Veteran politician and former Prime Minister, Cleopa Msuya, said on Monday that the lives of Tanzanians will be much better in the next few years if development efforts made by the fifth phase government will be sustained by the sixth phase administration.

The politician, who has also served the country as the minister for Finance and the minister for Trade and Industry under the founding father of the nation, Julius Nyerere, and the second phase President, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, said empowering Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to do more businesses was the key to the country’s sustainable development after attaining the lower middle economy status.

Mr Msuya, who also served as the permanent secretary in a number of ministries as well as the Mwanga Constituency legislator for 20 years, said the fifth phase government measures to plugged the loopholes of corruption and the misuse of funds money leakage from the government coffers was a result of what others referred to as inadequate money in the circulation.

He aired his views at his Dar es Salaam home on Monday, during an exclusive interview with Mwananchi Digital when responding to different questions on social, economic and political issues of national interests.

The veteran politician, now aged 90, said strategic investments introduced by the fifth phase government aimed at increasing power generation to support the country’s industrialization, upgrade the central railway lines to standard gauge in order to improve transport and transportation as well as revitalization of the national airline (Air Tanzania Company Limited-ATCL) to boost the country’s tourism should be sustained.

“The sustainability of these strategies will enable farmers to produce more agricultural crops and provide room for transporters to increase the tonnage of transported goods. This should go in line with the strengthening of social services such as education and health in order to get people with good health and skills to better serve the nations,” he said.

He added, “Once these strategic plans are sustained and be improved accordingly, the country’s economy will be much better by reaching the year 2025 and some of the signs are vivid.”

According to him, surveys made he recently made have s established that despite of being in the Holy Month of Ramadan, prices of commodities have remained stable and that Prime Minister (Kassim Majaliwa) was once quoted, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as saying that the country’s economy was growing faster than anticipated.

He suggested that more support to be given to the SMEs, saying that they were the key drivers of the country’s economy because the country has not yet reached a position of depending on industries like in developed countries.

“But, this is what the government has been doing. Farmers are being encouraged to increase production and traders in the informal sector are being given special IDs that enable them to do businesses peacefully,” he said.

Furthermore, he said on top of increasing agricultural production, facilitating business improvement, there was a need for graduates to change their mind-sets and start being innovative instead of waiting for formal employment.

“The country has lots of opportunities that will enable them to make money.
All we need is to change the mind-set. Some systems in our education and broadening our vocational training will also need to change to make the youth understand that they can change their lives without necessarily being employed,” he said.

According to him, He said Tanzanians have no reason to blame themselves because the country was making a positive stride in the economy , despite the fact that the progress has not matched with the fast growing population.

He said According to him, the level of poverty has declined in the country, testifying that in his recent visits to some parts of the country he has witnessed an increasing number of modern houses and improved dressing among children at schools as compared to the past.

Regarding inadequate money in the circulation, Mr Msuya said it was because of the government’s measures to plug the loopholes of corruption and revenue leakages to individuals from government institutions such as the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).

“These few individuals spent these monies on taking their girlfriends to five star luxurious hotels like the old Kilimanjaro Hotel (Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam) and Serena Hotel,” he said.

“They reached a point of flying with their girlfriends to Dubai on Saturdays and returning on Sundays. These are illegal monies they got through corruption,” he added without sweating.

They started lamenting ‘tightened irons’ following measures made by the fifth phase government and forcing them to start depending on their salaries.”

He recalled the moment when he saved as the minister for Finance, saying the country faced a huge shortage of commodities in the market, but there were people who walked with a large amount of money in their pockets and paid for crates of beer in various bars. according to their respective heights in bars.