A section of Members of Parliament during a past budget session. PHOTO | FILE
Today, 1 July, marks the start of a new fiscal year. If we were to make a new year (fiscal) resolution, and with a mindset of “pamoja tunajenga taifa letu” (together we build our nation), what might such a resolution look like?
Top of mind at last Saturday’s Tanzania National Business Council (“TNBC”) meeting, chaired by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, was the imperative of a conducive business and investment environment. I was in the audience and was particularly engaged by the discussions on this topic - in particular, as regards progress on the implementation of the Blueprint for regulatory reforms to improve the business environment (“the Blueprint”), but also ongoing practical challenges. This discussion perhaps gave some pointers as to what our primary new (fiscal) year resolution should look like.
But first to the discussions. As regards the Blueprint, reference was made to significant progress in terms of the number of laws and regulations repealed or rationalized in line with the Blueprint recommendations - including 232 nuisance taxes scrapped in the last 100 days. Nevertheless, the Chairman of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (“CTI”), Mr Paul Makanza, did highlight that a burning issue remains effective implementation of a regulatory impact assessment (“RIA”) process - something emphasized as of primary importance in the Blueprint. To quote the Blueprint: “The Guideline for the preparation of Cabinet Papers includes RIA as one of the requirements in all policy / regulatory proposals. This Blueprint thus serves as a reminder and calls for strict observance of the RIA requirement for all regulations proposed by MDAs and LGA by-laws. It should be made a mandatory requirement for all regulations and LGA by-laws which are likely to impact on the business community to undergo a thorough and detailed Regulatory Impact Assessment.”
Simply put, much as we can appreciate the progress made in terms of rationalization of the regulatory environment, by its nature such an environment is dynamic rather than static in the sense that legislation and regulations by their nature are subject to continuous change. So unless there is a proper vetting process of such change, the risk is that you slip back into bad habits with new dysfunctional regulations popping up.
A good analogy is with the weeding of a garden. We all know that even if you succeed in clearing all weeds, they still have a propensity to reappear - and so steps have to be taken to mitigate this. One telling contribution at the TNBC meeting was by a representative of the tourism sector who expressed his incredulity at an increase in park fees at this very time when the sector is on its knees due to the global pandemic.
So how do we mitigate the risk that we do not take three steps forward, and then two steps back? To me it is all about collaboration - in particular, to embed a culture of effective collaboration as part of the process of amending existing or introducing new legislation or regulations. Too often however changes are made with little or no notice, and where feedback is sought again it is frequently at short notice, perfunctory and too often with the impression that it is a “tick in the box” exercise. Talk to any business leader and normally one of their key strategic objectives will be to ensure that their teams collaborate effectively. Indeed, at PwC one of our values is “work together” - and many other businesses will have a similar aspiration. Going back to the national level, we also recognize this in the expression “pamoja tunajenga taifa letu”. So here is the challenge - can we take this mindset into regulatory reform, so that changes are only introduced once there has been effective consultation - including where appropriate an in-depth regulatory impact assessment.
So what does this mean for our new (fiscal) year resolution? Well, let us ensure that there is meaningful consultation and collaboration prior to any regulatory change; and if you are looking for a slogan, well how about “pamoja tunatunga sheria zetu”? And, in that spirit let me sign off by concluding “wako katika kujenga taifa”!
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