A question that has enigmatized various Presidents is where, in the Cabinet, should local government be placed. At one time in the past, local government had a separate Ministry.
As President Samia Suluhu Hassan unfolded her new Cabinet, attention was, as is usually the case, focused on who has been appointed to what Ministry, who has been taken on board and who has been left by the side.
Nevertheless, it did not escape the attention of lovers of local government, urban development and management, housing, real estate and good governance, that the folder for local government has been moved from the President’s Office (PO), to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Tanzania has always aimed at having efficient semi-autonomous local governments answering to the needs of the people. Pundits of local governments point to their crucial role in understanding and implementing local priorities, with the general population exercising oversight.
A major problem has been the feeling that local governments were not performing as expected, a feeling that has in part encouraged the central government to continue exercising authority directly, of indirectly though executive agencies, in areas that are under the jurisdiction of local governments.
A question that has enigmatized various Presidents is where, in the Cabinet, should local government be placed. At one time in the past, local government had a separate Ministry.
This however, did not appear appropriate, given that local governments were units of governance, which, in totality could not be equated to a sector ministry.
So, again, in the past, local government administration was moved to the Prime Minister’s Office. After all, the Prime Minister was the overall implementor and supervisor of government business.
There was thus formed the Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG, or, in Kiswahili, OWM-TAMISEMI).
With time, this arrangement was seen as wanting since the totality of local government areas made up the whole country, which needed to be close to the Country’s Chief Executive Officer, that is, the President.
Regional Administration and Local Government was thus moved to the President’s Office and we had the PO-RALG (or OR-TAMISEMI). Because education and health establishments were moved to local governments, you could find OR-TAMISEMI literally in any corner of the country.
Servants in under local governments generally exuded the importance of belonging to the President’s Office (PO), or, Ofisi ya Rais (OR). The President has now reversed this and local government is once more under the Prime Minister’s Office.
If this is read in the spirit of the President’s aim of seeking efficient and performing local governments, the move is aimed to removing local government from hibernating snugly under the wings of the President (who, technically, was the substantive minister for local government), to a position where they are exposed to supervision and direction from Her office.
Thus, both the Prime Minister, and the Minister for TAMISEMI, will now be required to be up and running to ensure that local governments perform, to the satisfaction of the people.
The appointed TAMISEMI Minister, Prof Riziki Shemdoe, is not a stranger to the Ministry. He spent a stint of his career at Ardhi University where local government is a key subject in all the curricula taught at the University.
You will find Ardhi University students in all local governments in the country. The Professor’s research interest in forestry, natural resources and climate change comes in handy to addressing issues daunting local governments.
There are many challenges though. One, all our urban areas, be they large or small, are growing chaotically. It is my understanding that TAMISEMI has been developing an urban development and management policy.
A problem to be sorted out urgently is who, between the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development (MLHHSD), and TAMISEMI, has the duty to oversee the orderly development of urban areas.
TAMISEMI must take charge, since all Directors answer to this Ministry, and urban development is not just about land. All headaches of how to make urban areas function should be on the shoulders of the Executive Officers of these local government areas.
These include land use planning, local economic development, employment, environment, housing, the informal sector, waste management, infrastructure and services supply and management, transport (yes, including the BRT and daladalas in Dar es Salaam).
To manage such areas, you need a cadre of well-trained managers with experience in corporate management, appointed on merit and competitively, and tasked with clear mandates and duties; subjected to regular monitoring and evaluation. Urban areas must be run on the principles of successfully managing a huge corporate organisation.
Large urban areas, such as Dar es Salaam, need to have an organisation set up tailored to making the city work. You most likely need a Metropolitan Authority.
The relation between executive agencies such as TARURA, UWSAs, RUWASAs, and LATRAs operating independently within the local government areas, need to be streamlined.
Human resources is one problem, but how about financial and other resources? There needs to be a clear-cut formula of revenue sharing between the central and local governments.
This would be in line with the esteemed policy of decentralisation by devolution (D-by-D) espoused under the Local Government Reform Programme.
It is time that local authorities, particularly urban areas, took charge of their development; to have short and long-term strategies that that will see them improving the quality of life of their residents, and becoming competitive in a rapidly-evolving world.
