Tanzanians’ work attitude must change
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa formally opened the Ujuzi Fair in Dodoma. The event was organised by the National Council for Technical Education (Nacte) in partnership with the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF).
Ujuzi Fair aims at harnessing the technical and innovative capacities of Tanzanians as part of the bigger national goal to bolster the country’s developmental capacity through skills-building which ensure that the country attains its set national development goals.
The day before, Nacte and TPSF held a one-day stakeholders’ forum titled ‘Strengthening Stakeholders Collaboration in Skills Development for Industrial Economic Growth.’
Speaking at that forum, the Executive Director of the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE), Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, said that Tanzania “finds itself bogged down as it tries to enter the development stratosphere”.
In a game of golf, balls can land on a green, into a bunker or in a sand trap.
Tanzania today finds itself in a ‘jobs sand trap’ when it comes to human resources – what with some of its 26 million-strong workforce being jobless, lacking the requisite skills, etc.
No wonder that this hinders the nation from reaching The Green: its ‘Development Vision 2025’ of a semi-industrialised, upper-middle income Economy by 2025.
As an experienced professional administrator and a lawyer by training, Dr Mlimuka has seen it all from his perch on the apex of the employers’ body ATE. He is, therefore, right to say that Tanzanians have for far too long been lying to ourselves that everything is OK, while knowing that our attitude to work sucks.
Dr Mlimuka cites one of the lies is that both local and international investors just love to hire foreigners…
But, he says, “investors want to have their investments run professionally, and to enjoy a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, our laws protect the employees – doing so to the detriment of investors’ investments.”
Past experience has shown that Tanzanians generally give employers grief.
These are politically-incorrect words in a politically-sensitive Tanzania where truth-telling to the people by leaders is an anathema. We are used to being mollycoddled, and constantly reminded that we are good in everything that we do.
‘Watanzania Tunaweza’ – Tanzanians can GET IT DONE – is the usual battle-cry which politicians use against anyone who says there are challenges in this blessed land.
Responding to very positive remarks made by two big bank representatives on what they are doing to build Tanzania’s next generation of corporate leaders, Dr Mlimuka says: “I know they won’t say it here; but, banks are losing billions through fraud.
“We must confront this genie that says Tanzanians cannot be trusted. Honesty and reliability are some of the un-teachable ‘soft skills’ that we need to inculcate in our people right from childhood.”
In other words: we know Tanzania’s problem is not lack of jobs. It is the unfortunate but true lack of application by Tanzanians that is made even more possible by our overly-protective labour laws.
Dr Mlimuka, as a representative of employers, should know – especially given that he meets with these issues every day.
This columnist has never shied away from calling a spade a spade: that our attitude towards work sucks.
It’s true that Tanzania needs jobs skills, and efforts are ongoing to invest in skills training. But attitude is of utmost importance, as nothing beats it (attitude) in the work place.
We may argue till the cows come home; but we have to ask ourselves some hard, unpleasant questions. Why, for example, is Safaricom, East Africa’s most profitable company, when it has been in existence for 20 years – just like Vodacom Tanzania?
How come a technology which sells gas in small units – and which was invented by a Tanzanian – was acquired by Safaricom?
How come that it is Safaricom, which employs 5,600 Kenyans and 100 foreigners, when Vodacom Tanzania has only a fraction of those numbers?
Are we surprised that Safaricom has ventured into the potentially lucrative Ethiopian telecoms market?
As long as we continue using regulatory authorities to stifle competition and protect mediocrity in the name of nationalism, our quest for upper-middle income status shall remain but a dream only.
