Mkapa on his ten years as president
2005-07-22 07:20:56
By Gurdian
Government and its parent party CCM are painfully aware that much of the chaos and internecine strife, which prevail in many an African country, including our close neighbours, largely stem from the politics of exclusion. We have absolutely no desire to land our country in such a political and social abyss.
Political parties, civil society organisations and a free press have an important role in enriching public debate by offering fresh perspectives, alternative to those held in official circles.
Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am not the best ruler, but I should like all the developmental achievements credited to me to be really seen as having been done by the people themselves.
They trusted me, and without them I could not have done half of what I did. To me, democratic governance and participation is the route to empower people to do things themselves, rather than to wait for the government.
Because we had been elected under multipartism, we considered it our solemn duty while in office to consolidate our system of political pluralism and democratic governance.
We value political pluralism not as an end in itself but mainly because we believe that, if appropriately handled, it is capable of serving as an important vehicle for national development.
Political parties, civil society organisations and a free press have an important role in enriching public debate by offering fresh perspectives, alternative to those held in official circles.
Not infrequently, they also provide avenues through which the government is able obtain new information and to gauge public opinion.
These important social institutions can also act as the peoples watchdog, capable of holding the government accountable and deterring it from falling into complacency or degenerating into authoritarianism.
We have not only created an environment in which these three pillars of democracy have sprouted, blossomed and bloomed; we have also provided political space for them to operate freely and act as the citizens vehicles for self-activity.
If we have occasionally acted against some of them, it is only because of our desire to drive the point home that democratic freedoms must be enjoyed within the framework of the rule of law. Even if political parties or other social institutions are opposed to a particular law, it is still their duty to obey it.
In this regard, I could not agree more with the eighteenth century English revolutionary Thomas Paine, a passionate supporter of the American and French revolutions. He wrote in 1791, and I quote:
If a law be bad, it is one thing to oppose the practice of it, but it is quite a different thing to expose its errors, to reason on its defects, and to show cause why it should be repealed, or why another should be substituted in its place.
�It is better to obey a bad law, making use at the same time of every argument to show its errors and procure its repeal, than forcibly to violate it; because the precedent of breaking a bad law might weaken the force, and lead to a discretionary violation, of those which are good.
I would say, therefore, that the accusations, which are frequently aired by our detractors that the Government is stifling opposition are patently false and manifestly unfair.
Government and its parent party CCM are painfully aware that much of the chaos and internecine strife, which prevail in many an African country, including our close neighbours, largely stem from the politics of exclusion.
We have absolutely no desire to land our country in such a political and social abyss. Our efforts at political reconciliation, which culminated in the Accord between CCM and CUF in Zanzibar, stem from such a concern.
As part of our endeavour to consolidate democracy, the Government has, over the years, set up institutional frameworks for promoting good governance, protecting human rights and combating corruption.
In its efforts to enhance the delivery of quality public goods and services, my government has been implementing a Public Service Reform Programme, which encompasses the civil service, local government and the parastatal sector.
We are still implementing the Local Government Reform Programme towards the same end. We are anxious to hear the verdict of this conference on the efficacy of such measures and their legacy for posterity.
Whatever your verdict, it may be worth your while to consider an evaluation on governance in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 1996-2004 done by the World Bank Institute.
The World Bank ranked these countries on the basis of changes in governance on three indicators: Voice and Accountability; Government Effectiveness; and Control of Corruption.
Five countries were found to have significantly improved on Voice and Accountability. These are Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Tanzania;
Four countries were found to have significantly improved on Government Effectiveness. These are Botswana, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania; and
Three countries were found to have significantly improved in Control of Corruption. These are Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As you will see, it is only Tanzania that has significantly improved on all the three indicators of progress in governance in Africa.
We have not solved all problems, but our legacy is one of significant improvement. And I am not blowing my own trumpet, I am only referring to independent evaluations.
I am sure you all know that the most important touchstone on the basis of which governments in office the world over are assessed is the performance of national economies. In this regard, Tanzania is no exception.
