Presentation of monthly reports on implementation of plans at national level as revealed on Friday by the Directorate of Information indeed opens a new chapter of transparency.
President John Magufuli has issued directives to all ministers that with effect from August 25, next week each will have to announce to the public through the media on the implementation of the 2016/17 financial budget in their respective ministries.
The Information Services office clarified that the aim was to allow the media and the public at large to track national agendas set by the government for implementation.
Under the initiative, ministers will be required to provide the status of budget implementation every month, by revealing government priorities and challenges facing the implementation of the set development projections.The approach may sound unique and perhaps not easy to implement but since tested in other parts of the world and proved viable, its applicability here has to be achieved accordingly.
The play ground is now smooth for the media to engage government officials who for reasons better known to themselves, some opted to ‘repel’ journalists. But this time they will have to ‘withstand the heat’ for the necessary adjustments. We believe that within no time all will be comfortable with the arrangement and cope with the situation.
This reminds us of the famous quote of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in October 1969 when addressing students at the University of Toronto, Canada, in his famous speech under the title “Change and Stability in Africa”.
The quote goes; “Change causes disturbance and thus upsets stability, but positive change is impossible without stability. And stability is itself impossible in Africa without change. Africa’s task therefore is to achieve a difficult balance between the complementary needs for change and stability.”
If the word Africa is replaced by Tanzania, the citation becomes absolutely relevant and contemporary as ministers together with their supporting team(s) are expected to stay tuned for positive changes.
The gravity of the new information sharing system is weighed through the authenticity of information provided by ministers, which has to be verified by the government spokesperson, under what has been described as value for money project assessment.
It should be understood that the system is not meant to cast doubt on the performance of ministers and their associates but rather pushing them into keeping pace with accurate expenditure of the approved development budget.
At one point, the former Ugandan president, dictator Idi Amin Dada, was reported to have ordered all his ministers to avoid a “no comment” response when approached by the media or else cast themselves out of the government office.
He believed that he appointed his cabinet ministers on professional merits. He was convinced that ministers who had nothing to tell the public through the media about the development taking place in the country and within their respective ministries did not deserve the office.
The same style is reportedly being applied by the no no-nonsense Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Now the ball is in Tanzania’s court. Let us see what happens.
We believe love for the country will prevail and undoubtedly the media will pose serious questions and demand clarification for am number of controversial issues. The best option is tolerance for the wheel to turn around.
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