The Reforming Local Government Personnel SystemBy

Ernest T. Mallya

Department of Political Science and Public AdministrationUniversity of Dar es Salaam

. Introduction

Tanzania’s public service is inevitably part of theworldwide reforms that are affecting nearly all sectors ofthose governments that are seeking to make progress towardsgood governance – as variously defined by different quartersbut with some aspects that are central to the process. Thesereforms are in the main externally driven. However, Tanzaniahas, in the past implemented own initiated reforms in hervarious sectors, including that of administration in localgovernment. The period between 1961 and 1972 had nobleintentions insofar as local government was concerned. Thesewell-intended objectives in these steps notwithstanding,justifying the shift when proposing the change from localgovernment type of decentralization to deconcentration,Nyerere (1972:3) commented that until then, power was beingwielded by others, not the masses of the people. This phasehad the following shortcomings, among others:

Lack of trained personnel Inexperienced personnel Ill-defined roles and job descriptions Frequent transfers of personnel which disrupted

programmes Poor coordination Incongruence between national and local priorities Inefficient project implementation.

In 1972, the institutions of local government werecompletely abolished and all business that was run underthem was taken over by the central government. Anarrangement of decentralized administrative structures were

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introduced whereby the centre – through deconcentration –replaced the local government structures. Nyerere (1972: 4)noted that the 1972 structural decentralization sought toensure that “people make their own decisions on the thingswhich affect them directly, and so that they are able torecognize their own control over community decisions andtheir own responsibility for carrying them out.” However,the element of participation happened to be very limited forvarious reasons including, planning at that level whichneeded skills which, most local people who were eitherilliterate or semi-literate did not have, and as a resultthey were unable to follow the discourse and many saw themove “bringing the government to the people” hence some kindof bureaucratization of the local administration.

Apart from the trauma that the changes inflicted on theadministrative structures of local government, more damagewas done to the personnel who worked in these structures.All these had some bearing on the personnel in the entirelocal government system. Despite these weaknesses that havebeen mentioned, there was emerging a local professionalcadre in local government administration that was trainedlocally as well as abroad, since independence. This dream ofhaving a professional local government staff was dealt amortal blow by the abolition of local government in 1972.

The effects of the changes led to the dispersal of thepersonnel who had hoped to build their careers in localgovernment. Some were absorbed in the new structures of thecentral government extensions that came to the local level.Others went to the private sector; and even others, out offrustration, had to retire because they did not believe theyhad any future in the new structures that were brought totheir areas. In ten years time after the move by thegovernment to abolish local government, the needs of thesevery institutions in local governance and democracy was“rediscovered”; a need to correct the mistake was,therefore, impending. The government re-established localgovernment through the Local Government Acts nos. 7 and 8 of

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1982. The reintroduction of local governments was expectedto lead to a more meaningful decentralization of governmentadministration by facilitating the more effective democraticparticipation in decision making and implementation at thevillage, district and regional level. The legislation waspassed again during the single-party state a thing thatimplies the controls that the centre had always maintainedwere in no way loosened. The local governments, apart fromcontrols contained in the legislation, were required also toget central government approval for their key decisions, andit was the central government that was charged with theroles of supervision and inspection (Mukandala, 1998:42-43).

Research done, however, has indicated that more than 50% ofpeople believe that the framework for the 1982decentralization did not add any power to the people(Mukandala, op. cit.: 45). One reason for this was that mostof the weaknesses of the first and second phases mentionedabove had persisted with more councils now havingincompetent councilors.

With the re-establishment of the local governmentauthorities, there was an effort to recruit people to occupythe positions they offered. By this time, the few localgovernment personnel who were absorbed in the centralgovernment structure in 1972 had either retired or had lostthe local government touch in their approach toadministration. And, after all, even if all the personnelwere retained, the number of local authorities hadsignificantly increased. There would be a big shortageanyway.

Those recruited to man the local authorities were new in thearea and needed orientation as to how to run localgovernment, or run under local government. Resourcesavailable to the training authority constrained the trainingof everybody; the concentration was at the top end of theladder, and the professional cadres. The assumption thatwould follow from that is that the 1984 local government

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administration would not perform optimally because of theorientation that position holders had from the previousstructures of government they came from.

Personnel in Local Government, 1984 – 1998

Local Personnel, Central ControlThe adage that says “who pays the piper calls the tune”squarely fitted the situation of the re-established (1982)local government in Tanzania. Firstly, most localgovernments were and still are financially very weak and thecentral government subsidizes local governments heavily.Among the areas of local government that subsidies go to issalaries for the many teachers and health workers. Secondly,some key development projects were and are still covered bythe central government financially. The centre, therefore,has had a big say in what is done in local government. Thissay was institutionalized in the laws and regulations thatgoverned the operation of local government. For instance,the Minister responsible for local government had enormouspowers over local government under the 1982 Local GovernmentAct in many aspects including the recruitment, training,deployment, and discipline of local government personnel.The presence of employees brought to the councils throughthe Civil Service Department and the Local GovernmentService Commission kind of sidelined the councils in thesematters. They were from higher authorities.

1992 witnessed the re-introduction of multi-party politicsin Tanzania. This followed several years of economic reform.With this step reached some variables in the way society isrun would necessarily change significantly. Here one cannotleave out the way civil society organizations activities areconducted The economic, administrative and political reformsnecessitated the amendment of the Local Government Act of1982 so that some of the new features in the politicalsystem – such as political parties, pressure group etc., canbe accommodated. Meanwhile an assessment of the localgovernment performance until mid-1990s has shown that they

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have not been able to deliver the goods, including popularparticipation. As one assessor comments, local government,past and present “has failed to promote communitydevelopment, to maintain acceptable levels of social serviceprovision, to exhibit accountability and transparency intheir operations, and to widen participation in localaffairs”. (Mukandala, op.cit.: 64)

This situation has led to the current reforms in localgovernment as included in the wider reform agenda forTanzania – The National Governance Programme for Tanzania.One of the areas of focus for the governance programme is“Strengthening the Participation of the People in Decision Making forSocial, Political and Economic Development”. This sub-theme has threecomponents, one of which is Strengthening the capacity of localgovernment. It has been noted that some key elements ofstrengthening local governments need to be paid moreattention. These include the training councilors, civiceducation for the people and involving the people in thereforms themselves, all of which have a bearing onparticipation. (URT, 1998a :14).

Multiplicity of Appointing AuthoritiesThe power that local governments had over matters related totheir activities is again reflected in the number ofappointing authorities for their employees. There were sixappointing authorities for the local government staff.Firstly, there was the council itself. The council wasallowed to recruit the lower level employees. These wouldinclude cleaners, secretaries and other blue-collar workers.

Secondly, there was the Local Government Service Commissionwhich recruited the middle and higher level staff. ThisCommission was established by the Local Government ServiceAct No. 10 of 1982. Its composition comprised a chairmanappointed by the President, four members appointed by theMinister responsible for local government, two more membersappointed by the Minister but upon being nominated by thePrincipal Secretary to the Civil Service Department and the

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other by the Civil Service Commission. Trade Unions andemployers are excluded from the commission. The Commissionwas empowered to employ and promote officers with the salaryscales LGGS 5 to 10. The functions of the commission asstipulated in the Act also include training and staffdevelopment; discipline, formulation of regulationsgoverning staff matters, and advising the Ministerresponsible for local government. As for training, theCommission, in consultation with the council, it was chargedwith the training of the officers it was allowed to recruit,viz. those with salary scales LGGS 5 to 10. The same appliesto the disciplining of the officers it recruits. The adviceit is supposed to give to the Minister is on matters ofappointments of senior personnel in the service,compensation packages, promotions, dismissals, and exitmanagement.

Thirdly was the Teachers’ Service Commission, whichrecruited all teachers for primary education. The servicesof certified teachers are governed by the Teachers’ ServiceCommission Act (Act No. 1 of 1989) and the Teachers’ ServiceCommission Regulations, 1990. The Teachers’ ServiceCommission employs teachers on behalf of local authoritiesand the non-governmental institutions as may be approved bythe Minister responsible for of Education. The Teachers’Service Commission is also responsible for the terms andconditions of service, confirmation and discipline ofteachers. The commission may propose to the governmentthrough the Ministry of Education such changes in salary andincentive packages as it may see desirable. Apart frommeeting the cost for specific benefits such as housing,leave allowances and so on local authorities have beeneffectively kept out of the issues relating to the teachingservice. For better execution of its functions the Teachers’Service Commission has appointed regional and districtcommittees and delegated some of its functions to these. Thecommittees can make recommendations on matters relating toprobation, promotion, discipline etc. with regard to theteachers in their area of jurisdiction.

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Fourthly, there were also workers who fell under thedifferent sectors such as agriculture, cooperatives, water,health, and natural resources. These are central governmentworkers. These were recruited by or seconded by the parentministry to the relevant council. The administration ofthese workers involved the parent ministry, the CivilService Department and the Local Government ServiceCommission.

Fifthly was the Minister responsible for Local Government.He or she had the powers to appoint all heads of departmentin councils, as well as the Executive Directors for councilsthat of grades I – VI. With regard to personnel managementfor both District and Urban Councils, Acts nos. 7 and 8 of1982 respectively, give substantial powers to the Minister.Section 4 (3) states that the Minister shall ensure thatthere is available an adequate supply of personnel trained,skilled or qualified for the work in various sectors oraspects of local government so as to secure the growth anddevelopment of an efficient and effective system of localgovernment. The Minister had powers to transfer ExecutiveDirectors from one council to another as well astransferring heads of department and staff appointed by theLocal Government Service Commission.

Alongside this general provision, the Minister also hasspecific powers over matters related to finances, approvalof by-laws and dissolution of a local authority in case ofgross malpractice and/or non-performance. In our case ofhuman resources, the Local Government Services Act no. 10 of1982 and the Local Government Schemes of Service appertainupon the President, the Minister and the Local GovernmentServices Commission immense powers relating to appointments,development and discipline of council employees. ThePresident’s powers are discussed below.

Lastly was the President. He or she was the authorityappointing Directors for councils in grades VII and VIII.

