Procrastinating as a Nation

Today on Twitter, someone asked me why Tanzanian government loves emergency power solutions. Now the answer could be that because of that 10% issue. But I also responded that it could be related more tightly to our national consciousness of procrastination.

The definition or explanation on Wikipedia points out that, “procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time.” In other words it is when you have that urgent deadline to meet and you find yourself playing Solitaire on the computer all day long.  Later you work the night through to meet the 8am deadline and feel guilty as you know you had 2 weeks to write the proposal but somehow never got to do it.

The Wikipedia link explains further that, “Some psychologists cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. Other psychologists indicate that anxiety is just as likely to get people to start working early as late and the focus should be impulsiveness. That is, anxiety will cause people to delay only if they are impulsive.”

So do we, Tanzania as a nation, procrastinate? Definitely, IMHO! It is something that affects us individually and collectively. We see that in our leaders, when a leader will opt to travel to other countries while tough decisions await solutions and people wait for leadership. We can see the media procrastinate on individual politician’s life or on how much posho MPs get, while not addressing serious issues that require their analysis. We can see the civil servants procrastinate in offices chatting and drinking ‘chai’ while urgent matters pile up. So why do we procrastinate? Are we anxious and stressed to the extent that we are unable to cope? I have no answer but I think it is worth exploring the matter!

If you take this analogy I am sure that you will see how people collectively in your office or in your surrounding procrastinate. I think that is the reason why even in private sector, Tanzanian employees are infamous for not delivering on time and quality or for lacking initiative compared with our ‘aggressive’ neighbors. Yeah, I am aware that there are other factors like education, nutrition etc, but let us factor in this behavior and suddenly it makes more sense.

Let me not say more as I need to get back to meet that deadline which is long overdue.. Cheers! 

Power crisis and National emergency

The Power crisis in Tanzania has been the subject of much discussion in the public sphere particularly online and there is no reason to rehash the same or similar arguments. However what has caught my attention in the Opposition budget read yesterday 15^th June 2011 by Shadow Minister Zitto Kabwe (MP) was the mention of making power shortage a national emergency. This is truly a relief to hear that finally politicians are not falling victim to populism and declaring that “only 10% of Tanzanians have electricity or connected to the National Grid, so this is not a national crisis”

My view is that it is a national emergency because Tanzania as a young country should be looking toward industrialization and catching up with the 21^st century and we should not proudly declare that because we are behind, we don’t intend to catch up at all, IMHO!

First step is to ensure that those already connected to the National Grid and started businesses, factories and enterprises that are depended on electricity, get reliable power. The current ‘small rationing’ is actually a full fledged rationing which makes modern life unbearable and businesses unsustainable. Real economic growth can only happen if Tanzania starts exporting manufactured goods, provide world class services etc.

After ensuring a sustainable supply of power the next step will be to connect the rest of the country to the National Grid. The supply of electricity changes lives in unimaginable way and spurs development – that is not something that anyone of us would argue against.

I believe that even though this was an alternative budget and not the government’s budget but there is no harm in the government lending some of the ideas and implementing them. We need to look at this as an emergency that needs long term solutions and strategy as well as short term solutions.