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89 Chapter 10 Appointment as Governor I arrived back in Dar es Salaam after my appointments in London, four or five days later than the other members of the Tanzania Delegation to the Washington meetings. Immediately I reported at the office, my personal secretary told me that State House had been looking for me. Apparently, the President wanted to see me urgently. Before I went to the State House, I thought I should sort out some crucial papers to take with me in order to brief the President properly about my trip. I then knocked at the Minister’s door, but Mr Jamal was not in, and so I could not even greet him before going to see the President. I went straight to the President’s suite of offices. His Personal Assistant, Ackland Mhina, offered me tea, as the President had a visitor. As we were chatting informally about calypso and my trip to the West Indies, the visitor left and I was ushered in. I do not recall to have congratulated the President on his reelection during my absence from the country, with a landslide victory of over 99% of the valid votes cast. Possibly this lapse on my part was because it was a foregone conclusion in our oneParty system. In any case, he himself immediately started the conversation by asking about the negotiations we were supposed to have undertaken in Washington. I briefed him on the IDA credit negotiations and also about the IMF team of experts scheduled to come to assist us in the drafting of the Central Banking Legislation. I touched on the lining up of three or four potential management staff from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark to help in the launching of the proposed Bank of Tanzania. I also informed him that I had visited the currency manufacturers in the United Kingdom, and that I had seen the coins actually being struck. I informed him that I had reached some tentative agreements with the Mint regarding shipping. The commencement of the printing of the banknotes would be delayed since, because of storage problems, they would be required in the country only a month or so before the opening of the Bank to public business. 90 The President listened attentively and commended me for the preparatory work I had so far done for the Central Bank project. Then he told me rather slowly that he had decided that I should work full-time on the project as the future Governor of the Bank of Tanzania. He said that he had been advised that, since the Bank did not yet legally exist, as GovernorDesignate, I would continue to be Permanent Secretary to the Treasury (Special Duty). He added that he would immediately appoint another officer to carry out the other functions of Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance. I was taken aback, as I had not expected this decision.The President noticed that I was surprised, and told me that he was confident that I would be able to do the job because I had already demonstrated my organisatonal skills, my capacity to seek and follow expert advice, and to work closely with political policy decision-makers. IcomposedmyselfandthankedthePresidentforthisexpression of confidence in me, and added that I would try to do my best. Before I left his office, I raised the question of the banknotes, and the fact that we had to urgently instruct the manufacturers to await changes in the signatures before starting to print them. He responded by saying that I should arrange with Mr Jamal for his signature to replace that of Bomani, and mine to replace NsiloSwai ’s. Immediately I got back to my office, I sent a telex message to Thomas de la Rue, instructing them to await changes in the signatures before final engraving and printing. My appointment as GovernorDesignate for the future central bank was announced that evening on the Radio, and figured as main news in the newspapers the next day. Mr Amon Nsekela was transferred from the Ministry of Development Planning to take over from me as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. (At this time, Permanent Secretaries at one of their fortnightly meetings had actually recommended to the Government that they be redesignated “Principal” Secretaries, as they were by no means permanent. This designation was to last until 2002, when it reverted to the old title in order to be in line with designations of similarly placed officials in other Commonwealth countries). I...

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