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This multiplicity of appointing authorities can only tell usthat the councils had very little they could do about theselection, motivation, development, discipline, transfersetc. of the personnel brought in by the five appointingauthorities mentioned above. The councils were mererecipients of personnel recruited elsewhere by some otheractor. The appellate authorities were also away from thecouncils themselves.

The Problems of the Old System

Democracy and the Employment System

Local governments are supposed to be local. They aresupposed also to promote democracy whereby the locals makedecisions that concern their (local) government. However,this has not been the case in Tanzania, so far. The reasonfor this is the dependence most of the local governmentshave vis-à-vis the central government. This phenomenon hasaffected the power of councils over the bulk of theiremployees adversely when it comes to the councils recruitingand controlling their own employees. One can correctly saythat when it comes to council employees, the councils areuntil today significantly marginalized. They can not decideimportant matters with regard to the recruitment anddeployment of employees. For this one, democracy has eludedthem and it is bound to elude them for some quite a longperiod in the future.

Qualifications of Council EmployeesThe issue of poor qualifications of technical personnel incouncils is not proven, especially after the 1982 re-introduction of local governemnt. The levels that thesepersonnel fall as far as appointments are concerned arewithin the higher appointing organs – the LGSC, the Ministerresponsible for Local Government, the CSD, or even thePresident. These appointing organs have such a large poolfrom where to recruit (especially in the aftermath of

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liberalization policies, which froze employment) that whenit happens that there is this particular shortcoming thenunprofessional conduct must have applied. In some councils,there is just not enough staff in some departments as theywould want. This is a different problem in that it dependson the ability of the council to pay these qualifiedworkers. In some councils, especially the ones withcommunication problems and poor economic base, we found thatcompetent employees would not want to go there. They areposted and they do not report, or they find ways to have thedecision reversed. This is a problem, however, does not onlytouch local government but also the central government.Maybe a solution to this would need the efforts of thecentral government than those of the local authoritiesbecause until now most of the personnel in this category arepaid by the central government.

The technical posts that are in councils go with thecommittees that are formed by these councils. These include:

Administration Economic planning Finance Social welfare Education and culture Public health Water services Works and roads Agriculture and cooperatives, and Lands and natural resources.

The Issue of Multiplicity of LoyaltiesThe multiplicity of the appointing authorities as discussedabove necessarily lead to the emergence of multipleloyalties. And, it is not loyalties, but also there has beendefiance on the part of some council employees vis-à-vislocally elected representatives. This is much so when oneconsiders the tension between councillors and the expertsmany of whom are employed by an authority other than thecouncil itself. At the peak of the tension is when an expert

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“tells” the councillors to “leave him/her alone” as it wasnot them who appointed him/her to the post. This wouldsuggest that a presidential appointee to a council wouldhave a big tramp card in such situations.

Councilors Versus Council EmployeesOne of the major problems that are facing many district andurban councils in Tanzania is the fact that councillors –who are policy makers – are either illiterate or semi-literate. This not only hinders the passing of bold, wellthought programmes, but also it has created a struggle forpower between the experts and the councillors. Since theexperts have no vote in full councils, the councillors couldalways block decisions that they felt – correctly or not –that were not appropriate for the council. Councillorsshould be taken as part of the council personnel because oftheir input into the decisions of any council. When they aretaken as such, then our councils have a long way to go inrectifying this anomaly. However, one of the simplest waysto do it is raising the education level of those who want tocontest for the posts of councillorship. As it is now, theonly criteria as far as education level is concerned is thatof one’s ability to read and write. However, there is notest that is given to prove any of this.

A Summary of the Situation before the Reforms

From the above discussion of some of the pertinent issuesabout local authorities employees, one can see the evidenceto the effect that the existing personnel management wasrather confused and neither efficient nor effective. Thefollowing are the key points:-

Local authorities had little and indirect say aboutthe numbers, quality and types of personnel theywanted in their jurisdictions. This was evidenced inthe establishing Act itself, in which a number ofappointing authorities are mentioned and accordedpowers that should have logically been those of thelocal authorities themselves. This situation led to

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the ensuing of multiple loyalties and/or detachedloyalties.

The central government through its variousstructures – including the Minister responsible forlocal government – maintained a very tight grip overmost local government processes related to personnelincluding that of recruiting, deploying,remunerating, disciplining and the management ofexit.

The logical mouthpiece for local government inmatters of personnel – the Local Government ServicesCommission – had ended up being powerless in manyaspects, and only acting as a department in thePrime Minister’s Office at one time and thePresident’s Office in another. This contravened whatis in the Act establishing it – as a quasi-governmental organ. Because of the closeness to thecentre, the Commission also became centralized,bureaucratic, slow and one which was starved with(correct) information from the local authorities.

The Teachers’ Services Commission, which isresponsible for the bulk of local-authoritiesemployees, was always at an arm’s length fromcouncils. The presence of a different paymaster(central government), a different employer (thelocal authority) and the Commission complicated thematter even more in that there were always threesets of rules, terms and strategies for the generalwelfare of the teachers. And, the teachers haddifferent terms from those of other council workers.

No wonder, therefore, that the reforms in local governmentcould do a lot of good in these important organs.

