Civil Society Organizations reminded of role in Tanzania
By Elias Mhegera – The civil society organizations (CSOs) in Tanzania have once been reminded of their important role in the policy formulation, as representatives of the voiceless and marginalized people in the society.
schools without enough desks
The call was made by Ms Usu Mallya the executive director of the Tanzania Gender Networking Progamme (TGNP) when she spoke to representatives of more than 40 Non Governmental Organizations, at the headquarters of the TGNP in Mabibo on Thursday last week.
The NGOs representatives were meeting under the theme “Consultative Session on CSOs Engagement in Policy and Budget within the Changing Context in Tanzania”
Tanzania Gender Networking Program TGNP Director Usu Mallya
As witnessed by shout-africa.com the discussion had a lot to do with the recent trend where the civil society, people’s representatives like legislators, councilors and the citizenry at large are sidelined whenever the government is planning to formulate new policies and in its implementation some of its projects.
activists calling for an end to the doctor’s strike last year
These representatives also discussed about the trend of intimidations and violence as reflected through attacks to journalists, killing of clerics and police brutality towards activists and members of opposition parties whenever they meet at the public rallies.
“With the growing trend of intimidations, leaders of the civil societies particularly women might be sacred to air their views and even to reveal some the vital findings of their researches simply because there is no guarantee of their security,” said Mallya.
She reminds that of recent the civil society has been in the forefront in disclosing domestic and gender based violence through institutions like (WLAC), TAMWA, and TAWLA.
Further she reminded that the NGO-HakiElimu has dealt much in the weaknesses of the education sector in Tanzania as reflected by the recent massive failures of the form four students in Tanzania last year.
mentoring food vendors is one task of the NGOs in Tanzania
Moreover she noted that many NGOs have been involved in the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) a situation which has endangered the political survival of many politicians. While reports by the Legal and Human Rights Centre, have been boldly critical against abuse of power through extrajudicial killings and, attempts by the government to maim the freedom of expression and independence of the media.
Moreover Mallya noted that the CSOs have been vocal in reminding the government to act when there are reports from the CAG and PCCB which have implicated some political bigwigs when the government try to turn a deaf ear on these malpractices.
“We have done our role well, through policy engagement and analysis also we have helped in reducing abuses of power, through this interaction we have showed how the CSOs can function well in poverty reduction and as a contribution to good governance.
The TGNP –CEO also reminded that the CSOs in Tanzania have been very supportive in reminding the government in fulfilling its promises that it had committed itself through agreements and conventions.
To this effect the media and the CSOs have made sure that the society is fully involved and that it is well informed of all the pertinent issues pertaining to good governance.
Mallya said that the CSOs have frequently reminded the government to fulfill its role as required in the, African Peer Review Mechanism, Universal Periodic Review, and the Millennium Development Goals.
“The human rights regime has undergone major transformation as intervention by the NGOs like HakiArdhi which deals specifically with land issues have helped a lot in making the government aware that there are credible bodies tracking the performance of its officials in land distribution and accompanying policies as well.
She sadly mentioned that due to abject poverty the women have been subjected to all kinds of tortures. “When a man who in our tradition is the head of a family is frustrated, all the family will be affected, domestic violence increases, alcoholism increases and even banks run bankrupt due to poor savings,” she commented.
Mallya added that with the increasingly high rate of land grabbing women are highly affected as they are automatically removed from mainstream production and forced to become barmaids, sexual workers, house girls and all sort of nasty jobs.
Earlier while inviting representatives of the CSOs Mary Nsemwa, Head of Programme, Activism, Lobbying and Coalition Building called all NGOs dealing with the promotion and advocacy of human rights to help policy makers to produce the budget which is friendlier to the people.
She criticized the current trend where human rights issues are left squarely to the CSOs while this is a prerequisite of all the citizens of this country.
Reacting at these presentations was Albanie Marcossy head of the Civil and Political Right Watch (CPW) who said that there was a need to enhance the spiritual essence of the struggle for fundamental changes due to the fact that there is a conspiracy of silence even when strong voices need to be heard.
Abdullah Othman coordinator, Life Skills Association warned that it was dangerous for a country to have a big number of scattered unemployed youths in a situation where a society is characterized by tensions, while the government does not apply proper mechanisms in dealing with them.
“I pray a lot that our country is not plunged into intra wars and the use force like it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, our next door neighbor but the government should now address their grievances (the youths), more appropriately,” he commented.
Moreover he criticized the negative trend where many people are after money wherever they go, “I keep on hearing money, money wherever I go, it is high time that we vitalize self service than dependency on money and foreign support,” he added.
Supporting him was Ms Rabia Ramadhan from Equality for Growth (EfG), who said that a good number of NGOs in Tanzania are either collapsing or shifting their activities due to donor dependency. She suggested that members of the CSOs stick to their main stream activities until when they accomplish their goals rather than neglect them simply because the donor attention is somewhere else.
This self critique of the CSOs seemed to satisfy the hosting body the TGNP as its head Mallya said that her organization has maintained her activities throughout and it has survived not because of donor’s fund but because many people believes in what it is doing.
