On Dar ministers and the politics of popularity

Mr Patrick Rutabanzibwa packs his personal effects on his final day in public office last week, after voluntarily retiring as PS in the Lands ministry. PHOTO | AIKA KIMARO 

By By Tom Mosoba and Bernard James

Posted  Sunday, September 22  2013 at  01:00

In Summary

• With a privileged childhood, his strict parents imparted hard lessons that would shape his career as an all-round administrator whose spirit could not even be dimmed by a near-fatal accident.

He easily passes as a strict disciplinarian, stickler to rules and incorruptible. And at 56, these are traits that immediate former PS for Lands Patrick Rutabanzibwa says helped him to build a strong reputation in his over 30 years of public service.

With a privileged childhood, his strict parents imparted hard lessons that would shape his career as an all-round administrator whose spirit could not even be dimmed by a near-fatal accident.

With that curtain falling, Mr Rutabanzibwa has taken an early retirement from the peak, to embark on uncharted waters as his sunset days beckon.

You served under Mwalimu Nyerere, former presidents Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa, and, lately, President Jakaya Kikwete. Would you say it has been a roller-coaster after all ?

It was a learning curve during the First Phase Government. For me, the challenges of working under the Second, Third and Fourth Phase governments had less to do with the government of the day, and more to do with the issues that had to be confronted and my role in addressing those issues. However, based on my personal experience as PS from 1997 to 2013, I can say that the style of running Government operations has changed somewhat.

Probably because of the ICT revolution, the prevalence of the media, the evolution of our multi-party political system and our relations with the donor community, as well as the many economic and administrative reforms that have been carried out over the past 25 years, the working environment in the Government is more challenging today. At the bureaucratic level there seems to be less time for the ministries’ “think tank” and co-ordination functions to be performed.

At the political level, ministers and other political leaders generally appear to be less willing than in the past to make or support unpopular decisions that may be good for the citizens and the country in the long run.

The focus of many efforts seems to be more on what can be done before the next elections, and this tends to result in some important work such as institution-building, which needs a lot more time, being given less priority.

In Government circles, you are talked of as a disciplinarian, stickler to rules and incorruptible. Is this a personal trait or just a style you adopted to distinguish your public track record.

I am a firm believer in discipline and personal integrity not only as part of the system of values I subscribe to, but also as essential requirements for genuine progress. Many of the problems of the public service are caused or made worse by lack of discipline.

Even the “come tomorrow” culture which contributes to the deterioration of our country’s business and investment environment is attributable, significantly, to unsatisfactory standards of discipline in the public institutions that provide the relevant approvals, permits, licences and other facilitation.

My recent experience in the ministry of Lands has reinforced my belief that the written rules, meaning the relevant laws, regulations, government guidelines and orders should be adhered to by everyone, and if they are inappropriate they should be re-written. A situation where individuals are allowed to follow only the rules they want can only lead to chaos.

Many of the challenges facing the land sector today have arisen because stakeholders have simply disregarded laws.

We know this kind of posture does not fit many other senior officials in government. Were you largely a lone ranger?

Actually, I was not alone in my efforts to enforce public service rules. On the contrary, I received a lot of co-operation from many colleagues and counterparts in other ministries and institutions such as the PCCB and the office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The reason I sometimes appeared to be working alone is because I was the disciplinary authority responsible for the staff in the ministries I was posted to, and so I had to make the final decisions on disciplinary cases, and I was the one who announced those decisions.

That wrong perception led to my being targeted in the media and other forums by individuals with vested interests in the outcomes of the disciplinary investigations, proceedings or actions.

What is the folly and joy of working at the top? Are you satisfied with your record and any regrets ?

I believe being a civil servant is supposed to be a calling, much like being a doctor, a nurse or a teacher. It requires people who are prepared to sacrifice their personal welfare to improve the welfare of the nation. I have absolutely no regrets.

There are many sources of stress for a PS responsible for advising the minister on major policy and strategic decisions, preparing the ministry’s budget and implementing it. A large proportion of the funds are used to procure various goods, services and works, and the PS is personally accountable for all the contracts and their management.

The PS is also personally accountable for the collection and use of all the funds in his ministry, and must reply to the Controller and Auditor General’s audit queries and management letters satisfactorily in order to get a favourable audit assessment.

He is also his ministry’s chief administrator who must ensure that staff, offices, records, assets such as motor vehicles and project implementation processes are managed properly in order to achieve the ministry’s goals. There are heads of department to assist the PS, but the burden essentially rests with him.

The PS is accountable, one way or the other, to the President as his appointing authority; his minister is the political head of the ministry; the Chief Secretary as his disciplinary authority; the Paymaster General as an accounting officer; and the Public Accounts Committee as Parliament’s organ for overseeing the use of public funds. He is also accountable to his employees through his ministry’s Workers Council.

