Why ‘Big Results Now’ can’t work for Tanzania

On February 22 this year, the government of President Jakaya Kikwete (2005--) formally launched a much-vaunted programme that’s ostensibly intended to vault Tanzania over from its current Least Developed Developing Country status (LDDC) to a middle-income nation-state by the year 2025.

Dubbed ‘Big Results Now’ (BRN), the initiative is basically the proverbial Leaf taken out of the Malaysian Book titled ‘Big Fast Results’ (BFR). BFR is part and parcel of Malaysia’s Govt.

Transformation Programme (GTP) designed to ensure that big socio-economic developmental results come about thick and fast on the ground.

Unveiled with the motto ‘People First: Performance Now!’ on Jan. 28, 2010 by Malaysian Premier Najib Tun Razak, GTP sought to address seven key areas of the Malaysian economy with a view to making that country attain its ‘Vision-2020’ of becoming a high-income, developed country.

The seven selected National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) are reducing crime; fighting corruption; improving student outcomes; raising the living standards of low-income households; improving rural basic infrastructure; improving urban public transport, and addressing the cost of living.

Tanzania is, of course, free to adopt the Malaysian or any other developmental model and customise it to suit local needs. The professed underlying and overriding objective is to catapult the country and its people into a middle-income nation-state by its avowed Development Vision-2025!

In that regard, Dar has selected six priority areas to receive the ‘BRN treatment.’ These are: i). energy and natural gas; (ii). agriculture; (iii). water; (iv). education; (v). transport; and, (vi). resources mobilization.

Fair enough... But, there then arises the 64,000-dollar Question: will the Tanzania Govt. the way we know it today succeed in its otherwise noble endeavour to lift the country and its people by their bootstraps from being one of the world’s 20 poorest populations and into a middle-income Society in the next 12 years to Vision-2025?

In all fairness, and without an iota of prejudice, I cannot see that happening any time soon, or in the foreseeable future. This is for two fundamental reasons. Look at it this way...

One: education is fundamental to general socio-economic development among the six sectoral priorities in the BRN programme. However, education has started off on the wrong foot.

The other major impediment to success of the BRN initiative has been with us much longer: grand corruption, malfeasance, misfeasance and other maladies generally involving public resources in one form or another.

I’ll explain, starting with the Education faux pas, false step...

On Aug. 15, 2013, Education minister Shukuru Kawambwa formally launched implementation of the BRN initiative in Dar by administering an oath of sorts to top ministerial brass, including institutional directors and regional education officers. Surprisingly, classroom teachers - the grassroots project implementers - were left out in the cold!

Surely, teachers are crucial in practical and other terms to ensure truly Big Results on the ground education-wise, NOT armchair highbrows from ministerial hdqrs! Prudence dictates that a few teachers would have been roped in to swear for and on behalf of their colleagues as a goodwill gesture...

Secondly, the ongoing rampant perpetrations by officials involving public funds/resources are bound to play merry hell with any Big Results that might come out of the BRN initiative - thus draining the (financial and other) returns out of public coffers like nobody’s business!

This reminds me of my secondary school lessons on ‘simultaneous equations.’ Usually, these are two linear equations in two variables which are said to be ‘simultaneous’ if they’re considered at the same time. Take, for example, a tap which takes three minutes to fill a kitchen sink, while the drain pipe empties same in five minutes... If both are ‘turned on,’ how long will it take to ‘fill’ the sink?

Put in context here, the inlet tap represents BRN returns, while the drainpipe is the rampant embezzlement, outright theft and other criminality draining away the BRN returns!

Carried to its logical conclusion, this means that, unless and until the grand corruption and related maladies are eliminated (or drastically reduced), Tanzania’s Big Results Now programme will never mean much on the ground, however good or efficacious, period... Tears!

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