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Cabinet reshuffle: Tanzanians had expected better than this
2006-10-23 09:10:21
By Hilal Sued
So, the exit strategy for the ”Richmond affair” and perhaps other failings was the shuffling of the pack - huh? No doubt it was designed to confuse people into not knowing where the joker is.
And after that? File closed, total silence!
That is the standard procedure, but the wananchi may not remain silent, especially if the effects of the failings directly affect their lives.
And the main problem with such a situation is that a lot of things laced with hyperboles, untruths, and half-truths some of which could embarrass the government may be written, whereas a simple plausible explanation is all that was needed to put the matter to a rest.
And if it’s a way to enforce repeated rostrum pledges on accountability and openness in the governance, then this kind of outrage shows that nothing new or different is to be expected from the Phase IV administration.
Yes, heads rolled, if that’s what many people had been crying for, but up to as far as the nearest chairs.
It would be pointless to expect more because it is now increasingly being confirmed that the administration is being run by the so called ”Mtandao” as has been claimed repeatedly - of cliques and cronies.
In the circumstances it may be very hard not to believe that JK is surrounded by yes-men and sycophants who tell him what he likes to hear.
George Washington, the hero of the American War of Independence, and the first President of the United States once cautioned about buddies: ”Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
No one has the courage to dispute that. And after the war, Washington formed his first government in 1789, but excluded his cronies, many of who, in one way or another took part in the independence struggle.
When asked why he did so, he replied ”those were George Washington’s buddies, but these are my government’s friends.”
Granted that any head of state would want to see all affairs of the state are well managed - according to the formulated party’s policy. But if he’s not astute enough he will find himself largely depending on reports from his top lieutenants to know this.
In any version, many wananchi have been angered by the reshuffle which let off the hook the culprit(s) responsible for the exacerbation of their agonies brought up by the power shortage, unless it is admitted that it’s the entire government that has failed them.
Surely the wananchi, who returned the CCM government with ”ushindi wa kishindo” deserve some explanation in this major blunder, if only as a token of appreciation, don’t they?
Nonetheless, Saturday saw the arrival of the generators’ first consignment.
This came after the firm tried, through ads in newspapers to explain the affair, particularly its side of the story.
It however could not address the pertinent issues that were raised surrounding the whole deal, other than what is already public knowledge.
The arrival of the first consignment on Saturday may not necessarily remove the ’stink’ from the entire deal, which spurred a major cabinet reshuffle that saw the removal of the responsible minister.
For example the firm did not explain the core issue - the one surrounding its competence - why it had been unable to get guarantees from reputable international banks, or that it had no past record in such big projects, contrary to what it had claimed.
That also included its claim of having been registered and doing business in the US state of Texas.
Back to reshuffles. Generally cabinet shake-ups amount to certain ministers being shifted from one portfolio to another.
These happen because periodically moving ministers is often necessary to replace those who have resigned due to scandal or retired.
In fact, forming cabinets, both in first time and in reshuffles is one important way for a head of government to reward or punish supporters.
Cabinet reshuffles are far less common in systems where members of the Cabinet are not drawn from the legislative branch. For instance in the United States it would very unusual for a president to reassign all the cabinet secretaries to new positions.
Nonetheless, it’s customary procedure in a major ministerial shake-up like the one last week for the head of state to say why it was necessary to do so - even if it’s just the usual unrevealing stuff - such as that the move was indispensable to instil in more efficiency in the government.
Instead what we heard were some of the ministers’ own versions that attempted to explain why they were shifted - such as one who said ”the President saw that it was essential in order to give the ministers the portfolios they are best at.”
If so why not tell JK well before that ”I’m not fit for the portfolio you are giving me, give me that one” so as to save the government and the country the mess it has found itself in by clinging to a ministry in which he cannot deliver. I don’t think whether JK would have ignored such an honest request.
When Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki reshuffled his cabinet after his government’s defeat in the constructional referendum a year ago, over 20 ministers, including assistant ministers whom he appointed in his new government declined the jobs citing various reasons. Since then I have always been wondering whether such thing can ever happen here.
On the other hand, the culpability of the entire government on the Richmond affair cannot be ruled out completely because it is believed that the value of the contract it entered with the firm - USD 172m - must have needed the approval of the entire cabinet.
In my article last week I wrote that in the best case scenario, an acceptable explanation could be that JK had been misled by his top lieutenants. Could that be the reason for reshuffling 10 ministers in one single move, if we disregard the eight deputy ministers?
This is a large figure that qualifies as a ”major reshuffle,” for it comes to an average of at least shifting two ministers and two deputy ministers per month if we take into consideration JK’s ten-month old cabinet.
As Tanzanians were slowly coming into grips with the reality of the Richmond affair - or rather its being swept under the carpet - with a cloud of uncertainty still hanging on the country’s power supply, the government has been engaging itself in some image-repairing - a subconscious attempt to show that everything is in fact not all that bad in it.
Last Thursday the government was praised for being ranked the fourth in Africa for having the most open budget process, after South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. This was announced by the Executive Director of HakiElimu, Rakesh Rajani whose NGO did a survey for Tanzania on behalf of International Budget Project.
That should quell, a little bit, the twitchy minds of Tanzanians caused by the power blues, for their government is after all scoring high marks in other fields for their own good. I also believe that HakiElimu - which I now find to be out of the ordinary in engaging itself deep in such fiscal matters - should also go a bit further by making a survey on behalf of the same or other international organisation on Tanzania’s proper usage of the budgeted monies aimed at knowing on which rung from the bottom Tanzania is.
He could use the same Controller and Auditor General (CAG) yearly reports.
I honestly hold Mr Rajani in very high esteem for his valuable contribution to the education sector, especially the critical views which his NGO provided and which kept the government on its feet, to the point of the latter banning it altogether. But surely, is he now descending from this position and now comments on selected areas where the government is apparently performing well?
The image-restoring process also received a boost from the Minister for Finance, Zakia Meghji who, at the same forum, informed Tanzanians that despite power blues and all other odds, the country’s economy is till robust and that the government beat all records in revenue collection in September when it put over 231bn/- in the kitty.
Meghji was only playing politics, for the disclosures were diametrical opposite to the dismal picture on the country’s economy painted by BoT in its report a day earlier - that the projected 7 percent growth has now been reduced to 5.9 per cent, that each power unit lost cost the country two US dollars in forex and that oil imports will hit USD one billion dollars up from USD 400m per year.
As for the record revenue collection, I still don’t accept it to be a yardstick for the country’s economic performance, especially in so far as poverty alleviation is concerned.
What is the whole clamour for if an outrageous chunk of the monies so collected is unaccounted for (read: stolen) according to the Controller and Auditor General reports?
It’s just reported that within three years, the total amount of government funds that is unaccounted for almost trebled, to a whopping 202bn/-.
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