s and the makeover to hostels are all telltale signs that belt tightening measures are biting. Tax evaders are running for the hills.

For many years, nothing seemed to follow established order and procedure in Tanzania. Getting a building permit was an issue if one wanted to follow the law to the letter. Every playground, water tower, road reserve or school ground was fair game. You wanted it, you got it as long as you had the money.

The ongoing verification of certificates from Form Four to university points to the extent the rot had gone to, undermining the very base remise required to make Tanzania the great nation it desires to be–that of a well-trained human resource.

Something had to give to make Tanzania great again, to borrow much-maligned Donald Trump’s election mantra.

No nation can expect to reach greatness by walking on stilts and pretending to be an Olympic champion gymnast.

The no-change brigade, it seems, was keen on maintaining the status quo in which dishonesty and fraud and unscrupulous, deceitful, sneaky and disreputable traders and their acolytes in government had displaced honesty by a mile.

That the government is being shaken to its core by a well-meaning head of state is significant because corruption has to be fought from the top and we know it has a way of fighting back. The price the nation has to pay includes temporary job losses as decorum, civility, dignity and order are restored into the heart of the nation. It is but a small price to pay for the soul of a great nation that was on the precipice of destruction by the cancerous growth of unbridled corruption. The future is bright.