United States Ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Donald Wright.
Question — You have
made a full circle back to Tanzania after 30 years; In the few weeks
you have been around, how do you find Tanzania
Answer. You
probably know this is not my first experience in Tanzania. I arrived in
Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) 33 years ago when I came as a
volunteer to work at a Pediatric ward in a public hospital in Zanzibar.
And a few weeks ago, I landed here for the second time in my life at
the JNIA, but returning as the US Ambassador and I have to tell you, it
is a great honour and great privilege.
When I got off the
plane and walked down the way, there was some protocol to welcome me,
and I heard that word 'KARIBU'. I hadn't heard that word in 30 years,
but I heard it once again. And I will tell you, from my perspective,
there are some things that are drastically different over that period of
time and there are some things that are still the same. Dar es Salaam
is totally different. It has become like the New York City of East
Africa. Also in terms of the infrastructure projects, you can see the
bridges going across and the roads being prepared so there is a great
achievement from what I saw over the 30 years ago.
And what's the
same? When I came here, as a physician, it was during summer, treating
kids with Malaria, Tuberculosis, Parasites and extremely Malnutrition,
and I think we did good work.And also I had an opportunity to meet
Tanzanian people and I have to say it that I found them kind and
generous and they treated me as I was a member of the family. So that
has not changed!
The other thing
that has not changed is the beauty of your country. The park system that
you have here, is a national treasure, and it is not only a national
treasure, but it is also an international treasure. Everyone wants to
visit it and I am so pleased it remains intact and can be enjoyed by
generations to come. The other things are; the beauty of the beaches and
Indian Ocean.
You are assuming
office as envoy after more than three years' absence of a full
ambassador to Tanzania. The acting envoy Ms Dr Inmi Patterson also left
amid murmurs of diplomatic disquiet; How is this situation informing
your settling
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I am following on
the heels of Chargé d'Affaires Inmi Patterson. I have to say that I have
the deepest respect for the work she did here. I am intent to take the
things she did and enhance them by strengthening the relationship and
also create new programmes to strengthen this friendship. But the point I
want to leave you with, is that the relationship between Tanzania and
the US, is not related on to one Ambassador or Chargé d'Affaires, but it
is a long-standing relationship. I think probably everyone in this room
has seen an iconic photograph of your first President Julius Nyerere
visiting our White House and shaking hands with President John Kennedy.
So this long-standing relationship that we enjoy today, was established a
long time ago.
Our political
system in the US is a slow process. From the time I was actually
approached being the Ambassador, until I actually got here, it is all
over a year, so the process is slow. Your background has to be checked,
and you have to be interviewed by the Senator. In reality, I had opted
to be here in April, but Covid-19 slowed my arrival. So I don't want
Tanzanian people to feel that in any way the US government does not
value its relationship with Tanzania. We have always considered you as a
very stable diplomatic partner country in East Africa. When I had a
chance to meet with your Tanzanian political officials, they reiterated
how pleased they were to have a full-time US Ambassador to Tanzania. I
am US President's representative in the country and I am authorized to
interrupt with the host government as if I am speaking for the President
of the US.
You are also
returning at a time of great change in the country both in terms of
socio-economic development; What did you mean when you wrote recently
that you seek to foster a new era of engagement between the two
countries that directly extends to the people of Tanzania
Our relationship
with Tanzania is a long-standing one, it goes back to 60 years. But the
relationship has to change over time, because Tanzania has changed
frankly, and so is the US. I will tell you, across Africa and across the
world, we opt to move to the era which focuses on supporting countries
and also focuses on trade as one way to strengthen our bilateral
relationship with the countries. This is a good opportunity for me to
tell you what are my priorities areas; investing in the business
climate, health, and lastly empowering youth in the country.
