The role of aid in the development of Tanzania

Tanzania is a developing country which became independent from British colonialism on 9th December, 1961. Ever since it became independent, Tanzania has regarded as urgent the task of bringing about the economic development of her people, so as to eradicate the three enemies i.e. poverty, ignorance and diseases; which the country inherited from years of ruthless exploitation under colanialism. The job of aecamplishing this task of development, is to be done through the efforts of the Tanzanians themselves, by mobilisation of their domestic human and material resources. This question was made clear at independence, and it was further reinforced by the Arusha Declaration of 1967, which committed this country to the construction of a socialist and self-reliant society. According to the Arusha Declaration, socialism means (i ) the public ownership of the ma jor means of production, (ii. ) absence of exploitation and (iii ) the existence of isrue democracy. Self-reliance means bringing about development through making use of our human and material resources before we look elsewhere for help. The Arusha Declaration explicitly says that inorder to bring about our development we must depend on our people, land, good policies and good leadership. However, self-reliance does not mean self-sufficiency or autarky.Poor countries, like Tanzania, greatly lack in capital as well as trained manpower resources.Yet inorder to bring about the rapid development of our country both these resources are necessary. This being the situation, the question of using foreign aid as a supplement to local resources becomes necessary, if the country is to develop rapidly. In connection with the question of foreign aid, the dissertation argues that the country must select the right types of aid and must utilise the aid carefully in development activities rather than dissipating it in consumption expenditure. The study therefore looks at the kinds of aid which Tanzania has received and how the aid has contributed to the development of the country all along since independence. The study argues that although foreign aid can help a developing cotmtry to achieve rapid development, in the last analysis development depends on the attitude of the people .themselves in as far as the gbtestion of development is concerned. The people must want to develop and they must at least be conscious of the fact that development is possible through the mastery and control of wants in a physical environment. It means acquiring scientific knowledge and to be able to use it inorder to increase the capacity of producing goods and services.