ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the original premises behind the development and proliferation of the social services in Tanzania were nationalist mobilisations which took on a populist ideology. The populist expressions embedded in the Tanzanian welfare state could be said to constitute a protest mobilisation of the hitherto disadvantaged groups, to unite as a movement and organise into categories that could reap and enjoy ‘the fruits of independence’. The development of welfarist inclinations in Tanzania has not only made the state an interventionist one but one that actually takes away responsibility from beneficiaries and local organisations in pursuit of its own national integration, political mobilisation and the maintenance of legitimacy. Any form of social policy reform has to be taken with many precautions and calculations, especially if the intended beneficiaries are a weak side in the public policy scenario.
