Level field in EAC`s job market - experts

The Tanzania Employment Services Agency (TaESA) has called for mandatory use of Kiswahili as the official language for interviewing employment seekers after commencement of the East African Community (EAC) free labour movement. Speaking during a stakeholder’s workshop in Dar es Salaam recently, TaESA Chief Executive Officer Eliezer Mwasele said most Tanzanian graduates have difficulty with the English language, which may affect their chances in the EAC labour market competition “Tanzanians fear the EAC free labour movement due to difficulty with the English language. We would like to suggest the use of Kiswahili as the official language for conducting interviews, so that our people can have confidence”, he said adding that in most cases, Tanzanians applying for various posts through TaESA find it difficult to express themselves in English. Other challenges he noted facing graduates is poor CV writing and lack of interview skills.

Acting Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA), Nicholaus Mgaya.

Mwasele said since the agency was established in 2008, it has succeeded to find jobs for 670 people. He said that there are also more than 30 Tanzanians who have been employed in different companies abroad under the umbrella of TaESA. For his part, the Acting Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA), Nicholaus Mgaya supported the move saying without making Kiswahili the official interview language, Tanzanians will end up being observers in the EAC labour market. According to him, the government should make efforts to convince the other EAC members to accept the use of Kiswahili as the official interview language. Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Kijakazi Mtengwa said youth unemployment is on the increase. She also noted that youth immigration to urban centres remains a major problem. According to her, efforts are being made to formulate and revise existing policies, laws and regulations to suit the current trends in the labour market. The government aim of setting up TaESA was to ensure effective delivery of employment services. In the 1980s the government was the main employer for graduates from higher learning institutions but due to global economic changes the private sector has now become a major employer. In the year 2001 the then Ministry of Labour, Youth Development and Sports established the Labour Exchange Centre (LEC) as a pilot project co-funded by the Government of Tanzania and the United States Department of Labour (USDoL).

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN