Sunday 2 December 2012

[wanabidii] Why can’t Tanzania be like Bangladesh?


Why can't Tanzania be like Bangladesh?

Bangladeshis at work in a garment factory. (Pix:http://gotw2012.blogspot.com/2012/07/garments-and-bangladesh.html).


Mobhare Matinyi, Washington DC.  The Citizen, Tanzania.  Friday, 30 November 2012.This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Honestly, very few people, if any, would feel comfortable at such a wish mentioned in a headline, that any country ought to resemble Bangladesh, indisputably one of the most unlucky countries on earth, engulfed in abject poverty, never-ending floods, uncontrollable population explosion and enormous accidents of various kinds from overpass collapses to fire and road carnages. Certainly, Bangladesh is not an easy place to enjoy life.

Just last Saturday night, November 24, Bangladesh witnessed the worst fire accident in the country's history that took the lives of 112 people, mostly women, after the ground floor of a multi-storey garment factory facility they were working in caught fire. About 200 others were injured and now the speculations led by the Prime Minister herself, Sheikh Hasina, are unbelievable, that perhaps it was the work of an arsonist.

Undoubtedly, Bangladesh is a deadly place as according to the country's news agency, BSS, on average 6,000 people die every year from fire accidents alone, and several other thousands perish in floods, diseases, and other causes. The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) estimates that 46 children die from drowning every day in Bangladesh, making it one of the worst places in the world to raise children.

The population of Bangladesh is 153 million people, more than three times the population of Tanzania. However, these people live on a 147,570 square kilometres piece of land, that is, 15.6 per cent of Tanzania's area. Considering that Tanzania has approximately 45 million people, on average 21 Bangladeshis occupy the same area that only one Tanzanian occupies.

In addition to that overcrowding, 70 per cent of the country's territory is less than 10 metres above sea level, and 10 per cent of the land is covered by rivers and lakes. As if that's not enough, unlike other countries like Tanzania where rainy seasons are to blame for floods, in Bangladesh even summer seasons cause severe floods due to melting snow from the Himalayas.

Worse, Bangladesh is home to tropical storms and monsoon rains which together bring heavy rains and brutal coastal flooding. Moreover, Bangladesh faces a huge problem of deforestation in the mountains caused by irresponsible tree cutting, uncontained urbanisation of the flood plains, and at times even dams built in neighbouring India add to the misery due to sedimentation. When issues of global warming, which increase sea level and rainfall are added into the equation, one can only imagine how difficult it is to survive in such an unfortunate country.

Sometime in the 1990s, the Chairman of the South-South Commission, the Late Julius Nyerere, said at a press conference in Dar es Salaam that upon visiting Bangladesh he was shocked to see the level of poverty and argued that Bangladesh was far poorer than Tanzania. Nyerere said he waived the country's membership fee in the organisation of the poor countries of the south. Truly, half of that huge population languishes in unimaginable poverty.

So, why should such a country be an example to Tanzania? It is because of its success in the textile and apparel industry, a source of 80 per cent of its $24 billion in exports, precisely, $19 billion from June 2011 to June 2012. Surprisingly, Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on the official exchange rate of 2011 was merely $23.5 billion, less than Bangladesh's total export revenue though slightly above textile exports. Is this fair?

Currently, Bangladesh has about 4,500 garment factories that make clothes for world famous stores like Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Kohl's, Tesco, and Carrefour. These stores are scattered across the United States, Canada, the European Union and other countries around the world, and in fact the business makes Bangladesh the sixth largest apparel supplier to the United States and EU countries. As a result of this strategic focus, the textile and apparel industry accounts for 45 per cent of all industrial employment in Bangladesh, about 4 million people.

Where is Tanzania with our cotton, water, land, energy sources and millions of people? Why can't we do the same?

But there is more news: Tanzania is among sub-Saharan African countries that benefit from the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which provides an opportunity to export eligible apparel articles to the United States duty-free and quota-free through 2015. Bangladesh does not enjoy Agoa benefits but still make billions of dollars.

Looking at the basic facts, the Bangladeshi textile industry makes fabrics such as photovoltaic, polyester filament, viscose filament, man-made spun yarns and filament mixed fabrics as well while major garment factories make sportswear, sweaters, jackets, shorts, knitted and woven shirts, skirts, trousers, blouses, and children's clothing.

There is no magic here; the people of Bangladesh and their government are serious about this opportunity and we Tanzanians, are not; that's it! No wonder our towns and cities are full of jobless young people! Frankly, Tanzania needs to emulate Bangladesh.


http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/47-columnists/27520-why-cant-tanzania-be-like-bangladesh.


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