Wizara ya Ardhi
Govt Institution
- May 14, 2024
- 306
- 165
Kiswahili hujui au?*** If you remove the class of domestic investors/ business owners who operate with capital derived from graft and invest and start businesses as acts of laundering stolen government funds, buy previously owned government land and factories at incredibly discounted prices (prices government officials — former or current set for themselves, their family members, and acquaintances), evade the payment of taxes, and pay Tanzanians unlivable wages, how has the Government of Tanzania supported legitimate investors and business owners — individuals and companies that invest legitimately acquired and owned capital, pay taxes, and employ Tanzanians at fair wages ?
As a result of the institutionalised corruption in Tanzania, at present and for a long time before that, it has been an incredibly difficult place to invest/ do business.
The state must help create a healthy environment for legitimate economic activities. It is obvious that a lot of changes are necessary when the most visible business operations in the private sector in the country are linked to stolen government funds — it is a sad state of affairs.
Most countries in the world, and certainly the most developed, even for those who at present have limited government intervention in economic matters at some point had/ continue to have government support/ regulation of industry — governments ensure their local industries thrive inside and outside their countries. The Government of Tanzania has to support legitimate enterprise — in the past due to high levels of corruption that has not been a priority due to some of the most high ranking Tanzanian government officials prioritising their own business interests but in order to ensure long term economic growth, the interests of the nation must be put above those of kleptocrats.
The economic struggles Tanzania is currently facing are a direct result of decades of the Government of Tanzania neglecting it’s responsibility to safeguard the integrity of Tanzanian enterprise for the sake of developing the businesses of a few — most disappointingly, they have been protecting the interests of kleptocrats who have been operating in an unsustainable economic bubble that has made legitimate businesses almost entirely impossible to sustain and grow (how do you compete with money launderers (people that acquire capital freely at no cost to themselves) and evade paying taxes at every turn ?)
Legitimate domestic and foreign business owners and investors are being pushed out by those who operate as a means of laundering stolen funds, however, having an entire economy primarily dominated by the economic activities of kleptocrats and their associates is unsound (with the economic activities of the rest of the Tanzanian population — the majority — continuously being unsupported and sidelined) and as we have seen, all it takes is an economic crisis here, a pandemic there, a war somewhere else, for the entire house of cards to come crumbling down.
Kiswahili hujui au?
I am really happy to see the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Human Settlements on Jamii Forums — there are a lot of issues that need to be publicly addressed in regard to the work of this specific ministry on the topic above as well as a plethora of other concerns.
What I need from this ministry and the Government of Tanzania is to go beyond surface level issues and to really start tackling the deeper problems that stagnate this country’s economic growth and therefore also the standard of living of ordinary citizens.
My own mother owns two plots of land that she has been trying to develop for investment purposes for decades and their development has been severely affected by corruption and fraud by both government and private entities.
For one of the plots she has been struggling to get the title deed issued (she has an offer letter) because government entities are being used to steal the plot away from her — so not only has she never gotten any money back from her initial investment in buying the actual plot of land, but now government officials are threatening to take it away from her (it is now quite valuable and corrupt government officials want to get it for free). Another plot she has was stolen from her with the help of corrupt judges and officials from the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Human Settlements and the title deed was reinstated to her just five months ago. How does one successfully invest in such an environment ?
Aside from the corruption within government, there are land grabbers outside of the government ecosystem. This past week, two lawyers tried to prevent my mother and I from leaving with her own title deed — they locked us in their office and were refusing to let us leave (they unlawfully detained us) — this was after they tried to facilitate a hostile takeover of my mother’s company by a family well known for criminal activity in Tanzania and a politically exposed individual. Again, how is such a political and social environment conducive to healthy economic investment in Tanzania ?
It is more than fair for the Government of Tanzania to ensure that land allocated for investment is used precisely for that but what is the government doing to ensure that domestic and foreign investors are able to not only work in a corruption free environment but are also able to successfully recoup the money they pour into business/ economic activities in Tanzania ?
*** If you remove the class of domestic investors/ business owners who operate with capital derived from graft and invest and start businesses as acts of laundering stolen government funds, buy previously owned government land and factories at incredibly discounted prices (prices government officials — former or current set for themselves, their family members, and acquaintances), evade the payment of taxes, and pay Tanzanians unlivable wages, how has the Government of Tanzania supported legitimate investors and business owners — individuals and companies that invest legitimately acquired and owned capital, pay taxes, and employ Tanzanians at fair wages ?
As a result of the institutionalised corruption in Tanzania, at present and for a long time before that, it has been an incredibly difficult place to invest/ do business.
The state must help create a healthy environment for legitimate economic activities. It is obvious that a lot of changes are necessary when the most visible business operations in the private sector in the country are linked to stolen government funds — it is a sad state of affairs.
Most countries in the world, and certainly the most developed, even for those who at present have limited government intervention in economic matters at some point had/ continue to have government support/ regulation of industry — governments ensure their local industries thrive inside and outside their countries. The Government of Tanzania has to support legitimate enterprise — in the past due to high levels of corruption that has not been a priority due to some of the most high ranking Tanzanian government officials prioritising their own business interests but in order to ensure long term economic growth, the interests of the nation must be put above those of kleptocrats.
The economic struggles Tanzania is currently facing are a direct result of decades of the Government of Tanzania neglecting it’s responsibility to safeguard the integrity of Tanzanian enterprise for the sake of developing the businesses of a few — most disappointingly, they have been protecting the interests of kleptocrats who have been operating in an unsustainable economic bubble that has made legitimate businesses almost entirely impossible to sustain and grow (how do you compete with money launderers (people that acquire capital freely at no cost to themselves) and evade paying taxes at every turn ?)
Legitimate domestic and foreign business owners and investors are being pushed out by those who operate as a means of laundering stolen funds, however, having an entire economy primarily dominated by the economic activities of kleptocrats and their associates is unsound (with the economic activities of the rest of the Tanzanian population — the majority — continuously being unsupported and sidelined) and as we have seen, all it takes is an economic crisis here, a pandemic there, a war somewhere else, for the entire house of cards to come crumbling down.