Today's "Daily News" published in Dar Es Salam had a story with the following:
In 1998, a year before his death, Nyerere met with top level staff at the World Bank in Washington DC. The officals had asked him why he had failed in some of his political ambitions. His answer must have dismayed them. He answered: "The British Empire left us with 85 per cent illiteracy, two engineers, and 12 doctors. I left office 13 years ago. Then our per capita income was twice what it is today. We now have one third less children in our schools and public health and social services are in ruin. During these 13 years Tanzania has done everything the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have demanded."
I'm here in Tanzania right now working with as a World Bank consultant for the first time in my life. I'm helping the Tanzanian government put in place regulations that make it easier for renewable energy generators to connect to the grid and sell power to offset Tanzania's use of expensive diesel fuel for electricity generation. Seems like a win-win-win situation. Cheaper electricity. Less fossil fuels burned. Local people develop small scale projects so the money circulates within the economy rather than going to Saudi Arabia to purchase diesel.
Has the Bank changed? It seems that parts of it has, anyway.
