Diplomatist Special Report - Tanzania Tanzania 2018 | Page 26

Transforming lives in Tanzania,
the John Magufuli way
By DR. HASSAN ABBASI*
I
must admit that any invitation I get to provide an
assessment of the transformation we have delivered in the
two years of President John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania
presents a daunting task, but its worth a try.
President John Pombe Magufuli was sworn in November
2015 and immediately unveiled his major agenda -
governance reforms and enhancement of the economy
through industrialisation policy.
On the governance front, he inherited a country where
despite commendable efforts of his predecessors, many
challenges continued to persist, corruption and embezzlement
of funds primary among these. He then waged war against
corruption by establishing an anti-graft court and ushered in
a new tradition of governance in the country, taking prompt
action to dismiss from offi ce any dishonest public offi cial;
he even took some of them to courts of law in a nation-wide
drive christened as “lancing the boils”.
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Moreover, the President’s efforts did not spare out
lavish government spending; within his first 100 days
in offi ce, President Magufuli announced a cut down on
government spending by reducing unnecessary foreign
trips and prohibiting unnecessary seminars, workshops,
and symposia.
In December 2015, he cancelled what would have been
his fi rst celebration of the National Independence Day, and
instead directed the money meant for stadium parades and
traditional dances towards rehabilitating a section of a Dar es
Salaam suburb road. He spent the day cleaning environment at
a market close to his offi ce in a campaign that was supported
by many of his people. He did the same in April 2016 when
he channeled funds set for the Union Celebrations to upgrade
the Mwanza-Airport road.
In Tanzania today, every public servant (and indeed even
some in private sectors) are designing their own creative