ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT THE TANZANIAN PARLIAMENT THURSDAY, 22ND JUNE
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT THE TANZANIAN PARLIAMENT THURSDAY, 22ND JUNE, 2006
Prime Minister Lowassa, Speaker of the House the Honourable Samuel Sitta, Ministers, Members of Parliament, distinguished guests -
Nina furaha kuwa hapa Dodoma leo na kuwa na nafasi ya kuhutubia Bunge.
I am delighted to be here today in Dodoma and to have the opportunity to make an address to the Bunge.
Here in this magnificent new chamber, this place where Tanzania’s political leaders gather, where the hopes and dreams of a nation gather too and where its future is being carefully crafted, I feel deeply privileged to be the first visiting foreign Head of State to speak to you in your new Parliament building. I am grateful to you for your kind invitation.
I came to this great continent almost two weeks ago, visiting Lesotho and Mozambique before arriving here in Tanzania a few days ago. I came as a student to learn more about this fascinating continent and as the first citizen of a nation which has long, long been a firm friend to Tanzania’s people. So although I come as a stranger I know from the warmth of the welcome that the people of Tanzania and Ireland hold each other in the highest regard and have such a long-standing association that it is easy to feel instantly at ease here. I have also been able to see even in these few short days just how exquisitely beautiful Tanzania is - enough to know that already this visit is one of the outstanding highlights of my time as President of Ireland.
For nine years now it has been my great good fortune to be my country’s first ambassador, travelling around the world strengthening, refreshing and renewing Ireland’s international links and reaffirming our centuries old solidarity with those in the developing world for whom life is such a hard struggle.
In some respects, the developed part of planet earth has a rather narrow view of the huge continent that is Africa. Too often it is referred to as if it were one country, its 54 nations and 2,000 languages packed into a one size fits all image. What is more perceptions are often hardened and virtually exclusively defined by Africa’s failures rather than its successes, its problems rather than its progress towards their resolution.
Just as Europe is not comprehensively defined by Srebrenica and Beslan, or Ireland by the Northern Ireland conflict, neither should Africa be defined exclusively by the tragedies of Rwanda, the DRC and Darfur. Overpoweringly grim though they are and righteously demanding of pan-African and international attention, they do not of themselves constitute a full telling of Africa’s contemporary story. There are other realities which need African champions to articulate them to a wider world for when the West interests itself in Africa more often than not the voices of Africa’s leaders are absent.
I hope you the representatives of a leading African country will seek to change and challenge the one dimensional image of this infinitely varied continent as you change the future of your own country by bringing confidence through tangible progress. A new generation who have the chance to go to school, a new generation of doctors and nurses like those I met in Arusha, a new generation of farmers, entrepreneurs and industrialists, a new generation of political leaders, these are the men and women who are attempting to build an egalitarian and ethically based peaceful civic society that is about poverty and disease elimination, job creation, underpinned by fair and just government.
This new story will not be easy to write but already Tanzania is leading by example with a clear and measurable roadmap for the development of your country and people. Building on previous national development plans, ‘MKUKUTA’ is one of the most progressive and inclusive in all of Africa.
It has a clear objective of investing in human potential – through an increased focus on education and literacy, the provision of better health services, and on the fight against HIV/AIDS. It concentrates on job creation, livelihood generation and consistent economic policy and planning.
And crucially, ‘MKUKUTA’ makes a clear political commitment to democracy, inclusive government and improved accountability.
Those efforts are beginning to demonstrate real and lasting positive results.
In terms of health, recent improvements in malaria prevention and treatment, as well as immunisations and nutrition are leading to significant reductions in infant and child mortality.
Impressive progress has also been made in primary education with enrolments growing to 7.5 million in 2005, equivalent to 95% of children aged 7 to 13. As a result, Tanzania is likely to be one of only a few African countries to attain the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education. If attained this will be a major achievement, which will transform the lives of millions as we in Ireland can testify for in Ireland the widening of access to good education is correctly perceived as being pivotal to our present economic prosperity and well-being. In 1967, a very poor Ireland, one of the then poorest countries in Europe introduced free secondary education. Forty years later, the educated generations our system has produced have helped to transform us into one of Europe’s wealthiest nations and most dynamic economies.
No doubt the Government and people of Tanzania are impatient for the social and economic benefits of successful development planning and investment to manifest themselves but if the Irish experience is to be any guide, we know these take time to mature and blossom and they require the ongoing patient and determined implementation of the right policies.
