Tuesday, November 25, 2014

CEO honours Mkapa with life time achievement award



The Chief Executive Officers that forms a policy dialogue forum known as CEO roundtable (CEOrt) has awarded former president Benjamin Mkapa for his outstanding contribution to the development of public service and private sector promotion for the last ten years he had been in power. Mkapa who ruled the country during the third phase government between 1995 and late 2005, received Lifetime Achievement Award of the Year 2014 for his unwavering commitment to the continued development endeavors that helped to increase the country’s economic growth. The award was handed over to him by the CEOrt chairman Ali Mufuruki on Saturday night this week during the sixth CEO roundtable 2014 annual gala dinner which was held at Hyatt Regency Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The occasion was witnessed by more than 200 guests including government officials among them former Prime Minister Judge Joseph Warioba, Members of Parliament, ambassadors,  leading private sectors officials in various areas and opposition leader Mabere Marando of the leading opposition party of Chadema. Another award of the same category was conferred to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the President’s Delivery Bureau (PDB) Omari Issa whose bureau prepares national statistics detailed for the Big Results Now (BRN). Delivering his speech to the audience, ex-President Mkapa told his audiences among the major decisions which he remembered to have made while in office is when he refused to sign Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) saying the move was seriously meant to impede the development path of African countries. He said the European Union led trade agreements were not friendly to trade in the continent pointing out that he saw them threatening the economic development of Africa and as such advised African negotiation teams to rise up to the challenge to stand up for the best interests of the continent. The former head of state stressed that the EU proposal was favorably biased to the European markets and designed to leave African countries defendant on them. “The rules of the market were dictated by international financial institutions and powerful conglomerates leaving  government with literally scant policy space to help cuddle our local enterprises to grow” he said.  He added that by the time he took over the government his successor had already initiated some economic reforms and his task was to take them to another level whereby he involved the private sector a task which according to him helped reduce bureaucracy. 


Former Tanzania's President of the third phase government (1995 to 2005) Benjamin William Mkapa

Earlier before presenting the awards, the CEO’s Chief Executive Mufuruki described retired president MKapa as a man who dedicated most of his time in privatization drive a move which has enabled the country increase its revenues to the national coffer.  He said Mkapa made a lot of changes during his office tenure that culminated to the country’s economic reformations whose growth is largely contributed by 90 percent by the private sector development initiatives to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  He said although there are some constraints in the regulatory frame work, coordination, financial and stakeholders’ commitment, still success is noted in terms of increasing number and demand of Public Private Partnership (PPP) interventions. He said that the annual gala dinner is not only the night of celebrations but also the night to look back, take stock of what they have done and celebrate the achievements and successes that they have made during the course of what will surely go down in history as a memorable year. “The event is particularly special because we will be recognizing some outstanding citizens of our country for their exemplary leadership in fostering closer cooperation between the public and private sectors” he said. However, he said adding that other the outstanding leaders who have been honoured by CEO roundtable are former President of the second phase government Alhaj Ali Hassan Mwinyi and former Director General of the Tanzania Investment Centre Emmanuel Ole Naiko. CEOrt is a policy dialogue forum that brings together CEOs from over 80 top companies doing business in Tanzania. The members of the Roundtable and the companies they lead account for more than 40 percent of the tax revenue collected by the government of Tanzania. Every year the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania recognises the importance of private sector in economic growth and the forum continue working closely with the government to bring about development.

No comments: