Código de Trabajo

This set of laws establishes the general bases underpinning the national plan- ning system and national planning, encompassing the scope of application, definition, goals, principles, instruments, bodies involved, rules, and proce- dures necessary for the configuration and efficacy of these mechanisms of public administration. All state authority and institutions in the United Re- public of Tanzania are exercised and controlled by the government. These authorities and institutions include the ministries, departments, and agen- cies (MDAs), and the local government authorities (LGAs). The private sec- tor working in the country also needs to be controlled.

3.3.1 National planning system guiding instruments

The national planning system incorporates planning instruments to promote the country’s socio-economic and local development, with a time horizon in long-term plans, medium-term plans, and annual or short-term plans (Ta- ble 3.1). These time horizons need to be defined by the national develop-

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ment plan and system. The current national planning system’s instruments in terms of long-term, medium-term, and short-term plans are shown in Table 3.1.

The institutions that deal with the planning system of a country need to be careful when setting up goals, objectives, and strategies in regard to time horizons (URT 2010). According to Westerlund and Sjöstrand (1981), crit- ical analysis of data collected from different sectors supports focused plans that are logically linked to one another; without such analysis and linkage, a country can end up with a set of ‘iceberg-type’ plans that yield only invisible results.

Table 3.1

National planning system insruments

Long-term or long-range plans

Medium-term plans Short-term or operational plans

The Tanzania Vision 2025 Sectoral policies

Tanzania Five-Year Devel- opment Plan 2011/2012– 2015/2016

Annual plan/National annual budget (action plan, cash flow plan, procurement plan)

The Long-Term Perspective Plan 2011/2012– 2025/2016

Strategic plan (Nation- al Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction 2010/2011–2014/2015 (MKUKUTA II))

The ruling party manifesto Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)

Annual planning guideline from Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA)

A long-range plan means the development of a plan aimed at achieving a pol- icy or set of policies over a period of several years, with the assumption that there is projection or extrapolation of issues. Usually, the time horizon takes more than ten years. A medium-term plan is drawn from the long-range plan and translates how the long-range is going to be implemented. Medium-term plans adopt a three-to-five years’ time horizon. Short-term plans deal with the operations or actions that should lead to accomplishment of short-term

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goals, objectives, and strategies with targets within one year’s time. Short- term plans should be drawn from a medium-term plan.

3.3.2 Planning system and the process flow of planning

The national planning system in Tanzania encompasses the following types of bodies: political, technical, advisory, and participative bodies. The system’s political bodies are the President of the United Republic (as holder of the executive powers) and the Parliament. The system’s technical bodies are the MDAs, including the Planning Commission and the national Bank of Tan- zania. The system’s advisory body is the Cabinet. The system’s participative bodies are the private sector and civil societies.

The Planning Commission in Tanzania is a think tank for the country’s mac- ro socio-economic development. The commission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA), prepares a panel which comprises representatives from its staff and representatives from the other sectoral ministries. The foremost function of the panel is to prepare plan- ning and budgeting guidelines. The MoFEA is responsible for the setting of financial ceilings for development and recurrent expenditure for ministries, regions, and local governments, sending them together with the planning guidelines to the ministries, regions, and local governments, and setting and sending the timetable for plans and budget discussion to ministries, regions, and districts. After receiving the ceilings and guidelines, the MDAs and local government authorities commence the planning process at their own level. The Cabinet, through the Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, is re- sponsible for presenting budgets to the Parliament for approval. The vari- ous Cabinet ministers also present their respective sectoral budgets for their MDAs for debate and approval by the legislature. The Cabinet has the re- sponsibility of defending the budgets before the Parliament. The Planning Commission under the President’s Office, as the agency for strategic thinking on the national economy, in collaboration with other advisory bodies has the role of providing advice to the government on medium- and long-term strategies for socio-economic development focusing on the larger picture of the state. The commission is also responsible for monitoring and analysing development trends and providing advice on macro and sectoral policies, as well as on broad socio-economic development issues. Consequently, the commission focuses on strategic policy analysis of issues and problems of public importance with a view to proposing appropriate solutions.

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The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. The MoFEA plays a central role in the planning system in the country and warrants separate mention. The MoFEA makes projections, sets ceilings for annual budget allocations, negotiates priorities with all departments, collects revenues through the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), and disburses funds. The ministry also plays an important controlling function through the Accountant General, who is responsible for ensuring that all financial transactions and reporting are conducted according to the proper regulations. The MoFEA also has the function of developing regulatory policy for the country’s financial sector in cooperation with the Bank of Tanzania.

The MoFEA works in collaboration with other ministers. The entry point for regional and district plans and budget proposals into the national main- stream is the Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG). Every region and council presents its plan and budget proposal to the PMO-RALG before a panel of representatives of the MoFEA and representatives from other sectoral ministries. The President’s Office – Public Service Management (PO-PSM) is concerned with the sala- ries for all government workers. All the salary budgets from different gov- ernment institutions are checked at this level, before being forwarded to the MoFEA for final securitization.

