Corruption, press restriction taint Kikwete’s impressive legacy

Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete (L) hosts his US counterpart Barack Obama (C) in 2013. The back-to-back state visits of leaders from the two most powerful nations in the world in 2013 will remain a major achievement of Mr Kikwete’s foreign policy. FILE PHOTO

President Jakaya Kikwete’s 10-year tenure in office ends this month. He would be remembered as a president who came to office riding on the wave of popularity.

However, the two elections that he won, in 2005 and 2010, tell a different story about his political gains and prominence.
During his first attempt to office in 2005, Mr Kikwete was a popular contender in and out of his party CCM.

His campaign trail was welcomed by euphoric crowds, and his promise of “maisha bora kwa kila Mtanzania” loosely translates as “good life to every Tanzanian” was the catchphrase in everyone’s lips. Hope was in the air. And the promise of a better tomorrow was evident in his supporters’ faces.

Then came the 2010 general election, and the atmosphere was completely different. The Kikwete government was tarnished by a number of corruption scandals which gave the opposition an agenda to hit hard on the system.

Down from registering CCM’s biggest victory five years earlier, Mr Kikwete scored the second slimmest victory for CCM in multiparty elections by obtaining 62 per cent of the votes.
We look at how president Kikwete will be remembered:

Foreign policy
The back-to-back state visits of leaders from the two most powerful nations in the world in 2013 will remain a major achievement of president Jakaya Kikwete’s foreign policy.

It all started with Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit in late March, choosing Tanzania as his second foreign destination after Russia soon after taking office.

While the citizens could feel that there was a VIP in town by big media coverage and waving Chinese flags all over the city’s main road, the real show was witnessed three months later early June when US president Barack Obama visited.

With the news of Obama coming to Tanzania shortly after Xi, the whole region erupted in praise. An eminent journalist, Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo, put it better in one of his opinion pieces ; “As far as the East African, and indeed African, diplomacy show goes, Tanzania right now is that girl on the dance floor that every boy wants to dance with.

If it is a Chinese leader coming to Africa, he must stop in Dar es Salaam. If it is a Western leader visiting, tea with the president at state house on Ocean Road will inevitably be on the cards.”

And if the number and stature of foreign heads of governments that a country receives is a statement of its importance, then a fact that the predecessors of the two leaders also visited Tanzania cements the argument.

The predecessors to Mr Obama and Mr Jinping former presidents George W. Bush and Hu Jintao visited Tanzania in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Factors such as political stability, steady economic growth, and abundance of natural resources from minerals to natural gas and plenty of investment opportunities can rightly be attributed to the visits, but president Kikwete’s role in those visits can’t be overlooked.

In the region, president Kikwete did not have much success especially with neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Malawi.

In a bid to flash out instabilities in the Great Lakes region, president Kikwete in June 2013 suggested to his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame to talk to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) operating in the jungles of eastern DR Congo to achieve permanent peace.

The FDLR is a sensitive issue in Kigali because of its role in the 1994 genocide, and president Kikwete’s suggestion sparked anger in Rwanda. Mr Kagame commented on the matter few days later saying president Kikwete’s suggestion was “utter nonsense” and might have been aired due to “ignorance or stupid ideology.”

After a continuation of attacks from other Rwandan officials president Kikwete talked about the matter for the second time in his monthly (August) address to the nation. “I have been shocked and dismayed at the verbal attacks and criticism levelled against me by Rwandan officials,” Mr Kikwete said.
“What they are doing and saying does not reflect the true position …. (it is) completely out of proportion and out of context.”

Infrastructure
President Kikwete is leaving behind a mark on construction sector, notably on the construction of roads.
Roads is an important sector in the economy of any nation due to its impact on the welfare of its citizens and the investment involved. Experts regard roads as lifeline of the individual as well as national economy.
The government under president Kikwete managed to achieve a lot on infrastructure development. A lot of roads, bridges and ferries have been put in place and made transport easy in the country.

One of strategies which president Kikwete used was strengthening of Tanzania Roads Agency (Tanroads), which was established in 2000 specifically to deal with roads construction in the country.

President Kikwete’s predecessor, Mr Benjamin Mkapa came up with the idea of Tanroads through which the government created a special fund called Roads Fund. This Fund was used to collect money, mainly locally, for roads construction. After five years the results showed that it was possible for the country to build more roads using own money. Mr Kikwete decided to capitalise on the move.