The Local Government Reforms’ Focus

The reforms that are underway in some councils are broadfocused. But one aspect that is taken on board is that ofpersonnel. The reforms are ultimately, intended to cover all

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councils in the country. The focus of the reforms withregard to personnel can be summarized as follows:-

First, it is to attempt at matching competent staff with theresources available, ending up with enough qualified staffwho would perform to the expectation of the tax-payer. Whatthis means is that local governments need to create a betterenvironment in which the delivery of public services will bebetter, faster and more equitably distributed.

Second, the increasing of the accountability of staffworking in local authorities vis-à-vis councils. Thisimplies the devolution of powers to recruit, deploy,develop, compensate, discipline and firing to the councilsthemselves. Like that, it is assumed that employees willhave their loyalty to their employer – the council – ratherthan the situation that obtained before where some employeeswere brought into councils by different authorities,external to the councils themselves.

Third, the ensuring that the procedures for the recruitmentand promotion of these employees are done in an open andfair competition. For some councils and at different times,the recruitment of staff other than those seconded to thecouncils by other authorities has been haphazard,favouritist and non-meritocratic. It is no wonder that manyof the lower level employees of councils would be from thedominant ethnic group in the territorial area the council islocated. This situation has been exacerbated by theinfluence of councillors, many of whom see councils asnecessarily locally owned in every aspect including theemploying people from the very area only. This view by thecouncillors is regrettable, mainly because in many councilsin Tanzania there are people (who are tax payers) from allover Tanzania. In the councils now implementing the reforms,and in which recruitment of teachers is done locally, therehas surfaced many complaints that if one is not ethnicallyfrom the area, the chances that they would be picked werevery slim. One would expect that recruitment would transcend

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ethnicity and more closer to merit, in order for thecouncils to be more efficient and effective. The reforms arelikely to address this issue, but it looks like it is goingto take long before merit can overshadow favouritism incouncils.

Fourth, they aim at improving the chances of marginal localauthorities to employ competent staff. This is to do withthe current situation in which some councils are known tofind it very hard to raise revenues to run their affairs; asa result qualified employees hesitate to go and work inthem. These include those with, firstly, tax payers whodepend on cash crops which are in crisis at the moment whenit comes to marketing. Cashew nuts are such a crop.Secondly, there are those whose tax payers do not havepermanent and reliable cash crops. The councils in suchareas find it hard to tax the residents in that theirincomes are more difficult to define. Thirdly, there arealso those which are poorly connected to Dar es Salaam – thehub of government administration and business; this makesqualified employees shy away from them on grounds that withsuch poor communication, development is hard to come by,among other excuses. The southern regions of Mtwara andLindi would fall under this category. And, it is not forlocal government workers only that the regions face thisproblem. The central government has had this problem also.Lastly, there are those councils whose tax payers justhappen not willing to pay tax to run their councils; onesuch councils is Mwanga (Kilimanjaro) which at some pointthe government threatened to merge it with Same – from whereit was originally split from. At some point the councilcould only collect 5% of the estimated revenue (GTZ-NBRZ,2000). For the case of Mwanga, there are several reasons forthis situation. Chaligha (Chapter xxx in this book) notesthat in some cases people do not want to pay taxes becausethey do not see the benefits from those taxes. Or in somecases, the services offered by the councils are so poor thatpeople get discouraged to the point of not wanting tocontinue paying tax. Further, for this District Council,

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there were more problems identified. First, there was nomachinery for follow-up that was up to the task. Enforcementwas inadequate in terms of manpower as well as weak by-lawsas compared to those of the central government. Second, theDistrict has been very dependent on the central governmentin the past because of national-level connections,especially when the former MP for the constituency was thePrime Minister. Before that post he was a long time ministerin the government. This dependency tended to affect thepsychology of the population as far as who brings what tothe district is concerned. Third, some sections of thepopulation are also very poor. Cash crops which used to givethem income such as coffee have seen their prices go down tounimaginable levels thereby disorienting them completelyfrom the lives they were used to live. The weather has alsocontributed to the decreasing levels of income to those whomdepend on rains for cultivation. Similar reasons may beapplicable to other councils.

The Policy, The Action Plan and The Bill

The Policy The policy paper (URT, 1998b: 25 - 27) on local governmentreform recognizes the need for competent personnel in orderto have delivering local authorities. It states clearly thatfor effective local government, we need effective managementin the first place. And, the issue of autonomy comes outvery clearly also when the paper says that there is need fora non-subordinated local administration, signifying the needto have the centre not to control the councils as it hasalways been until the reforms were introduced. As such it isexpected that a professional personnel will emerge once thereforms are completed, a thing that will enable theeffective councils envisaged to be realized.

The policy proposes wide-ranging functions that will covernearly all aspects of human resources management at thelocal level. These functions include planning, recruiting,rewarding, promoting, disciplining, development and firing.

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All these are expected to be done at the local level,contrary to the previous situation where the appointingauthority of a seconded (for some technical staff) and theposted to councils (like teachers and health workers) haddifferent decision makers as far as their personnel matterswere determined. The policy also proposes enough powers forthe Council Director as far as personnel matters areconcerned. The Director is some kind of the top authoritywhen it comes to the human resources functions – with theadvice of the technical staff (Heads of Department) underwhich an employee would be working.