Our own development experience now guides how we work with developing countries, such as yours.
This year Ireland will spend over €700 million working with some of the poorest countries in the world to reduce poverty. Over 80% of this assistance is focused on Africa and not one cent of our assistance is tied to the use of Irish goods and services.
By any international measure our aid programme represents a huge commitment by the Irish Government on behalf of the Irish people. It is a real and practical iteration of the values that Irish people cherish and the deep sense of responsibility they feel to bring hope through help to the world’s less fortunate citizens.
Ireland has been supporting Tanzania since 1979 and in recent years the scale of our assistance to your country has increased. Over the period from 2000 to 2006 Ireland has provided over €140 million in development assistance to Tanzania – supporting your efforts to reduce your people’s vulnerability and increase opportunity.
Our assistance has evolved over the last 25 years, moving from discrete Irish projects and area programmes to supporting the Government and people of Tanzania’s nationally owned programmes. The people of Tanzania are firmly in the driving seat for national ownership of the development agenda and programmes is the most effective way to move towards enduring growth.
This new way of working is reflective of the trust that we place in you and your Government. It is reminiscent of the trust that the European Union placed on the Irish Government when we first joined in 1973 and became a large recipient of European aid and structural funds. We put them to good use to create a sustainable dynamic at the heart of our economic life. Today Tanzania faces the challenge of how best to effectively and qualitatively manage the very large flows of aid into your country.
Ireland strongly supports the Government of Tanzania’s intention to sign an agreement on enhancing the way it works with all donor countries, including Ireland. This agreement, the Joint Assistance Strategy, is a national, medium-term framework for managing the relationship between the Government of Tanzania and donors and improving the way aid can help national development and reduce poverty. So whilst MKUKUTA describes what actions will be taken to address Tanzania’s development challenges, the new Joint Assistance Strategy describes how within that framework Government and donors will work together to deliver the results we all want to see happen. It is utterly vital that all future aid takes on that sharper edged focus which will make it more systemically effective and I wish all the parties to the agreement every success over the coming years.
The partnership between our two countries of course goes far beyond the relationship between our two Governments.
Long before the establishment by the Irish Government of a programme of official assistance, Irish missionaries and lay volunteers dedicated their lives and talents to Tanzania. They built schools and hospitals, invested in community and they built lasting bridges of friendship, solidarity and mutual curiosity between our two worlds.
In more recent years new connections have been made. Since 1997 the University where I taught law for a number of years, Trinity College in Dublin and the University of Dar es Salaam have jointly organised a programme on Constitutionalism for the Judiciary of Tanzania. Through this programme judges from Tanzania and Ireland have had the chance to visit each other’s countries and learn a great deal from each other.
Tanzania ‘s location at the heart of this continent confers on it a key role in the Great Lakes Region, a region which has struggled to emerge from a tragic period of conflict. You have provided a safe haven for thousands who fled conflict and murderous genocide on your borders and you host an international court that is seeking to end impunity for some of those crimes in Arusha. Your role in the anti-apartheid struggle is widely recognised. I urge you to continue to take a lead in the promotion of peace and stability in the region and to increase your efforts at strengthening the role of regional institutions. We in Ireland know the value of regional unity, it has served us well and I am sure a strong African Union will do likewise for you. Initiatives such as the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism have also shown how African countries, cooperating within the regional framework of the African Union, can work together to improve governance on the continent.
Two days ago I visited the site of the former slave market in Zanzibar. I was struck by the bronze memorial there that depicts a young family in chains. It reminded me of a similar bronze memorial that sits on the banks of the river Liffey in Dublin, which depicts the plight of an Irish family ragged and bare being driven from their country by famine.
Both our countries share a history of poverty and oppression. Both our countries have come a great distance since those dark days though it is self-evident that Ireland is at last enjoying the prosperity and peace, the influential role in European and global affairs, that so many generations went to their graves despairing of. We wish the same for you and for the people of Tanzania and while no-one can go the journey for you we can and will go the journey with you. As you work to reveal Tanzania’s truest potential be assured you have a true friend and partner in Ireland.
Mr. Speaker, my visit to Tanzania, to your magnificent land has been all too brief but enough to send me back to Ireland deeply impressed and reassured by what I have seen and experienced. In this chamber are the primary architects of tomorrow’s Tanzania the custodians of its children’s future. In the name of Ireland I wish you well.
Asanteni sana. Thank you.