Corruption in Tanzania: The Case for Circumstantial Evidence By ...

Governance and accountability form the third cluster under the Poverty Reduction Stratergy (MKUKUTA) that provides the foundation for the government’s intervention to reduce poverty in Tanzania. Governance and democracy overlap to a significant degree. They both emphasise structures, processes, and values that heighten legitimacy, accountability, and responsiveness in public affairs. However, governance and democracy are conceptually distinct.

Governance is conceived of as the effective management of public affairs through the generation of a regime (set of rules) accepted as legitimate, in the promotion and enhancement of societal values sought by individuals and groups. Good governance is the ability of public institutions to deliver quality goods and services to their clients or citizens with optimal consistency and satisfaction. This is manifested in the effective utilisation of taxes into equitable social and economic services and maintenance of law and order in the context of the rule of law.

Social decay and weakness of state institutions call for institutional renewal in the form of good governance to address economic achievement and growth. Governance became the agenda after the collapse of communism and of the central planning model in the former Soviet Union, which has been replaced by a capitalist model at a global level.¹⁸ Governance is now a global concern and agenda. It is a rallying point at all global fora and international organisations such as the UN, the World Bank, the European Union, the Commonwealth, and certainly bilateral donors in sub-Saharan African.

The World Bank in particular began to use the term good governance in the early 1990s when it focused primarily on improving public administration. In a 1992 report on ‘Governance and Development’, the World Bank expanded the definition to include ‘the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development’.¹⁹ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) contributes to promoting good governance in member countries through its policy advice and, where relevant, technical assistance in the following two spheres: