Magufuli names new TIC head

Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli yesterday appointed a new head of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) which is responsible for coordinating, promoting and facilitating investments in the country. This comes amid reports of some government officials leaving their posts to contest for political positions in the looming elections.

A statement issued by the State House said that Dr Magufuli appointed the Bank of Tanzania’s Fiscal and Debt Management manager, Dr Maduhu Kazi, the new TIC director general to replace Mr Geoffrey Mwambe, who has leftafter serving for three years.

Dr Kazi had also served as director of Economic Research at the central bank.

The statement did not explain why Mr Mwambe was replaced; but reliable sources told The Citizen that he was planning to vie for a parliamentary seat.

He was appointed to the position in 2017 replacing the-then acting TIC boss, Clifford Tandari, who was appointed the Morogoro Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS).

Efforts to reach Mr Mwambe to comment on the matter proved futile after phone calls were unanswered until press time yesterday.

And the TIC spokesperson would not comment on the matter.

Prior to his appointment as TIC chief, Mr Mwambe had served as a district commissioner for Manyoni District in Singida Region; a Board Member at the BoT and at TTCL PESA Ltd. He holds BA and MA degrees in Economics from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).

Last week, Mr Mwambe told reporters that TIC had successfully registered projects worth $20 billion since 2016.

The data indicates that the manufacturing sector accounted for 53 percent of the total investment projects registered during the period.

Agriculture - which engages a majority of Tanzanians of working age - accounted for only seven per cent of investment projects in the last four years, TIC figures show.

Other sectors (and their percentages of projects registered during the period) include Commercial buildings (10 percent), Transportation and Logistics (9 percent) and Tourism (8 percent).

Despite these new investments, there have been concerns raised by various stakeholders - including the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) - regarding poor investment and business environment in the country. If nothig else, this is seen as a task that awaits the new TIC boss Dr Kazi, following his appointment to replace Mr Mwambe.

Government bureaucracy is generally regarded as among the biggest challenges which the new TIC boss is expected to address in order to improve the current business and investment environment in the country.

Other challenges include - but are not limited to - inaccessibility of capital for local investors, and inordinately harsh treatment meted out to investors, both extant and prospective. This is regularly highlighted by assorted stakeholders.