Two laws for review to boost Big Results Now

The President’s Delivery Bureau (PDB) has said the country’s Public Procurement Act, 2004 and the Public Private Partnership Act, 2010 restrict effective implementation of the Big Results Now (BRN) strategy and needed review.

Omari Issa, PDB Chief Executive Officer told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the government is planning to meet with key players and stakeholders from the private sector to deliberate on the modalities to improve both Acts.

He said late this month his office will meet members of the Tanzania Private Sectors Foundation (TPSF) to discuss the six major areas affecting business environment in the country. Among the key areas mentioned by the President as priorities under the BRN is improvement of the business environment.

“BRN’s success is heavily dependent on strong participation of the private sector… the sector is acknowledged for its strong technology, management skills and funding,” Issa noted.

The government has set aside 5.0trn/- for the private sector for implementation of various development projects under the new strategy. To ensure full participation of the private sector, PDB plans to reform the public private partnership (PPP) policy.

Elaborating, Issa said the Public Procurement Act, 2004 restrict government institutions from implementing any project without undertaking a competitive bidding. This, according to him, limits the room for promoting innovations among various institutions.

“It doesn’t make sense, that someone with managerial and financial capacity who had engineered a certain project idea to be lined up among several other competitors with ability to implement such idea…it discourages innovations,” he affirmed.

He said that PDB is conducting assessment and evaluation of the first year implementation of the BRN system. He said the report will soon be presented to President Jakaya Kikwete.

To ensure successful implementation PDB plans to set up regional delivery units (RDUs) and Council Delivery Units (CDUs) all over the country. The units will among other things monitor and evaluate projects at their level.

In August last year, TPSF urged the government to amend the Public Procurement Act (PPA), 2004 particularly the section on public procurements.

TPSF Board of Directors Chairperson, Dr Reginald Mengi made the remarks when briefing journalists on resolutions reached during the first meeting of the newly elected TPSF Board.

He pointed out that the PPA Act needed redress, because in its current form it limits the locals’ ability to benefit from their resources.

BRN was unveiled by the President in February last year. An 8-week coaching session led by Malaysian policy experts drew on the experience of Malaysia’s Performance Management & Delivery Unit experience to design and implement a model suited to Tanzania.

For President Kikwete the initiative will eliminate the culture of ‘business as usual’ and needless confidentiality amongst official and officers serving the public that has hobbled efforts to move Tanzania forward to a middle-income economy by 2025. 

Under the Big Results Now initiative each Ministry will be expected to align its budget to the high-level initiatives of the government as defined within each Five Year Development Plan, which in turn are targeted at moving the country towards achieving Vision 2025. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN