Nyerere’s Perspectives on Natural Resources and the Current Management of the Mining Sector in Tanzania

Abstract

This article is divided into five sections. The first section is an introduction which throws light on the overall content of the article. The  second section presents and discusses Nyerere’s perspectives on ownership and management of natural resources. Development of  such ideas is traced from 1958, 1962 and the Arusha Declaration period when the ideas were concretised into a policy and its  implementation. In short the ideas put emphasis on collective ownership and management of natural resources guided by the principle  of people-centred development. The third section discusses changes in ownership and management of the mining sector. Two types of  changes are outlined. The first is the change from colonial policies to socialist policies under the Arusha Declaration. The year 1969 was a  turning point, ending colonial policies and beginning of socialist policies. The second change was from the socialist policies of collective  ownership and state control to neo-liberal policies of liberalisation and privatisation of the economy which began during the late 1980s through SAPs and became more apparent from early 1990s.The fourth section provides implications of the neo-liberal mining policies on  Tanzania’s development. Here it is argued that though the neo-liberal policies stimulated economic growth the policies resulted in  external neo-colonial control of the economy, the looting of Tanzania’s resources including mineral resources and impoverishment of the  majority of the Tanzanian people. Tanzania’s mining policies have been greatly influenced by the World Bank and IMF conditionalities thus ownership and management of the mining enterprises is 100% by foreign multinational companies. Thus, Tanzania benefits very  little. The fifth and last section is the conclusion, which tries to suggest possible solutions such as the Tanzania Government should   establish joint ventures with the foreign mining firms.x