Atlantis Voyager
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 19, 2018
- 367
- 500
I do not intend to be overly critical but I can think of a few reasons. First Tanzania is rampant with corruption from the office of the president down to the restaurant dishwasher.
Everyone feels entitled to charge a little extra for “doing their job” because salaries are so low. Tanzania does have anti-corruption inspectors and if you bribe them enough they will tell you when they are coming so you can have everything in order.
Second, in rural areas the government can’t build and staff schools fast enough to keep up with the near 5% population growth. In addition to crowded classrooms (sometimes more than 100 students per teacher), most primary school teachers have trouble teaching English because they often don’t know it well themselves.
Then since English is the medium of instruction for secondary schools, new students can’t go very far in their subjects because they are struggling just to understand what the teachers are saying.
Office and business practices are like a time capsule of how the British did things in the 60s. Almost anything that you need to do will require running around to gather a collection of documents, forms and photographs that get glued together, signed and rubber stamped to make it official.
Most government officials that I got to know well had just one thing in mind as they did their job. It’s commonly known as “Cover my ass”. More important than anything was the ability to produce documents proving that any and every action they ever took was defensible. This kind of work culture doesn’t stimulate innovation or improvement in any way.
I knew shop keepers who had capital tied up in inventory that they refused to sell at a loss because they couldn’t imagine how it could ultimately benefit their business.
Honestly I loved Tanzania and the Tanzanian people that I met. I would love to go back and live there again. But after living there for 7 years I have no hesitation to identify the problems they need to conquer before rising out of relative poverty.
Everyone feels entitled to charge a little extra for “doing their job” because salaries are so low. Tanzania does have anti-corruption inspectors and if you bribe them enough they will tell you when they are coming so you can have everything in order.
Second, in rural areas the government can’t build and staff schools fast enough to keep up with the near 5% population growth. In addition to crowded classrooms (sometimes more than 100 students per teacher), most primary school teachers have trouble teaching English because they often don’t know it well themselves.
Then since English is the medium of instruction for secondary schools, new students can’t go very far in their subjects because they are struggling just to understand what the teachers are saying.
Office and business practices are like a time capsule of how the British did things in the 60s. Almost anything that you need to do will require running around to gather a collection of documents, forms and photographs that get glued together, signed and rubber stamped to make it official.
Most government officials that I got to know well had just one thing in mind as they did their job. It’s commonly known as “Cover my ass”. More important than anything was the ability to produce documents proving that any and every action they ever took was defensible. This kind of work culture doesn’t stimulate innovation or improvement in any way.
I knew shop keepers who had capital tied up in inventory that they refused to sell at a loss because they couldn’t imagine how it could ultimately benefit their business.
Honestly I loved Tanzania and the Tanzanian people that I met. I would love to go back and live there again. But after living there for 7 years I have no hesitation to identify the problems they need to conquer before rising out of relative poverty.