In such a complex accountability system, tension arises when not all the authorities share a common cause with regard to any particular issue. For example, on a number of occasions I differed with my minister or deputy minister on matters of ethics or compliance with the law.

Thankfully, this happened with less than a handful of the 14 ministers and 10 deputy ministers I worked with during my career. Sometimes a minister and his deputy did not get along, and this required me to manage the resulting tensions in order to keep the ministry focused on its mission.

Do you think Tanzania’s civil service has come of age?

The civil service today faces many challenges, both external and internal. Over the past twenty-five years successive administrations have undertaken a very large number of reforms – political, economic, legal and administrative.

The prescribed role of the civil service and the environment in which it operates have completely changed, yet the mindset that was perhaps appropriate in the days preceding the reforms has lingered on to a significant extent.

This has reduced the pace with which the civil service is able to adapt in order to be able to spearhead national development and improve government services in an information age underpinned by global competition and requiring speed in making correct decisions.

I believe that there are essentially three basic internal measures that the civil service needs to take as a matter of priority.

These are to re-establish strict accountability at all levels; to instal and deploy modern systems for managing information, monitoring activities and reporting so as to improve management and increase efficiency; and to create an environment which will allow the civil service to better exploit the skills and experience of Tanzanians who are working in the private sector and in academia in order to address the emerging demographic and capacity constraints within the service.

The challenge of providing remuneration that is adequate to attract and retain appropriately skilled and experienced Tanzanians into the civil service would of course need to be addressed.

I have heard many complaints from some of my colleagues about there being a lot of political interference in their work. In my experience, what is normally called political interference is nothing of the sort. It is usually an attempt by someone who is technically a political leader to influence decisions that are arrived at through legally prescribed processes.

The attempt is sometimes innocent because trying to influence decisions is what politicians do, and it is sometimes driven by personal or other vested interests – very rarely legitimate political interests. The problem arises when a public servant in the decision-making process fails to stick to the rules and explain them, and instead implements the political leader’s wish as if it is a lawful order.

In many incidents of so-called political interference leading to wrong, costly or unlawful decisions, it is public servants who are to blame. They are to blame because their code of ethics prohibits them from obeying unlawful orders.

Was the political system supportive of your work as PS?

I feel very fortunate to have been groomed by some of the most committed and capable leaders. I got my work ethics and learned about focus and commitment from working for many years under President Jakaya Kikwete when he was deputy minister and then minister for Water, Energy and Minerals; Al Noor Kassum when he was minister for Water, Energy and Minerals; and Prof Mark Mwandosya when he was my immediate superior as Commissioner for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, Permanent Secretary for Energy and Minerals, and minister for Water and Irrigation.

In 1989 I fell seriously ill and I was bedridden, paralysed, for nearly one and a half years. I will always be grateful for their moral and material support, which helped me to overcome the illness and add 22 more years to my public service career.

Others who played an important role in moulding me were the late Bernard Mulokozi; Ambassador Fulgence Kazaura; Dr Jonas Kipokola; Deotrephes Mmari; and Rose Lugembe. These former PSs I worked under were role models and advisers during challenging times.

I should also recognise the contributions of Yona Killagane, managing director of TPDC, who taught me the rudiments of financial analysis when I was a fresh graduate working for TPDC, and Baruany Luhanga, retired managing director of TANESCO, who introduced me to power sector development issues when he was TANESCO’s chief system expansion planner.

What would you say were your lows and highs over the years?

For me, the high points occurred when I witnessed the positive outcomes of my advice, decisions or effort on the government and the people it serves.

A memorable high was when President Mkapa inaugurated the Songo Songo gas-to-electricity project in July, 2004, exactly 30 years after the gas was discovered, and 25 years after I had begun working towards the government’s goal of utilizing the gas for the country’s development.

I had spent eight years as the government’s chief negotiator for the project, whose 20 or so agreements involved several government ministries, parastatals and private companies, as well as a number of development finance institutions.

Another high point was in 2007 when the Water Sector Development Programme was launched, with renewed hope that the pervasive water supply problems in the country would start to be addressed.

Yet another high was when the East African Common Market Protocol was signed in 2010 with land matters explicitly excluded from its scope, and with East African citizens’ right to free movement and permanent residence within the member states of the East African Community subjected to conditions that will allow Tanzania to prepare adequately for the common market in order to benefit from it.

Having participated in some of the common market negotiations, I was gratified that the government negotiating team’s advice had been heeded by the government.

Other high points have been at the ministry of Lands, when my unpopular forcefulness bore quick results.

