James Locken

Analytics & software

[Anna Tibaijuka @AnnaTibaijuka]

The Finance Act, 2026: What safeguard amendments could regulate Government Borrowing from the Central Bank?

1. The power to tax is one of the greatest powers of government. The power to create money is even greater. History teaches that this power can rescue nations in times of crisis, but it can also destroy currencies when discipline breaks down.

2. Governments are generally expected to borrow from financial markets, commercial banks, pension funds and the public through Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds. Governments are discouraged from borrowing directly from their central banks because central banks possess a unique power: they can create money.

3. Also, when Government borrows from the public through Treasury Bills and Bonds, it must persuade investors to lend. Direct access to central-bank financing weakens this market discipline because Government no longer depends entirely on the judgement of investors.

4. The recent Finance Act, 2026, specifically the proposed amendments to section 69 of the Bank of Tanzania Act, has therefore generated considerable public debate. It introduces new provisions allowing Government, under specified emergency circumstances, to obtain temporary advances from the Bank of Tanzania.

5. Supporters argue that every country requires emergency financing mechanisms during disasters and major economic shocks. Critics fear that such provisions could become a back door through which governments gradually finance ordinary budget deficits by creating new money. Who is right? Both because the Finance Act, 2026 raises a question that goes beyond economics: not whether Government should ever borrow from the Central Bank, but whether the safeguards are strong enough to ensure that an emergency measure never becomes a habit.

7. Section 69(3) defines the conditions for drawing on funds from the Bank of Tanzania by the government: including the disaster clause under section 69(3)(a), the unforeseen economic shocks clause under section 69(3)(b) and the constitutional emergency clause under 69(3)(c).

8. Of the 3 provisions the riskiest one is section (b) because its current formulation is open ended and extremely broad stated as "an external economic event, circumstance or cause of exceptional magnitude and impact".

8. I propose it be replaced with something more objective like "an external economic shock certified jointly by the Minister responsible for Finance and the Governor of the Bank and reported to Parliament at its next sitting or within fourteen days, whichever is earlier."
The present wording is simply too elastic and could lead to problems. Why and how? Because it fails to define what constitutes: “exceptional” or “magnitude” or “impact” or “external economic event”? It does not guide what would qualify and what would not from an array of probable economic shocks including, a drought, a fall in gold prices, a rise in oil prices, a global recession, a decline in aid flows, a depreciation of the shilling and/or a failed tax collection target? As currently drafted, almost any significant economic difficulty could potentially be interpreted as falling within paragraph (b). That is where the real governance risk lies.

9. A parliamentarian's test: Whenever Parliament grants extraordinary powers to the Executive, it should ask three questions: Who decides? How much can be borrowed? Who checks the decision? The proposed section answers none of these clearly.

In this regard let me make some practical suggestions that might help preserve emergency flexibility while preventing possible abuse for consideration by our sitting Parliament.

SEE PART TWO

[James Locken @james_locken]

In His time, He brings healing to the broken-hearted.
Troubles do not last forever. Hold on to hope. No matter what comes your way, your life — and the life of your loved one — rests safely in the hands of Jesus.
May His peace comfort you, and may His love surround you always.

[James Locken @james_locken]

Somewhere in Tanzania, there is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a friend who are weeping — hearts heavy with pain, struggling to find meaning after losing a loved one. Words may fail, and nothing seems enough to ease the sorrow.

[James Locken @james_locken]

But please remember this: you are not alone. There are Tanzanians across the land who are crying with you, sharing in your pain and lifting you up in their prayers.
God hears every tear that falls. His ears are not deaf to our cries, and His power is above all powers.

[James Locken @james_locken]

@TitoMagoti 😭😭💔

[James Locken @james_locken]

@IBOPAS71 @TitoMagoti 💔

[James Locken @james_locken]

@TitoMagoti 💔

[Tito Magoti @TitoMagoti]

Tunahitaji kuwatambua na kuwakumbuka wote waliouliwa wakipigania Taifa letu. Hatutasahau na tunataka uwajibikaji. Rest in power, compatriots.

[TONY ALFRED K @tonyalfredk]

Mimi binafsi napata mshangao wa mawazo kwa nini hawa ‘watu wenye hekima’ hawaoni kama hawa wanaoteka watu ndio wanahatarisha amani, nilitegemea matamko yote ya kusihi amani yawalaani hawa watekaji na wauaji.

Kwa nini inaonekana kama watekaji wana haki ya kuteka na kupoteza watu?

[𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 @Preach_DGospel]

.
Behind each coffin is a story, a family, and a dream.

These are not just bodies, but children, parents, siblings, and friends, whose potential and contributions to humanity were tragically silenced by these bloødthirsty démons.

Enough of this Christians cleansing in Nigeria!

[Rauda Altenaiji @FormulaRauda]

Do you know the strength it takes to be able to give a sermon when your own people are in mass grave? These are the Christians of Nigeria.. brave, strong and resilient.

The global community cannot keep turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed against Christians in Nigeria.

[J. C. Okechukwu @jcokechukwu]

You are welcomed to count the caskets - daily ritual for these Christians in Nigeria. Their only crime? Being Christians. I keep wondering how this industrial scale genocide went under the radar for so many years - way more than a decade. No mainstream media coverage. No mentions on the global stage. Nothing! Yet the mainstream media and global institutions at almost all levels, had their megaphones on repeat recitations of “genocide,” over Gaza, even before there was a proclamation of genocide.

Nigerian. Christians need you now more than ever before 🙏

@tedcruz @RepRileyMoore @POTUS

[CINEMAS ANALYTIC 🎬 @CinemasAnalytic]

Free Humphrey Polepole

Free him now

Repost 360

[Maria Sarungi Tsehai @MariaSTsehai]

#FreePolepole
#FreeHumphreyPolepole
#Tanzania

Share, repost, like acha dunia ijue serikali ya watekaji hii inawajibu wa kumwachia huru Polepole

[James Locken @james_locken]

Mungu wa Mbinguni aliyeweka hiyo assignment ndani yako akulinde na autunze uhai wako. Amen!

[Boniface Mwabukusi @Mwabuk2Boniface]

I am deeply concerned about the escalating pattern of enforced disappearances targeting critical voices and passive critics who speak out on matters of democracy, human rights, and good governance.
The situation has become alarming and increasingly widespread, suggesting a deliberate and coordinated effort to silence dissenting thought so that only voices of praise and conformity remain.
What we are witnessing is a systematic erosion of the fundamental freedoms that define a democratic society. Instead of fostering dialogue and accountability, there appears to be a growing culture of fear and repression.
Our security apparatus particularly the Police seem either complicit in these acts or grossly incompetent in addressing this worsening tragedy.
This silence and inaction have emboldened perpetrators and undermined public confidence in state institutions. If not urgently confronted, this trend will corrode the very foundations of justice and the rule of law in our nation.
BAK MWABUKUSI.

[Tito Magoti @TitoMagoti]

I am a proud student of this noble leader, SC Tundu AM Lissu. What a man! Hang in there, my guy!

[Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr]

I am joining @ElonMusk in canceling my Netflix subscription.

I'm sick of their wOkE agenda and...

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

💯

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

The real reason the Netflix cancellation campaign has gone so viral:

Netflix is sexualizing children by packaging explicit, graphic, radical sex topics as ‘children’s entertainment’

What Netflix is doing goes beyond a culture war fight. It’s immoral.

And It should be illegal…