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.
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:
Post a Comment