As for the appointment of the Directors, the policy proposesthat in the interim period, may be it would be wise for anauthority outside the council to make the choice. Thisauthority is none other than the Central Government. Thisproposal to have an outside authority to recruit someofficers has some positive as well as negative implications.Starting with the positive ones, one can see that if localauthorities are left with the task of recruiting ownpersonnel, there will be a tendency to recruit people whocome from the area. This has been proved in some lover levelrecruitment processes in which teachers from outside an areacovered by the local authority complained of not beingselected purely on tribal grounds. This has been observed inthe councils that have started recruiting teachers andhealth workers. The reserving of some powers by the centralgovernment to recruit some personnel would counter thistendency. For the post of Council Director, one can expect a“local guy” to have better chances as well. The concept of“local” tends to mean everything should be local, includingpersonnel. One can see that this trend would not build thespirit that Tanzanians have had for some time in whichpeople from different parts of the country work anywhere inthe country so long as they qualify. In professions liketeaching – where we have so many primary school teacherswaiting for appointments – the likelihood that ones ethnicorigin is going to be counted a s a comparative advantagewhen qualifications balance is and is going to be a reality.

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Secondly, the issue of poorer or remotely located councilswill come up again. This time round, though, it will beabout the qualifications of the people to be recruited insuch councils. Given the discussion above about thereluctance of government (local and central) employees notwanting to go to some of these areas, one can foresee therecruitment of personnel with inferior qualificationsflocking these councils thereby complicating theirpredicament. If the central government would intervene,transfers would solve much of this problem. For instance, anear-retirement and experienced Council Director, is likelyto agree to a transfer to one of such councils because ofwhat would be at stake at that particular time. The pensionwill be around the corner, for example.

It would seem that two options could eliminate the problemof recruitment on grounds of ethnicity or other non-meritocratic bases. First, it is the idea for the CentralGovernment retaining some of the appointing powers for theDirectors and some of the technical posts as they will havebeen identified by the councils themselves. Second, there isthe idea of employment boards. The board (as, for example, wasexplained by the Head of the Mbeya Municipality personnelsection) would have a chairperson who is an outsider (to thecouncil), with the council’s personnel officer as thesecretary. It would comprise other members but with only onecouncillor. Like this one can see that there can be someobjective recruitment whereby merit and competence wouldrule over one’s origin! This is of course when we assumeissues of corruption and other favouritist tendencies willnot engulf the chairperson.

The policy also talks of the need to protect the employeesfrom undue interference from councillors. It proposes thatthis can be done through legislation, regulations, thecontracts signed between the council and the employee, aswell as appellant arrangements. Not only that but mechanismsfor appealing when it comes to disciplinary actionsincluding dismissals are also outlined. In order to localize

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this, the Regional Commissioner is suggested as theappellate body in personnel matters. However, if the mattersare not settled by the Regional Commissioner, the proposedmerged service commission – between the Local GovernmentService Commission and the Civil Service Commission to formthe Public Service Commission – will be the final appellateorgan in cases of recruitment and dismissals. All in all, itis a good idea to base the recruitment of personnel on meritas the policy suggests. We can link this to the negativeaspect of the retention by the Central Government of someappointment powers. There will obviously be some oppositionto that – that which will be predicated to the grounds ofdemocracy and autonomy of the councils and the need for theelected councillors to have more power over matters ofemployment. The retention of such powers by the centre willdefinitely be seen as a negation of the spirit in the wholeprocess of local government reform, especially the non-subordination of the councils. It would be a good thing thatin order to talk about really autonomous councils then therecruitment of its personnel should be the business of thecouncil and nobody else’s.

The Strategy as per the Action Plan

The strategy of the local government reform as far as thesepersonnel issues are concerned they are captured in three ofthe five “inter-locking elements” (URT, 1999: 9 – 10) Thefirst is the decentralization of authority and responsibilities in orderto give local authorities new powers to :-

Hire and fire their own staff and set their ownstaffing levels

Reorganize council committees and Local Governmentfunctions and structure so as to deliver moreeffectively the services mandated to them by thepeople or the government, among others.

The second is the “strengthening of accountability of Local Governmentstaff to Councillors and Councillors to their electorate through:-

The transfer of staff responsibilities to LocalGovernment Authorities;

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The introduction of a Code of Conduct forCouncillors and staff;

The increase of public awareness of the generalpublic over the responsibilities of the LocalGovernment Authorities; and,

The improved supervision of the Government overfinancial management and service performance.

The third is the building of capacity for the effective resource managementthrough training and skills-building particularly in the crucialareas of planning, budgeting, performance monitoring, andfinancial management.

