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Posts Corporation marches on amid modern technology

The Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa

WE are all aware that changes are inevitable. But changes cannot be seen if there is no commitment. If a society does not review its history, it cannot make any progress.

The Minister  for Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa made these very important remarks this week when inaugurating the Tanzania Posts Corporation Board of Directors, saying history is the best compass to determine what comes next in the society.

The current corporation board members are the Chairman, Dr Yamungu Kayandabila, Deputy Chairperson, Ms Khadija Said Omari, Mr Idrisa Mfaume Kilangi, Ms Rukia Diwani Shamte, Prof Nicholas Bangu, Mr Ussi Hamza Hussein and Mr Samwel Nyantari Marwa.

The new board which was inaugurated on Monday has three members who are newly appointed and the other three have not yet completed their terms in office. The Chairman is also reappointed.

He said the history of postal services originates from the needs that existed in the past, and the services were meant to simplify administrative duties in the early empires of  China, Rome, Egypt  to mention just a few. In those days the administrators used messengers who had to walk miles or ride horses, who then exchanged verbal or written information.

It was only the monarchs and colonialists who were entitled to use that form of communication. But due to economic and social development that took place, the system of postal services underwent drastic improvements especially in the 17th century during the industrial revolution. The postal services were even more modernized.

The minister said : "At present the postal services have the widest network in the world in terms of delivering parcels, documents, packages with samples and other commodities." Even more important, he said that there has been a major transformation now as the world has moved to digital era when  compared to the old days when the administrators  used messengers  and horses to deliver messages.

Tanzania Posts Corporation was established under the Act No 19 of 1993. According to the Act, the Board of Directors is required to have a chairman and directors not exceeding six in number. Since the board of directors has already started business, it was important for the minister to remind the members of the corporation's responsibilities.

It has been tasked to give modern and standard services within and outside the country, geared towards contributing to the national development. It should also have plans to ensure that the basic postal services are spread throughout the country, to meet the basic communication demands.

Another responsibility is to render monetary transaction services through postal networks. It is also supposed to sustain and initiate other agency services that are needed by the communities. The aim of such agencies is to build an extensive postal network that will strengthen the corporation in terms of competing in the market, and at the same time facilitate people's day to day activities through such efficient services.

According to the Act the Corporation can also start subsidiary company whose shares or part of them, can be owned by it.
Also given the importance of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the Corporation has also the duty to catalyze and distribute the use of modern technology to cover the gap found in some urban and rural settings.

It is also upon the board members to be informed of their duties and responsibilities, so that every one should be in a mission to achieve the overall objectives. The minister also reminded the Board members saying that the Act which established the Board has also outlined clearly their responsibilities.

In his speech he said that it was every board members duty to comprehend and appreciate the corporation's development plans and the budget (income and expenditure) of every year. The board has also the duty to give decisions on viable investments which should bear in mind both corporation's and national interests.

Another item is to authorize the amount that the corporation can borrow from financial institutions that can be used to implement projects for the benefit of the corporation and the nation. The board has also the task of endorsing various policies pertaining to the services  and all the operations undertaken by the corporation.

Also they are supposed to approve the budget and scope of services as well as salary structures and other benefits, policies and employment issues including employees' pensions. The board is also responsible to oversee the setting of tariffs and other services' prices offered by the corporation, in a bid to ensure that the corporation is run commercially and realize profit which will allow them to distribute the dividends to stakeholder which is the government.

Therefore based on the aforementioned duties and responsibilities Professor Mbarawa recently said that the newly Board of Directors will now be subjected to evaluation. He said that this new precedent of evaluation will determine if the Board members should continue serving in their posts.

According to him it was very difficult to pick the Board members this time, because there isn't a system of evaluation to assess the performance of the Chairman and Board of Directors to establish their achievements based on performance.
He said that because of lack of a mechanism to assess the board members he had to pick them unsystematically.

"It is not enough to read some rich CVs with a lot of achievements outlined and make a fair assessment," he said. He also challenged the board members to conduct performance evaluation of the committees it appoints. "It is also your duty to ensure that the top management is assessed by your board to establish if people are delivering," he said.

"I will not tolerate anyone who is not performing and adding value to the Corporation, such people should be removed," he said. He said that the members will be measured against their responsibilities and if found to have not delivered will have to be hacked.