DODOMA: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said Tanzania has an obligation to strengthen its internal financing capacity for its budget to be able to escape the effects of foreign policy changes that may occur in the developed nations.
The Prime Minister issued the position in the Parliament yesterday when responding to the question posed by Mbozi CCM legislator George Mwanisongole during the Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session.
In his question, the MP asked the PM on how the government was preparing itself to address the effects of the United States (US) government foreign policy changes announced by President Donald Trump late last month.
According to the legislator, the changes to the US foreign policy would have effects on the health and education sectors.
In his response, PM Majaliwa hailed President Samia Suluhu Hassan for strengthening diplomatic relations with other nations in the world, including the US.
“Despite the good relations with other nations, including the US, we must ensure we strengthen our internal budgetary financing capacity to do away with dependency,” he said.
He said the government must strengthen its budgetary plans to be able to implement programmes in various sectors, including health and education.
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He said Tanzania is endowed with abundant resources, saying the only task at hand is to pull them(resources) together to ensure the nation utilises them to build strong internal financial capacity and ultimately finance budgetary programmes.
“The US government has announced its foreign policy shift and there is possibility another nation will follow suit. What we are doing is that we are continuing to strengthen our economy.
We are expanding and strengthening our sources of revenue so that what we collected can, through the Parliament, be allocated to various areas.
This is the strategy that we must now rigorously implement to address the effects that result from foreign policy changes occurring in the first world,” the Prime Minister said.
However, the PM insisted that Tanzania government respects foreign policies of other nations, and it will continue doing so.
Having assumed presidency late last month, US President Trump announced a temporary freeze on almost all foreign assistance as part of his “America First” agenda, pausing billions of dollars in global funding.
President Trump stated clearly that the US government would no longer blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.
Among the programmes that would be affected by President Trump’s decision include the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which received approximately 120bn US dollars since its launch in 2003.
The world’s largest health programme, since its launch by President George W Bush, PEPFAR is believed to have saved 25 million lives, including 5.5 million children, in at least 50 countries.
In another development, the government has said encouraging investors to invest in fruit processing industries is one of the best alternatives to assist farmers engaging in perishable crop farming such as avocado.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa spoke of the reliable strategy to help farmers in Parliament yesterday during the Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session.
He was responding to a question posed by Special Seats CCM legislator Sophia Mwakagenda who sought to know about the government strategy meant to address the loss incurred by farmers engaging in fruits farming.
According to the MP, farmers engaging in fruits have been incurring loss as their yields have often been left to rot in their farms due to failure to get buyers on time.
In his response, the Prime Minister said the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with other ministries and government entities must ensure fruits processing industries are built in regions with high level of fruits production.
