We should all strive to develop Tanzania

BY EDITOR

26th November 2013

Editorial cartoon

The just-released 2013 report on the Least Developed Countries, as prepared by UNCTAD, is blunt: Tanzania is on the list of countries that still have a long way to go before becoming middle-class economies.

This is a shocking revelation particularly in that we are used to being treated to heartwarming suggestions, some by highly quotable experts, that we would reach that stage come 2025.

According to the report, Tanzania is not likely to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group before the second half of the next decade – meaning by the very same 2025 target!

Be that as it may, however, of most importance and relevance is what Tanzanians ought to do to pull Tanzania out of the quagmire it is in.
There are several options for us both as individuals and as a nation, what matters most being that we should be determined to make our country move forward in dignity and catch up with other countries in Africa and the world as a whole.

True, ours is a blessed country boasting a rich variety of natural resources like minerals, fertile land and wild animals that could earn us a fortune for us to transform into a better life for all our people. Sadly, not all this natural wealth is put to the best use for our people’s benefit.

As to who is to blame for this, one could easily heap all the blame on the government. However, the government has long left the conducting of most business in the hands of the private sector. For instance, it no longer sells commodities such as sugar, soap and cooking oil as applied in the heyday of regional trading companies.

But, partly as expected, the transition has translated into unpredictable – often ever rising – prices of most goods and services.

Whereas there was once a powerful national commission that controlled most prices, nowadays traders set whatever prices they feel can give them handsome profits.
The current trend is for everybody to go into business at the slightest opportunity. AS a result, in our urban centres it is common to find hundreds of young hawkers of all manner of commodities marching from place to place looking for customers.

This army of wandering youths could be empowered and thereafter put to much better use through appropriate training on how to benefit from such trades as agriculture, carpentry, mechanics, handicraft and hairdressing.

But they should not be abandoned at that stage. Upon completion of the courses, they should be assisted to form groups such as savings and credit cooperative societies. Through these, funds could be channelled as seed money for their particular lines of business.

Thus, the struggle to take Tanzania and Tanzanians to a higher and more decent level on the economic ladder has to involve every citizen of this country. Rather that expect the government to support every one of us to satisfaction, which would be daydreaming, we all need to strive to do well in whatever we do and wherever we are.

Tanzania can only be most decently and honourably developed to a higher level by Tanzanians themselves. The rest of humankind can only chip in, as we deem appropriate. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN