Po 223 Public Policy Module Six

THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
MODULE SIX
PUBLIC POLICY MAKING AND ANALYSIS: A CASE STUDY OF
TANZANIA
Introduction:
In Tanzania, the government and citizenry are daily engaged in

different policy processes and activities. The policy process in
Tanzania, like in other African countries, have been influenced by
common policy paradigms, such as the New Public Management
(NPM), New Public Governance, and the Digital Era Governance, etc
i. Sources of Policies Agenda in Tanzanian context
In relation to how to how issues make its way into the agenda,
there are several sources which make government to make a new
policies or reviewing existing policies. These include:
a) Political parties
b) Changing circumstances
c) Interest groups
d) Public opinion
e) External influence
f) The government
ii. Main levels of policy making in Tanzania
a). Policy Making at The National Level
The National level of policy-making deals with macro or cross-

cutting policies, sectoral policies as well as sub-sectoral
policies. Macro or cross-cutting policies are those policies whose
implementation involves several ministries or cuts across several
sectors. E.g;- The Tanzania National Vision 2025, The National
Five-Year Development Plans (NFDP s), the ruling party’s
manifesto and several other economic policies provide the overall
framework for the formulation and implementation of other
(sectoral) policies. The responsibility of formulating these
policies lies with the offices of the President, the Vice
President, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and
other sectoral ministries.
The design and formulation of sectoral policies is the

responsibility of respective sectoral Ministries. These Ministries
formulate sectoral policies, monitor their implementation and
impacts. The formulation of sectoral policies is supposed to be
participatory. Ministries may form Task Forces or
Committees under supervision of the Policy and Planning
Divisions to review the performance of their sectors and
prepare frameworks and policy statements.
b). Policy Making at the Local Government Level
Policy-Making Process at the Local Government Level is

undertaken according to the Local Government Act of 1982
and the Regional Authorities Act of 1997, the Local Government
Authorities at District, Municipal and Village levels can
formulate their own policies that may be passed as legally
binding by-laws to address a particular issue or problem and to
facilitate and regulate certain activities.
iii. Schematic Representation of the Policy making process in

Tanzania
 The government through its Ministries identifies

problems and outlines policy issues from the party
manifesto, international agencies, donors, interest
groups, etc.
 At Ministerial level, policies in the form of Draft Cabinet

Papers are in depth discussed by the Cabinet Secretariat
with the support of their Permanent Secretaries before
being forwarded to the Inter-Ministerial Technical
Committee
 From the Cabinet secretariat, the policy proposal is

presented before the Inter-Ministerial Technical
committee (IMTC) which comprises Permanent
Secretaries from all government ministries and is chaired
by the Chief Secretary and the representative of
ministries affected by proposed new policy consider the
policy paper in the light of the existing policy and
planned policy framework. This is to ensure that the
proposed policy is in harmony (coherent) with other policies
that are currently operational in other sectors.
The Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee reviews first

draft of cabinet memorandum and develop
recommendation on policy direction.
 After the recommendations by the IMTC, the policy

paper is submitted to the cabinet. The submission can be
accompanied by appropriate research documents to back
up the proposed policy for government, cabinet, and
Parliament members to read alongside the policy paper. The
cabinet then debates the policy proposals and gives its
recommendations. If the policy is accepted, a policy paper
is issued.
 Upon the cabinet approval, the policy paper will then

submitted to the Parliament. The Parliament debates
the bill submitted by the Government and may either
approve or reject it. However, before the bill is presented
to the full Parliament, it is first considered by the
relevant Parliamentary Committee which reviews it in
detail and advises the Parliament on any shortcomings
that may need to be addressed before it is passed. If the
parliament sees that the proposed policy contravenes
existing laws, a new law or amendment of the existing
ones might be sought.
 The ministries and their subordinate agencies are then

responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the
policies.
iv. Characteristics of public policy making and Analysis scene

in Tanzania
 Policy-making in Tanzania has been shaped by the
tripartite system (Social class forces, political parties and
government institutions).
 Participation is supposed to be broad-based to include

stakeholders at all levels. However, in practice, not all
stakeholders can fully participate in the policy-making
process. Even when this is done, consultations are mostly
in terms of reacting to what has already been proposed
by the government, which is then presented as a draft
policy document to a ‘stakeholders’ workshop’ that is
organized to react to the draft.
 Often times, the draft is normally in a technical language

that may not be easily accessible to the general public,
or the stakeholders may not have been given enough
time to digest and consult those that they represented
before giving their views.
 There is no way of ensuring that stakeholders’ views are

incorporated into the final document, or if they are
incorporated, there is no guarantee that actions taken
will match the policy.
 The problem so far has been the fragmented nature of these

groups, resulting in an inadequate representation of the
common people’s views and lack of consensus among
different stakeholders.
 Moreover, government officials often make random

choices as to whom to consult among the communities
when formulating policies.
 There is always lack of implementation strategy
 There is inadequacy consideration as to what will be the

possible consequences of the policy implementation.
 They often make use of the Top-Down approaches rather

than Bottom-Up approaches.
 That there is no perfect communication and coordination

v. Analysis of Public Policy in Tanzania (Refer the Group
Assignments)
Questions for Discussions
1. Discuss the application of policy making process being

conducted in Tanzania to date. Analyze its strengths in its
application and challenges and finally make recommendations
on the way forward.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA

In Tanzania, the government and citizenry are daily engaged in

i. Sources of Policies Agenda in Tanzanian context

ii. Main levels of policy making in Tanzania

a). Policy Making at The National Level

The National level of policy-making deals with macro or cross-

The design and formulation of sectoral policies is the

b). Policy Making at the Local Government Level

Policy-Making Process at the Local Government Level is

iii. Schematic Representation of the Policy making process in

 The government through its Ministries identifies

 At Ministerial level, policies in the form of Draft Cabinet

 From the Cabinet secretariat, the policy proposal is

The Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee reviews first

 After the recommendations by the IMTC, the policy

 Upon the cabinet approval, the policy paper will then

 The ministries and their subordinate agencies are then

iv. Characteristics of public policy making and Analysis scene

 Participation is supposed to be broad-based to include

 Often times, the draft is normally in a technical language

 There is no way of ensuring that stakeholders’ views are

 The problem so far has been the fragmented nature of these

 Moreover, government officials often make random

 There is always lack of implementation strategy

 There is inadequacy consideration as to what will be the

 They often make use of the Top-Down approaches rather

 That there is no perfect communication and coordination

Questions for Discussions

1. Discuss the application of policy making process being

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