Two issues need a comment here. Firstly, it is the issue ofrestructuring the committees and functions of localgovernment as proposed in the first element; and secondly,it is the issue of a code of conduct for the councillors andstaff. As for the first one, the scene that comes to mindimmediately is that of retrenchment. For local authorities,the retrenchment exercise is yet to be implemented in asystematic and measured way as it has been done in CentralGovernment ministries, independent departments andparastatals. According to the stages of the reform process,retrenchment is located at the final stages – at stage 16 ofthe total of 17 stages – when councils will have implementedmost of the other reforms (URT, 1999d). Once these otherstages are through, each council will have to take stock ofits personnel and decide on such matters as whichdepartments should remain, which should be merged, which newones are needed and so on. At this stage that is whenredundant employees will have to go. But at the moment, itseems the numbers to be involved in such an exercise willremain in the hands of each individual council depending onthe environment in which it is operating. However, the keyissue is also the delivering of quality service wherebyvalue for money is primary concern. As such one can imaginethat for a council to be efficient and effective, optimalstaffing levels will have to be sought. This will be goodfor the tax-payer as well as the central government whichwill be involved in financing some services as well as

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providing such facilities as equalization grants. A surveyand Focus Group Discussions carried out in some of thecouncils that have started the implementing the reforms showsome similar patterns which are summarized in the followingsection as follows:-.

In many councils it is likely there will be verylimited or no retrenchment at all.

The new system of recruitment and employment incouncils was seen by some as one that will improvethings in councils while others thought differently.For the data on this see Table 1 below.

The new system does not seem to many as havingintroduced new positions in councils. For the summaryof the results see Table 2 below.

In many councils there are no new posts/positions thatneed to be established. The ones they mentioned are theposts that are yet to be filled, but they appear on thecouncil establishment, such as economists, engineersand so on. For the results of the survey on this seeTable 3 below, while Table 4 shows that there werespecifications, they just mentioned positions thatexist only that they are not fully manned as per theestablishment.

Table 1: Do you think the New Employment Procedures willimprove Council Performance?

Answer % Valid % CumulativePercent

Yes 54.5 54.5 54.5No 17.7 17.7 72.2DK/RA 17.9 17.9 90.1Other 9.9 9.9 100.0

Table 2: Has the New System Introduced New Posts?

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Frequency

Percent ValidPercent

Cumulative Percent

Yes No DK/RA Total

293938106

27.436.835.8100.0

27.436.835.8100.0

27.464.2100.0

Table 3: Are there Other Posts that are Needed?

Frequency

Percent ValidPercent

Cumulative Percent

Yes No DK/RA Total

472435106

44.322.633.0100.0

44.322.633.0100.0

44.367.0100.0

Table 4: Which Other Positions are Needed?

Answer % Valid % CumulativeYes specifying 33.0 33.0 33.0Yes notspecifying

10.4 10.4 43.4

None Needed 10.4 10.4 53.8DK/RA 46.2 46.2 100.0

It was observed that there is still a big gap between theestablishment and those employees on post. Areas likeeducation show that there are still many teachers that needto be employed. The same applies to the health service. In away, Councils had some kind of controlled employment pacecompared to the central government in that they were bound

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by their capacity to pay employees other than those paid forby the central government.

The over staffing in the central government offices anddepartments in the early 1980s and 1990s of the lower andsome middle-level positions was mainly due to the readilyavailable grant and the central government would always payanyway. But for the councils, the lower level positions hadto be filled depending on the (local) capacity to paysalaries. As such, positions like Office Attendants,Watchmen, Committee Clerks, Assistant Community DevelopmentOfficers, Technician Auxiliaries (roads) and HealthAttendants have been hardly adequately filled in councils,leave alone being overstaffed as was the case in somecentral government offices before the retrenchment exercise.And, it is not only in lower level positions that thecouncils were cautiously employing. In some key positionsbut which were not covered by the central government grantsfor salaries, there have been gaps as well. Such areas aslands and surveying, town planning, finance, agriculture andcooperative, and community works, there have been alsoskeletal staffing in many councils. Below in Table 5 we givean example of positions in a council that are not filled,most of which are the blue collar, but also some specializedones.

Table 5Selected Positions that are not Filled as per the

Establishment in Mbeya Municipality(Data Collected end of 2001 and beginning of 2002)

DEPARTMENT POSITION ESTABLISHMENT

ONPOST

DEFICIT

Administration

Office Attendants 36 9 27

Finance MarketWatchmen/women

25 3 22

21

CommunityDevelopment

AssistantCommunityDevelopmentOfficer

36 11 25

Works TechnicianAuxilliary

15 7 8

Works BuildingInspectors

15 3 12

Health Nurse Midwife 30 15 15Health Nurse Assistant 30 17 13Health Pharmacist 1 - 1Education Teachers

(Classroom) 1500 122

5 275

Education Watchmen/women 52 9 43Education Ward Educ.

Coordinator 36 20 16

The point we are making here is that when retrenchmentcomes, it is likely that very few employees will have to gobecause of the self-imposed discipline that many councilshave maintained as far as recruitment of staff is concerned.

The second issue of a code of conduct is of utmostimportance because of the trends that are current in publicservices all over the world, and more so in the developingcountries where the issue of good governance has come upvery strongly. As we have discussed above, there are manyvices that have been observed in local authorities. Theseinclude vices like favouritism, nepotism, corruption, theftand misuse of public funds, to mention some. In a sensethere has been segregation on different grounds in councilswhen it comes to employment, award of contracts, whereprojects shall start or take place at all and so on. If weassume that the model of the already existing Code ofConduct for Public Service in Tanzania will be adopted orassimilated, then we can be sure a similar clauseprohibiting segregation as the one existing in the abovecode will appear. The clause says that:

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A Public Servant shall not discriminate or harassa member of the public or a fellow employee ongroundsof sex, tribe, religion, nationality, ethnicity,marital status or disability (URT 1999b: 2).

