Being too choosy on jobs is risky, cautions Karume

Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume

Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume has warned Zanzibaris against the long-standing practice in the Isles of discriminating against certain jobs even when no better option was readily available.

He said clinging to the culture was the wrong way to complement the comprehensive government-led strategies seeking to rid the Isles of grinding poverty.

President Karume issued the warning here yesterday when addressing a forum organised by the Zanzibar Labour, Youth Development, Women and Children Affairs ministry. It was convened to discuss employment issues.

`People should disabuse themselves of the habit of going only for specific jobs while shunning the rest. Doing so will help the government ease the problem of unemployment, which has assumed critical proportions, and speed up social and economic development for the benefit of all our people,` he stated.

He observed that his government had already drafted an employment policy as part of the implementation of the official manifesto of the ruling CCM, with the thrust on fast-tracking the Isles` development.

`In the policy, the government recognises the informal sector as a strategic and invaluable tool for the creation of jobs. That is why we have been making vigorous efforts to establish vocational education and training centres in both Unguja and Pemba,` added President Karume.

Zanzibar`s 2002 population census and financial report of 2004/05 show that seven per cent of the Isles` residents who are able to work have no jobs, most of the unemployed being young men and women.

The President said prevailing conditions do not allow Zanzibaris to select jobs, adding that it was important to remember that well-paying jobs call for specialised skills and competence that not everybody has.

Ibrahim Koroma, a Zanzibar-based Deputy Director of the United Nations Development Programme, meanwhile told the forum that the Zanzibar government`s commitment of reducing unemployment from seven to four by 2010 required hard work on the part of the government and all stakeholders.

`The main challenge facing the government today is how to mobilise funding amounting to $4.45m to facilitate effective implementation of the respective strategic plan,` he said.

`In this respect, UNDP is ready to extend its massive contribution to ensure the realisation of the plan, as it did to the programme aimed at strengthening capacities of government institutions in Zanzibar,` he added.

Zanzibar Chief Minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha explained that some $7bn dollars was needed to strengthen the operations of vocational education and training centres and help them provide specialised courses aimed at reducing youth unemployment.

`The government had already withdrawn from direct economic activities but it remains as a facilitating agent assisting private sector in playing an active role in bringing about social and economic development by putting in place an attractive environment for local and foreign investors and entrepreneurs,` he said.