law and order. Similarly, changes in social relations of production associated with the free market also require a
legal and judiciary system able to cope with such transactions. The emerging pluralistic political culture also puts
its own demands on the legal system of Tanzania. All these changes require both supply and demand approaches
to legal and judiciary service provision. Perhaps, more urgently, the legal framework needs to change to regulate
corporate behaviour more easily, in alignment with consumer rights and interests, and ensuring the timely and
effective dispensation of civil and commercial dispute resolution.
382.
Tanzania’s Public Sector Reform Program (PSRP III) is at the nerve centre of government’s good governance
and accountability platform. It is the bedrock for achieving the goals and targets of its development strategy –
Mkukuta II. Major government interventions for the governance and accountability strategy focus on the rule of
law: accountable leaders and public servants; deepened democracy, political and social tolerance; sustainable
peace, political stability, national unity and social cohesion are all dependent on the successful implementation
of the systems, processes and public financial management reforms embedded in the Public Sector Reform
Programme (PSRP).
383.
The most recent Mkukuta Annual Report (2009-10) [MOFEA, 2010: 71] suggests that considerable progress is
being made in all of these areas of good governance and accountability, although formidable challenges still
remain ahead. For example, in 2009/10 Government set up of a National Identity Authority to coordinate the
system that will issue national identity cards for all citizens - a vital tool for service delivery in the social services
sectors, especially. The Vital Registration Programme (VRP) implemented through the Vital Registration Program
and Insolvency Programme (VRIP) also transformed birth registration systems in Tanzania, with an increase in
birth registrations from 17.6 per cent in 2004/05 to 20.1 per cent in 2009/10. However, geographical distribution
is skewed, with a rural-urban divide of 3.3 per cent and 20.9 per cent, respectively [Mkukuta, MOFEA. 2010: 73].
384.
Another vital goal of Mkukuta - contingent on successful public sector reforms - is the transparent, fair, equitable
collection and allocation of public funds. Reform sector policies in natural resources such as mining, forestry and
wildlife contributed to higher revenue collection and better public service delivery. For instance, all LGAs with
wildlife hunting areas are now allowed to retain 25 per cent of proceedings from hunting wildlife. The funds are
expected to be used to provide social services in those LGAs [Mkukuta, MOFEA, 2010: 77].
385.
As mentioned earlier, fundamental principles that drove the creation of Executive Agencies in Tanzania, as in
other African states, are grounded in the new public management doctrine that informed World Bank’s SAP
policies of the 1990s and early 2000, including the following: (a) direct public sector costs must be cut and labor
discipline raised so as to improve resource management; (b) private-sector management style for the public
sector would increase flexibility in decision-making; (c) competition in the public sector would lower costs and
better standards; (d) the public sector should be disaggregated and decentralised to make it more manageable
and efficient through competition; (e) managers should be given hands-on powers to conduct professional
management to enhance accountability. (Larbi, 1998; Polidano,1999).59
386.
These principles were essentially meant to improve public service efficiency and accountability and give “value
for money” for citizens as tax-payers. Thus, the appeal from Executive Agencies reflected a widespread shift
to quasi-market forms of public sector management, in pursuit of improved efficiency and effectiveness in
regulation and service delivery.
387.
Tanzania’s adoption of the Executive Agencies model was essentially inspired by the example of the United
Kingdom and other countries where similar public sector reforms were introduced in the 1980s to enhance
government service responsiveness and effectiveness. EAs are set up to be accountable downwards to citizens
and outward to their departments and ministries, where annual performance targets are set and resources
allocated. The rationale for establishing such agencies is that some functions that entail implementation rather
than policy-making can be carried out more efficiently by agencies that are more removed from the departments.
In return for central government budget subventions, EAs commit to performance targets in an annual report.
EA employees are public servants and have no separate corporate status, although EAs are given a free hand to
recruit key technical, managerial and professional staff on terms and conditions more favorable than the regular
59
See G.A. Larbi, The New Public Management Approach and Crisis States, UNRSD, Geneva, 1999; C. Polidano, The New Public Management in Developing Countries, paper presented at the Third International Research Symposium on Public Management, Aston Business School, Birmingham, 25-26 March
1999.
88
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