The same spirit is reflected in the Client’s Service Charter(URT, 2001a : 14) when it talks of service provision withimpartiality and so on.

Further, in local government where the key decision makers –the councillors – are elected, there have been also theelectoral politics too well known to us as far as ethnicityand regionalism have been used in order to access thesepositions. Not only that but corruption in elections hasbeen a major issue in Tanzania whether it is at theprimaries in within political parties or during the electionitself when the general public is involved. The electorallaws also have some problems when it comes to the so-calledtraditional hospitality, in which people seeking to beelected are allowed to reward their supporters but not tocross the line into treating them. The determination of whenone will have crossed from traditional hospitality intotreating has been controversial since the law was enacted.So the issue of ethics and a code of conduct is importantnot only in the conduct of local government business, butalso on how people access the positions in councils –whether elected or appointed.

The other dimension that comes up is the context in whichcurrent councils are operating – that of multipartypolitics. That now there can be councillors of differentpolitical parties in any one council, there is need to makesure that the councillors know what they are expected on interms of the needed cooperation amongst themselves, withoutregard to the political party one is belonging to. In somecouncils it has been noted that proposals – however

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constructive – from a minority party are just brushed awaywithout considering the benefits the public would get fromthem. Such issues have to be addressed in the code ofconduct. The culture of tolerance and cooperation betweenpoliticians of different political parties is just beingnurtured even at the national level. The problem ofignorance at the councillor level cannot be underestimated.The bigotry that has been experienced by some oppositioncouncillors in the hands of those from the ruling party insome councils implies that the code of conduct must addressthe issues well and impose deterrent sanctions. This means alot needs to be done at this level in order or councils tooperate well for the benefit of the public. The code willnot only help in enhancing democracy but also it will end upencouraging transparency and accountability at the locallevel by allowing freedom for dissenting views in councils.

The code of conduct or both councillors and staff shouldalso help reduce the tension that has been seen in somecouncils between the two stakeholders. The code must addressthe position of each, especially the balancing of the powerof the councillor’s vote and the power of the technicalinput that comes from the professionals hired by councils.There is suspicion on the part of the professionals thatlooms large in many councils in this area – that manycouncillors are semi-literate and they have no ability tounderstand and discuss technical issues. In a substantialnumber of councils this is true. However, since the electedrepresentatives are the ones with the vote, they are, infact, very powerful vis-à-vis the professionals. Thiscontrol of the elected representatives over professionalshas led to some professionals resistance to be moved fromthe central government to local government control. The casewith teachers is here relevant. Much as there was the issueof ability to pay salaries by councils, there was this fearof control by the uninitiated – which was seen by theprofessionals as a dangerous road to follow in one’s career.The context in which this fear and suspicion are built issquarely on ethics and the presence or absence of a code of

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conduct. If each and everyone is told clearly what theirposition is, and if each and everyone is working for theefficiency and effectiveness of the council then these coulddisappear. The code of conduct and the adherence to ethicsshould play a big role in doing exactly that.

The Bill

With the policies and developments in the public sector inboth local and central government a Bill has been preparedfor the legislation process. The objects and reasons for theBill are stated as “to make new provisions setting up a newPublic Service Commission to replace the ancient CivilService Commission. The proposed law will take into accountthe changes and reforms going on or to be made in the publicservice sector. The Bill shall be tabled for debate inparliament in the session that is expected to start in thesecond week of April 2002. The Bill – named The PublicService Act 2001 intends to introduce the merger of the twoservice commissions – the Local Government ServicesCommission and the Civil Service Commission. The Billproposes the amendment of the legislation that establishedthe Teachers’ Service Commission 1989 and the LocalGovernment Service Commission 1982, putting the servicesunder the new Commission (see Section 34 and 35 of theBill). If passed it would therefore repeal the Civil ServiceAct of 1989.

When it comes to employees in Local Authorities, it isproposed that the new Commission shall work with theTeachers’ Committees to be established in regions anddistricts. The Bill says nothing about the health workerswho comprise another big chunk of local authorities’employees. As for teachers, the Commission is to maintain aregister and a record of all teachers in the service as wellas maintaining a system of direct communication with theregional and district committees on all matters related tothe development of teachers’ service. It will also establishthe committees in the regions and districts, in consultation

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with the minister responsible for education (URT, 2001: 44).The Bill is likely to face some stiff opposition especiallyfrom such workers’ unions like the Chama Cha Walimu (CWT)Tanzania because of the centralization that will come withthe enactment of such legislation. Until now, there is noguarantee or anything to suggest that the new, unifiedcommission will be more effective than the old. The old wasrather ineffective in dealing with civil servants matters.The new one will have more employees under its jurisdiction,a thing that will make many to believe that an extra effortwill need to be made in order for it to make an impact. Thisis only one area where the bill will be challenged. Therewill be others.

