By Gibons Mwabukusi
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.
Stakeholders have called upon the government to resort to the creation of agro-processing businesses and rural agro -based industries as a means of increasing revenues and reducing import bills through value addition. This call was made during the Policy Forum breakfast debate held on 27th January 2017, Dar es Salaam
On the 25th of June, 2015, Policy Forum participated in the public launch of the “Stop The Bleeding” Campaign in Nairobi aimed at curbing Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa.
An Interim Working Group (IWG) of the African IFF Campaign Platform made up of six Pan-African organisations namely Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af), Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and Trust Africa supported and joined by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) will launch a unified African Campaign platform on IFFs.
Africa loses a big chunk of money as a result of illicit financial flows (IFFs). Different studies have indicated that these IFFs are responsible for draining the African continent of resources for development and are detrimental to revenue mobilization efforts. For example the recent report by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (AU/ECA HLP) from Africa, show that the continent loses more than $50 billion annually through IFFs.
During its 2014 Annual General Meeting (AGM), Policy Forum (PF) secretariat arranged for a field visit aimed at familiarizing its upcountry members with the work of key government institutions that it has been closely working with. For 2014, the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Commission for Human Rights and Good governance (CHRAGG) were selected for the familiarization tour.
The field visits were done on day one of the AGM in the afternoon where two teams were formed, one to visit the NAO and the other to visit CHRAGG.
Policy Forum this week held a special half-day discussion on illicit financial flows from Africa with two international experts on the topic. Raymond Baker, the founder and CEO of the Global Financial Integrity, the leading global institute on illicit financial flow studies was joined by Alvin Mosioma, Coordinator of the Tax Justice Network for Africa, an institution which aims to promote socially just, democratic and progressive taxation systems in Africa.
On the 23rd of September, Policy Forum's Budget Working Group (BWG) was invited by Forum Syd and Svenska Institutet to present at a breakfast seminar in Sweden on illicit capital flight from poor countries, how it affects development, and how it can be stopped. The presentation centred on a new report on the subject of which the BWG co-authored.
