Govt keen to boost public entities productivity

KIBAHA, COAST REGION: THE government has reiterated its commitment to increasing the contribution of public enterprises to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which currently remains low.

This commitment is part of the ongoing Public Sector Reform Programme.

Director of Public Investment from the Office of Treasury Registrar (OTR) Ms Lightnes Mauki, made this statement over the weekend, at the conclusion of a five-day training on Sustainable Leadership and Management of Public Sector Enterprises (SLM-PESA) for Public Sector Executives at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School in Kibaha Town. She represented Treasury Registrar (TR) Mr. Nehemiah Mchechu.

Ms Mauki reported that government investment in the public sector has risen to 86tri/- as of June this year, up from 64tri/- three years ago. However, she acknowledged that, despite this substantial investment, the contribution of the sector— comprising 309 entities – to the nation’s income remains low.

“Our government recognizes the need for reforms to public sector. These reforms aim to increase the sector’s contribution to the national income from the current three per cent to 10 per cent. It is up to you, as leaders in this sector, to put the government’s vision into action and achieve this target,” she stated.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School Principal Professor Marcelina Chijoriga noted that 16 participants attended the training, covering various subjects including Economics, Statistics, Protocol and Ethics, Nationalism and Patriotism, Administration, Health and Planning.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Mr. Simon Marwa from the Agricultural Seed Agency (ASA) expressed gratitude to the government for facilitating the training and pledged to apply the knowledge gained to achieve positive results.

Recently, the TR Mchechu said the office’s current strategy is to push for robust public sector growth that will enable thriving entities to extend their wings beyond Tanzania.

Currently, there are a total of 309 public entities and corporations under OTR. Out of them, 253 companies are fully owned by the government and in the remaining 56, the State only owns shares.

The TR emphasised the need for a vibrant sectoral strategy for public entities to expand their businesses outside the country, especially in the banking sector.

He said that the TR office will continue with reforms by eliminating nonperforming institutions and merging those with duplicate roles.

“This exercise of streamlining public entities will be ongoing, the target being having in place few vibrant and strategic institutions. Recently, we merged and delisted at least 22 entities, but few new others will be emerging depending on the needs,” he said.

He said the entities are crucial especially in contributing to the economic growth, government coffers through non-tax revenues, creating employment – direct and indirect as well as provision of services. Public entities contribute over 90 per cent of the non-tax revenues to the government.

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“The TR office deals with 90 per cent of non-tax revenue. President Samia Suluhu Hassan issued a target for us to ensure non-tax revenue reaches 10 per cent of the total budget within three to four years.

Last financial year, nontax revenue contribution to the budget stood at three per cent and this financial year we are targeting to reach 4.5 per cent,” he said.