Why juggling of investment docket has been necessary

 

The late Samuel Sitta was the only executive director who stayed the longest at the Tanzanian Investment Centre. PHOTO | COURTESY

Summary

·         Experts say placing the Investment docket in the President’s Office will help reduce bureaucracy

Dar es Salaam. The necessity to attract more investment to spur economic growth has prompted frequent reshuffles of the investment docket.

From repeated changes of executive directors at the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) to shifting the oversight authority, the investment docket has always been at the centre of government reorganisations for almost a decade now.

Since its establishment over two decades ago, it was only the late Samuel Sitta and Emmanuel Ole Naiko (late), who stayed for long periods as TIC executive directors.

While Sitta stayed at the helm of TIC for nine years, Ole Naiko stayed for five years. That was during the presidency of Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete.

Otherwise, during the past ten years, at least four individuals have, on different occasions, occupied the office of TIC executive directors.

The late John Magufuli assumed the presidency at a time when Juliet Kairuki was the TIC executive director. But a few a few months later, the appointment was rescinded and Clifford Tandari had to come and serve in the acting capacity.

In 2017 Magufuli appointed Geoffrey Mwambe as TIC boss.

And in 2020 Magufuli appointed Dr Maduhu Isaac Kazi to the position of TIC executive director but following his promotion as deputy Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Home Affairs, the position had to be held – in the acting capacity - by its director of Investment Promotion, Mr John Mnali.

That situation ended when earlier this month, President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed Mr Gilead Teri as the new TIC boss.

Apart from executive directors, TIC has also been shifted from the supervision of one Ministry to another during the past seven years.

In November, 2018, the then President Magufuli directed that the TIC be shifted from the ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), saying he wanted close monitoring of the Centre.

Speaking at the State House during a ceremony to swear-in newly appointed ministers in November, 2018, Magufuli said TIC’s performance was not satisfactory, and blamed the situation on interference by other agencies, departments and ministries.

It shall be noted that by bringing the investment docket back to the PMO and creating a complete ministry for investment purposes, Dr Magufuli was going back to the days of his predecessor, Mr Jakaya Kikwete.

During a good part of Mr Kikwete’s presidency, investment issues were under the PMO.

But on January 7, 2022, President Hassan shifted the Investment docket to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The argument then was that separating Investment from Industry and Trade had proved counterproductive.

Thus, when she finally moved the Investment docket to the President’s Office in the Sunday’s mini-reshuffle, it came as a surprise.

Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of those she had appointed to her new government line-up yesterday, President Hassan said she was pondering the establishment of a complete Investment ministry, pending completion of some procedures, adding that she decided to appoint a permanent secretary to assist in the coordination of important issues.

The president said three important sectors will go under the President’s Office, which are the TIC, the Treasury Registrar and Planning Commission.

“When we finish the legal process, it will be a complete ministry, complete with its own minister and permanent secretary. Currently, we have appointed a permanent secretary to come and help us plan how that will work out,” she said.

Trade expert and economist Donath Olomi told The Citizen that the Investment docket needs extraordinary push to convince investors to choose Tanzanian as the best destination for investment.

“Placing the docket under the President’s Office is the right decision that can ensure results,” said Dr Olomi.

Investors, who are pouring in billions of money into the economy, need adequate attention and that attention could even make sense if it comes from the President’s Office, he added.

“Investors need to be treated with people who have power in decision making to avoid bureaucracy,” said Dr Olomi.

He went on to add: “For this to have an impact on investment, we need to be consistent.”

Shifting the investment docket to other areas apart from the President’s office, he opined, was just a slide by the country’s leaders.

An economist from the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Abel Kinyondo, said the docket has been moving from one ministry to the other as the government pushes for the intended results.

“Its (Investment docket) sensitivity is what makes our leaders keep changing its placement hoping for it to yield the intended results,” said Dr Kinyondo.

“And for this to happen, the sector needs people with authority who can make quick decisions,” he said.

The rationale for placing it under the President’s Office, he expounded, is that decisions will be made timely.

Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) executive director Nebart Mwapwele shared similar sentiments.

“Once the ministry is under the President, it becomes to carry out directives as envisioned in the Investment Policy to be implemented,” said Mr Mwapwele.

The implementation of the Investment Policy has procedures that are easier to execute if the President is behind it. There will be no bureaucracy in implementing them, he added.

The new move by President Hassan comes at a time when the Tanzania Investment Act 2022 is about to become operational.

The government is currently finalising the preparations of regulations to operationalize the law.

Considering the fact that this new Act and its regulations have made significant changes in areas of incentives, President Hassan will be placed in a position to have direct control over the same.

Since ascended to the Presidency in March 2021, the President has been embracing a pro-business approach, a new development that has been welcomed by both local and foreign investors, hence the need to handle the investment docket in a manner that resonates with her thinking and vision for Tanzania.