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Tanzanian Cabinet
announced Updated: 28 November 2000 by David Martin in Harare In a wide ranging government reshuffle following Tanzania's second multi-party elections in late October 2000, President Benjamin Mkapa has dropped seven ministers, increased the overall size of his cabinet and put perceived competence before cleanliness. Only eight of the old cabinet ministers retain their posts. Notable among these is Jakaya Kikwete who stays as foreign minister. In 1995, at the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party congress in the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma, Mkapa only narrowly beat Kikwete for the CCM presidential nomination. Kikwete is one of the people being named as a possible successor to Mkapa when he steps down in five years time as president at the end of his second constitutional term. Another mainland candidate is Prime Minister Frederick Sumbaye. The third candidate at present is vice president Omari Ali Juma. But he comes from the northern Zanzibar island of Pemba which is historically anti-CCM and this alone may prove an insurmountable hurdle. The cabinet is increased from 22 to 31 and the most surprising inclusion is George Kahama (known in Tanzania "Sir George") who is appointed as Minister of Cooperatives and Marketing. Kahama is 71 years old and, as such, is perceived by many as one of the ruling party's "political dinosaurs". However, Kahama's early background is in the cooperative movement and earlier this year he delivered an incisive report to Mkapa on how to revive the ailing cooperative movement. An even more surprising "political dinosaur" nominated as a member of parliament by Mkapa, at first sight appears to have been literally plucked from 37 years of political obscurity. He is Chief Abdulla Fundikira, aged 79, the first Minister of Justice at independence in 1961. Five years ago, Chief Fundakira resurfaced as a founder and chairman of the United Movement for Democracy (UMD) which did not win a seat in Tanzania's first plural election. Two years ago he joined the CCM and very importantly he campaigned vigorously against attempts to politically divide the country on the basis of religion. In his case, as well as in the cases of several others, Mkapa is clearly paying his CCM dues to those who helped him increase his majority from the 61.8 percent of the popular vote he got in 1995 to 71.8 percent at the recent elections. But whether such debt paying, and the bringing in of "political dinosaurs", is a wise move remains to be seen for CCM membership is falling while the youths, seduced by promises of greener pastures elsewhere, are joining opposition parties. One answer, as well as signal to Mkapa's intentions at the CCM congress in two years time, may be the inclusion of two senior party officials in his office. These are Brigadier General Hassan Ngwilizi, the CCM deputy secretary general and Dr Abdallah Kigoda, the CCM treasurer. One of the toughest jobs facing any cabinet minister is given to Daniel Yona who transfers to the vice president's office from the finance portfolio. He will now be in charge of poverty reduction. This is a major factor in the CCMs declining membership while at the same time representing a possible contradiction with the efforts of other ministers. The full 48-member team includes the president, vice president, prime minister, attorney general, 27 full ministers and 17 deputies. Of these, only five are women with full women ministers holding the portfolios of health (Anna Abdallah), natural resources and tourism (Zakia Meghji), and community development, women's affairs and children (Dr Asha-Rose Mijiro, a newcomer from Dar es Salaam University). Mkapa has so far only named five of the ten people he is entitled to nominate to parliament and one of these is a gender activist, Anna Kilango. Evenso, the total of four women on the front bench of cabinet (one is a minister of state in Mkapa's office) is down in percentage terms from the 53 women in the 290-seat parliament. A former cabinet minister and now regional commissioner for southwestern Mbeya, Basil Mramba, takes over the finance portfolio while the social ministries of education and health are both strengthened by people with proven track records, Joseph Mungai and Anna Abdallah respectively. Charles Keenja, whose most recent claim to fame was cleaning up the filthy commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, is given the important agricultural and food portfolio. The respected University of Dar es Salaam don, who set up his own environmental non-governmental organisation, Professor Mark Mwandosya, takes over communications and transport. When Mkapa brought Idi Simba (industries and trade) and Edward Lowassa (minister of state in the vice president's office) into his cabinet two years ago he surprised some of his closest friends. Competence became the new watchword. Simba retains his portfolio while Lowassa moves to water and livestock development. In his nominations so far, Mkapa has named two people who have been appointed to cabinet. One is Ramadhani Mapuri, Zanzibar's former deputy chief minister and minister of education. He becomes a minister of state in the prime ministers office. The other is General Ngwilizi who becomes the minister of state responsible for regional administration and local government in Mkapa's office. For some western countries who frown upon large cabinets in developing countries, the ministries of state responsible for good governance, planning and privatisation, poverty reduction and the environment should go some way to silencing the more vocal criticisms. "While I question a few of his choices, the argument has to be the competence of individuals and not the size of cabinet", said a political observer in Dar es Salaam. "If they do their jobs then the size of cabinet is irrelevant and I think that this cabinet is better than Mkapa's first one in 1995 with the emphasis now on performance and pulling the country together". [SARDC] This article can be reproduced with credit to SARDC and the author Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) |
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