Red tape bad for economy, we cut it or we get stuck

 

In Summary

According to last year’s World Bank report, you needed up to 205 days to go through a total of 18 procedures to get a permit to build a warehouse here. 

Tanzania does not come out smelling like roses in the World Bank’s yearly Doing Business reports publications, largely due to bureaucratic procedures in areas such as handling construction permits and paying taxes.

According to last year’s World Bank report, you needed up to 205 days to go through a total of 18 procedures to get a permit to build a warehouse here.

You need an average of 13.5 procedures—spanning an average of 155.7 days—to get such permits in other nations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The city/municipal/town councils are reportedly to blame for this state of affairs.

But municipal heads have turned the heat on their central government counterparts, accusing them of failing to get infrastructure development capital from the public—via the stock market—through debt obligations that are known as municipal bonds.

Basically, the bonds help municipalities source funds for development of social amenities such as water, electricity and sewerage infrastructure. But, according to Ilala Mayor Jerry Silaa and his Kinondoni counterpart Yusuph Mwenda, though the demand for such bonds is high, and applicant has to contend with red tape from the PM’s Office and the Treasury before their dreams can be realised.

This raises the question: Who benefits from all this bureaucracy? In a country such as ours, where infrastructure needs are innumerable, one would expect municipal councils to have diverse sources of much-needed funds to undertake projects like upgrading power distribution lines and water supply facilities.

We have it on good authority that it was through such bonds that the Brazilian municipality of Santos managed to raise funds for the construction of canals in the 1920s. In the United States of America, such bonds contribute massively to the revenues of municipalities. At regional level, Kengen—the power generation company that was listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2006—has been issuing bonds and shares to raise funds to finance their upgrades and expansion projects. When bureaucracy becomes a nuisance, we all lose.