JamiiForums | The Home of Great Thinkers - Great Thinkers https://www.jamiiforums.com/ en Thu, 23 May 2013 09:03:28 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.jamiiforums.com/template/JamiV1/default/misc/rss.png JamiiForums | The Home of Great Thinkers - Great Thinkers https://www.jamiiforums.com/ <![CDATA[Can Agriculture Correct Tanzania's Negative Balance of Payment?]]> https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/455018-can-agriculture-correct-tanzanias-negative-balance-of-payment-new-post.html Tue, 21 May 2013 23:56:35 GMT Agriculture has bankrolled Tanzanian economy for a long time, contributing as much as 27.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).It remains potentially the most lucrative sector of the economy. The lingering question is whether the sector can... Agriculture has bankrolled Tanzanian economy for a long time, contributing as much as 27.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).It remains potentially the most lucrative sector of the economy. The lingering question is whether the sector can alleviate Tanzania’s economic burden by offsetting the current negative balance of payment.

With the nation at Sh22 trillion in debt, offsetting balance of payments (BoP) could be a tricky one, unless each and every able individual engages in productivity. The agricultural sector seems to be the only viable option that can employ every able bodied individual. Tanzania has vast arable land, which is rapidly falling in the hands of foreigners engaged in farming not for the benefit of the local economy, but rather, to provide raw material for their industries and food security for their people

After independence, Tanzania became a manufacturing hub. Cotton farmers had a ready market for their produce. Textile mills - Mwatex, Sunguratex and the like - created thousands of jobs to urban dwellers and were a source of steady income for farmers in rural areas. The surplus raw material was processed and exported to foreign markets.

Today, all the textiles and cotton processing factories are literally gone while large-scale cotton farming has been abandoned because farmers have no motivation to work. In the sixties and seventies, Tanzania’s economic potential was much higher than that of many nations in the red-hot economies in Asia such as South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and others.

In contrast, Tanzania is three times the size of Vietnam with only 45 million people while the Vietnam population stands in excess of 88 million. Vietnam recorded a current account surplus of $246 million in 2012 while Tanzania recorded $250 million deficit in the same year. Why such a huge contrast when Tanzania has much more potential than Vietnam?

Beginning in the 1990s, the Vietnamese government launched a special program, which elevated the country’s agricultural standing to higher heights making it the world’s leading rice producer and exporter. In 2010, Vietnam broke the barrier and became the largest rice producer. The new policy became so successful that Vietnam eliminated internal food scarcity and today has plenty to export. Agriculture contributes 22 per cent into Vietnamese GDP. Agriculture has revolutionized the country’s economy, following the footsteps of giants such as South Korea in becoming a global manufacturing hub.

Vietnam processes its own agricultural produce, and only exports finished products, a move that has kept unemployment at 4.3 per cent and inflation at 4.5 per cent. In Tanzania, rural farmers are suffering extreme bouts of apathy and are no-longer motivated to carry on large scale farming. This is because they lack sufficient and organized markets for their produce. They lack capital, farm inputs, and an infrastructural base that would enable them access both domestic and foreign markets.

Elsewhere, tiny Netherlands is racking-in $79 billion annually from agriculture. Ironically, Tanzania’s agricultural potential is well over $90 billion, dwarfing both the Netherlands and Brazil.Tanzania has the potential to feed itself, the entire sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Europe Sadly, Tanzania is importing tainted rice, receiving spoilt maize as humanitarian assistance when it has millions of hectors either idle or leased to foreign entities.

