There are plans to revive the Presidential Delivery Bureau in Zanzibar.

Well, one can argue that it is not being revived, but created afresh. I am not privileged to know what exactly President Hussein Mwinyi has in mind, but, having interacted with Retired President Jakaya Kikwete’s Presidential Delivery Bureau towards its tail end, I can assure you there is good intent on the concept.

Kikwete’s Presidential Delivery Bureau introduced us to some heavy-hitting local talent, including a former Celtel International CEO, Mr Omar Issa. The team at PDB included, among others, the lady now advising President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Dr Blandina Kilama, as well as the current Tanesco managing director, Mr Maharage Chande.

This brief list, as it were, joins a longer one of technocrats who had either served globally, as is the case with Mr Issa, or gone on to deliver exemplary service to the United Republic of Tanzania.

As we already know, the Zanzibar government under President Mwinyi is keen on exploring the blue economy, and has already set up a ministry dedicated to this endeavour.

However, the question we must ask is: why is there a need for a special purpose vehicle, in the name of PDB, to deliver a tourism, oil and gas economy when there already are government ministries dedicated towards this same goal?

This question can be answered by looking at the Kikwete Presidential Delivery Bureau and the Hussein Mwinyi model.

Post-Kikwete, Vodacom Tanzania searched locally, but apparently did not find a suitable candidate for the position of managing director. The government (or is it shadowy persons with power?) did everything possible to stop a listed company from hiring a Kenyan national, Ms Sylvia Mulinge, and failed to share five names as requested by the then chairman of Vodacom Tanzania, the late Ali Mufuruki.

Beginning September 1, 2022, Ms Mulinge will take over as chief executive of MTN Uganda. How does my beloved Tanzania want to have its cake and eat it? In other words, we expect companies in other countries to employ Tanzanians, but make it difficult for others to work here.

The point I am making is that talent is nurtured. The Presidential Delivery Bureau did a lot in nurturing talent, and, believe me, Mo Ibrahim, in hiring talent, roped in Omar Issa, who is no ordinary manager. He is a talented visionary who could be trusted to run Celtel International a multi-million-dolloar international brand.

In that role, Mr Issa worked with people from all nationalities, and had a reputation as a slave driver – in a positive sense.

Zanzibar, therefore, needs to pick the best talent there is to deliver on its blue economy agenda, and at the same time remember that great talent is costly.

The real challenge is not the creation of a Presidential Delivery Bureau. The real challenge is getting such an organisation to get everyone to read from the same script, and deliver on their mandates.

If we don’t have places where persons learn the trade, how can we expect them to have the skills to take us places? Look at the telecommunications companies operating in Tanzania – their potential versus what they have been able to achieve year in, year out.

Like it or not, they are not competing with the regional market leader Safaricom that also has a global reputation as the cooking pot in which M-Pesa was born, a brand that continues to wow the world with its ability to expand financial inclusion for those at the excluded bottom.

The sort of experience that Ms Mulinge would have brought here cannot be gained in any business school, but by practice. Today, a number of Tanzanians work in Kenya and even further abroad, gaining invaluable knowledge in areas that we have yet to master. One day they will come back home with the knowledge and experience. Let’s value them.