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Remember your motherland, JK tells Tanzanians in SA
2006-04-12 07:45:15
By Beatrice Bandawe, Pretoria
Tanzanian experts and academicians living and working abroad were duty-bound to assist their country to attain social and economic development, President Jakaya Kikwete has said.
Addressing Tanzanians living in South Africa, Kikwete said the government invested a lot of money for their education, that’s why they were valued and respected by foreign nations.
’’You would not have been there if the government had not taken care of your education. It’s your duty to help your own country in its development pursuits,” said the President.
’’You just recall the days when you were walking bare footed to school and studied up to the university level, before coming here…then you were accepted by the labour market,’’ he said.
Experts who had been working abroad and later on decided to return back, according to Kikwete, were the ones who speeded developments in such countries as India, China and Malasia and Brazil. He called on Tanzanian experts to do the same.
’’Experts from the said countries who remained in foreign countries, had been using the opportunity to persuade foreign governments to prepare policies that would benefit their countries,’’ said the President.
Some of you have introduced yourselves as engineers and think-tanks, how many of you have taken the initiative to convince this country to support Tanzania, asked Kikwete.
The President acknowledged that most of the Tanzanians were going abroad in search of better pay and should not bar them from providing their expertise contributions to their motherland.
The government, he said, had already started reviewing salary structures with the view to improve monthly packages and other incentives for public servants.
The move, according to the president, would help seal loopholes for corruption among civil servants and mitigate the chronic problem of brain drain facing the country.
During the meeting, the president informed then progress made by his government in the implementation of pledges made in the election campaigns.
In response, one expert Sospeter Mhango, proposed the formation of a network of academicians and experts living and working abroad to discuss ways to develop their country.
’’The network must be managed by experts themselves. Countries like China, India, and South African have initiated such kind of networks,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Tanzanians in South Africa have contributed USD 3,000 to counter food shortage facing the country.
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