I recall the instance of a woman who had spent 14 years struggling unsuccessfully to get a title deed for her plot of land; a number of Tanzanians who had followed up for up to ten years without getting their title deeds; and a widow who had been denied her title deed for seven years. My threatening interventions resulted in all these people getting their title deeds within a few days.

I also recall the satisfaction I felt earlier this year when the ministry gave back the Parastatal Pensions Fund its land in Msasani Peninsula, Dar es Salaam – worth billions of shillings – that had fraudulently been granted to a criminal syndicate by unethical ministry officers. This was after a two-year investigation by the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) which I had requested.

I was also very happy in November, 2011 when the Court of Appeal quashed my conviction for contempt of court. The High Court had convicted me and two colleagues after we had failed to cause a public open space in Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam to be given to a private company.

The court order contradicted the law, but we had been put under a lot of pressure to comply with it, and we even received a thinly veiled death threat to that end. The Court of Appeal’s decision was very important because it will ensure that in future public land will not be privatized through unlawful court orders.

The low points were usually when decisions were made by my superiors or the government that I firmly believed were not in the country’s best interest in the long run. Of course, every government officer should know that as an adviser, you do not have a monopoly of wisdom or foresight, and that not all the advice you give will be followed.

Nevertheless, as a human being you cannot feel happy when your efforts as an adviser bear no fruit. One instance was the day I discovered, in 1995, that Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) and TANESCO had signed a power purchase agreement without addressing the concerns I had raised during the negotiations for that project.

Another instance was when in 2004, after having participated in preparations for the restructuring of TANESCO and the power sector for ten years, I was informed that it had been decided that the company will be left as it is.

Can you say you are leaving a clean ministry of lands?

The ministry of Lands is by no means clean yet, but the impunity that some officers exhibited when I began my tenure in 2009 is no longer there. The reason is that I began taking disciplinary measures whenever incidents of misconduct came to my attention through heads of department or the ministry’s customers who suffer the most from officers’ unethical behaviour.

I also urged heads of department to pay more attention to the supervision and correction of their subordinates’ conduct, and I made it clear that otherwise they would be held accountable themselves.

What are the big challenges you experienced during your time in this ministry?

My biggest challenge has been changing the mindset of the heads of departments and other senior officers so that they can become the catalysts of change for the better.

I invested a lot of time and effort in mentoring them and explaining the importance of professionalism, being thoroughly conversant with the laws they are administering and the activities they are overseeing, and having moral authority over their subordinates by being an example of proper conduct. I cannot say my efforts have been very successful.

Another challenge has been the very large number of pending land disputes and unanswered applications for various land services that I inherited, in an environment where records management systems had virtually collapsed, and where it was not immediately possible to establish the size and extent of the problem. Fortunately, this challenge is well on its way to being addressed through a special project, the Integrated Land Management Information System (ILMIS), under which the ministry’s records and customer services should be computerised within the next three years.

The third major challenge has been having to deal with the hundreds of individuals with land disputes and complaints, while at the same time trying to stay focused on strategic issues such as the revision of sectoral policies, strategies and legislation, and reforming the ministry’s departments and institutions to meet current needs.

What is your take on Prof Anna Tibaijuka’s record in the ministry?

Prof Tibaijuka is a strategic thinker who has no problem zooming in to the minute details of the building blocks of the strategies she is implementing in order to make sure the strategies succeed.

The minister is totally committed to her ministry’s mission and extremely hard working, with great stamina. In the time she has been at the ministry she has resolved a number of major land-related disputes in various parts of the country, sensitized local government authorities on the importance of enforcing land development rules, and convinced the government to double the ministry’s budget. She has pioneered the land-for-equity approach to ensuring that private investments in agriculture will in future be more beneficial to Tanzanians.

She has also helped in efforts to change the mindset of ministry officers, and laid the groundwork for reforms and greater investment in the urban planning, land administration, property valuation and records management areas of the ministry’s functions. With Goodluck Ole Medeye as the ministry’s equally committed, capable and hard-working deputy minister, I have no doubt that the ministry is in the best hands possible.

And what advice would you give the incoming PS?

I advise him to stay focused on the fundamental issues, and the many symptoms of not addressing those issues will eventually disappear.

The issues are enforcing accountability; installing modern administrative systems; and strengthening capacity through careful selection and deployment of staff based on their abilities. Without these basics, it will be very difficult to implement the ministry’s many initiatives, programmes and projects successfully.

You fired three top officials in the ministry as you were leaving over corruption?

My dismissal of the three senior officers was the final step in formal disciplinary proceedings that began in May, 2013.

SOURCE: THE CITIZEN