Tanzania will fare better with a less rigid work permit policy

Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Kiprono Kittony

Recently, Tanzania President John Pombe-Magufuli ordered foreigners, particularly those without work permits, to surrender their jobs to locals pronto. This hard-hitting edict is a direct consequence of the Non-Citizens (Employment Regulations) Act, passed by Tanzania’s Parliament during its April - June 2015 session. The Act tightened rules for subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Tanzania intent on recruiting expatriate employees. The hope is that showing foreigners the door would automatically pave the way for employment of Tanzanian youth. While it is the duty of the state to secure and protect the livelihoods of its citizens, the sweeping, if punitive, action heralded by the presidential diktat determined to show foreigners working in Tanzania the door enmass is regrettable. In fact, I highly doubt that such a decision would serve the best interests of any of the East African Community member countries let alone Tanzania’s.

Well, nationalism propped on simplistic populism may register transient dividends for demagogic leaders but not for long-term benefits particularly in a regional bloc that ought to be aiming at closer integration and synergetic existence. Ultimately, it remains Tanzania’s sovereign right to make policies that serve the interests of her citizens best. Whichever way you view it, President Magufuli is well within his powers to make decisions that promote the welfare of his countrymen and women. At the same time, Tanzania’s resources and economy must serve its nationals before they benefit foreigners.

However, 21st Century statecraft and international relations calls for more sacrifices and concessions rather than knee-jerk or populist retorts. On this subject, Paddy Ashdown, a British politician once famously declared that, symptoms of decline in nations as in humans are; scleroticism, institutional arthritis and resistance to change—proposed a route to the cordial coexistence among states. He forewarned in his 2009 presentation titled “The end of western hegemony” that triumphs in a world overtaken by a myriad insecurities, will take greater tolerance among nations that do not share the same culture, history, worldview or even values.

In the case of East African member states, it cannot possibly be said that Tanzania, with regard to culture, history, worldview and values is dramatically different from other EAC members. In fact, the challenges faced by ordinary citizens across the EAC region are very much similar.

Kenya and Tanzania have made much headway in economic integration that cannot just be pulverized by cavalier political decrees.

It is important for Tanzania’s leadership to come to terms with the fact nationals of the two countries have devised organic ways and means of enhancing their own cooperation away from officialdom. Like Kenyans, many of Tanzania’s business people have sidestepped bureaucratic inertia to create a thriving business regime. Most of the oranges and the “not to miss” cooking ingredient, tomatoes, in Nairobi today are from Tanzania. If indeed the leadership of the two countries and other EAC member states are true servants of the people, they should be enhancing rather than curtailing such integration.

The scheduled march to a fully integrated East Africa has been arduous and winding. With occasional dissenting voices such as the one careering out foreigners, it is no longer easy to convince anyone that the integration of East Africa into an economic bloc is a universal tenet desired by the leadership of all the member states. It is indeed in the interest of Tanzania and other EAC member states to enhance, rather than downgrade regional integration.