by David Brewin

President Magufuli helps clean the street outside State House in Dec 2015 (photo State House)

The seemingly tireless new President Magufuli of Tanzania has started his term of office with a number of spectacular measures most of which are not only proving extremely popular in Tanzania but also attracting interest in other East African countries and beyond.

It could be described as a huge ‘cleansing’ operation in which the main features include: a drive to eliminate corruption (in response to widespread demands from the electorate during the November 2015 elections); a cutting out of elements of low priority in the expenditure of government funds; and a better work ethic amongst government employees.

The President has changed so many policies and practices since taking office in November 2015 that it is difficult for a small journal like ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ to cover them adequately. He is, of course, operating through, and with the help of ministers, regional commissioners and others, who have been either kept on or brought in as replacements for those removed in various purges of existing personnel.

Changes under the new President
The following is a list of some of the President’s changes. Some were not carried out by him directly but by subordinates. It is clear however where the inspiration for them came from.

President Magufuli:

• issued a 7-day ultimatum to businessmen who have evaded tax, to pay up or risk arrest and court charges – “pay now so that we can leave you in peace”;

• ordered police to lock up 20 state employees who turned up late for a meeting in Dar es Salaam;

• made surprise visits to ministries and hospitals, and fired several civil servants after finding citizens waiting for assistance being unattended to;

• reduced the budget allocation for a government cocktail party by 90% because “it makes no sense to have an expensive party when patients are sleeping on the floor in government hospitals”;

• banned unnecessary foreign trips by government officials;

• dismissed several top government officials including the Director of Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau because of inefficiency, plus four other senior officials for defying the government’s ban on foreign travel as part of the new austerity measures;

• dismissed the Head of the Tanzanian Ports Authority and the top official in the Ministry of Transport over allegations of corruption and tax evasion;

• ordered an official delegation to the recent Commonwealth conference to be reduced in size from 55 officials to just 4; this has come as a shock to many government officials who have often used foreign trips as a means of subsidising their incomes;

• on the day of the inauguration of the new parliament, cut the cost of
the reception from some $350,000 to $10,000; the money saved, some of which was probably contributed by individuals and/or institutions was to be sent to the National Hospital in Dar es Salaam;

• arrested illegal immigrants from different countries for allegedly working without work permits and engaging in work that could be done by Tanzanians: 25 of these were Chinese, 5 Congolese, 3 Ghanaians, 3 Nigerians, 3 Somalis and 1 from the Ivory Coast; two Tanzanians were arrested while they were allegedly in the process of transporting 6 girls to the Middle East;

• planned a special court to fast-track the prosecution of those accused of corruption;

• warmly welcomed the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Comrade Truong Tan Sang on a four-day state visit to Tanzania;

• on arrival at a regular meeting of the EAC Heads of State, questioned the rationale of holding such meetings at exclusive resorts when there were offices in each of the member countries; “I do not want to be a parasite” and added that he would be as ‘hands-on’ in the affairs of the EAC as he had been with Tanzanian public affairs; he added: “there is no justification for the summit to be held at a luxurious Safari Lodge at a cost of $45 for each delegate per-day”; during the meeting he brought what was described as ‘rare urgency’ to the proceedings; he was not, he said, a ‘protocol person’ and he hoped that the EAC heads of state would make hard decisions rather quickly;

• assured residents of Mwanza and Kagera regions that his government would purchase a new ship to operate between the two ports in the next financial year in accordance with his election pledge;

• directed the staff of the government newspapers “the Daily News” and “Habari Leo” to emphasise the various measures he was advocating and become leaders in the fight against networks connecting local and international drug dealers; “Those who have too much wealth must explain their sources,” he added;

• made it clear that he would deal with ethical failings by ministers through the ethics secretaries in his office;

• arranged for the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to oversee the printing of two million new authorised text-books in view of the poor quality, especially the col-ours used and poor page layout, in existing books; and to direct the publisher to remove the books from the government warehouse under government supervision; the ministry should ensure that the copies are destroyed and not sold on the market;

• took steps to revoke the establishment of the Arusha campus of the St. Joseph University in Tanzania;

• during the inauguration of a new 240 megawatt electric power plant project – which is using a new technology under which electricity will be generated from natural gas and the heat obtained from the plant will be used to heat water – instructed TANESCO to come up with constructive ideas on how businesses could set up their own electricity plants and stop paying for expensive hired plants; he said that there had to be a point when the country could produce its own reliable electricity and be able to sell the surplus to other countries; he went on to say; “experts or consultants who advise us to hire power plants instead of buying our own are not fit for the job and their employment should be terminated”; The President thanked Japan, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other development partners for their help; The Japanese Ambassador to Tanzania, Masharu Yoshida, said that this project would be the first of its kind in East Africa;

• during his swearing in ceremony gave authorities 15 days to eliminate ghost workers (people who do not exist but receive a salary – at least 1,680 ghost workers have now been removed). He said that the youth in the country should work instead of playing games, such as pool, during the day, while leaving adults to work on the land.