Other sectoral ministries submit their plans and budget proposals to the Mo- FEA and discuss them with the MoFEA. At this level, the function of the MoFEA is to ensure that after the process of planning, every ministry, region, and council has followed the given guidelines and ceilings, to assess how re- gions and districts implement their sectoral policies, and to assess how spe- cific sectoral problems in a particular region have been addressed. Thereaf-ff ter, the ministerial plans and budgets are aggregated with regional plans and budgets to form the national plan and budget.

The central government line ministries set sector-specific policy guidelines and are consulted on allocations of resources to local governments for their respective sectors. At the regional level, the Regional Secretariat (RS), head- ed by a Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), acts as a linking body be- tween the central government and LGAs in the districts and councils. The RS also facilitates dissemination of relevant information and guidelines on plan- ning, budgeting, and implementation. At the LGA level, the district executive directors or municipal directors are responsible for overseeing budget for- mulation and implementation. The local heads of sector departments—that is, the Council Management Team (CMT)—provide technical inputs and are

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responsible for the implementation of their respective sections of the budget, ensuring that they are passed by the legislature.

Local government planning processes will be discussed in Chapters 9 and 11 of this Handbook. For the present, the point to note is that while planning under local government (regions, districts) starts from the village level, cen- tral government plans and budgets start from the sectoral ministries them- selves and their line agencies.

The Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government. The PMO-RALG is the entry point for regions and district plans and budget proposals into the national mainstream. Every region and council presents its plan and budget proposal to the PMO-RALG before a panel of represent- atives from the MoFEA and representatives from sectoral ministries. Other sectoral ministries submit and discuss their plans and budget proposals with the MoFEA. At this level, the function of the panel at the MoFEA is to ensure that after the process of planning, every ministry, region, and council has fol- lowed the given guidelines and ceilings, to assess how regions and districts implement their sectoral policies, and to assess how specific sectoral prob- lems in a particular region have been addressed. Thereafter, the ministerial plans and budget are aggregated with regional plans and budgets to form the national plan and budget. The Parliament is an approval body.

The Budget Guidelines Committee is responsible for developing the Planning and Budget Guidelines. This committee is composed of technical represent- atives from the MoPF, the PO-PSM, and the PO-RALG.

In addition to contributing the majority of domestic tax revenue, the pri- vate sector plays a consultative role in the budget process. Most notably, the private sector participates actively in an annual consultation on the revenue framework, which occurs before the budget is formulated each year. Their concerns are often taken into consideration when designing or revising tax policies. The government and private sector together also have the function of providing a forum for public/private sector dialogue, with a view to reach- ing consensus and mutual understanding on strategic issues related to the efficient management of development resources and to the promotion of the goals of economic growth with social equity and even development.

The Parliament. National plans and budgets are submitted to the Parliament for approval, subject to discussion of budget components and acceptance by members. From that stage, planning will be ready for implementation.

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The main responsibilities of Parliament in relation to the planning system are as follows: scrutinizing the budget through various standing committees; adopting or rejecting the budget in Parliament; monitoring the implementa- tion of the budget and the performance of the MDAs; and overseeing the use of public funds.1 _{Parliament does not have the power to amend the plans and}

budget in Tanzania or to reallocate funds. Although Parliament can refuse to adopt the plan and budget presented by the Executive, the consequences of this step are profound: the President has the constitutional power to dissolve Parliament in response.

In order to finance the plans, the state has to raise funds. In Tanzania, the TRA acts as a central body for the assessment and collection of specified revenue. It administers and enforces the laws related to such revenue and provides for related matters of revenue in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. The TRA became operational in July 1996, replacing the former independent Treasury Departments of Income Tax, Customs, Sales, Inland Revenue and the Institute of Tax Administration.

So far, revenue from TRA is insufficient to finance the government’s budget aspirations. It is for this reason that development partners have become key players in the preparation of development plans. Development partners have made sizeable contributions of foreign aid to Tanzania’s budget. They are key in the consultations that inform budget formulation, disburse funds, and monitor public spending and expenditure systems.

Wherever there are public funds, auditing is necessary to ensure proper use of these funds. In Tanzania, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) is the Supreme Audit Institution in Tanzania. The CAG is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the expenditure of public finances has been prop- erly authorized and applied for the intended purposes. It should also ensure that in the economic development processes, efficiency and effectiveness have been achieved in the use of public resources. The CAG has extensive powers to summon officials and to obtain information. The wilful obstruc- tion of the work of the CAG, or failure by any public official to provide the CAG with access to any item of information, constitutes a criminal offence.

1 Authority of Parliament 63.-(1) Act No.15 of 1984 Art.12 Act No.4 of 1992 Art.17 Act No.20 of 1992 Art.11

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References

Altintas, M. (1976). ‘A systems approach to policy analysis and development planning’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change 72: 886–911.

Audit Scotland (2011).Modernizing the planning system. Edinburgh: Audit Scotland. http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2011/nr_110915_modernising_ planning.pdf

Gilbert, A. (ed.) (1976). Development Planning and Spatial Structure. London: John Wiley and Sons.

United Republic of Tanzania (URT) (1977). The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977.

United Republic of Tanzania (URT) (2010). Tanzania Statistical Master Plan 2009/10– 2013/14. National Bureau of Statistics.

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4

Planner’s Identity: Roles, Tasks,