The Nature of Leadership and Policy Problems in Tanzania

By Kilian M. Kamota

 Introduction:

There are noises and confusion everywhere across the country concerning leadership and public policy issues in Tanzania. The fact that there are leadership inadequacy and policy problems across the Nation seems to become a nationwide consensus today. The call for and the eventual agreement to reevaluate the constitution is a vivid evidence of the matter.  The evidence can also be seen all across the Nation as citizen’s outcry regarding socio-economic problems is spreading like a wild fire. Over the last six months alone [from September 2012 to March 2013] we have witnessed intense citizen outcry over the issues of gas exploration in Mtwara, the form four national examination results fiasco, the everyday clashes between police and citizens, the continue electricity and water supply woes as well as the issue of religion conflicts – to mention the few.  All these issues bring us to a realization that how leaders formulate and implement socio-economic policies in Tanzania is more than a puzzle. It is a perplexity that requires a shift in mindset and a recognition that the current socio-economic landscape is changing, and as it changes, the role of everyone involved [in formulating and implementing policies] from citizens to leaders and all stakeholders must evolve. Who decides how the country’s future will look, in terms of policies, politics, governance and the economy, that affects people well being is an important question that requires a paradigm shift (or at least a semi-paradigm shift). It is the million dollar question, the challenge and the opportunity for all Tanzanians that stimulate a rich dialogue as Tanzanians consider their varying needs and the types of leadership that is required to lead them to reach their new objectives.

 The nature of leadership and policy problems in Tanzania is nothing new to a young and upcoming developing nation. The problem has been a long standing Public Administration challenge of reconciling public policy theory and practice. Sabatier & Mazzmaiman, in their book The Implementation of Public Policy (1980), defined the gap as the widening of the distance between stated policy goals and the realization of such planned goals. For Tanzania, in specific, the problem is a result of lack of citizen participation; lack of fundamentals of stable and responsible government; the structure of constitution; the structure and system of government as well as the nature of country’s presidential institution, democracy and the policy system.

Although Tanzania is a democratic country but the effectiveness and responsiveness of its government comes into question when you analyze their actions and their policy results. The Tanzanian leadership and policy system –the government, the constitution, its democracy and leadership - is an old paradigm. The old system has been left behind. Times have changed; the Nation has changed; public needs, objectives and goals have changed but the system has remained the same. And making the changes necessary, given the power and stereotype that remains in the minds of citizens and rigid leaders, may be very difficult unless the first generation of leaders and administrators which has grown old agree to transfer their responsibilities to the new breed of leaders and administrators. By acknowledging the potential for positive change and renewal that can arise from a new breed of leaders and administrators, Tanzanian’s can find a different paradigm for transforming government performance. The task is our, Tanzanians, to assist our leaders to achieve a revolution in management and leadership thinking. Through a revolution in mindset “public managers will acquires a new world view, a new intellectual framework, and a new paradigm from which to see both the current requirements for leading organizations and the challenges of creating institutions capable of qualitative and transformational change in performance and service deliver (Kiel, 1994; Daneke, 1990).

 Fifty years after gaining independence from Great Britain in 1961, the Tanzanian government today is facing same problems that the United States government was facing fifty years after the American Revolution [when America was a young and upcoming nation]. When Andrew Jackson became president of the United States, in 1829, the American
bureaucratic machine was on the brink of collapsing due to colossal problems that forced the launch of the Jacksonian Reforms. There were [in the U.S] noise and confusion that rattled the old federal establishment which were painful signs that the republic was losing its youth (Crenson, 1975). Tanzania is going through the same turbulent times today and there is an immediate need to reform, reinvent, redesign, restructure and reorganize the nation’s bureaucratic machine i.e. systems of governance, the constitution, its leadership and the policy process. There is a need for a new system and new ways of doing things [a new paradigm]. As former president Mkapa once said, in his April 2007 editorial in Thisday Newspaper entitled Leadership: An African Viewpoint & Experience, Africa must not forget its history, but African resolve and African spirits must not be imprisoned by it. “Fifty years after Ghana’s [and Tanzania] independence, Africa can and should now seek to conquer the negative legacies of its history, and engender a new trajectory of its development towards a more prosperous era (Mkapa, 2007).  Tanzania is approaching a defining moment in the Nation's history. The decisions that will be made in the near future will determine whether the country will gloriously evolve to greatness or stumble closer to crumble.

The nature of leadership and policy problems in Tanzania has dual origins. There are causes that are a result of the colonial rule and causes that originate from the modern Tanzanian government itself. In his April 2007 Thisday newspaper editorial, former president Mkapa said that he believe that a discussion of leadership and governance in Africa will be seriously deficient if it fails to put previous and current leadership, and the developmental challenges they faced and continue to face, in their proper historical, cultural and sociological context.

