RAIS KIKWETE AFUNGUA MKUTANO WA KIMATAIFA WA MFUMO WA TAKWIMU HURIA BARANI AFRIKA, JIJINI DAR ES SALAAM LEO - LEKULE

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4 Sept 2015

RAIS KIKWETE AFUNGUA MKUTANO WA KIMATAIFA WA MFUMO WA TAKWIMU HURIA BARANI AFRIKA, JIJINI DAR ES SALAAM LEO


 Rais Jakaya Kikwete akizungumza na washiriki (hawapo pichani) wa Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Mfumo wa Takwimu Huria Barani Afrika katika Ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam leo. Katika hotuba yake Rais Kikwete alisema jukumu la utoaji wa taarifa kwa umma si kwa serikali pekee bali hata kwa Sekta binafsi pamoja na taasisi zingine zisizokuwa za serikali zinatakiwa kufuata mfumo huo ili kuleta maendeleo katika nchi husika. Mkutano huo ambao unaudhuriwa na mamia ya washiriki unalengo la kutoa elimu pamoja na kuhamasisha umma kuhusu utoaji wa taarifa kwa uwazi katika sehemu mbalimbali barani Afrika
 Waziri wa Mambo ya Ndani ya Nchi, Mathias Chikawe akitoa hotuba yake kabla ya kumkaribisha Rais Jakaya Kikwete (kulia meza kuu) katika Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Mfumo wa Takwimu Huria Barani Afrika katika Ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam, ili aweze kuufungua mkutano huo. Katika hotuba yake Waziri Chikawe alisema mfumo wa utoaji taarifa kwa uwazi umekuwa muhimu kwani unaleta uwazi pamoja na uwajibikaji katika utoaji wa huduma. Mkutano huo ambao unaudhuriwa na mamia ya washiriki kutoka nchi 23 Afrika, unalengo la kutoa elimu pamoja na kuhamasisha umma kuhusu utoaji wa taarifa kwa uwazi katika sehemu mbalimbali barani Afrika. Wapili kulia meza kuu, Mkurugenzi wa Benki ya Dunia nchini, Bella Bird. Anayefuata ni Katibu Mkuu Kiongozi, Ombeni Sefue.
 Sehemu ya washiriki wa Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Mfumo wa Takwimu Huria Barani Afrika wakimsikiliza Rais Jakaya Kikwete (hayupo pichani) kwa makini wakati akitoa hotuba yake katika Ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam leo. Katika hotuba yake Rais Kikwete alisema jukumu la utoaji wa taarifa kwa umma si kwa serikali pekee bali hata kwa Sekta binafsi pamoja na taasisi zingine zisizokuwa za serikali zinatakiwa kufuata mfumo huo ili kuleta maendeleo katika nchi husika. Mkutano huo ambao unaudhuriwa na mamia ya washiriki kutoka nchi 23 barani Afrika unalengo la kutoa elimu pamoja na kuhamasisha umma kuhusu utoaji wa taarifa kwa uwazi katika sehemu mbalimbali barani humo.
 Mkurugenzi wa Benki ya Dunia nchini, Bella Bird akitoa hotuba yake katika Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Mfumo wa Takwimu Huria Barani Afrika unaofanyika katika Ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam. Mkutano huo ambao unaudhuriwa na mamia ya washiriki kutoka nchi 23 Afrika, unalengo la kutoa elimu pamoja na kuhamasisha umma kuhusu utoaji wa taarifa kwa uwazi katika sehemu mbalimbali barani Afrika. Wenyeji wa mkutano huo ni Serikali ya Tanzania wakishirikiana na Benki ya Dunia.
Rais Jakaya Kikwete akiwa ameshika ndege ambayo inapaa bila rubani (Drone) na yenye uwezo wa kuchukua matukio mbalimbali ikiwa angani, wakati alipotembelea Banda la Buni Hub ambalo lipo chini ya Tume ya Taifa ya Sayansi na Teknolojia, mara baada ya kufungua Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Mfumo wa Takwimu Huria Barani Afrika unaofanyika katika Ukumbi wa Mikutano wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam. Wapili kulia ni Mtaalamu wa Benki ya Dunia, Frederick Mbuya akitoa elimu ya ndege hiyo kwa Rais Kikwete, Waziri wa Mambo ya Ndani ya Nchi, Mathias Chikawe (kulia kwa Rais Kikwete) pamoja na viongozi wengine walioambatana na Rais huyo. 
Picha zote na Felix Mwagara, Wizara ya Mambo ya Ndani ya Nchi.

