Ruvuma as a case study of lopsided varsity distribution

If Tanzania’s administrative regions had been countries, residents would be doing much better than they are today.

That was the argument I made in the article I wrote in December 2021, using Ruvuma as a case in point. In the article, I highlighted that Ruvuma is bigger in area than 14 African countries, including Rwanda and Burundi. However, in terms of development, the region lags far behind many of those nations in comparison.

Read: What if sleepy Ruvuma Region were a country?

It is informative to remind ourselves of some facts.

Ruvuma has no university. Eighty-five percent of secondary students get divisions four and zero in national exams. One district has only one health centre that serves 15 wards. Only 3.7 percent of the arable land is under irrigation. There is no railway in Ruvuma, and manufacturing and tourism are practically non-existent. And some time ago, the total electricity demand in Ruvuma was equivalent to that of Golden Jubilee Tower in Dar es Salaam!

The differences, even when adjusted for population size and income, indicate that the situation could be much better in Ruvuma.

I remembered the Ruvuma article after seeing a Twitter post that listed regions without universities in Tanzania. The author listed Kagera, Tabora, Manyara, Singida, and Tanga before inviting others to add to the list. They did, adding Songwe, Kigoma, Njombe, Katavi, Rukwa, Mtwara, Lindi, Shinyanga, and, of course, Ruvuma. Unfortunately, the output was debatable since there was no shared understanding of what a university implied.

That said, the discussion underscored an issue similar to the one I touched upon in the Ruvuma article – how we do development in Tanzania. For some reason, there is a remarkably unequal allocation of resources. Think of an unwarranted amount of resources that go to Dodoma and Zanzibar now at the expense of other places. As a result, many Tanzanians stay behind.

The absence of universities in many regions makes that quite clear. Let us use Rwanda (comparable size) and Botswana (comparable population size) as comparison nations.

According to one comprehensive source, there are 26 higher education institutions in Rwanda and 15 in Botswana. The criteria chosen for their selection were proper accreditation, they offer degree programmes and deliver courses predominantly in a traditional, face-to-face, non-distance education format.

Therefore, we conclude that:

Firstly, given Tanzania’s population and geographical size, the number of universities is highly wanting. Secondly, about half the regions are without universities. Finally, in the case of Ruvuma, accounting for population size and per capita GDP (best done through regression analysis), Ruvuma should have at least four universities. It has none.

As centres of higher learning, universities increase opportunities for academic and intellectual development in a community, but universities are also forces for cultural and economic transformation. They attract skilled workers, thus spurring innovation, and catalyse investment through demand in supporting services such as housing, cleaning, catering, stationeries, transportation, communication, etc. That is what promotes growth.

Dodoma was transformed in the same manner by the launch of the University of Dodoma (UDOM).

I visited Dodoma for the first time in 2006, when UDOM had just been founded. Dodoma was dull, utterly devoid of character. A few years down the line, Dodoma changed beyond measure. UDOM brought the region to life. Nothing to spark life in a small town like an injection of thousands of half-baked, optimistic fresh blood.

But why is the government implementing these projects inequitably? Are our political masters incapable of figuring out a development formula that works for all, or have they conspired to prefer some and deny others opportunities?

Think of Dodoma. Had Tanzanians been asked whether trillions of shillings should be spent on the new capital or should be invested in productive sectors in their communities, what would they have chosen?

Is Dodoma a higher priority relative to universities, improved seeds, irrigation projects, fertiliser, and agricultural value chain developments? Alas, medical devices and irrigation projects were defunded to deliver Dodoma!

This reveals that government had usurped the people’s right to choose their destinies. That is why political appointees ignore people’s wishes with impunity. Ultimately, revenues are collected and allocated with no regard to what people truly desire.

Thankfully, Tanzanians are extraordinarily resilient, but whenever they fashion something that works, one can always depend on the government to spoil it. Set up a cashew nuts development fund, and the government will misappropriate it. Embrace mobile money for financial inclusion, and dirty hands will be thrust into the pie. It is such decisions that have made Tanzania what it is today.

Unfortunately, we appear to have missed a good lesson from our history.

In the 1980s, when the economy was on its knees, the government did not fix it but the people. Central planning ruined the economy, but President Mwinyi came with rukhsa, and the people revived it. If the government stays out of people’s business, the people will do the rest.

Tanzanians do not need ministers to build them mosques and churches. They also do not need ministers to build them universities. They do not need them for schools, hospitals, neighbourhoods, hotels, or irrigation channels too.

If only they catch a break.