By KIANGIOSEKAZI WA NYOKA, 30th December 2011 @ 11:08, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 1520
Welcome twenty-twelve, the year that promises so many things if we can change our minds sets and start to think out of the box. I would have wished to record the almanac of the
outgoing year in its chronological order but that is history.
As a country, we want to unlock ourselves from the current predicament; therefore I will deal with issues and later come up with government’s pronouncement waiting for our candid implementation. The country is almost edging into a basket category after a series of misfortunes that had struck on us.
The multiple results of this have led to economic hardship with spiral inflation. So in this extraordinary almanac, I will highlight the most disastrous events of the year together with a few which had a political clout. Apparently I have only five noted items for the outgoing year.
The first two emanated from the Parliament, the Commissioning of the National Development Plan, and equally well the Constitutional Review. Of course those Parliamentary Sessions would go to the annals of history for blocking some of the Ministry’s budgetary estimates while Dar es Salaam was in total darkness because of the ongoing quagmire of Tanesco’s power supply together with the hue and cry of the ailing railway network demanding rescue from total collapse!
It was a tough debacle between the executives and parliamentarians. Much to the chagrin of the parliamentarians, the trio saga of Jairo, Outoh and Luhanjo was another bone of contention. Then this was followed by the sinking of the Spice Islander in Zanzibar that sent our people sobbing with grief and agony still waiting for the results of the probe commission.
What appeared to be a brief period of relaxation to Tanzanians were the fiftieth
anniversary celebrations of independence held in December before the torrential rains did havoc in Dar es Salam and the country as a whole. We are told such rains have never been experienced in Dar es Salaam for quite sometimes. The record shows that such rains were recorded in 1954. This could be true but we did not experience such humane sufferings!
The loss of lives could have been avoided if only those entrusted to enforce the laws could have done the needful. Our celebrations of fiftieth anniversary of independence were planned and well executed surpassing even the real Independence Day celebrations of December 9th 1961!
Everybody had his story to tell on the successes and challenges of our fifty years but more poignantly was that national catch phrase, “We dared, we succeeded, we are forging ahead!” Did we? Yes we did in our small ways; we cannot compare ourselves with the Asian Tigers. Some of those countries are now in the verge of being considered as developed countries while we are still struggling.
I liked the sincerity of JK when addressing the public on the Independence Day that we dared, we succeeded but added, “That is not enough,” he said, “we should seriously continue to forge ahead.” And this was echoed by Premiere Mizengo Pinda when winding up these celebrations and giving a cue to what should be done in the next fifty years! Premiere Pinda dwelt on the implementation of the Five Years Development Plan with its Vision 2025.
I agree with the Premiere and put my trust to this document that will lead us to economic prosperity come 2025 if candidly implemented! We cannot change the past but we can shape the future. Let us open a new chapter for our next fifty years. A country like Mauritius is almost identical to Zanzibar with beautiful tropical beaches! What makes Mauritius a middle income economy country as opposed to Zanzibar?
I have been to Mauritius; I know what I am talking about. I could not believe my ears the other day when I heard from the Editor’s Forum (Jukwa la Wahariri) when discussing their role in sustenance of peace and harmony of this country through their pens. They alleged that this country has no national agenda and therefore cannot forge ahead! What agenda are they talking about? We are in the globalised world where we have a new ‘economism’ guided by nationalism and patriotism.
And Tanzania came with its own Vision 2025 in 1999. That is our National Agenda!
Creation of the National Planning Commission from Presidents’ Office with the subsequent production of the Five Year Development Plans should be the engine of our economic development spurred by Vision 2025.
As a national agenda, it should be owned by everybody irrespective of party politics as the preparation of subsequent five year development plans takes into account of overall national development goals and policy objectives; the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction Poverty, UN Millennium Goals and other high level government initiatives.
A broad-based consultative approach with key stakeholders is undertaken to gauge the national economic challenges in order to make timely interventions. Vision 2025 envisages making Tanzania a semi industrial country creating jobs to our people. The Vision 2025 is expected to resurrect our strangled economy into middle income economy, address unemployment and stimulate our agricultural output through Kilimo Kwanza.
From the look of things, it appears the Vision 2025 is not very much known to the public and the public may have not been involved in its preparation. We need to revisit this exercise. Equally well, even the First Five Year Development Plan seems to be the property of the authors (government) and the Parliamentarians who had an access during discussion sessions in the Parliament.
This is the road map to our economic recovery; therefore everybody should be involved as we are all key players in our country’s development. We need to make Vision 2025 move. Much that new Constitution needs to be understood and discussed by all the people, so as Vision 2025. Everybody should talk, sing, “Vision 2025” from a messenger to the top executive. It can be done, play your part!
j n y o k a@l i v e . c o m +255754342711 Senior Citizen.
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