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC
OF TANZANIA DURING OPENING OF AFRICA OPEN
DATA CONFERENCE HELD AT JULIUS NYERERE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE,
DAR ES SALAAM 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2015
Honorable Saada Mkuya, Minister for Finance;
Honorable Mathias Chikawe, Minister for Home Affairs;
Honorable Celina Kombani, Minister for
Public Service Management;
Ambassador Ombeni Sefue, Chief Secretary;
Your Excellencies Ambassadors;
Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Permanent Secretaries;
World Band Country Director for Tanzania,
Uganda, and Burundi;
Head of International Organizations based in Tanzania;
Representatives from CSO and Private Sector;
The Media;
Members from Mass Media;
Distinguished Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am pleased to get the opportunity to grace the first ever Open Data Africa Conference in the history of our dear continent. The fact that it’s the first ever, conference signifies the dawn of a new era in Africa’s transformation towards knowledge based development. It gives me great pride that my country has been chosen to host this first conference. To us, it is a gesture of acknowledgment and appreciation for the strides we are making to embrace openness in governance through open data. I thank the organizers for the trust you have reposed on my country. In a special way, I thank the World Bank for partnering with us in the preparations of this conference.
I thank you Honourable Mathias Chikawe, Minister for Home Affairs for your introductory remarks. I commend you and your team for the excellent facilitation of this conference. Please continue to do the good work so that all delegations stay happy and the conference concludes successfully. I am told delegates come from governments, civil society, academia and business from 30 countries in Africa and development partners. Such a good response reflects the growing interest on open data agenda across the continent. It goes without saying that, this conference will spur more interest and make future conferences be even more successful.
Theme of the Conference
Ladies and gentlemen;
          I commend the organizers for choosing a very opportune theme for this conference namely “Developing Africa Through Open Data”. I totally subscribe to the idea that data is an important tool for development. No successful and meaningful development will take place without the use of data.  Data assists us with the diagnosis of the social and economic challenges, informs policy choices and decisions and helps us with monitoring and evaluation of progress and impact. Much as data does not in itself, change the world, it is also true however that it makes change possible.
Information technology has revolutionalized the way we collect, use and make sense of data.  I has made data open. The impact of open data has been immense in all walks of life. There is hardly anyone today who has not benefited directly or indirectly from data being open. Open data has freed science, spurred innovations and making collaboration across countries and continent in solving global challenges possible. It has brought together the researchers, policy makers, financiers, private sector and civil society across the world to work together to find solutions to world’s challenges in a manner that has never been seen before.
Africa has not been spared by this development. As a matter of fact we have no choice but to join everybody else on this planet. We cannot honestly speak of developing Africa today without improving on ways we source, process and make use of data. More importantly, we must transform ways we manage data by increasingly making public data open and shared. In that way we will enable decision makers to make informed decisions. We will also empower the public to use data to hold the public officials accountable. In that way we will enhance good governance and take Africa to the next level.
Challenges of Open Data in Africa
Ladies and gentlemen;
One teething challenge you will find across African governments today is the lack of quality data. This has made planning, policy making and policy execution become a challenge. As a result, a number of policies and interventions have failed to produce intended impact. It has all been a source of wastage of valuable resources and loss of opportunities to solve development challenges.
It is evident, therefore, that there exist in Africa a disturbing relationship between underdevelopment and underutilization of quality data (and the vice versa). In many cases, this has been a function of lack of capacity on the part of responsible government institutions to collect, process and store data. In many of our countries, budgetary constraints, poor infrastructure and lack of qualified human capital have been responsible for this sad state of affairs. At times also administrative and policy oversight or shortsightened on the importance of data are to blame. In some ways legal and institutional systems have played a part in restricting access and sharing of data within and among various institutions.
There is a need, therefore, for African governments to explore ways and means to promote open data in their countries. There is need to undertake requisite reforms in some aspects of governance to support open data. Open Data strives best where there is transparency, rule of law, and freedom of expression to mention but a few. There is a need also to strengthen national institutions responsible for data management such as bureau of statistics so that stakeholder’s demand for credible, reliable and timely data can be met.
Open Data Beyond Governments
Ladies and gentlemen;
It gives me much comfort that this Conference will discuss among many issues the role of the private sector in the open data agenda. You should consider including the civil society as well. For quite a long time, the issue of openness of data was seen as a matter of the government and public institutions alone. The private sector and civil society organizations are not only consumers of data but also important sources of data. It is about time that the demand for transparency on the side of the private sector is also heard and honoured. As governments making their data open such as revenues and expenditures; the private sector too has a share of responsibility to open their data as well, regarding revenues, tax payments and profits.  
