ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the socio-political context in Tanzania. Societal accountability is a concept that is understood at the local level, unlike governmental accountability. Public administration reforms of the 1980s, stimulated by a fiscal crisis, included the revoking of the Leadership Code, which had allowed bureaucrats to earn a second income. The electoral system is structured such that the incumbent has the advantage through clientelism and the network of elites that maintain power through Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) support, oiling the wheels of everyday life from tax payments to business registration and property ownership. CCM has successfully co-opted businesses, in such a way that party endorsement facilitates business establishment and operation, and, in turn, provides rents for the party. Public financial management reforms have been ongoing since the late 1990s, and substantial progress has been made in treasury management, procurement, information technology services and external audit: reforms that have centralised the control of rent payments.