• appointed Mr Hamza Johari as the new Director General of the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA); the previous holder of the post had been suspended for massive financial and procurement irregularities;

• condemned the killing of a British conservationist after his helicopter was shot down while he was chasing suspected poachers in the Maswa Game Reserve;

• at the opening of a new Police Station at Tengeru near Arusha it was announced that no more firearm licences would be issued until all existing licences had been checked;

• the Minister of State in the President’s directed ministries to open registers in which public officials will declare all gifts of a value exceeding TSh 50,000 ($23) they receive; the Commissioner of the Ethics Secretariat commented that, although the law was specific on the matter, he had not come across any gift declaration by any civil servant!

Dr. Magufuli and his family are said to live modestly. His wife is a primary school teacher and the children go to state schools. It is understood that the President travelled abroad only 5 times during the 20 years he was in the Cabinet.

by Ben Taylor

Sarah Cooke

Sarah Cooke, pictured, has been appointed British High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania in succession to Dianna Melrose, who will be leaving the Diplomatic Service. Sarah will take up her appointment in July 2016.

This was announced by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in early February, and was followed by rumours that the current High Commissioner had been recalled at the request of the Tanzanian government. The FCO later issued a second statement, denying that this was the case.

“Contrary to some media reports, the British High Commissioner, Dianna Melrose, will not be ending her mission in Tanzania until the end of July 2016, at the normal conclusion of her posting,” read the statement.

Sarah Cooke has worked for the Department for International Development for the past 11 years, since 2012 as Country Representative for DfID in Bangladesh. This will be her first posting in the Diplomatic Service.

Relations between the diplomatic community and the Tanzanian government have been tense since the disputed Zanzibar elections, and perceived interference of diplomats in domestic matters. See Foreign Relations section for further details.

by David Brewin

Reactions to the Zanzibar election results
Following the second Zanzibar elections, relations between Tanzania and the western powers (the USA and EU) have cooled.

Among the many changes being proposed and/or implemented under the new Magufuli regime, the government has announced restrictions on the movement of diplomatic personnel and consular staff as well as the staff of international aid, other aid agencies and other organisations.
In future, they will have to obtain government clearance for all their planned activities, including any meetings with leaders of various political parties. They will also have to seek permission from the Ministry of Foreign affairs before travelling upcountry and meeting local government authorities. The government said that this is normal diplomatic practice.

The government was not pleased by the action of 17 Western countries
in issuing a statement asking President Magufuli to intervene in solving the electoral controversy in Zanzibar.

Burundi Refugees
The post election stalemate in Burundi continues to cause concern in Tanzania because of the number of refugees crossing over the border from Burundi. Some 85,000 are understood to have been registered. Some of the old refugee camps in Tanzania are being used again but there is overcrowding and a lack of hygiene as there is an acute water shortage in the border area. The refugees are said to have no fire wood and their make-shift shelters cannot withstand rain storms. A statement by the UN Office in Tanzania has said that $11 million have been allocated to respond to urgent needs.

The media
At almost the same time as The East African was being allowed to be sold again in Tanzania, another ban was imposed on the Swahili weekly newspaper Mawio, which was accused of publishing seditious material. The new Information Minister Nape Nnauye said that the paper had published alarming and inciting content over the elections.

International praise for the President
Tanzania’s new president has been receiving plaudits from around the world for what he has achieved in attacking corruption and reducing unnecessary government expenditure in a very short period of time.

The founding Father of the Country, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who ruled Tanzania in the days when Apartheid still existed in South Africa, always tended to put foreign policy at the top of his list of priorities as he used his influence to bring about the fall of the Portuguese Empire in Mozambique and Angola, and brought China into Africa to help build the Tazara railway. Succeeding Presidents followed his example by making sure that Tanzania’s voice was heard around the world. In the first days of President Magufuli’s rule, however, he has indicated that he has other immediate priorities.

Since his inauguration, there have been four global summits and a mini- SADC summit, none of which he attended. There have also been the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Summit (CHOGM) held in Malta in November 2015; the Paris Climate Change Summit in December 2015; the Africa-China Summit in South Africa in December 2015; and the African Union Summit in January 2016. The first two were attended by the Tanzanian ambassadors in London and Paris respectively. The other two were attended by the new Tanzanian Vice-President, Samia Suluhu Hassan. A mini summit of the SADC organ on peace and security in Botswana in December, was attended by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa. By the President not attending the CHOGM summit in Malta and cutting the size of Tanzania’s delegation from 55 to only 4, the government saved an estimated TSh 750 million.

