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BRARIES S T A FIVE -YEARS OF CCM GOVERNMENT The Address given to the National Conference of Chama cha Mapinduzi by the Chairman , Ndugu Julius K. Nyerere, on 20th October, 1982 at Diamond Jubilee Hall, Dar es Salaam DT 448.2 N97 1982 curat or- Р pur - hagri aug 83 D S R E O I F R N A A R T B S H O O V E U INSTITUTION REPORT OF5YEARS OF CCM GOVERNMENT PART I Hònoured Guests: Fellow Delegates. Letme begin bywelcoming once again, withpleasure and in a spirit offraternity, the distinguished guestswho have cometo be with us this week. Comrades: you are very wel come indeed.Wehope that we shall havean opportunity to discusswith you, perhapsoutsidethe Conference,themany matters of mutual interestto our Parties and our countries. Andwe welcomeyou to listento ouropendebate about the problems which face the Tanzanian people now , and the mannerinwhichChama chaMapinduziistrying todealwith them . Let me begin by referring briefly to the foreign policy of Tanzania, and the improvementswe hope to make in its execution. I do not propose to talk at length aboutAfrica's achievements, andthereforeTanzania'sachievements, inthe struggle for African liberation. Zimbabwe is now free. The struggle for Namibia continues, both diplomatically and militarily. The people of South Africa continue to fight against the oppressive racist tyranny ofapartheid. Tanzania has played,andcontinuesto play, its fullpart inthese strug gles, especially in co -operation with our friends in the other FrontLine States: The Tanzania Government is also currently engaged with othersin arenewed attempttogetan OAUSummitmeeting before the end of theyear. Itwill be a real disasterif these efforts fail. The existence of the O.A.U. gives Africa an international voice which has to be listened to, regardless of our continent's current economic and military weakness. A number of separate Orgarisations, even if they have a firm basis,wouldneverachievesomuchinfluence orbelistenedto with such care, as the O.A.U. 1 Tanzania has remained active in the Non-AlignedMove ment, where again we have used our influence in support of continued unity. Through that body, through the United Nationsmachinery, in the Commonwealth, andthrough spe cialMeetingssuchasthatatCancun,wehavetriedtothebest ofour ability to promote the campaign and the negotiations foraNew InternationalEconomicOrder. Everywhere, Tan zania's representativescontinue to express our viewsopenly and clearly on all major international issues of peace and justice, including the problem of the Middle East and the Palestinian demand for a Homeland. Tanzania has also maintained its policy ofbuilding friend ship and co -operation with all other states on thebasis of mutual respect. To this end the Foreign Minister, the Vice Preident, and I myself, have made a number of visits to friendly countries and have received many welcome guests during thelast fiveyears. Bilateral trade andcultural Agree mentshavebeensigned, andwehavebecomeactiveparticip ants in several Regional and Third World Organisations. Among these the Southern Africa Development Co ordination Conference is worth special mention because of its dual political and economic importance. And the Kagera Basin Organisation is also of great long term relevancefor thedevelopmentofEasternAfrica.Further,welookforward toarealrevivalofco -operationwithKenyaandUgandaafter agreementhasbeen reachedon thedistributionofEast Afri can Community assets and liabilities; in the meantime I am happy to saythat thethree countries, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, do continue with efforts to reach agreement and co-operation. Our relations with all Tanzania's neighbours vary from being good to being excellent. The major responsibility for the work of maintaining and strengthening good relations with other countries, and of promoting cooperation within theThird World, rests upon our Foreign Ministry andour 28 Missions abroad. We have invited our High Commissioners and Ambassadors to attend this Conference and I amhappy to welcome them here. 168 Tanzanians work in our HighCommissions andEmbassies, 2 and all ofthem could be doingvery valuable workhere ifwe did not give international friendship and cooperation such a highpriority. Yetinthe pastwe have not used this assettothe full. There hasbeenatendencyforMinistriesand Parastatals tosend theirownteamsforoverseasnegotiations, evenwhen no specialised technical knowledge is involved in the work which has to be done. Indeed there have been cases where Ministries and other senior public officials have gone to a country without informing our accredited representatives there, muchless using theirlocal experience and knowledge! Thisisakindofextravagance, andabaduse ofan assetwhich we ourselves have created. In future, Government intends that no MinisterorOfficial will be allowed to go to a country where we are adequately represented without showing: first, that our representatives there cannot do this particular job without assistance from home; and secondly,that the Mission staff are being fully involved in the discussions so that they can follow them up after the visit is over. Ministries will be expected to ensure that the same rules apply to Parastatals under their jurisdic tion. In the last five years, our Party has entered into Agree ments of friendship with many other Parties. We have wel comed the representatives of some Fraternal Parties, as well as responding to a number of invitations to be rep resentedattheirPartyoccasions. We take thisopportunityto thank these Parties for their cooperation withC.C.M. Wananchi: On 5th February 1977 I reported to the Party and the Nation on our national economicand social position Ten Years After the Arusha Declaration. It was a report of great progress. It showed the strides we had made towards oursocialist goals, and the improvement we had made in our standard ofliving,especially as regards the provision ofedu cation, health, and other public services. Italso showed that we had established a number of factories to meet our own consumer needs and to process our exports. 