A Research Report Submitted to Mzumbe University, Dar es Salaam Business
School, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of
Master of Public Administration (MPA)
Separation of powers is considered an important practice in any democratic
government to ensure good governance and general welfare of the people in a
country. Worldwide different scholars have been attempting to study the separation
of powers in a country so as to be able to create good governance which involved
balance and checks. In Tanzania, the constitution stipulates the country is adhering to
separation of powers, but several cases have been reporting to show there is a
violation of the important items that are stipulated by the doctrine of separation of
powers. It is from this violation that the researcher intended to study the doctrine of
separation of powers and see it importance in promoting good governance. In doing
so the study had four objectives. These objectives are as follows; to assess the
existence of separation of power in Tanzania; to determine the extent to which
separation of power is practiced in Tanzania; to identify factor hindering effective
performance of the doctrine in Tanzania; and to propose measure to ensure effective
performance of the doctrine in Tanzania
In general the study results shows that, the constitution contains some weaknesses
which needs reforms so as to correct and remove the contractions that hinders
effective adherence to the doctrine. Also large percent of the respondents seemed to
understand the importance of the doctrine of separation of powers in promoting good
governance and the need to adhere to this doctrine. Apart from that, large percent of
the respondent also agreed there is overlapping of powers in the country which also
affects the proper adherence to the doctrine of separations of powers. From there,
several recommendations were made to improve the situation. Such
recommendations include; Conducting Training and education programs on the
doctrine of separation of power; Performing awareness raising campaigns; Reform of
the constitution; and Creation of enforcement mechanism.