My government is fully aware that there are no quick fixes in the struggle against poverty, but over the last 10 years we developed a vision, Vision 2025 - and the political will for a Growth and Poverty Reduction strategy to take the struggle significantly forward.
Any government serious about eradicating poverty must consider three inter-related domains of action. First, it must take macro-level measures to ensure that the economy is on a sound footing.
It is on this basis that my government sought, among other things, to further the economic reforms initiated by the Second Phase Government, embark on an ambitious development of economic infrastructure, promote domestic and foreign investment, improve revenue collection and rehabilitate the co-operative sector.
Secondly, genuine and meaningful economic development is a participatory process in which the combined efforts of the state and citizens as a whole are brought to bear.
In this regard the state is impelled to promote a veritable partnership in which the government, in collaboration with development partners, institutes measures and, where necessary, makes resources available in order to harness the energies and resources of societys economic agents, whether they be individual workers and farmers, private sector entrepreneurs or civil society organisations.
Last, but by no means least, I believe that the governments responsibility in poverty eradication ought to go beyond a mere fostering of citizens participatory involvement as economic agents.
It must ensure that all and sundry benefit from economic activities and that they are able to enjoy what the Fabian Socialist, Sydney Webb, characterised as a civilized minimum of social existence.
Equity considerations must therefore come into play. It is in this context that provision of social goods has constituted an important component of our agenda in the Third Phase Government.
I note from the Conference programme that the participants will have occasion to examine our record on healthcare, education, water supply, employment creation and other domains pertaining to social protection.
I advise you to subject to close scrutiny the Poverty Reduction strategy Paper (PRSP) and the recently launched National strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, popularly known as MKUKUTA.
Mr. Chairman,
Our foreign policy is a vast subject which deserves separate treatment in another speech.
I have, therefore, no intention in my present address to present an exhaustive analysis of our international relations.
I only wish to identify three overriding objectives which have featured prominently in our actions in the international arena.
First, we have been anxious to maintain peaceful and harmonious relations with our neighbours and to foster closer co-operation with them in the commercial, cultural and other development related spheres.
This objective udnerlies our unflinching commitment to SADC and the East African Community.
Where peace, harmony and co-operation with our neighbours have been jeopardised by internal conflicts in some of these states, we have worked hard with others to promote reconciliation.
Secondly, we have taken not that globalisation is both a reality and an irreversible process. The issue is whether our country becomes a beneficiary or forever remains a victim of this process.
Weak as we may be as a country, we cannot afford to adopt a defeatist stance because if we did, we would surely perish.
That is why I accepted the invitation to co-chair the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation and to serve on the Commission for Africa.
It is also from this perspective that I have been agitating, at different international forums, for fairer and more equitable international trading arrangements and arguing a case for global redistributive mechanism that will serve to raise the less fortunate portions of humanity from their social perdition.
The world can only be a safer and more prosperous place if such appeals are taken seriously and acted upon. The war on poverty is a matter of common interest to all nations and peoples.
An equally important objective is to make sure that the international community takes Tanzania seriously as a development partner. The significance of this for our development endeavours cannot be gainsaid.
We have taken such measures as we have deemed appropriate to enhance external resources inflows in order to aid our development efforts by supplementing our internally garnered resources.
We have done this without sacrificing our sovereignty or risking loss of our national dignity.
We have successfully demanded and asserted ownership of the development agenda, process and direction.
It is also part of the legacy of the Third Phase Government that Tanzania is recognised, indeed touted, as an example of best practice in aid effectivess, donor co-ordination and harmonization.
Twice we were invited to major international conferences on development to share our experiences in these areas in Rome in February 2003, and again in Shanghai in May 2004.
I have recently returned from the G8 Summit in Gleneagles where the decision to cancel the multilateral debts of several poor countries, including Tanzania, was reaffirmed.
Without any wish to pre-empt the evaluative work of your conference, Id suggest that all these developments could be an important statement on our approach. But this is for you to determine.
SOURCE: Guardian