As the Minister for Finance tables the National Budget for Financial
Year 2012/13 in Parliament tomorrow, we, members of the Policy Forum
Budget Working Group, representing over 100 different Civil Society
Organisations working together to increase informed civil society
participation in policy making, would like to make our contribution to
this key process.
The national budget will be tabled against the backdrop of continued
high inflation that has caused hardships to many households during the
past financial year. High costs of living characterized by rises in
food and fuel prices and high interest rates has left poor citizens
eager for policy decisions that will help tackle these crises.
Recognising that poverty has multiple causes and steps to tackle it
require numerous efforts, we put forward our key policy messages as
follows:
Fair distribution of resources
We urge the Government to ensure a fair distribution of resources
across the country. In 2004, the Government committed to utilize a
resource allocation formula that takes four differently weighted
factors into account. For example, 70% of the health grants are
distributed according to the districts' population. Because poor
people tend to require health services more frequently than their more
fortunate fellow citizens, 10% of the grants are distributed with
respect to the districts' poverty count. The formula also recognizes
higher operational costs in rural areas and the districts' burden of
diseases by allocating 10% of the grants with respect to the mileage
of medical vehicles and 10% according to the districts' under-five
mortality. However, the allocation formula is not yet being applied.
To promote social justice, we urge the Government to consistently
apply the allocation formula for the disbursement of the health block
grant and the health basket fund from the beginning of the next fiscal
year.
Improving the quality of education through better school inspections
With respect to the education sector, the current status of school
inspections is not satisfactory at all. School inspection is vital for
the improvement the provision of good quality of education. In
2010/2011, only 5,789 schools out of 46,439 were inspected. In
2011/2012 only 3,935 out of 20, 368 schools were inspected. The
current annual average inspection rate is approximately 20% which
means that the government would need about five years to complete the
inspection of all schools in Tanzania. School inspection could be one
of the ways government determines, for example, why the form four pass
rate in recent years has not exceeded 50 per cent or how and why a
standard seven pupil who cannot read and write is able to pass the
primary school leaving examination and to qualify for entry into
secondary school. It is for this reason that we urge the government to
consider increasing resource allocation to the school inspectorate
department so that more schools can be inspected.
Effective use of resources in the agriculture sector
We also urge Government to ensure the effective use of resources in
the agriculture sector. Agriculture is the main source of employment
and livelihood for more than 75% of the population and contributes
about 25% of GDP. In Tanzania, the majority of the population lives in
rural areas where poverty levels are high compared to urban and peri-
urban areas. Despite the fact that the sector budget increasing from
52 billion Tanzania shillings (FY 2001/02) to 926 billion Tanzania
shillings (FY 2011/12), the sector's annual growth has stalled at 4%.
Three main issues are outstanding in this regard:
• First is that there is poor planning and allocation. The recurrent
expenditure takes a significant portion of the budget as compared to
the development component.
• Secondly, there is poor resource utilisation as consistently raised
in audit queries by the Controller and Auditor General for most of
Local Government Authorities. Fund misuse has contributed to delays in
fund transfers by development partners over a number of years.
• The third issue is that there is weak supervision of project
implementation from both central and local levels resulting in poor
results.
We urge the government to address these concerns in the 2012/13 budget
so as to realize the expected outcomes as outlined in the Kilimo
Kwanza Resolve.
Allocation to key sectors
To enhance development in the sectors above, we urge the government to
follow-up on its budget allocation commitment made under the General
Budget Support (GBS) framework of allocating 58.7% (or approximately
Tshs 8,831.9 billion) as share of the total actual expenditure in the
education, health, water, agriculture, roads and energy sectors. These
are key sectors upon which the daily lives of citizens depend but we
urge the government to apportion substantially towards the development
components and reduce emphasis on wages and allowances.
Honouring the commitment to reduce tax exemptions
The government of Tanzania is providing a wide range of tax incentives
to businesses to attract greater levels of Foreign Direct Investments
(FDIs) into the country. Tax incentives are leading to very large
revenue losses and may not necessarily be needed to attract and retain
FDIs. In 2009/10, Tanzania collected Tshs 4.45 trillion in taxes. The
taxes collected amounted to 14.6% of Gross Domestic Product in
2009/10, yet the IMF estimates that Tanzania has potential to collect
taxes amounting to 20.9% of GDP.
The government, however, has committed to reducing the ratio of tax
exemptions as a share of Gross Domestic Product to 1.9% in 2012
followed by reducing it to 1.6% and 1.2% in 2013 and 2014
respectively. This move will enable government to boost domestic
revenue and gradually move towards lesser dependence on aid.
The policy issues we raise here, however, require a great deal of
commitment to address. The health and education systems and
agriculture sector in Tanzania cannot be allowed to continue to fail.
A healthy, well-fed society that is educated and skilled is vital for
growth of the country's economy. It is for this reason we urge
government to consider these modest recommendations as we work
together to make policies work for people in Tanzania.
http://www.policyforum-tz.org/node/8532
--
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
Blogu ya Habari na Picha www.patahabari.blogspot.com
Kujiondoa Tuma Email kwenda
wanabidii+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com Utapata Email ya kudhibitisha ukishatuma
Disclaimer:
Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.
0 comments:
Post a Comment