Dar es Salaam: Tanzania lacks competent experts required for addressing the looming poverty and donor dependency in the country, a senior government official said at the weekend. The deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Servacius Likwelile, said the government was facing an acute shortage of policy formulation and analysis experts.  

He attributed resource management challenges facing the country to the scarcity of the policy formulation and analysis experts. "Deliberate efforts should be made to obtain sufficient experts, as the ongoing anti-poverty eradication drive will become useless without them," Dr Likwelile said

Policy experts advised the government while setting priorities and goals, Dr Likwelile said, adding:  "The few experts available should use their education for the benefit of the country. They should be conversant with side effects of corruption and perform their duties efficiently."

The PS was speaking at a graduation ceremony for students, who pursued a post-graduate diploma in poverty analysis.  Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) and Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) organized the course in collaboration with the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Of the 26 students, who graduated, 10 were from the government, seven from different research institution and six from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The ESRF executive director, Dr Bohela Lunogelo, said the scarcity of experts in policy formulation and analysis in different institutions in the country prompted them to establish the course.

The United Nations Development Programme country representative, Mr Ernest Salla, said his office would continue providing full sponsorship to the programme in a bid obtain the right policies for taming out poverty. "We are sponsoring this project knowing exactly that there will be no good direction towards development and the poverty facing many people will not end without these experts," Mr Salla said.

He said he was optimistic the project would run without donor funding in the future. About 130 students have graduated from the one-year post-graduate diploma course since its inception.