Stakeholders in Tanzania have been reminded that in order to fight corruption successfully, it was important to bear in mind that the vice was more of a structural problem than one of individual moral turpitude, and as such, it can only be addressed by comprehensive structural change.
A recent study by Restless Development, a Policy Forum member organization, indicates that, three (3) out of ten (10) youth agree that there are laws and procedures related to good governance and accountability that enable people to hold their leaders to account. This was said during the last week of October at the morning public dialogue dubbed as Policy Forum Breakfast Debate held at the British Council, Dar es Salaam.
Findings show that civil society organizations (CSOs) can play an important role in enhancing transparency and good governance in developing countries by contributing to increased public debate on issues surrounding the formulation and implementation of government budgets as well as in supporting greater transparency of public revenues.
Tanzania has a wealth of natural, cultural and man-made attractions in all parts of the country which are untapped from the standpoint of tourism development. Although the potential is there, not all areas can be developed in the foreseeable future because of the problems of inadequate access, poor infrastructure and lack of utilities.
The government has been urged to support the cost-sharing and applications of joint title-deeds or co-occupancy in land titling in Tanzania to reduce the burden borne by poor individuals when seeking to formalise land ownership and to tackle the inequality between men and women in land access. This call was made during the August 2018 Policy Forum Monthly Breakfast Debate.
CSOs in Tanzania have called for increased clarity of the division of functions and responsibilities of the central and local government administrations in the country if decentralisation by devolution is to work. This includes clarification on property registration and valuation responsibilities, and obligations on the maintenance of property registers and revenue data.
The 2018 Financial Secrecy Index, a tool for measuring global financial secrecy and secrecy jurisdictions, presents some worrying signs for the emerging economies in Africa and threaten to potentially undermine the sustainability of their development trajectory. Tanzania scored a high secrecy score of 73. Surprisingly, even with these attractive secrecy policies, it is only recently that the jurisdiction has been brought under the spotlight.
For a country like Tanzania to meet its inclusive development objectives and realistically fund essential services such as provision of clean and safe water, healthcare, education and infrastructure, it needs reliable sources of own revenue including from taxes. Moreover, an economy needs a tax policy that redistributes wealth to address inequality including redressing gender gaps within society.
The Policy Forum (PF) Budget Working Group welcomes yet another opportunity to share views regarding the performance of previous budgets and propose some recommendations that we believe are worth consideration during current parliamentary deliberations for the 2018/19 budget to be concluded late in June.