Investigation on Tanzania’s Economic History since Independence: The Search for a Development Model

Abstract

The paper investigates Tanzania’s economic policies since independence. It examines the inherited colonial market economy; a period in which the economy was in the hands of minority. When the Tanzanian government realised that the system benefited only a score of the population, it abandoned the colonial market economy for an all-inclusive policy of Ujamaa. In the Ujamaa era all major means of production were meant to serve the interests of all the population through the guide and control of the government. However, nineteen years later, the Ujamaa policy was abandoned as it failed to deliver as planned, and therefore made room for neoliberalism which enabled historical economic growth but which, however, fails to reduce poverty significantly especially in the rural areas. The country through the development vision 2025 intends to become a middle income country. Few years before the set time, Tanzania is still poor and seems to be far from the target. Is it still possible for the country to claim its development vision of a middle income country by 2025? What development model should the country adopt in order to attain the vision?