TANZANIA APRM IMPLEMENTATION ON COURSE

Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan, displays African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Tanzania Programme at the launch of the Country Review Report (CRR) at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday. Looking on (from left) is the APRM Chairman, Prof. Has a Mlawa, Vice-Chairperson Madam Madonna, APRM Board Member, Ambassador Ombeni Sefue and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr. Aziz Mlima.

The government has promised to implement all the recommendations suggested in the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Report (CRR) that was officially launched on Wednesday by the Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The VP said at the official launch that the challenges raised in the APRM report would be addressed by the broader strategies of the country’s Development Vision 2025 aimed at transforming and expanding the economic base of Tanzania to become a semi-industrialised country.

“As the government we view APRM as one of the instruments that will support the attainment of the vision,’’ she said. The report was conducted in 2012 and presented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2013 by Former President Jakaya Kikwete.

It reflected on political, social and economic sectors, whereas, the rectifications were made and finally the report came to its official launching yesterday.

On Tuesday, APRM Executive Secretary in Tanzania, Ms Rehema Twalib said Tanzania had been appraised in the African Parliament as a country that had a strong union, good leadership, good flow and provision of social services.

According to the African Union charter, this report is supposed to be launched in each particular country. Some of the key things highlighted in the report include union matters, provision of social services, land related issues, gender equality, education, health, energy, water, information technology and others.

Despite the success analysed in the African Union about Tanzania, APRM report highlighted some challenges. The challenges stated by Tanzanian citizens include the problems facing the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, poor resource allocation, and the fact that the government in hand is responsible for electing officials of the National Election Committee (NEC).

Ms Samia said that in the area of democracy and political governance where the report cited the union question, the government believes the tug-of-war was still on the union structure, but she was optimistic that the ultimate structure would be determined by the outcome of the referendum to be held on the proposed draft constitution.

“Another cross cutting is sue raised in the report is on land related issues, but it is in this regard that land related issues have also been significantly considered in the proposed draft constitution,’’ she added.

She further added that the government had taken steps to ensure that farmers hold onto their land through strengthening the capacity of institutions responsible for resolving land related challenges.

Some of the steps taken to resolve land related challenges, according to the VP, include establishment of a court dedicated to fast tracking and resolving land related cases, enacting laws on compensation and resettlement, improvements made in issuing land tittles and land surveying, as well as establishment of zonal land offices and significantly reducing the cost of building materials.

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