Tanzania: work ethic and glut of rest days

‘Work ethic’ is generally defined as ‘a value based on hard work and diligence. It’s also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character...’

Common practice is that workers exhibiting good work ethic in a given institution would be selected for better positions, more responsibility and promotion. That’s largely because they provide fair value for the remuneration received.

The corollary of that is, of course, workers utterly destitute of the work ethic become a burden on their institution – thus undeserving of the remuneration, promotion and greater responsibility!

Pardon me, o’esteemed reader, for waxing philosophical here... I couldn’t help this after reading an article in a Dar-based ki-Swahili daily titled ‘Mapumziko ya Mapinduzi yazua mjadala.’ This was based on Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete’s surprise gift (?) to workers on Tanzania Mainland when, taking a cue from Zanzibar President Shein, he unexpectedly declared Jan. 13 this year a public holiday. (Mtanzania: Jan. 14, 2014).

That bolt from the blue practically extended by a whole working day the euphoria – for lack of a better term – usually incorrectly associated with weekends, public holidays and other rest days in Third World LDCs like Tanzania!

The occasion was the 50th anniversary (on Sunday, Jan. 12) of the Zanzibar Revolution, compliments’ of Abeid Amani Karume (1905-1972)...

...Or was it ‘compliments’ of self-styled Field Marshall John Gideon Okello (1937-71? I don’t know; do you! Anyway, that’s another story...

The story here today’s about that Jan. 13 holiday, contrived in the manner and style of a stroke of lightning out of a cloudless sky! Barring similar bolts from the blue, this gives Tanzanians 119 rest days, one more than was the case last year! (See Daily News: January 1, 2014). Reacting to the decision by a stroke of the presidential quill, Dar University Senior Lecturer Benson Bana stated that Kikwete had/has the mandate to do so; and that making Jan. 13 a rest day won’t adversely impact the nation’s economy!

Dr Bana went further, categorically averring that many Tanzanians are averse to work; they routinely ‘strive’ to do as little work as possible on duty! (Page 2, Mtanzania: Jan 14, 2014).

To call a spade a spade, Dr Bana’s message is that, for all practical purposes, many Tanzanians just laze about, public holidays and work-days alike!

In other words, Tanzanians lack the requisite work ethic that’s essential to meaningful, effective and sustainable socio-economic development... Sheesh! Of course, that’s far from reality on the ground. In Tanzania, public holidays (as are weekends and other rest days) are virtually the (dubious) privilege of public service employees in Govt. ministries, departments, Agencies and related institutions. They form a minimal proportion of the estimated 23.5m-strong workforce (World Bank: 2012)!

Some private institutions in the formal sector also pay respect (so to speak) to statutory rest days, although banks and other crucial service providers nowadays open for business on weekends!

The corollary’s that farm and other workers in the informal economy ‘know’ no formal rest days, including especially ‘afterthought’ sentimental holidays such as Jan. 13, 2014!

Included in this broad category are ‘self-employed’ workers such as street peddlers, car washers, wayside mechanics and carpenters, recycling suppliers (scrap metal, empty plastic bottles, etc), pickpockets, muggers, the lot!

That presidential holiday was NOT for them; it was business as usual and, on that account, Dr Bana is right to say it won’t impact the economy!

Only about two million out of the 23.6 million workforce would directly ‘enjoy’ President Kikwete’s special holiday – as is always the case with the other rest days! The other 21 million would be slogging it out on the farm and in urban settings in tireless efforts to keep body and soul together, come rain, come shine!

As Dr Bana says, the presidential public holiday’ll have no significant impact on the economy, because it directly affects only two million public workers already wallowing in a glut of rest days and a modicum of work ethic. The other 21 million slog on, seeing rest days as waste of precious time... Cheers!