tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1964830726550749649.post4398796041289655652..comments2023-04-10T15:04:05.370+03:00Comments on Politics, Society & Things: Time for a Technocrat President in Tanzania?January Makambahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03283092901955096056noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1964830726550749649.post-29068167629859432482011-12-13T11:21:43.189+03:002011-12-13T11:21:43.189+03:00I agree with Payne that the most important point m...I agree with Payne that the most important point made in the article is that of the ineffectiveness of government bureaucracy. My experience as a civil society staff participating in governance, particularly policy processes indicates to me that we can continue harping on about what president we need (technocrat or otherwise) but things will remain the same if no major transformative behaviour and action takes place beyond the usual declarations and rhetoric given. As the author pointed out, you need the right incentives to enhance efficiency and at the moment I mainly see government actors reforming simply to satisfy donor conditionalities.<br /><br />But how do you begin to get the incentives right? I think one thing we have often ignored whilst trying to impose enhanced systems of governance and accountability is the need to equip ourselves with an elaborate understanding of our mental models. That is how we internally explain our external realities helping us with cognition, reasoning and decision-making. To give an example, if high public office is seen by many in government as the best way to enrich oneself, a proliferation of new policies, laws and regulations won't help much. All you will get is adoption of these, bold talk of reform, accountability and participation and elections every five years with little change and continued looting of the public purse. Too often in Africa we hear of a 'new crop of leaders' emerge with their supporters heralding a new dawn only to be disappointed 20 years and four elections later. In other words, the mental model represented by: 'I must make best use of my time in public office' and in order to achieve that 'I must talk reform, be seen to be accountable and participatory' makes perfect sense if that is one's thought process about how things works in reality.<br /><br />How do we deal with these mental models? Read about the Systems Thinking Iceberg:<br /><br />http://escalatedthinking.com/tools_systems_thinking_iceberg.html<br /><br />It is painstaking advocacy work and not for the faint-hearted wanting quick results but if one is successful, it potentially could change the way government actors behave.Semkaehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09939017808452091756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1964830726550749649.post-15745039677822602872011-11-17T08:42:56.926+03:002011-11-17T08:42:56.926+03:00The most important point made in the article is th...The most important point made in the article is the one about the ineffectiveness of large government bureaucracies which are inefficient and not able to be effectively held accountable for their actions between elections. In the interim they entrench themselves in power through cronyism, power mongering and dispensation of largess to supporters and acolytes, by raiding the public purse. This is not only an african phenomenon, but it is certainly a predominant one on the continent. One only has to study the likes of Zimbabwe and disasters to the north, together with the unravelling of honesty and morality in the South african context, where public corruption has become an endemic sport, fast reducing the status of the country to that of a banana republic. Somehow people of ability and professional ethics have to be appointed and held accountable,by the electorate, to re-establish proper and effective management of the day to day operation of public service. Politicians by and large don't have the knowledge or ability to do the job and see their terms of office as a way to enrich themselves at the expense of the citizens.Commonly held ideas of democracy are farcical, as the populace at large feels disempwered and helpless, fomenting unrest and the breakdown in law and order. The current political dispensation is a recipe for disaster as it fosters power mongers and charletans to seek the corridors of power.Frank Paynenoreply@blogger.com