Concluding Remarks

The human factor in any organization is the most criticalfactor for the success of that organization. It is the humanfactor that drives all the other factors towards theorganizational goals. Indeed, the Public Service Managementand Employment Policy (URT, 1999c: 22) notes the same whenit states and recognizes the need for this resource to beappreciated by saying that:

The transformation of the Tanzania Public Servicedepends,

above all, on the success with which it managesits most

precious resource – its personnel. To this end,human

resources in the Public Service shall be governedby the

policies outlined below….

From this perspective it is obvious that the human factor inlocal government authorities has to be handled with care andprofessionalism in order for the reforms that are under wayto succeed. However, there is not much that has been done inthis area because it is only now that the structures for theimplementation of the reforms in this area are being laid

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down. The law is yet to pass that will, for example, unifythe Commissions that used to employ different sectors suchas education and so on. The reform programme also places theretrenchment exercise at the final stages of the entireprogramme. This is, of course, if it will be needed.

However, the proposed reforms are substantial and powersrelated to employment of local government staff will devolvefrom the centre to the local arena. This is in the spiritof local empowerment and democracy. It is expected also thatthis will create the loyalty and commitment that is neededfor staff in the local authorities. It will also help in theironing out the unnecessary conflicts that occurred betweenthe elected representatives and the technical staff whountil now are mostly posted by the central government. Itwill also be useful in that councils will determine theirown needs, of course depending also on the nature ofeconomic activities that will be taking place in thatparticular council. The proposals to have a code of conductfor the key actors in the councils imply that some problemsthat have been experienced by councils in the past such asthe adversarial relationship that has been seen in somecouncils between the elected representatives and technicalstaff can be checked. The intentions of all these reforms inthe various areas are good. However, since the first batchof councils is still well below half way in implementing thereform stages, it seems we will have to wait a little longerin order to know where the reforms will actually take thepersonnel function in the local authorities.

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References

1. Bienen, H. (1970), Tanzania Party Transformation and EconomicDevelopment (Princeton, Princeton University Press).

2. Chambers, R. (1997), Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last(London, Intermediate Technology Publications).

3. DFID (1999), Tanzania: Country Strategy Paper (DFID, EastAfrica)

4. Holland, J. and J. Blackburn (eds.), (1998), Whose Voice?Participatory Research and Policy Change (London, IntermediateTechnology Publications).

5. Hyden, G. (1980), Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopmentand an Uncaptured Peasantry (Berkeley, University ofCalifornia Press).

6. Kamugisha, S.B. (1969), “Decentralization”, (Universityof Dar es Salaam, B.A. Dissertation).

7. Kulindwa, Kassim, Palamagamba Kabudi, Lorenz Petersenand Ernest Mallya (1999) “Fiscal and Legal Incentives andDisincentives for the Promotion of Sustainable NaturalResources Management in Tanzania and their Application inSelected Districts: Mwanga and Handeni” (Dar es Salaam:GTZ).

8. Maeda, J. (1987), “Decentralized Systems of Government:Issues and Challenges” in The Commonwealth Secretariat,Decentralized Administration in West Africa: Issues and TrainingImplications Lagos, Proceedings of a Workshop, 1-8 March).

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11.Ntukamazina, D. (1998), “Civil Service Reform inTanzania: A Strategic Perspective” in S. Rugumamu (ed.),Civil Service Reform in Tanzania: Proceedings of the National Symposium(Dar es Salaam, University Consultancy Bureau)

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12.Nyerere, J. K. (1967), The Arusha Declaration and TANU’s Policyof Socialism and Self-reliance (Dar es Salaam, TANU).

13.--------------- (1972), Decentralization (Dar es Salaam,Government Printer).

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15.UNDP (1997), Re-conceptualizing Governance Discussion PaperNo. 2 (New York: UNDP).

16.URT (1995), The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (Dar esSalaam: President’s Office, Planning Commission).

17.URT (1977), The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.18.URT (1998a), Proposed Framework for a National Programme on

Good Governance for the United Republic of Tanzania, (Dar esSalaam: Planning Commission, Task Force on Governance).

19.URT (1998b), Policy Paper on Local Government Reform (Dar esSalaam, Ministry of Local Government and RegionalAdministration).

20.URT (1999) Local Government Reform Programme: Action Plan andBudget July 1999 – December 2004 (Dar es Salaam, Ministry ofLocal Government and Regional Administration).

21.URT (1999b) Code of Ethics and Conduct for the Public Service –Tanzania (Dar es Salaam, The President’s Office, CivilService Department).

22.United Republic of Tanzania (1999c) Public ServiceManagement and Employment Policy (Dar es Salaam, ThePresident’s Office, Civil Service Department).

23.URT (1999d) Mwongozo wa Uboreshaji wa Muundo wa Halmashauri(Dar es Salaam, Ministry of Local Government and RegionalAdministration)

24.URT (2001) The Public Service Act (Bill) (Dar es Salaam, President’sOffice, Civil Service Department).

25.URT (2001) Client Service Charter (Dar es Salaam, President’sOffice, Civil Service Department).

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