President Jakaya Kikwete speaks when opening the Open Government
Partnership Conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | ANTHONY
SIAME
By Katare Mbashiru
In Summary
The President says the government is ready for
budget cuts should donors peg aid to the newly-enacted laws designed to
clamp down on cybercrime and streamline publication of official
statistics
Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete declared
yesterday that he would not be cowed by donor countries that are
threatening to cut aid funding to his government over controversial
Bills he recently signed into law.
The President said the government was ready for
budget cuts should donors peg aid to the newly-enacted laws designed to
clamp down on cybercrime and streamline publication of official
statistics.
“There are people who have been saying that if we
don’t amend the two laws they may withhold their aid,” the Head of State
said at the official opening of a major conference on Open Government
Partnership (OGP). “But we will know what to do because our government
needs to be respected sometimes.”
The country would not be shaken or threatened, he
added, but he would hold talks whenever any parties felt there was
something important to discuss going forward.
The President did not name those who had
threatened to suspend aid to Tanzania if the two laws were not amended
as suggested by a wide range of civil society groups. Some of them have
threatened to go to court.
Earlier this month, Mr Kikwete endorsed the
Cybercrime 2015 and the Statistics Act, 2013, which drew heated
opposition. Opponents consider them draconian and claim they are likely
to curtail freedom of expression, which is provided for in the
Constitution. Earlier, civil society organisations (CSOs) punched holes
in the two laws and appealed to President Kikwete to reject them after
Parliament okayed them.
Among those who expressed their optimism that the
laws would not sail through was the European Union (EU) Delegation Head
Filiberto Sebregondi and Development Partners Chairperson Sinika Antila.
The envoys urged the President to make “wise decisions”.
The move has also been met with scathing
editorials in the media and growing anger, with the Tanzania Editors
Forum arguing that the contentious laws would muzzle press freedom. But,
speaking at the two-day OGP meeting that kicked off in Dar es Salaam
yesterday, Mr Kikwete said his government was ready for dialogue.
“There have been people who insist that these are
draconian laws,” he added, “but I am sure that if we meet and present
our arguments, we can avoid tensions to do with the two laws.”
Dignitaries from many parts of the world attended the OGP meeting. Tanzania joined the OGP Initiative in September 2011.
The intention was to make government business more
open to its citizens and improve public service delivery, government
responsiveness, combating corruption and building greater trust.
The Tanzania OGP Action Plan of 2012/2013 centre
around commitments focused on transparency, accountability, citizen
participation and technology and innovation
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