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Can we tame our bloated bureaucracy?
2005-12-14 08:01:51
By Editor
Since early 1980s, Tanzania has implemented commendable reforms in transforming the economy from a state stranglehold to a liberal one.
The process has entailed rough moments for some institutions and individuals, but a broad consensus of opinion now accepts this radical transformation a positive move.
One of the obvious unpalatable outcomes of the economic reform process has been the massive layoffs in parastatals lined up for divestment as well as a significant downsizing of the civil service cadre.
The primary objective behind reforming the civil service was to create a small, efficient and knowledgeable cadre of civil servants who take pride in timely delivery of public service, rather than embracing bureaucracy as an end in itself
The process of reforming the civil service has come with sacrifice, and one would wish its positive consequences to be pragmatic and dynamically monitored.
Yet, it is shocking to read a World Bank report which labels Tanzania as a place where doing business is costly because of officialdom.
One has to go through 26 procedures to obtain a licence in Tanzania against 11 in Kenya and 19 in Uganda.
In terms of lost man-hours burned up in the same exercise, 313 days are needed in Tanzania, while the same in Uganda takes 155 days and 179 in Kenya.
For the last ten years, the government has taken positive steps to assure quality in the regulation process, but implementation has dragged on at a snail’s pace, ultimately frustrating interested local and foreign investors wishing to embark on new ventures.
At any rate, given existing quality problems, the establishment is becoming an unwanted burden, placing unnecessary barriers on new entrants.
The situation is daunting at local government levels, though they are focal points in business entry. Worst, they lack auditing, legal and accounting capacities—the necessary competencies in ensuring fast regulatory services.
Our overall ranking among the 155 countries surveyed brings no relief at all, for clinching the 140 mark indicates that we need to enhance public service reforms, especially in those areas which directly deal with investment facilitation.
Tanzania’s overall development vision is to allow the private sector to take charge of the economy, so that more gainful jobs are created and the domestic market flourishes .
The immediate assignment before us is to investigate the regulations which enhance business activity and retain them, while those that constrain business should be done away with. A stereotypical bureaucracy mired in red tape that consists of many levels of management which require many signature approvals to make any decision, no matter how trivial, is no good for business development. The ball is in our court.
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