Diaspora Community & Development!

Focus now on Tanzanian diaspora

BY CORRESPONDENT

16th October 2012

  Govt: It is crucial source of revenue to boost economy

Pereira Silima

The government plans to form a proper migration data management system so as to enable Tanzanians living abroad (Diaspora community) to contribute more to the national economy and their families’ incomes. Home Affairs Deputy Minister Pereira Silima said this in Dar es Salaam at the official opening of a three-day national training on migration and data management workshop which involved various migration stakeholders from the government, academia, research institutions, civil societies and strategic partners.
He said the African Diaspora of more than 30 million send home more than USD 40 billion to their families every year.

Ghana was cited as a key example, having an efficient migration data management system which shows that the income collected from the Diaspora community is bigger than that from foreign donor aid.

Silima said there were many Tanzanians living abroad but they use improper ways of sending money to their relatives thus denying the government benefits.

He said that with proper data management of the migrant community, the government can directly benefit from the transactions for the benefit of the whole community.

He said according to research conducted in Angola by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the development workshop, the flow of remittances to developing countries reached US dollars 305 billion in the year 2008.

According to Silima, those findings show that immigration is increasingly getting global acknowledgment as a positive instrument of development for the individual migrants, their countries of origin as well as destinations if well handled.

Earlier Silima said that, in Tanzania, and some other developing countries, there is knowledge gap regarding migration as issues pertaining to it are not adequately addressed and hence the relevance of such workshops which will help promote awareness and cooperation on migration data management.

He added that it also strengthens the capacity for resource persons dealing with migration and subsequently builds national capacity for proper migration management.

He noted that, as the country continues to build regional integration and international cooperation which facilitates movement of people among nations and regions, issues of orderly migration movements have to be given due attention.

Commenting on dual citizenship, Silima argued that was among the issues to be discussed in the workshop but called on the public to air their views in the ongoing constitutional reform process as it will affect the migration issues.

He noted that journalists have only reporting negative immigration perceptions, calling on them to give a comprehensive and unbiased coverage so that the whole community may be positively informed on the importance of immigration to the development of the country’s economy.

Commissioner for Immigration (Administration and Finance) Piniel Mgonja reiterated that the workshop will help raise awareness of people on relationships between immigration and the development of the country’s economy.

He also said that there are a lot of improper transactions done by people living to abroad which do not enter the government systems. Having proper data of the Diaspora, the transactions could be tapped for the benefit of the entire country, he said.

He cited Ghana as a key example, saying the country has good and proper migration data management and as such the income they collect from the Diaspora community is bigger than that from foreign donor aid.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN