We have every reason to be happy and proud about the economic performance of our country so far. Not many countries in Africa, let alone the world have an economy that is growing at such a good rate – above 6 percent per year. Yes, we have the nagging question: where does the money go? In the last columns I have tried to point out the reason why this impressive growth does not seem to be going a long way towards improving the well being of the majority of Tanzanians. Essentially, the reason for this lies in the fact that the majority of Tanzanians are not participating in the sectors that are contributing substantially to the growth of the economy. Our evidence for this assertion comes from the fact that while the sectors of mining, communications, services, tourism, infrastructure, industries, etc. have been registering impressive growth rates, agriculture, the sector that employs the majority of Tanzanians, has been registering low growth rates.

By Karl Lyimo

I AM still reeling from disbelief that incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete could have truly been encouraging Tanzanians to buy more cars… or (perhaps) NOT to be afraid of buying cars because of the suffocating traffic congestions jamming our streets – particularly the non-streets in the non-capital Dar es salaam metropolis.

This, the man said, is because the Government – his Government – already has plans to construct overhead carriageways to relieve the streets below from traffic jams! [Majira and other papers: July 19, 2010].