As a result, many of the projects undertaken between 2005 and 2015 were accomplished within the budgeted time.

This initiative assisted the works ministry to complete construction of 1,226km of road started by Mr Mkapa’s government. On the other hand, Mr Kikwete’s administration built 2,264.75km of road network across the country. Some 1,304.45km have been built at tarmac level and 960.3 have been upgrade to gravel level.

On regional roads, some 393km have been upgraded to tarmac level and 6,636km have been developed to gravel level. As a result of these efforts trick roads network has reached 35,000km out of which 12,786km are main roads and 22,214km are regional roads. Many people view this as great achievement.

Just like in roads, Mr Kikwete’s government has also done very well on bridges. One of notable achievements in this area include completion of Umoja (Unity) Bridge, which connects Tanzania and Mozambique across Ruvuma River.
The Unity Bridge was proposed as early as 1975, shortly after Mozambique’s independence. It was the idea of the two country’s former presidents, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Samora Machel. Several design studies and limited construction work were completed in the early 1980s, but the Unity Bridge was not finished due to lack of funds.
When President came into power in 2005, there were only nine government owned and operated ferries. But today some 24 ferries are currently working in various parts of the country.

Mixed legacy in press freedom
President Kikwete used his speech to dissolve the 10th parliament to highlight some of his administration successes for the past 10 years that he has been in power.

Some of the successes he highlighted were strengthening freedom of expression. According to him, during his administration private owned media and other platforms for practicing freedom of expression have been tremendously increased.

For example, the president told parliament currently there are 88 private owned newspapers compared to only two newspapers-Daily News and Habari Leo-which are owned by the government. According to the president, unlike in some other countries his government hasn’t been censoring the press.

However, despite the success in increasing the number, some stakeholders are critical of president Kikwete administration’s record in enhancing the freedom of expression.

They are blaming the fourth phase government for failing to get rid of draconian laws notably the 1976 Newspaper Act and the enactment of the cybercrime law and static law.

But many media stakeholders are critical of president Kikwete administration failure to protect journalists. Under president Kikwete administration, especially during his second term in office, some journalists have lost their lives in controversial circumstances, others have been attacked while many journalists have been threatened.

According, to US-based the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were 10 “serious anti-press attacks and threats” between September 2012 and August 2013.

The incidents include the killing of cameraman Daudi Mwangosi, who was hit by a tear gas canister while covering demonstrations by the opposition Chadema in September and Issa Ngumba, a radio presenter, who was found dead with his body riddled with gunshot wounds.

In March 2013, New Habari managing editor Absalom Kibanda was attacked by unknown people as he was arriving at his house. He was blinded in one eye and had part of his finger hacked off.
2013 CPJ report author, Mr Tom Rhodes, attributed threats and attacks of journalists to failure by those in power and politicians especially from the ruling party unaccustomed to criticism and political changes.

Shining example in women’s affairs
Efforts to emancipate women from oppression shackles started many years ago. The efforts centred on challenges women face economically, gender based violence and outdated norms, to name but a few.

As stated, these efforts started even before president Kikwete won the presidency 10 years ago. Definitely, president Kikwete also took a number of steps to augment the fight. There have been successes in some areas but the challenges still persist to date.

Persistence of complaints about gender-based violence and marginalisation of women is one of the factors which show that the efforts have not borne satisfactory results.

Nevertheless, as some people accuse president Kikwete’s government for not doing enough in this area, but it is during his tenure that Tanzania witnessed a first women become a head of one of pillars of governance when Ms Anne Makinda was elected speaker of the National Assembly five years ago.

Various reports have attested how president Kikwete has promoted women affairs in his 10 years as a head of the state. In his many speeches, president Kiwete has also articulated on his government promotion of women in the country.

President Kikwete notes that under his leadership, the government has encouraged, and sometimes assisted in establishment of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Saccos) and small financial institutions at community level such as Vicoba and many other microfinance institutions.
He says these institutions have helped many women secure loans which they used as capital to establish a number of income generating activities.

The government also played an instrumental role in the establishment of Tanzania Women Bank (TWB) in 2009. Between January 2011 and March 2014, TWB issued loans amounting to Sh24.3 billion to 11,754 people out of whom 88 per cent are women. The bank has also reached out to 19,000 women customers between 2009 and 2013.

President Kikwete government is also credited for increasing opportunities for women to participate in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A 2013 report which reviewed women participation in SMEs shows that women own 64 per cent of such businesses across the country.

