Tanzania End of Term Report 2014-2016

In late 2016, the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... published the end of term report for Tanzania’s second action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen.... The report covers the full action plan implementation period of 1 July 2014 through 30 June 2016.

In Tanzania, Ngunga Greyson Tepani, an independent researcher, wrote this report. His findings are summarized below:

“Tanzania’s second action plan focused on improving public access to information in important sectors including land and extractives. The Access to Information Act was enacted shortly after the action plan ended, and it represents a major step forward for increasing government transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More. Although the commitments were ambitious and highly relevant to opening government, successful implementation was limited. Moving forward, the government could focus on improving institutional capacity to carry out commitments.”

And in Kiswahili:

“Mpango kazi wa pili wa Tanzania ulilenga kuboresha upatikanaji wa taarifa kwa Wananchi kwa sekta muhimu zikiwemo ardhi na tasnia ya uziduaji. Sheria ya upatikanaji taarifa ilipitishwa mara baada ya muda wa utekelezaji mpango kazi kuisha, sheria hiyo ikiwakilisha hatua moja kubwa ya kukuza uwazi serikalini. Ingawa maazimio yalikuwa na utashi mkubwa na yenye umuhimu katika “kuifungua serikali”, utekelezaji wake ulikuwa hafifu. Tunaposonga mbele, serikali inaweza kujikita katika kuboresha uwezo wa kitaasisi kutekeleza maazimio.”

The report is available below. The two-week public comment period closed on 8 February 2017.