Tanzania: Shein Upbeat On His Nine-Year Govt Performance

ZANZIBAR President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein says he is quite satisfied with his performance as he marks nine years in power since being elected in 2010.

The president, highlighting his achievements since he assumed the highest seat on the ...

land on 31 October 2010 followed by his reelection in March, 2016, said he is satisfied with the socio-economic progress made so far in line with his party's manifestos, 2010/2015 and 2015/2020 editions.

He said the seventh-phase Zanzibar's Revolutionary Government has succeeded to make Zanzibar a better country in many aspects, notably the improvement of key economic indicators, provision of social services, security and political stability.

Dr Shein believes that his government implemented with huge success the third generation poverty reduction strategy, ZSGRP II (MKUZA II), which covered the period of 2010/11 to 2014/15 and the ongoing ZSGRP III, 2016-2020.

He noted that when he stepped into power, the Zanzibar economy was growing at 4.3 per cent but thanks to the sound execution of economic development the economic growth is at an impressive rate of 7.1 per cent.

The growth puts Zanzibar in good track towards achieving middle-income economic status by 2020 as envisaged in the 2020 Vision, said Dr Shein, adding that the economic growth rate could be as high as 7.5 per cent by June, next year.

Inflation rate has also dropped from 6.1 per cent on average in 2010 to 3.9 per cent this year, which makes the business environment more predictable and has helped increase in the purchasing power of the local currency.

He said budget dependency has also dropped from 30.2 per cent to 6 per cent thanks to tight measures taken by the government to improve revenue collection, which rose from 13.5bn/ monthly collection in 2010 to 67bn/- collection currently.

Thanks to increased revenues, the government can now offer free healthcare services and education to its citizens, boasted Dr Shein.

Zanzibar has recorded tremendous developments in the health and educational sectors, water and electric supply, road infrastructures and empowerment of citizens, especially women, youths and underprivileged households through various programmes.

He called on wananchi to use properly, maintain and preserve infrastructures that are being put in place by the government. He said a total of ultramodern multi-storey schools have been built during his time.

He stated that nine schools are built from AfDB soft loan, three funded by development partners and one funded by local investor Said Salim Bakhresa.

Zanzibar has succeeded to improve massively the health sector compared, with dialysis and cancer treatment and NCDs services now freely available for Zanzibaris.

Meanwhile, he said, there's increased access to basic health services thanks to rising number of health centres from 135 to 160.

In tourism, President Shein was buoyed by increased number of arrivals, with the tiny Island beating the target of reaching 500,000 figures in 2020, with data showing that last year alone the number of tourists who visited Zanzibar reached 520,809 and now the government has set itself a new target of reaching 700,000 tourists in 2020.

He said during his tenure, the country has remained as united as ever, saying without peace, unity and good relationships among the Zanzibaris, it wouldn't be possible for the country to attain sustainable development.

The two governments, government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Zanzibar governments have continued to protect the country's peace and security, said President Shein.

President Shein was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Director Chande Omar.