The country is also importing contaminated fish from Japan, yet cargo-planes are loading tonnes of fresh fish from Mwanza to Eastern Europe at a throw away price. Tanzania dairy farmers are selling milk cheaply to some neighboring countries that process it and then bring it back into our domestic market as processed dairy products at a higher price. Tanzania need an agricultural revolution that will ensure only processed and finished agricultural-products are exported. Not raw-products that fetches almost nothing in the world market. The revolution must provide tax incentives to farmers and companies that engage in export
To correct the current balance of payment through agriculture, the government must design a revolutionary blueprint, by providing research, technical, financial and farming input assistance to farmers. It must help agricultural traders secure entry into the global market. Quarter System is needed on importation of food and agricultural products to boost local innovation and productivity.
]]> Great Thinkers John Mashaka https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/455018-can-agriculture-correct-tanzanias-negative-balance-of-payment.html Kiu ya uzalendo https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/453379-kiu-ya-uzalendo-new-post.html Sat, 18 May 2013 19:04:04 GMT Kuna heshima ambayo taifa lolote lazima lazima iifikie, heshima hiyo imelala katika mafanikio yake. Mafanikio hayo hayotopatikana pasipo utayari wa raia kuyafuata, Pasipo kufanya jitihada za kuyakaribia, pasipo kufanya jitihada za kuyashika, kwa... Kuna heshima ambayo taifa lolote lazima lazima iifikie, heshima hiyo imelala katika mafanikio yake.
Mafanikio hayo hayotopatikana pasipo utayari wa raia kuyafuata, Pasipo kufanya jitihada za kuyakaribia, pasipo kufanya jitihada za kuyashika, kwa juhudi zisizofifia.

Inaweza kuwa safari ndefu, Inaweza kuchukua vizazi vingi, lakini ni lazima tuanze safari hii.

Hata kama soli za viatu vyetu zikiisha kwaajili ya safari hii, sisi kama taifa ni lazima tujue…safari yetu ni moja..tuna hii ndoto kubwa, tuna jukumu la kufanikisha..

Dhamira yetu ni lazima iwe kama kiu jangwani, kwa umoja na wajibu tunaweza kuwa nguvu isiyozuilika. Tunaweza kuwa mafuriko.

Sisi watanzania tuna nguvu hii. Nguvu hii iko mikononi mwetu. Ni nguvu ya umoja na imani isiyotetereka ya kuona taifa hili likinyanyuka.

Ni ukweli, watu imara hujenga mataifa imara na watu dhaifu hujenga mataifa dhaifu.
Huu ni wito wa uzalendo maana halisi ya kuliweka taifa pamoja. Tutalisongesha taifa hili ikiwa tu, tutakuwa wamoja na wazalendo.

Lakini bila serikali imara na shupavu, bila serikali yenye malengo na nidhamu, hatutafanikiwa.
Ni ukweli usiopingika nguvu hii iko mikononi mwetu, Nguvu ya kubadilisha hili taifa imelala kwenye mikono yetu. Ni wakati wetu kuamua mwelekeo wetu kama taifa.

Kitabu kiu ya UZALENDO. KITAWAJIA HIVI KARIBUNI MTAANI. MOJA YA KURASA ZAKE. ]]> Great Thinkers Shayu https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/453379-kiu-ya-uzalendo.html PPP-Handing over Public Services to the Banks! https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/451638-ppp-handing-over-public-services-to-the-banks-new-post.html Wed, 15 May 2013 13:41:42 GMT Great Thinkers (https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/), Jana nilianzisha uzi kuhusiana na PPP na kutoa maoni yangu ambayo bado yanapatikana kwenye uzi huu CEOs Host Kinana for PPP Presentation Today... Great Thinkers,

Jana nilianzisha uzi kuhusiana na PPP na kutoa maoni yangu ambayo bado yanapatikana kwenye uzi huu CEOs Host Kinana for PPP Presentation Today. Pamoja na ukweli kwamba Mada hii imekosa mwitikio kwenye Jukwaa la siasa lakini bado ni imani yangu kuwa ni muhimu sana kwa Taifa. Leo hii Sekta ya Umma Uingereza tayari imenasa kwenye dimbwi la lundo la madeni yenye riba mara mbili ya utaratibu wa kawaida wa Serikali kukopa.

Hii hapa chini ni Report mpya kutoka Kamati ya Fedha (House of Commons) ikielezea zigo wanalotwishwa wananchi kupitia mfumo huu. Note; karibu mara zote neno PFI linatumika na Waingereza kumaanisha PPP.

