SHOCKING POVERTY LEVELS: WHAT VALUE STATISTICS?

What you need to know:

  • Going by the WB findings, the current poverty trends in the Spice Islands off East Africa’s Indian Ocean coast starkly highlight the urgent need to address issues that relate to human dignity, inequality – and the much-taunted exhortation that ‘education is key to success in life.’

Acting through its Poverty and Equity Directorate, the World Bank (WB) has just released its latest ‘Poverty Assessment’ findings that – among other things – highlight the ‘extreme poverty’ under which the people of Zanzibar, and the Island of Pemba in particular, are languishing.

Going by the WB findings, the current poverty trends in the Spice Islands off East Africa’s Indian Ocean coast starkly highlight the urgent need to address issues that relate to human dignity, inequality – and the much-taunted exhortation that ‘education is key to success in life.’

According to the report, ‘Zanzibar achieved a modest, basic poverty reduction rate of 4.5 per cent’ in the last half-decade or so – and a ‘one per cent decrease in extreme poverty during 2010-2015.’ Both reductions were largely driven by the archipelago’s main island Unguja, which boasts a population of 900,000 souls. But, when all’s said and done, the report expresses pity (for lack of a better term) that ‘more than half of the people on Pemba Island are still shockingly poor!’

As per the year-2012 national census, Pemba was home to around 400,000 souls out of the archipelago’s 1.3 million-strong population. For a half of the Pemba community – indeed any community – to live below the internationally-accepted poverty line of $1.25 a day is cause for alarm.

In fact, the WB study revealed more horrors, such as the statistical fact that the island’s annual poverty growth rate increased from 48 per cent in 2010 to 55 per cent in 2015… and is still growing!

Establishing weaknesses in seemingly endless abject poverty

In all fairness – and without even an iota of prejudice – it must be stated that the World Bank’s findings are from the horse’s mouth (so to speak): based as they’re on the Bank’s analysis of data compiled by the Government of Zanzibar via its Household Budget Surveys, and the International Labor Force Survey. In that regard, then, the WB’s findings should be taken as the Gospel truth. That’s if only for the purpose of identifying and establishing the weaknesses and other gremlins that factor in the seemingly-endless abject poverty,doing so with Zanzibar in mind – especially Pemba.

That’s with a view to finding a comprehensive solution to unmitigated poverty for the rest of Tanzania – and other equally-hapless countries!

Admittedly, that’s no easy task. After all, if we’ve failed to lift a mere 400,000 Pembans out of extreme poverty in decades of political independence and home rule, how’re we going to succeed doing that for the 54 million Tanzanians nationwide?

We’re told this has been difficult for Pembans partly because 83 per cent are rustics; and that they labour under poor-quality (or total lack of) education…

… But that growing mobile telephony penetration and urbanisation play significant roles in reducing poverty. That’s as may be. In any case, we’d do no better than to heed the WB’s Senior Poverty and Equity Director, Ms Carolina Sanchez, on ‘coming up with more effective development programs that improve the lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable…” Of course, these include Zanzibaris, Pembans and Tanzanians at large.