3 ButthatReportclosedwithawarning,whichImustquote: “ There is no doubt at all but that for the next three or four years Tanzania's economic circumstances will be verydifficultindeed.Ourefforthastobeproportionateto these difficulties ....... We have cause for great satisfaction in our achieve mentsofthepasttenyears. Butwehavenocause atallfor complacency. We have done quite well; but with effort, and more intelligent effort, we could do better. In the coming decade we must build on what we have achieved. We must increase ourdiscipline,ourefficiency, and our self -reliance. In particular we must put more effort into looking always to see what we can do for ourselves out of our own resources and then doing it” It is now my task to survey the period 1977–1982. It is a longreportthatIhavetogive,butnotapleasingone.YetIdo notthinkthatanyTanzanianwillexpectmyReporttosuggest that ourprogress has continued without interruption — they know differently. We have passed through a period ofgreat difficulties. Butno honestperson will find myReport out of keeping with the world; those who live outside our country havetheirownexperience ofthe troubleswe havefaced. For Tanzania is part ofthe world, and the world economy is now incrisis. Whentheworldeconomyisshaking,theeconomyof Tanzania inevitably shakes also. Togiveexamplesatrandom ,countriesasdiverse ideologi cally and materially as Mexico, Poland, France, Britain, Bangladesh, Argentina, Indonesia, Rumania and many others, are reporting such things as serious unemployment, major internationaldebts, anda decline in living standards. Forexample: Canadahas142 millionpeople,or12.2 % of the work force, whohaveno jobs, nora shambato cultivate. America has 11.25 million people unemployed, or 10% of theirlabourforce.Thisismorethanat anytimeforthelast40 years; the numberofAmerican Companieswhich have gone bankrupt thislast year due to the economic crisis isgreater than the number of bankruptcies in any year since the early 4 1930s!ThecountriesoftheEuropeanEconomicCommunity have 10.9 million, or 9.6% of their working people unemp loyed. Mexico — which has a great deal of oil - has debts of U.S. $ 80,000 million (or Shs. 720,000 million); Chile is trying to getanI.M.F. loantothe valueofU.S. $ 890 million; Britain (another oil producing country) has 3.4 million peo ple withoutwork and its standardoflivingwentdown by 2% last year. Even economic giants like Japan and West Ger many have not been spared by the current economic crisis. And in our continent, every African country is in economic difficulties to a greater or lesser extent, depending upon whether or not it produces oil. The problems are the same everywhere.Evenoilproducingandexportingcountrieslike Nigeria and Libya are experiencing serious economic prob lems. These facts do not make our own position any better; the sicknessofothersdoesnotreduceyourown pain. Buttheydo put our problems in perspective. And they do show the environment in which Tanzania has to live, and do business. We have inevitably been very seriously and very adversely affected by it. Wehave also been badly hit by other events outside our control. It is good to remember these things because our enemies have the habit of saying that our problems arise mostly because of our policies of Socialism and Self-reliance, and faint-hearted Tanzanians sometimes wonder if this is perhaps not true! At independence we undertook the responsibility of defending our national freedom . At the same time we declaredwaronpoverty, ignorance anddisease. Andin 1967 we clarified and defined both our objective and our path when we adopted the policy of Socialism and Self-Reliance. We still stand by all those commitments. In early November, 1978 I reported to the nation that we hadsufferedasetbackonourfirstresponsibility; somepartof our national territory had been occupied by an invader. In April 1979, Iwasabletoreportnotonly thatwehadregained the lost territory but also that we had removed the source of the danger; the Amin regime had been destroyed. 