DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: MDGs a ”Bright Idea” or Scam of the Rich?

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

George Njogopa

DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 23 2007 (IPS) - While the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a ‘‘bright idea”, the ‘‘hidden agenda” of western countries makes it impossible for African states like Tanzania to achieve the goals, expounds actor Rashid Mkwinda.

He is one of the people whose thoughts IPS canvassed in the streets of Dar es Salaam in a series of random interviews about the MDGs. For him, Southern Africa’s ability to achieve the MDGs is firmly connected to the superpowers’ international policy approach to developing states.

Indeed, Mkwinda wonders if the MDGs are not like other global programmes which have as their aim the exertion of power over poor countries and the exploitation of Africa’s resources.

‘‘It is clear that America and its friends want to exploit our resources because we still do not have an equal say in the implementation of these millennium development goals.” He also questions whether the MDGs do not work like a ‘‘colonial package” intended to impose new rules and conditions on African leaders.

After all, ‘‘the United Nations is being used by a few big nations to serve their shared interests”, Mkwinda concludes.

Apart from Mkwinda, most of the people IPS interviewed know little about the eight MDGs which range from halving poverty (by 2015) to addressing unequal global relations (an undated goal).

Street vendor John Kasumuni denies that Tanzanians do not follow what is happening globally but admits that ‘‘most of us know very little” about the MDGs.

Juma Kadili, who is in secondary school, heard about the MDGs on a radio programme but he did not catch exactly what the goals were about. ‘‘I did not realise that it was meant for us poor people.”

A cursory glance at the MDGs confirms that Tanzania will have difficulty achieving them. Goal six on halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria is far off for Tanzania.

According to the 2006 statistics of the ministry of health and social welfare, about 100,000 Tanzanians die annually from malaria. Some 70 percent of those dying are children below the age of five.

The economic effect of the disease is seen in that up to 40 percent of public expenditure on health goes to malaria while up to 50 percent of hospital admissions are of malaria patients.

Samson Nchimbi, a second year student at the University of Dar es Salaam, believes that the only way for the government to reverse the trend is to start working closely with public and to develop have a common political will.

‘‘The figures suggest that the country’s programme on tuberculosis and malaria has not improved the prevalence. Reaching the MDG targets needs more concerted efforts to mobilise resources and personnel. We need international support from the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the World Health Organisation,” says Nchimbi.

For him, the figures show that it ‘‘is expensive to be poor. HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are the diseases of poverty.”

Businessperson Nazareth Neto supports the idea of the MDGs. He believes African countries cannot merely escape from their economic hardships. Therefore they should unite and have a common goal at the international level. Despite of the shortcomings of most African governments, Neto is optimistic that the goals can be reached.

He is especially happy with the pace at which the Tanzanian government is building schools as that will increase the number of enrolments. The government has also introduced free primary school education. Statistics show that enrolment figures for the first school year, standard one, were almost stagnant between 1995 and 1999.

It increased rapidly between 2001 and 2004 because of the implementation of the primary education development plan. The number of seven year olds who enrolled in standard one increased from about 1.1 million in 2001 to about 1.4 million in 2004. Of the 1.4 million, about half were female pupils.

Early childhood care and development has also improved as a result of the policy that every primary school should have a pre-primary class. Enrolment at this level has increased. These interventions by the government are aimed at reaching MDG two on primary education.

The government has also run a project to build more secondary schools to address the shortage of such schools.

But the government has not done enough to improve the living standards of teachers, observes Ellen Binagi, education programme co-coordinator at the human rights organisation Oxfam. As a result more teachers are likely to quit their jobs and try other options, given the slightest opportunity.

‘‘The majority of them feel that teaching is not a respected profession any more. The low status of teaching in society has to do with the deteriorating incomes and poor living conditions of teachers which have cost them the respect of even the pupils,” says Binagi.

Ali Nzige, director of the malaria programme in the ministry of health and social welfare, says that most citizens have not been informed about the MDGs. He argues that the community should be the cornerstone of achieving the MDGs. ‘‘Partnerships should go beyond the usual public-private mix.”