|
Evarist Kagaruki
HARD TALK
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Lately, there has been a lot of cynicism and disillusionment among the Tanzanian citizenry about the present administration of President Jakaya Kikwete, which has only four years to complete its tenure.Although no opinion polls have been taken of recent, there is a sense that the popularity of JK was waning with the passage of time; that those days when everybody was ebullient and talked of the huge expectations about the fourth-phase government seem to have long gone. Kikwete’s 2005 captivating campaign slogan, “Better life for every Tanzanian”, which earned him million of votes, was no longer good music in the ears of the electorate whose livelihoods have deteriorated over the last five years.
This slogan was meant to give Tanzanians new hopes for a brighter future after they had seen some light at the end of the tunnel, following the sound macro-economic (and fiscal) policies of the third-phase administration of President Benjamin Mkapa.
These policies laid a solid foundation for socio-economic advancement and saw not only the promotion of entrepreneurship and investment as well as the growth of the private sector, but also an improvement in people’s incomes and welfare both in the rural and urban areas. (Mkapa left office, when the economic growth rate was 7 per cent and inflation 6.2 per cent). When it came to measuring Mkapa’s economic successes, Tanzanians were not simply counting money in their pockets, but happiness, as the poor managed to put food on the table.
President Kikwete came into office facing the arduous task of not only ensuring that his predecessor’s economic gains did not slip away, but also building on those successes to improve the quality of life of the majority of the citizenry.Six years on, the verdict by the disenchanted populace would be that things have not gone just as well as expected. Three major reasons may be behind public disenchantment with the present administration.
Firstly, the economic situation in the last couple of years has not been kind to the ordinary Tanzanians for whom life has been increasingly difficult.Prices of most basic consumer goods, especially food, have been skyrocketing; many poor households have had to drastically cut food budgets in order to survive.The recent Tanesco tariff increase by 40per cent has made the situation worse as prices have surged due to galloping inflation.
Living standards are now midway through the worst fall since independence.
What gravely concerns most of us is the absence of any government plan or strategy to cushion the poor against the rising cost of living, which is a recipe for civil unrest. Secondly, the prospects for more jobs for the youth – one of the main campaign pledges by JK – are dimming.
The army of the unemployed young people on the streets continues to swell.
But as the problem becomes more complex, we see the government paying lip service to it! Countries, which invested heavily in higher education and made progress did also evolve coherent, long-term plans and strategies on how to absorb the skilled manpower (university and college graduates) into the productive sectors of the economy.
Thirdly, allegations of mega scandals involving high-profile government officials (some of these were investigated by parliamentary select committees) and the lack of decisive action against the culprits, have seriously eroded public confidence in the government.
As I said the other day, the failure (or hesitation) by the President to call such people to account calls into question his commitment to the fight against graft. And lastly, the President’s tolerance of his under-performing lieutenants, and those of questionable probity, tends to undermine his own credibility. Kikwete, by words and deeds, has shown that he has the interest of his fellow citizens at heart and wants to do something good for the country. But the irony is that he is tolerant of such people who spend most of their time and energy thinking about political posturing (for the 2015 presidency), not national development, and are thus a hindrance to his efforts to try and get Tanzanians out of the vortex of stinking poverty.
Mr Kagaruki is a political analyst based in Dar es Salaam
|