Health
Let me just focus
on the two health programmes that we think have been especially
beneficial for the host countries. They involve HIV and Malaria. The
programmes have actually made a big differences in the country. I will
start with HIV; there are these we call Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or
PrEP) and
Antiretroviral
(ARV). It is not only in Tanzania, it is across Africa and the world, if
we now diagnose someone is being HIV positive, we enrol them into
Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, hence these people can live long and healthy
and beproductive. So now HIV is just perceived as a normal chronic
disease like hypertension and diabetes. It is estimated that our PrEP
programmes have saved about 18 million lives. Here in Tanzania, our PrEP
programme is strong, so in the area of HIV/AIDS, we have made some
great efforts and we intend to continue that effort.
The other area is
Malaria. It is just a fact that Malaria is a problem in Africa. About
10-12 million Tanzanians get Malaria each year, and the US is committed
through President Malaria Initiative, to decrease that number. The
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a branch here in
Dar es Salaam which is overseeing all Malaria programmes implemented in
the country. We are very focused on diagnosis as quickly as possible and
effective treatment, especially for pregnant women. But the other side
of the coin which is really close to what we are doing in Africa, is
prevention. A report by the USAID show that the US is about to issue
about 2 million treated bed nets across the country.
I am very pleased
to say that through the work that we have done, the prevalence rate of
Malaria in this country has been cut into a half. However, there is
still work to be done. And the last thing, I want to say about health,
you know we are living in the globe and it is very easy for a new
emerging infection to arise and then spread all over the globe because
there is such movement of people across borders, we saw that from Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in early 2000 and then Covid-19
recently and even Ebola in African continent and we think it is
important for the governments to be prepared for whatever the next
emerging infection is.
We don't need to
invest in health here, our goal is to help your economy grow and become
more prosperous country so that you are able to take care the health of
your own people and at that point we will be more happy to step aside
and let Tanzanians to take care of Tanzanians and take care of HIV and
Malaria. In the meantime, we are your friends and we are here to help.
Covid-19
As you know,
Covid-19 is a global problem. I will speak what I know best. In the US,
we still continue to have a problem with Covid-19. Each and every day
there are new cases diagnosed with the infection. I am very pleased to
say that, cases of Covid-19 in the US begin to decrease as we continue
to reinforce health guidelines; good hand washing, wearing of masks in
the public and social distancing.
We have invested
money here in Tanzania, I think it is almost $6 million to help in the
fight against Covid-19 particularly for prevention so that Tanzanians
can practice public health guidelines and reduce the transmission.
Another thing, whether it is good hand washing or social distancing,
that protects people from other diseases not just Covid-19, and so they
are good public health practices for everyone to learn not only for
Covid-19 but for other diseases as well.
Going back to
business, you mentioned earlier that business climate is among your
three priorities that you are looking forward to improving in the
country. Can you clarify
During my tenure
here, I want to strengthen the long-standing bilateral relationship
between Tanzania and the US. I will feel successful if I will see more
Tanzanian products sold in the market places in the US.
Your coffee, tea,
cashewnuts, the list is endless. So I would like to see Tanzanian
products being available in the US. And again, I would also like to see
more American products available here in Tanzania. I want to foster the
bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The second element
is the business investment and it is the strongest priority for me. I
want to see Americans invest in this country so that we can increase tax
revenues for the government and more importantly, it can be an engine
for employments for Tanzanian young population in particular.
Personally, I see
the resources this country has, I think the opportunities are endless
from energy to other infrastructure projects, from healthcare to
agro-business. The opportunities for American investors are there and I
have met with many investment communities and they have seen great
potential all across Africa to invest here and bring jobs to the
continent including Tanzania. So that is what I want to do moving
forward. I am also passionate about supporting tourism in particular in
your game reserves. I love animals since I was a child.
Even when I went
to University I undertook the study of animals. So I want to see those
resources are preserved not only for this generation, but for the future
generation, and not only for the Tanzanians but for the world. And I
want to commend Tanzania, for what they have done so far in relation to
poaching and wildlife conservation. I want this wonderful national
treasure that you have preserved to be shared with everyone in the
country and in the world, and I acknowledge it generates significant
revenues for the country. So I am going to work very closely with the
Tanzanian government on wildlife conservation.
What will you do to
make sure you convince Tanzanians and authorities to engage with the US
in trade. There is this fear that giant economies want to dominate the
economies of poor countries instead of creating a win-win situation in
business.