Problems Rooted from Colonialism & Its Aftermath:

Whether it was intended or unintended, the Tanzanian system of governance was solely inherited from the British colonial rule government and by far it has remained the same over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, that colonial form of government was not intended to lead a free country in pursuit of true socio-economic freedom. Not only that, when you do the math you will realize that the country was under the colonial form of governments longer [from 1885 to 1961] than it have been free [1961 to 20130]. No wonder, the legacy of colonialism can still be felt in the country’s pursuit of development. And as president Mkapa mentioned in his paper, “the democratic values, which were maturing in Europe in the 19th century, were not spread to Africa; and any efforts by Africans to demand democratic rule and civil rights were ruthlessly suppressed (Mkapa, 2007).”

  

It is also true that the colonial rulers did not make any efforts to prepare the newly independent country’s to rule themselves and grow socially and economically. They did not prepare their new leaders to lead the young nations neither. In other words, colonial rulers did not prepare African countries to rule themselves; they actually prepared them for failure. In his paper, Leadership: An African Viewpoint & Experience, former president Mkapa pointed out the following context in which most African countries were left after independence:

-Very low levels of education, and hardly any preparation for leadership, whether political or economic.
-Very low governance resources, financial and human; and weak, if any, institutions of independent governance and economic development.
-A hostile external environment, as clearly the colonial powers were not happy to leave their possessions.
-The domestic environment, especially with regard to the settler and colonial commercial interests, were equally obstructive, if not outright hostile.

As far as colonialism and its effects to the nature of leadership and policy problems in Tanzania, I could not agree more with Mr. Mkapa’s excellent conclusion that Africa’s colonial legacy is not the only reason for Africa’s poor economic performance, but it is an important one.

Few minor government reforms have been made since independence, in an attempt to improve performance and create a government that produce better results,  but by far they do not seem to fulfill their intended needs or cope with the pace of change that is sweeping the nation. It is an understatement to say that major and immediate changes are long overdue in Tanzania. In order to bring a positive change in Tanzania, following institutions needs immediate reforms:

· The System of Government i.e.

oThe structure of government and government institutions

oCulture inside the government and government institution

oWork processes inside the government and government institutions

· The Constitution

oSystem of checks and balance

oEstablishment of the rule of law

It is important for the reader to understand that not everything can be changed overnight i.e. revolutionized, some things needs only simple reorganization while other sectors requires reengineering i.e. fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of work process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measure of performance.  As such, the following types of changes needs to be employed to different aspects of the government:

· Reforms

· Restructuring

· Reorganization

· Reengineering

· Reinvention

· Revolution

Problems Rooted from the Modern Tanzania Leadership:

Ken Blanchard, in his book The Secret, once said that ultimately, everything rises and falls under leadership. It is an undeniable truth that for the most part the blame for majority of leadership maladies and policy failure in Tanzania rests on its modern leaders i.e. policy makers.

The CIA World Fact Book had put this point in an excellent context when it said that:

 Tanzania became fully independent on December 1961 and Nyerere was elected president. The political history of Tanzania has been largely shaped by the political stature of Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere. Considered the father of the country, Nyerere was president of Tanzania from 1961 to 1985. Nyerere implemented a sweeping economic reorganization known as ujaama, a system intended to produce a uniquely African form of socialism. State control of everything from agricultural collectivization to transportation and utility services was initiated. 

That is why it was stated in the beginning of the paper that due to nature of the country leadership, majority of problems facing Tanzania can be attributed or traced back to its leadership. Those key problems can be grouped into the following categories:

1)     Nature of Tanzania’s Constitution

The Tanzania constitution was inherited from Great Britain after independence.  The country never formulated its own constitution from scratch – by the people for the people – and thus the structure and system of government is modeled from Great Britain. That is why the country does not have a relevant structure and system of government. The current structure and system of government is very irrelevant, inefficient and ineffective. Because of that, the Tanzanian public policy system has been swallowed by the irrationalities and indignities of politics. All social and economic policies in Tanzania are done politically by politicians. There is a need for a new constitution that will change the system and structure of government, put in place a system of checks and balance, establish the rule of law, give citizens larger participation in government affairs, make it harder for leaders or one branch of government to make major decisions alone and most importantly remove policy making authority from elected officials alone and involve expert regulatory commissions and professional policy makers.

2)     Nature of Tanzania’s Democracy

Tanzania is one of few countries in Africa that has semi-functioning democracy. Over the last 50 years since independence the country has enjoyed semi-functional democracy, peace and tranquility. Every five years the country goes through free and semi-fair national elections where people gets a chance to choose their leaders from national to the local level. However, if you have noticed, I have repeatedly used the word semi-functioning democracy and semi-fair elections and that is because the countries elections and democracy are not perfect.  It is known to many that our elections and democracy have defiance’s.

