Mr President, (Jakaya Kikwete) you have a great privilege to serve as a president of the people of the United Republic of Tanzania. Unfortunately this privilege comes with a dire need to address the daily problems of Tanzanians who are mostly very poor.
I totally understand how complex it is to accomplish your goals of helping these needy Tanzanians to get out of poverty. This is because you operate in institutional failure, the institutional failure I am referring to is a government. The government and the whole political system are much polarised, everything is done to score political point or acquire personal gain and interests and not done for the benefits of people who hired the institutions. For you to perform your job well you need to look outside the box by freeing yourself from the institutional hostage.
Today I have some ideas I want to share with you that can help you to make Tanzania a Middle Income country before 2025.
Firstly and foremost I believe it is possible to have a Tanzania , which is free of poverty .When I look at the devastating poverty facing Tanzanians, I see no one to blame or to wait to bring the solutions we need to overcome our economic problems except ourselves.
I also see that our decision to go to war against poverty was great, but we drafted the wrong soldiers who were Politicians and the Government, instead of choosing our hero and veterans who have always brought us victory in our struggles. The heroes I'm talking about here are the Tanzanian young people, who have a history of bringing independency and winning the war against Idd Amini and many other victories.
"And therefore I believe we can only win our war against poverty once we have inclusive Economic policies which will clearly define the role of Youth as solid Economic machinery which Tanzania can enjoy by making them viable productive partners in the Economy"
This can be done by Empowering Youth to get into Business and making them an active partner in Economic Development. By doing this, it will help to increase their Income and avoid the transmissions or inheritance of poverty to the next generation, this being the way of having a Tanzania free of poverty.
It is unbelievable in the global competitive economy to have a country where most of his young people when graduated from University or college they want to get a job in the government or in a very small existing corporate Tanzania. This growing trend is a killer of innovation and creativity, and it encourages corruption because when everyone is trying to get a job in a market which has very few jobs available, the process always gets out of hand by making corruption take control of the whole recruitment process and allowing the highest bidder to get a job. When one gets a job by paying corruption the possibilities of one becoming an expert in taking corruption is very higher. Thus, a country which innovates corrupt people is a failed nation and it will never get out of poverty.
Understanding the need to incorporate young people in the wealth creation process, needs us to take a different approach which will be attached to universities and colleges with a specific task as multiplier and catalyst for the birth of modern wealth creation institutions (private companies).
This can be achieved by having friendly and specific policies in place which will address the practical issues of innovation, business birth and growth .Mr President I have not yet seen your initiative to encouraging graduates to start their own business, which is essential to the war against poverty.
Mr President, when you came to power you had an ambitious goal of creating a million jobs. The idea was great, and indeed you invested money to implement it but the strategy employed to implement your idea was a failure. It could have been done much better with more assurance of higher return of investment per shilling but that didn't happen. The main reason behind the failure was, the people you entrusted politicalized the process which killed the effectiveness and sustainability of that investment.
Today I am sharing with you a strategy which has worked in the past and it can work again. When Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere took a lead toward struggles to secure independency for our country, he mobilised young people including yourself. I believe when young people are not politicalized and are mobilised for a common purpose it is always a guarantee that they will win any war .it's your calling now to use Tanzanian youth, as the massive powerful army to replace the failed institution called government. This will draw you closer to the people and it will energise the nation to work together to eradicate poverty by creating jobs.
When Youth are given opportunities and support as a part of Economic machinery, they are able to catalyse changes in attitudes, knowledge and behaviour among their peers and in their communities. This implies how solid they can be as an army on the war against poverty and also emphasizes the reason why we can't afford leaving them out if we want to be successful on the war against poverty.
In conclusion, Please Mr President leave the failed institutions and incorporate yourself with the heroes of our country (Young people). Once you're with youth always the political machinery will follow you, because that is where the power lay's. Through such incorporation of youth, you will be able to change the attitudes of the power hungry politicians and make them work for the people who hired them. Moreover, being with young people will restore your moral authority, which you have lost because the political machinery sees you as a part of their establishment.