As regards the African Union (AU) two summits are held each year compared with its predecessor (the OAU) which held only one. A Tanzanian proposal to reduce it to once every two years was rejected by other members.

President Magufuli did not attend his regular annual meeting with members of the diplomatic corps at State House in Dar es Salaam in February 2016, although he was represented by his Minister for Foreign Affairs.

As far as Zanzibar is concerned, the President has presided over several meetings to try and resolve the situation but the participants were unable to reach a compromise solution.

Foreign aid
The results of the second Zanzibar election have caused much dismay in America and Europe and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which controls most of America’s $472,000 aid programme (this year), immediately stopped aid. This had to be done because, under US law, these funds can only be provided to countries with clearly democratically elected governments.

Finance Minister Philip Mpango reacted by saying that the government had anticipated the move by the MCC and had worked out alternatives. Dr. Mpango stated that Tanzania was looking for other funding for the projects and added that when President Magufuli took office he had laid emphasis on revenue collection with the aim of reducing dependency on foreign aid.

He said that he hoped to engage in discussions with the MCC in order to know why it had made its decision and what Tanzania should do in order to be reconsidered.

The MCC also sought assurances from Tanzania that the new Cyber Crimes Act would not be used to limit freedom of expression and association.

The US claimed that Tanzania had moved forward with a new election in Zanzibar that was neither inclusive nor representative, despite the repeated concerns expressed by the US government and the international community. Tanzania had also not taken measures to ensure that freedom of expression and association were respected in the implementation of the Cyber Crimes Act.

Expulsion of Foreign Teachers
It is reported that an estimated 5,000 teachers said to be illegal immigrants, most of whom came from the East African region, are to be expelled from the country. This has caused concern amongst educators. Private schools are largely dependent on foreign teachers, particularly for English and Science, and these expulsions are expected to have a major negative impact on private English Medium schools.

by Enos Bukuku

Two tiers or not two tiers? Will it all end in tears?
It was in 2011 when President Kikwete initiated the process of reviewing the current constitution with a view to ensuring that Tanzania would be equipped with a new constitution which would be fit for modern day Tanzania. That was of course five years ago.

“Why is this taking so long?”, you may ask. I feel you will not get a straight answer to that question through official channels. If you do manage to get any kind of response, depending on whom you ask, it is likely that either the government or the opposition will be blamed. The former will be blamed for hijacking the process, ignoring the so called “people’s draft constitution” produced by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) led by retired Judge Warioba. The opposition, and in particular, UKAWA, are accused of trying to frustrate the whole process for political gain.

This is not an argument over proposals in the draft over education, health, gender equality, children’s rights etc. Sadly, those issues have been paid little attention by those responsible for debating and approving the final draft. The big bone of contention in the proposed constitution has always been the structure of the Union: whether there should be a two-tier government as there currently is, or a new three-tier government which, amongst other things, gives more autonomy to Zanzibar. Warioba’s CRC included a three-tier government because their consultations indicated that the majority of both mainland Tanzanians and Zanzibaris were in favour of it.

On the other hand, CCM were always against a three-tier government and managed to controversially push a final draft through the Constituent Assembly which kept the current structure. This led to the formation of the opposition UKAWA coalition. The Civic United Front (CUF) boycotted the re-run elections in Zanzibar in March and has made it clear that it does not recognise the new Zanzibari government; they are likely to fight CCM on most issues.

The political unrest in Zanzibar has always been a source of frustration for the government. The constitution review process has not helped in bringing calm. If anything, it has reopened old, deep wounds – the type which leave permanent scars. In simple terms, the balance of power distributed between the mainland and Zanzibar is seen as very unsatisfactory by many Zanzibaris. In the eyes of politicians, this has become much more than ensuring that basic and fundamental rights are enshrined in a new legal document. This is a power struggle.

A national referendum on the constitution was due in April last year, but was postponed indefinitely. There had been suggestions that the referendum would take place at the same time as the elections last October, but this did not happen.There has been a deafening silence from the current government regarding a new constitution.

CHADEMA’s new Secretary-General, Dr Vincent Mashinji, in his first speech as leader, has already called for a fight for the new constitution. Whilst he was of course referring to a metaphorical fight, it is possible that actual fighting over this issue could be in store over the coming months. “From now on, all MPs will have to embrace an agenda for the new constitution while in the House. The rest of us will do so outside the House by exercising all our civic and constitutional rights and, if need be, staging demonstrations in demand for the same,” he passionately demanded.

The nation awaits a response from President Magufuli or CCM.