The paradox of merged ministries

Arusha. After the General Elections in 1970, one of the significant ministerial line-ups made by the Union government was the creation of a new ministry of Water. Dr Wilbert Chagula, the first principal of the then nine-year-old University College of Dar es Salaam, was taken from the academics to head the new ministry.

Until then, the Water docket had been under different ministries, but mostly the Public Works which under the current set up would combine the ministry of Works, Communications, Transport, and allied departments.

Water docket had also been associated with the urban authorities, especially the town and city councils since the Water department was more concerned with the supply of tap water to consumers in urban centres.

That the new ministry had to be created was a clear indication by the technocrats in the government that water affairs cannot continue to be undertaken lightly by being placed under other ministries or moved from one ministry to another.

It was also a realisation that water or supply of it was no longer a social service, but a key economic resource that serves other sectors such as agriculture (irrigation), energy (hydropower), industries, environmental conservation, health, and others.

followed the task of assembling all units which had a bearing on water and which were scattered in different ministries to a new headquarters then located at a spot where the NIC’s Life House currently stands along the Sokoine Drive in Dar es Salaam.

The government had since independence created new ministries mainly to meet challenges of the day; be they at international or national levels and what President John Pombe Magufuli has done when forming his Cabinet is not new thing.

The 1980s saw the coming in of a separate ministry for Energy and Minerals whose dockets kept changing hands from one ministry to another. The mineral sector, which was active until the early years of independence before it went down because of the falling price of gold at the world market, started booming again.

In the later years, 1990 to be specific, the former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi did not hesitate to tell Tanzanians after his re-election that he was creating new dockets for Children and Women Affairs, Science and Technology, and Higher Education and Environment because issues under them were high on the international or national agenda.

Before then, ministries dedicated to, for instance, Livestock Development; and Information, Broadcasting and Sports had been formed. The Sports Ministry was created in early 1974 after Tanzania won the first ever gold medal in the Commonwealth Games with the country’s number one sports lover then Major General Sarakikya appointed to head the docket. That apparently opened floodgates as two other gold medals were to follow in the 1978 and 1982 games.

It is because of this that there had been some concerns over the recent merging of ministries by the Magufuli Administration on reasons that this would cut down the cost of running the government.

These include the Ministry of Works, which Dr Magufuli had headed for many of the years he was in the government prior to becoming Head of State. The ministry has now been ‘swallowed up’ under the giant Ministry of Works, Communications, and Transport whose minister is yet to be appointed.

At different times in the last 50 years, the three dockets had been merged and later separated to create and facilitate efficiency.

Two other giant ministries had been created after the merging of the ministries of Health and Social Welfare and the one that was responsible for Women, Children Affairs and Gender. On the other hand, the Ministry of East African Cooperation has been incorporated into the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The merging of ministries has not gone well with some analysts who are, however, in full support of measures the new administration is taking to cut down huge costs of running the government. There are fears that the huge bureaucracy under the new ministries may create another burden and lead to inefficiency.

One of them is Mr Sultan Edward Mhina, a Gender and Development consultant based in Dar es Salaam. He says efforts must be made to ensure the new structures are efficient enough to run the government instead of creating a burden in coordinating them.

“We might not be sufficiently competent to judge the logistics and technicalities of organising ministries in a certain way. Nevertheless, whatever the mix, it’s the technical experts in the respective ministries who matter the most. They are the ones who keep or block the momentum,” he says.

Mr Mhina wonders if there is a blueprint on how ministries ought to be composed in regard to disciplines and specialisations. He says it was upon the Public Service Management to ensure there was proper coordination of the government with the new line-up for the ministries.

However, Dr Richard Masika, the Rector of Arusha Technical College (ATC), believes the merging of the ministries would reduce what he describes as ‘territorial conflicts’ in the governance as well as promote efficiency in decision making.

Mr Wilhelm Gidabuday, a retired athlete now living at Nangwa Village in Hanang Dly supports Dr Magufuli for his decision to merge some of the ministries, remarking that it was a calculated means of enabling the state coffers to save sufficient money for provision of social services. “The fewer (ministries) you have, the fewer shillings you pay to run them,” he points out.

Mr Alex Hugo, a sales executive with a major media house in Arusha also remarks; “I congratulate the President for appointing a cabinet with a small number of ministers. This seems to go in line with his ambition to increase the government’s savings so as to raise more funds for necessary expenditure and development projects.”

But former deputy minister Goodluck Ole Medeye, who crossed over to the main opposition party -- Chadema -- during the height of the election campaigns in August, this year, cautions that if President Magufuli was not careful, the recent changes could be counter-productive.

He specifically cited the merging of ministries, saying it would be a great burden to the administrators and technical staff within the government. Various departments and units of the ministries which have been merged into one were scattered in various places, making the task of coordination equally challenging.

The former deputy minister for Lands and Arumeru West MP (CCM) cited Tamisemi (Regional Administration and Local Government docket) which shoulders a great responsibility. He said it was not a proper decision to place it under the President’s Office, suggested to make it a separate ministry as was the case with the 1960s and a few years ago.