Certainly, the way
I look at American investment in the country needs to be a win for the
Tanzanian people and a win for the American business community. And I
think that can easily be achieved, and I know there are probably some
examples in the past where the companies came to Tanzania and didn't
create a win-win situation in business with Tanzania. I am committed
that any company that I will bring here remains competitive and
productive for the people of Tanzania. One things that I will do in my
power is to ensure Tanzanians accorded opportunity to run businesses by
American investors.
This country is
rich in so many resources, whether you are talking about agriculture or
minerals. What I think could be done is to ensure that there is no
middleman of some sort for your products here such as cashews. They have
to be processed here before they go to the market either in the US or
Canada or anywhere. And when I mentioned agro-business earlier, I would
love Tanzania to develop mechanization to increase the level of local
processing.
You have spoken passionately on youth empowerment; what does US have in store for the youth programmes
As I look at the
demographic of the country of Tanzania, you are a young population, you
have an exploding group of young people, and they will be entering the
job market in the next couple of years. That will be great as they can
fuel the economic development. But they need to have education and
technical skills that are needed to acquire jobs in the country.
And I see this as a
great opportunity for collaboration between the Tanzanian government
and the US. My perception about the Tanzania young people as I watch
them in the streets around this country is, they are hard workers and
they are highly motivated, they are thoughtful and they will do anything
and that is going to serve the country. Making sure they are empowered
to be the engine for the economic growth for the country to move forward
is key. We think education is so important and we have been involved in
education for the last 60 years in the country. We think every
Tanzanian boy and girl should have an opportunity for good public
education, not only primary but secondary. We also have a special
interest in young girls especially as related to secondary education. We
want them to have access to secondary schools and we want them to have
means to complete that education and move on if they desire.
Tanzania has
adopted an economic diplomacy approach to replace the older political
approach so as to grow its economy. But there are still those who feel
that we are coming from a disadvantaged position. What is your take on
this
I think the future
vision of Tanzania by the Tanzanians is very similar to the vision that
the US has for the Tanzanians. We want you to have a strong economy, we
want your people to live healthy lives and to have opportunities for a
good education. So we have a lot of things in common as related to
development goals for Tanzanians.
If you go back
several decades, when our Ambassador came to your country, the thought
was the Ambassador would just interact with the host government and that
would be the end. But to get businesses into the country and to deal
with some of the issues such as education, we need to bring in and
partner with other groups like the private sector and Civil Society
Organizations other than just the host government. There are a number of
Civil Society Organizations that can be helpful to help us achieve the
shared vision that we have for Tanzania. These include international
like the World Health Organization, UN Women organisation or other
organisations that I will partner with to help us achieve the goals that
we have.
Some of those who
have a shared vision with the government include the Tanzanian diaspora
community. Those Tanzanians have migrated out of Tanzania and now are
living in the US. I have had a chance to meet with some, they love
Tanzania and they want to see Tanzania prospers. They are another group
that will be so supportive in achieving the goals as related to a shared
vision that the US and Tanzania have.
What is your view
on civil society groups' contribution to development and how can they
help to achieve a shared vision that the US has for Tanzania
It has been only a
few weeks since I started serving the country as an Ambassador here, so
I am still learning. They have been reports about the suppression of
civil society organisations from having a space to do their work. I will
everything in my power to ensure that they do have the opportunities in
this country because ultimately Tanzania benefits and the people of
Tanzania benefit. If these groups are focused on the health or education
or agriculture issues, they are part of the solution and they need to
be at the table. So anything I will do, surely I will be interacting
with these groups during my tenure as Ambassador.
Talking of
politics; Tanzania is in an election year. We have seen your recent
tweet calling for a peaceful election. What is your general observation
so far
The US has a strong
commitment to the principles of democracy and basic human rights. Back
in January, we learnt of President John Magufuli's commitment to a fair,
free, transparent and inclusive election. We want to do anything in our
ability to help achieve these goals. Democracies are so important. We
know from history, those countries that had democratic principles and
embraced the basic human rights for their citizens were peaceful over a
long time and they were economically prosperous over a long time
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