Soon after independence Tanzania was a multi-party democracy. However, due to the timing issue [a country being infant and fragile] it was deemed necessary to abolish multi-party system and concentrate on unifying the young Nation. “The one-party political system was an important unifying factor for newly independent African countries – Tanzania being one of them (Mkapa, 2007).” That decision turned out to be very beneficial at that time as the country became more united, democratic and peaceful compared to other African nations that took the other route. In 1992, after enjoying more than 30 years of maturity and unity, it was once again deemed necessary to reintroduce multi-party democracy. However, the new multi-part system in Tanzania is ailing from the syndrome of Partisanship. Partisanship, in politics, means rational or irrational commitment to a political party. “In a multiparty system, the term is widely understood to carry a negative connotation - referring to those who wholly support their party's policies and are perhaps even reluctant to acknowledge correctness on the part of their political opponents in almost any situation (Oxford Dictionary, 2010).” Because of that phenomenon, although Tanzania is democratic, the effectiveness and responsiveness of its government comes into question when you analyze their actions and the policy outcomes. Majority of policy and law makers from the ruling party CCM [in the parliament] tends to support any policy that originates from their side and oppose any policy from opposition parties even if it is beneficial to the welfare of the nation. This partisanship obscurity is truly hurting the development of the nation. There is a need for law makers and politician to understand the importance and essence of bipartisanship when it comes to issues that a crucial to the wellbeing of the nation.

3)     Nature of the Presidential Institution

The Tanzanian Presidential institution is what some scholars calls “Imperial Presidency”. In essence, the president of Tanzania retains all the formal and informal power, authority, and influence. He is also said to be above the law. The President of Tanzania chooses and selects (or influence election/selection) all important, and  key leaders of the executive branch, the judicial, and the legislative branch – is including all other key heads of the government bureaucracies and institutions etc. And unfortunately, the Tanzanian constitution does not have a requirement for any formal or informal hearing or approval for any selected government official. In other words all key figures in the Tanzanian branches of government serves [in one way or another] at the pleasure of the president. This condition is a step child of the country outdated constitution. That type of presidency tends to be a conducive breeding ground for inefficiency in government

The Tanzanian government has, a supposedly, system of separation of power without actual separation of any power. It also has, a purportedly, system of check and balance that does not check or balance anything. Power is concentrated at the president and the executive branch. The structure and system of government in Tanzania needs restructuring that will put in place true separation of power and thus a true system of checks and balance. 

4)      Nature of Policy Making System in Tanzania

It has been a common phenomenon for politicians in Tanzania to turn campaign slogans into public policies without following the proper policy making steps. The two major economic policies that Tanzania has unsuccessful enacted in the last 50 years [the Nyerere’s Ujamaa & Mwinyi/Mkapa Mixed Economy] did not follow proper policy making process. Proper policy making tends to have the following steps: policy formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation and redesign phases. Evidence seems to suggest that Tanzania leaders are allergic to those steps.

Another key observation is the fact that both policies were implemented using the Top-Down policy implementation model. Many scholars tend to criticize the top down models pointing out that the model is best for simple policies and tend to fail when applied to big, complex or ambiguous policies. For national wide policies like the Tanzania Ujamaa & Mixed Economy, a customized implementation model or a combination of both top down and bottom up would have worked better. There is a need for a paradigm shift in the field of public policy in Tanzania.

Other Key Problems:

Timing

Absence of leadership succession plan

Lack of charismatic & transformational leaders

Corruption and lack of the culture of discipline

Conclusion:

The leadership (& government) system in Tanzania and the field of public administration are in a dire need for a paradigm shift (or at least a semi-paradigm shift).  For years those two sectors have been struggling with the gap between theory and practice. Public administrators, government’s officials and legislatures have been famous in formulating and adopting remarkable policies in theory soon to be realized impractical. Good policies, adopted with good intentions have turned into a disaster because of the gap between what is and what ought to be. The way policies are formulated and implemented now is an old paradigm.

Policy makers needs to be educated on the importance of creating policies in a fairly orderly sequence – from  defining the problem, placing an issue on the agenda, to proposing, analyzing, legitimizing, selecting and refining the alternative solution. Fays (1975) says policy science is intended to be a tool for organizing political thoughts in a rational way and sorting out consequences and procedures for making decisions that are impartial.

To bring a new paradigm in leadership & the field of public administration, Tanzania will have to change the way things are being done. That will include changing:  the way policies are created and implemented, the way citizens are engaged in the policy process and the types of policy models utilized for implementation. There is also a need for a new process that will make the development and approval of new policies difficult in order limit government or one branch of government from bulldozing the other. There is a need to change the country constitution in order to put in place a true system of checks and balance and true separation of power. There is a need to restructure the government and the presidential authority in order to eliminate any elements of authoritarianism and transform the government into a stable, effective, and responsive organ. The new leadership & policy making paradigms in Tanzania should put in place mechanisms for bringing the creation of machinery which would produce efficient administration and coherent policies.

This Paper is Part of a Literature Review that was written by Mr. Kilian M. Kamota. Please click here to see the entire paper. http://kiliankamota.blogspot.com/2013/03/library-1.html