In addition to economic emancipation, there are also notable achievements in the area of access to legal services and respect of women dignity. In 2008, two laws were enacted (Mortgage Finance Special Provision Act and Unit Titles Act).
These two laws have helped to safeguard women and provide them a right to own land and properties. Under these laws, a man cannot sale a family property without first consulting his wife who should consent.

In another front, the country has witnessed increase of number of women in decision making bodies. Tanzania is among countries in Africa with many women at leadership posts. To ensure that women positions in decision making bodies are assured, a specific law has been made which prescribes that women representations in such bodies should not be less than 30 per cent.

Milestone as farmers’ bank launched
President Kikwete has fulfilled his promise of establishing a financial institution to finance agriculture.

The Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) was launched in August with a capital of Sh60 billion. The bank might lend to farmers through commercial banks, Saccos and other micro-financing institutions. As he officiated the start of the bank, president Kikwete said the government would boost its capital to Sh800 billion in eight years.

The initiative, which was created to facilitate “modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture,” had 10 pillars one of which was financing agriculture.

While waiting for the establishment of the agricultural bank some steps were taken to ensure a more steady financial flow to the sector.

These include opening a special window in the Tanzanai Investment Bank for concessionary lending to agriculture; a special Kilimo Kwanza fund was established to finance land surveys, capacity building; the Agriculture Sector Development Programme Basket Funding was enhanced.

There was also a plans to create legislation to oblige commercial banks to lend a percentage of their deposits on concessionary terms to agricultural production, but that was not done. The plan to create the commodity exchange market is still in the pipeline.

Economy

While Tanzania retains its reputation as one of the more politically stable countries in the region, it now also boasts one of the fastest-growing economies in East Africa.

Looking at the growth sectors, infrastructure and services have become the biggest contributors to GDP during his presidency.
On the jobs front, Kikwete has not quite delivered on the 500,000-jobs-a-year promise. A meagre 1.1 million jobs have been created over the past nine years, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The rate of unemployment, however, while still high at 10.3 per cent, is nevertheless at its lowest in over a decade.

Meanwhile, inflation is relatively low at 5.3 per cent as of last month, despite the recent depreciation of the value of the shilling, raising fears that the cost of living might rise as a result.

Foreign direct investment has doubled in the past five years to almost $2 billion.

Corruption reigns

They came one after the other, shaking the country to the core in ways never witnessed before, forcing multiple cabinet reshuffles.

It all started in his first year in office in 2006 when the controller and auditor general’s called for special audit of the Sh133 billion Bank of Tanzania’s External Payment Arrears (EPA) account. An Ernst & Young audit found out that about Sh133 billion had been wrongly and dubiously paid to some 22 local companies during the financial year 2005/06.
The EPA scandal shook the nation and eroded the credibility of both the government and the central bank (BoT). The BoT’s credibility would further been tarnished by revelations that the construction cost of the twin tower headquarter building was inflated by Sh222 billion.

Both scandals led to the firing of the then BoT governor Daudi Balali and the appointment of the new one, Prof Benno Ndulu in 2007.

A few months later, Kikwete’s government was hit by yet another scandal, popularly known as the Richmond scandal. In 2006, as the nation faced serious power shortages due to drought the government invited investors to apply for the production and supply of over 100 megawatts. A US-based Richmond LLC scooped the tender.

However, it soon emerged that the whole process was marred by irregularities costing the country a loss of Sh172 billion. In February 2008 Edward Lowassa resigned from his position as prime minister after being implicated in the scandal. Two other cabinet ministers also resigned. Mr Kikwete dissolved the cabinet and picked Mizengo Pinda as the new prime minister.

The manner in which president Kikwete dealt with the two scandals set the tune for his reactions to future scandals. And a pattern, very ironic, emerged; a scandal is revealed.

Public outcry ensues; donors threaten to cut off aid. President Kikwete reacts most often by forcing or sacking implicated public officials. But that would be, mostly, the end of the story. The judicial process very rarely took its course. And no mechanism would be put to stop further corruption.

And finally, in 2013, business confidence was at 55 per cent. Now, only 34 per cent expect the economy to perform better next year than it did in 2015/16.
Whoever emerges as the next president of Tanzania inherits a country whose economic fundamentals are strong. The challenge now, can they do a better job of making sure some of the gains made over the last ten years are spread to the larger populace?
Source: africanbusinesscentral.com

These stories were first published by The Citizen, Tanzania, Sunday Monitor’s
sister paper