PM WOOS UK-BASED TANZANIANS TO INVEST BACK HOME

FROM FREDDY MACHA IN LONDON

Tanzanians living in the UK have been assured about opportunities to invest and do business in Tanzania as well as special status (haki maalum) for themselves and their children born overseas.

Addressing the Tanzania Diaspora Business Forum last Sunday at The Marble Arch Hotel by Thistle in west London, Prime Minister (PM), Mr Mwigulu Nchemba, also shared his telephone number with those wishing to contact his office with pressing questions, which he promised to answer directly. This came at the end of an eventful day that ran beyond its scheduled finishing time.

The forum featured numerous speeches and presentations from organisations encouraging Tanzanians abroad to invest back home and contribute to the country’s economic prosperity.

Highlighting several economic achievements, Dr Nchemba cited the recently completed Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station, free, compulsory education up to Form Four, improvements in medical technology and the mechanisation of farming in rural areas.

Welcoming the PM, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Mbelwa Kairuki, thanked Tanzanians who had travelled to London from Scotland, Northern Ireland and other locations across the UK.

Alongside visiting representatives and delegates, speakers from UK-based organisations raised issues including calls for a diaspora bond, immigration procedures, trade links, red tape, corruption, charitable activities and welfare back home.

Consular Affairs Attaché, Mr Ally Mtanda, said that 69 billion shillings had been invested in digitising immigration procedures. He explained that the improvements would help reduce queues at airports, as travellers’ information would be relayed once their tickets were booked, ahead of their journeys.

“Diaspora is a valuable asset … diaspora members contribute to Tanzanian communities,” he emphasised.

The PM’s visit was “designed for those in the Diaspora willing to invest” and outlined “the vision of our country and how overseas-based Tanzanians can contribute”. It also included meetings with members of the UK business community, including British Airways, Citibank and other international financial institutions.

Tanzanians living overseas were also able to register and apply for national identity cards, commonly known as NIDA cards, free of charge.