For
more than a year now, the government and development partners (donors)
were engaged in somewhat a cat-and-mouse game as they sized up each
other.
From the outset, President Magufuli cut an image
of a proud and no-nonsense nationalist who will not bow to the usual
pressure from the West.
When he decided to push local
tax collection with a determination not seen before, the idea to become
self-reliant. “We should be able to support ourselves and avoid begging
from some of the countries that we do not have to,” he was quoted as
saying in one of his many addresses on the topic.
It
was a streak of self-determination that won the Tanzanian leader a host
of local and international admirers, as more often than not, most
African countries, rich in resources, squandered their own and turned
the bowl on donors. Inevitably, begging by African countries has always
come with conditionalities that are viewed as degrading for independent
nations. That is, however, not to say that some of the conditions did
not lack merit, far from it. The donor countries have leveraged on such
support to check power abuse by African rulers and their bourgeoisie
friends.
Tanzania has not been spared. For many years,
the country has been one of the largest foreign aid recipients in
Africa. The case remained so even after a successful campaign during
President Benjamin Mkapa’s era to have Tanzania’s mounting foreign debt
almost cleared by the donors in a relief campaign to tackle poverty and
reward political stability.
But the love for spending
more than what the country can generate has since seen the debt rise and
rise again, with the government’s budget in recent years depending on
donor money to fund largely development projects.
President
Jakaya Kikwete, a suave diplomat and darling of the West rolled out
infrastructure projects ranging from roads, power supply and
installation of water systems during his years in office, thanks to huge
support from the donor countries. The country’s donor dependency ranged
from 35 to a high of 40 per cent of the domestic development plan.
On the lips of the West
So,
it was no wonder then that during the Kikwete presidency, Tanzania’s
profile was on the lips of the West, and the then-President globe
trotted to show for the good relations with the West. Tanzania was, for
example, the first African country to qualify for the US development
funding under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), receiving more
than $700 million dollars for power and road projects. Millions more
came through Pepfar and other USAID programmes. The phrase ‘Kwa hisani
ya watu wa Amerika’ (courtesy of the American people) became
common-place around the country during the Kikwete era. Many other
donors were in play, and despite corruption concerns here and there, the
early Kikwete years were some of the smoothest in terms of
government-donor relations.
Fast forward to 2015, Dr
Magufi displayed no affection for the West. He did not shy away from
stating his dislike of bending backward to accommodate the whims of
those he said were unduly loading it on the government. He even avoided
rushing to embrace the development partners, becoming the first sitting
President to skip the Sherry Party, a New Year meeting of the President
and representatives of foreign countries.
He apparently
made the foreign envoys queue for many months to see him while he was
yet to make a single visit to a foreign country outside the East African
region. When he did finally met the Western envoys, it was always on
his own terms.
Two years down the line, and with the
harsh reality setting in over the huge budget execution demands, the
government may have changed tact. The President and development partners
seem to be warming up to each.
“We have agreed to
start on a new plan in our cooperation so that any issues between us
does not affect the implementation of development projects,” said Mr
James Dotto, the Permanent Secretary for Finance, during a recent
ceremony to sign a five-year Sh450 billion grant agreement with the
European Union (EU).
Other than the several funding
agreements with the World Bank running into hundreds of millions of
dollars, the EU agreement was the first major pact with a major donor
since 2014 when the development partners withheld up to a Sh1 trillion
budget funding over the Tegeta Escrow scandal.
Donors
also seemed to have taken a different approach when they delayed
releasing funds they had pledged to support the fifth phase
administration’s first budget. Finance and Planning minister Dr Philip
Mpango sounded the alarm bells over missed targets for the 2016/17
budget, with the revelation that the government had only met 37 per cent
of the development budget by February 2017.
And with
the President’s tough position on external funding, it was difficult to
judge how the next budget would be implemented should the cat-and-mouse
games continued. The truth, however, was that government insiders were
working hard behind the scenes to rescue things as it became apparent
that the political grandstanding was not helping anyone.
Talks led by former Africa Development Bank boss Donald Kaberuka also thaw the icy relations.
EU
head of delegation to Tanzania Ambassador Roeland Van Der Geer did
confirm that the European Union and government negotiated to start on a
clean slate.
Speaking during the signing ceremony of
the EU funding framework, the envoy revealed the extent to which the
government had gone in ceding ground to unlock donor funding. In a way,
while President Magufuli continued to send the view that donors would
not be allowed to dictate terms, his lieutenants were negotiating for a
plan that basically retains the same conditionalities that the Head of
State will continue to live under.
According to Der
Geer, the signed frame work will depend on the fulfillment of agreed
yardsticks. “The funds under will be made available in tranches over the
coming years, with the decision to disburse depending on progress made
by Government in the areas specified in the Financing Agreement,” he
said.