5 Today my position is similar to that of November, 1978. This time I am reporting that we have suffered a setback in the pursuit ofoureconomic objectives. In the last five years the National Income ofTanzania hasgone upby lessthan the population has increased. This means that, in terms of the goodswe have available to us, theaverage income perhead is now actually lower than it was in 1977. The standard ofliving of our people has gone down. We lost territory in November, 1978. But we won the war which followed. Now, as well as reporting that we have suffered a set-back on the economic front, I am also saying that ifwe decide to fight thiseconomicwar, then we shall win it. We were not responsible for Amin's invasion; but ourown failure to be prepared did contribute to our initial loss of territory. It then became necessary for us to mobilise all our resourcesto push him back, and defeat hisarmies. We ourse lves undertook that mobilisation; we ourselves sacrified other plans; and we won. Similarly, we are not responsible for the economic blows which have hit Tanzania'seconomy; but the damage done by these blows has revealed weaknesses, and some mistakes of our own. If we make the requisite effort we can correct our mistakes, and overcome these weaknesses. By doing so, and bymobilisingall the resourceswhich we do have, weshall win this economic war. It will be a tougher and a longer struggle than the military war against Amin. But trouble creates maturity. Adults do not allow themselves to be overcome by difficulties. With all its problems, and indeed because ofthese problems, Tanzania is now a more mature society than.it was in 1978. Therefore, if we decide to fight this economic war, we shall undoubtedly win. In order to win a war afteryou have lost a battle, you have to do three things. First, you have to decide to keep fighting. And on that we have no choice. The only alternative to fighting our economic battle is to drift into even greater poverty, and to abandon all the advances which we have 6 made since 1961. If that was allowed to happen we would also lose our national freedom. For there is no true freedom without the ability to defend that freedom . Our ancestors used to say that the property of the weak depends on the wishes of the strong. The second step necessary for ultimate victory is to recog nise what our losses have been so far, and to analyse the problems facing the country in order to discoverwhatweak nesses and mistakes of ourown have added to the effects of the setback. The third requirement forvictory isto take whatever steps are necessary tocorrect these past mistakesand to overcome these past weaknesses, as well as to mobilise our forces to fight effectively in the existing and current world circums tances. Thismust be done in the lightofthe objectivesofour struggle—the advance against poverty, ignorance and dis ease in Tanzania, and the defence of thatprogress towards socialist justice which we have already made. Today I am tryingto set out Tanzania's current position in otherwords to outline the problem which now faces us; to showwhat Government has done and isdoingto deal with it; and to indicate the responsibilities of the Party andthe peo ple. For Government decisions are meaningless unless they are understood, accepted, and implemented. Government decisions therefore have to be, and be seen to be, within the framework of our national policies as determined by the Party. They also have to be implemented by the public ser vice, by the Party members and by the people as a whole. Seriousness of the Problem : Our problems are very serious, and very real. Their full implications for, and effect upon, the different sectors ofour economy will become clear as I go on. But the basic problem is that our earnings and our consumption are out ofbalance; we are consuming more than we are earning. We are not 7 earningenough to pay for all the things we need to buy from abroad if we are to feed, clothe, educate, and care for the health ofall ourpeople, aswell asto provide all the tools, the spares, and the raw materials for the factories we have already built. Further, as we are not earning enough to buy these spare parts and raw materials for ouryoung industries, or enough transport and fertiliser and insecticide for our agriculture, we are producing less and less oftheconsumer goodsmade or grown in Tanzania. Consequently, the shor tageofimportedgoodsiscompoundedbyashortageof Tan zaniangoods; pricesgo up furtheraspeople with moneyoffer more and more to the few people holding goods in the hope ofbeingthe one who gets the scarce commodity. That in turn makes it more difficult for public service to be properly maintained, because firstly the shortage of goods reduces Government revenue, and secondly, even the money Gov ernment does get from taxes buys less and less goods and services. Ican spelloutinfiguresthewaywe have beentryingtolive aboveourincome. In 1977we receivedtheequivalentofShs. 4,465 million for the goods which we sold outside Tanzania --that is, we earned Foreign Exchange to that value. But that same year we imported goods worth Shs. 6,161 million. OurForeignExchangeearningswerelessthan our orders offoreign goods and services. The deficit of Shs. 1,696 millionwasmetbythevalue ofGrantsandLoansmade to usthatyear. Butsince 1977 we have neveragainearned as much fromourexports. In 1978ourForeignExchange earn ings dropped back to Shs. 3,671 million; by 1981we had gradually and laboriously pushed the figure back to Shs. 4,430 million. The drop in our earnings arose partly and seriously from the fall in the price of the goods we sell; but in many cases there has also been a fall in the quantity we put on to the world market —sisal, cotton, cashew andcloves are allcases in point. Imports, on the other hand, have gone up in cost year by year, until they reached the value of Shs. 10,003 8