By Kerry-anne Mendoza |



The Private Finance Initiative is hitting taxpayers Images_of_Money, under a CC License

There is a scandal unfolding quietly in Britain which poses an existential threat to our most critical public services. It is called the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). This dangerous circle of self-interest means our government is making the taxpayer pay the bill for private service providers and banks to take over our schools, hospitals and other core public services.

PFI schemes were initially designed by Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont in 1992 and were rapidly expanded under New Labour. They are touted as a form of Public Private Partnership. The government uses private finance, rather than borrowing in the usual way, to raise funds for projects. Since 1992, our hospitals and schools have been built this way. PFI loans are at least twice the rate of interest of ordinary government loans, and repaid over 25-30 years.

A recent report by the Treasury Committee condemned PFI as ‘always… more expensive than government borrowing’. The report continues: ‘we have not seen clear areas of savings and benefits in other areas… quality was lower in PFI buildings (and)… PFI is also inherently inflexible, especially for NHS projects’.

The majority of PFI debt does not appear in government debt or deficit figures – the government can therefore use it to bury the true debt burden. Departments can use it to increase their own budgets without dipping into their allotted funds for capital investment.
PFI also allows the private sector to develop the infrastructure to deliver national services while shifting the costs and the risk to the taxpayer. It is the loan provider of the PFI scheme (the bank) which retains ownership of the asset (the school or hospital) for at least the term of the loan, or in the case of default.

Banks are seeking to make profits on the financialization of our public services, and successive governments seeking to put a gloss on their spending figures. The simple interests of the taxpayer – to get what they pay for – have been quietly abandoned amid this circle jerk of the state, private service providers and the financial services sector. The only people who are not benefiting from PFI are the people actually paying for it.

Already, 22 of the 103 NHS trusts to enter PFI are facing financial difficulty due to the exorbitant repayments. Some hospitals are having to handover a fifth of their annual budget on paying for the deal.

In education, it was revealed that we are due to have a shortfall of 250,000 school places for our children by 2014, whilst the tax payer has picked up a £70 million ($106.6 million) bill for PFI schools which had to close.
A recent report by the European Union Services Strategy Unit, showed that the average profit for banks in PFI projects is over 50 per cent.

Some might well ask – so what? If the services are still free at the point of use, what do we care who provides them?
Our taxes pay for the services. PFI, by the Treasury Committee’s own report is proven not to provide value for money for the tax payer.

As the recent health care disaster in Mid Staffordshire, and the unfolding NHS 111 scandal have taught us – prioritising the financialization of a service over its core purpose (helping people) costs lives.

Despite being an entirely manufactured cost inefficiency for the benefit of private companies, the PFI scandal is being used by those vested interests as a case for more privatisation. It is turned into proof that publicly run services are inherently inefficient, bureaucratic and costly. British Prime Minister David Cameron recently told the 300 delegates at the Global Investment Conference 2013 that he believed it was time stop ‘endlessly bashing bankers’ because the City was one of Britain’s greatest strengths.

According to the National Audit Office, The UK National Debt rose by £1.5 trillion as a result of the bank bailout. This is twice the nation’s total annual budget. For this amount, Britain could have funded the health service for 14 years, the entire education system for 40 years or over 300 of Job Seeker’s Allowance. ‘Banker bashing’ by the public will not, and cannot, end until this sector and its cronies in parliament are held to account properly. The British public needs to face up to a terrifying but empowering reality. We have no advocates. This is not a Conservative, a Liberal Democrat or a Labour issue. This is a democratic issue. All three major parties have participated in these scams; they are all in it together.

We need to really get it in our bones that the cavalry is not coming. We are it. Only our newly emerging people’s campaigns and institutions can resolve the crisis, because our existing institutions not only created it, but exist to serve it. For a longer version of this post, along with ideas for taking action see the Scriptonite blog. Crossposted with the author’s permission.

Chanzo Kirefu: http://scriptonitedaily.wordpress.co...tals-to-banks/ ]]> Great Thinkers Ericus Kimasha https://www.jamiiforums.com/great-thinkers/451638-ppp-handing-over-public-services-to-the-banks.html