Businesses should be allowed to go on without all these disruptions. Anyone who has tried their hand in business will agree with me that keeping a business afloat in a competitive market is already a full time job even without government interference.
Celtel/ Airtel is a done deal and should be left alone. Rome was not built in one day, and neither was it built by one government. Each succesive [Roman] regime took from its predeccesors and moved ahead, not backwards - to purputedly correct historical wrongs. The people who were around during divestiture of celtel from ttcl made decisions that were valid in the circumstances obtaining at that time. They were operating with parameters provided to them and under scrutiny of relevant authorities at that time.
What Tanzania needs is more investment, and not scaring away of potential investors, who are already lookin with horror at what happened to Dangote (USD 500M), Acacia (USD 4B), Bagamoyo Port Project (USD 10B), Central Line Project (USD 7.6B) and now Airtel. FDI is the sweetest thing any country in its right senses will try to attract. It brings in new capital to an economy and kick starts multiplier effects within local industries, creating new demand and exponential economic growth. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
Finally, there is nothing to be gained by reattaching Airtel to TTCL. Airtel business will stagnate and suffer a long painful death. TTCL's own capital will be eroded as it tries to keep the newly appropriated company afloat in a very red market.
At a general level, It requires a sober calculating mind with business savvy to observe what you wrote.
We do not have that at Ikulu currently.
Never ending protracted battles with the business community, even when warranted, are costly in both treasure and the country's business friendly image.
A government that repeatedly reneges on its signed contracts is a government that sends signals that its contracts are not worth the paper they are written on.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions they say.
Sometimes I doubt we even have good intentions on the part of our top leadership.
Worse still, by way of immanent critique by a rather ignorant person as far as the intimate details on the intricate hairy shenanigans of corporate mergers and acquisitions in Tanzania are concerned, I would like to pose a question.
Suppose wrongs were done and the government is out to right these wrongs. Duly and commendably.
If there were shady deals signed, that disadvantaged the government to this colossal extent, who is responsible for that? What has been done to make them pay? Has something been done that I simply haven't heard due to the entirety of this cacophonous concoction? Or are my wits still following this as far as possible while tuning out the neeedless nitty gritty, but todate there is neither accusation nor investigation, much less prosecution naming individuals responsible for signing these contracts on behalf of the government?
In other words, my question is, even if what the government is saying is correct. Is the government even following what should be done in such a situation?
I am genuinely interested to know.