The demand for transparency in private sector is not alien neither is it new. We are already witnessing this in the extractive industries under the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). It is working so well in increasing transparency and accountability on the part of both governments and investors. Now, time has come to do the same with other sectors of the economy and other players whose work impacts the lives of the general public. That information is vital for the governments and the people to enhance governance and management of the economy.
Open Data and Data Sovereignty
Ladies and gentlemen;
African governments are also grappling with the dilemma between promoting open data on one hand and maintaining data sovereignty on the other. The challenge has always been about where to strike a balance between the two. It must be understood that open data does not and should not mean absolute freedom to produce, access and publish data. I subscribe to the view that, open data should not in any way jeopardize national security rather it should enhance it. It is my considerable opinion that data relating to national security issues should not be made public for obvious reasons.
Approaches to open data must, therefore, answer the following important questions: To whom the data is opened to? Which data should be made open? Why should data be open? When should data be open? And how should data be made open? Indeed, open data and data sovereignty can co-exist, and should co-exist. It is up to us to strike that delicate balance to avoid unnecessary contradictions. It requires the understanding and cooperation of all stakeholders.
Tanzania’s Experience with Open Data
Ladies and gentlemen;
Tanzania embraces open data and sees in it an opportunity to consolidate and entrench democracy and good governance. We have taken measures and initiatives to promote transparency and accountability through open data. For that reasons we voluntarily joined international initiatives geared to promote open data, transparency and accountability such as Open Government Partnership (OGP), Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
We publish citizens’ budget to enhance public understanding of the government budget, and reports of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) are published and made public for every Tanzanian to see. They are also debated in Parliament. As you know Parliament sessions are broadcast live on television. Over and above that, in line with our commitment to OGP, we have put in place a government portal with information and guidance about: how one can get public services; acts and legislation; regulations; policies; speeches and other important government information.
In our resolve to improve government’s service delivery, we introduced the famous ‘Big Results Now’ model. This is a system of improving on the way we decide on priority areas of action, monitor, implementation and enhance accountability on the part of ministries, government agencies and officials. In this regard we chose water; energy; transport; agriculture; education; resource mobilization; health and strengthening of the business environment as key priorities. Through this system government implementing agencies act in an open manner, made data open thus empowering the public to be informed and able to track the progress and put the duty bearers to task. Therefore open data has been an embedded part of the BRN process with the data in those priority areas being made public. 
Our experience has taught us that, open data must be backed and supported with a facilitative legal regime to guarantee access and effective use of the open data. For that reason, we have enacted the Statistics Act of 2015 that has empowered the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as a sole autonomous body, with powers to direct Ministerial Departments and Agencies to adhere to the principles and standard of production of quality data. To complement the open data, we have initiated a process to enact the Freedom of Information Act, on which the draft has already been presented to Parliament.
Tanzania’s Commitment
Ladies and gentlemen;
Tanzania shall continue to support and live up to her commitment on open data. In January 2015, we endorsed the Guidelines for Open Data in Tanzania. The guidelines serve as a tool for Ministries, Government Departments and Agencies to provide data to the Open Data Government Portal. We are also in the process of coming up with the Open Data Policy that will put in place procedures for identifying government open data, institutional framework for open data management, establish one window where the public can access to data, and put in place procedures of uploading and updating data. This way we will enhance for public access to government data in a friendly manner that allows the use and re-use of data for socio-economic development. Ultimately our intention is to enact an Open Data Act.
These and many other steps we have taken speak volumes about our resolve to uphold open data. For us, open data is the way to go if we are to transform our country from Least Developed Country to a Middle Income Country, and ultimately to become an advanced economy. We are looking at the future of open data in Tanzania with much optimism. There is no reason or intentions of back tracking.  You can count on us.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen;
There is no doubt that Africa needs to embrace open data in her development agenda. It is an idea whose time has come. It is the way to go about achieving Africa’s Vision 2063 of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena”. Indeed, the road towards achieving open data will not be without difficulties or challenges. However, it is the best way forward to a better Africa. Africa where democracy, good governments and development reign. I believe the rewards of open data far outweigh the costs.   
I vest a lot of hope on this Conference. I believe it will provide a useful platform for African governments, private sector and civil society to create an understanding on how best we can approach open data in the African context. I am glad that, this conference will be the beginning of annual African Open Data Conferences in future. Tanzania pledges support and participation in the coming future conferences for they provide an avenue to share experiences and best practices. With these many words, I therefore wish you successful discussions and deliberations.
          I now declare the first African Open Data Conference officially open.
I thank you all for listening!
Asanteni sana!

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