HUMAN nature harbours a peculiar glitch: the tendency to respond to others' success with resentment rather than a desire to learn. While we often claim the achievements of our own kin with fierce pride, we frequently struggle to apply that same hunger for excellence to our professional and civic lives.

For Tanzania to ascend global performance rankings, we must move beyond the paralysis of envy and adopt the disciplined "first things first" mindset of high-performing nations. True national development is not an accident of history, but the inevitable harvest of a society that establishes a rigid scale of preferences, valuing time as a finite resource and institutional integrity as an economic necessity.

This psychology takes a curious turn when success hits closer to home. When our children excel—perhaps by securing a prestigious overseas scholarship—our envy vanishes, replaced with a fierce, proprietary pride. We want the world to know they are "ours." We are quick to claim the success of a son, daughter, or even a distant relative, framing their brilliance as a product of our own influence.

Yet, this enthusiasm rarely translates into our professional or civic lives. We may attend a seminar and admire an orator who commands both the language and the audience, but we leave that inspiration at the door. We return home unchanged, having absorbed the spectacle, but ignored the substance of the lesson.

This "learning gap" is most visible—and most damaging—on the global stage. There are nations that have occupied the top tier of global performance rankings not for years, but for decades. We might have visited these countries frequently, observing first-hand how their policies are implemented in real-time and how their legal systems are rigorously enforced. Yet, we often treat these trips as tourism rather than research.

We see the "what," but fail to implement the "how." Learning from top performers does not mean a blind, carbon-copying of foreign systems. It means identifying universal principles that can be tailored to our local context.

Consider the most basic unit of societal discipline: time. In high-performing nations, a meeting scheduled for 09:00 begins at 09:00. In our context, we often treat a start time as a mere suggestion, arriving an hour or two late as if it were a cultural right.

This is not a minor inconvenience; it is a symptom of a deeper failure to prioritise. There is a simple formula of "First Things First." If you have limited funds and must choose between paying your child’s school fees and helping a neighbour, the priority is clear. Yet, as society, we frequently invert this scale. We spend lavishly on non-priorities and then wonder why we lack the resources for essential development.

Without a rigid scale of preferences, we will always finish with the things that should have come first, having exhausted our resources on the trivial ones. Data supports this need for a shift in priority. The Nordic countries—Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden—consistently dominate the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index. In the 2025 rankings, they swept the top four spots globally, boasting scores near 0.90 on a scale where 1 represents the highest possible adherence to the rule of law. These rankings are built on eight critical factors, including the absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, and criminal justice.

In this same index, Tanzania ranks 98th out of 143 surveyed countries. With an overall score of 0.46, we fall into the "weak adherence" category. This is more than just a low grade; it is an economic indicator. The WJP has demonstrated that a strong rule of law is the foundation of opportunity and peace. It correlates directly with higher economic productivity, improved health outcomes, and longer life expectancy. People live longer and better where justice is predictable and impartial.

We do not have to look only to Europe for inspiration. Namibia, which only gained independence in 1990, provides a masterclass in constitutional integrity and resource allocation. Its Constitution is highly regarded, frequently ranked as one of the most progressive and stable in Africa. Article 6 of the Namibian Constitution provides an absolute protection of the right to life, explicitly forbidding the death penalty.

More impressively, the Global Innovation Index has repeatedly recognised Namibia as a world leader in education expenditure relative to its GDP. Namibians have made a conscious choice to invest in the minds of their citizens above all else. These are not accidents of history; they are the results of deliberate choices. By establishing clear priorities and protecting fundamental rights, Namibia is carving out a path toward global leadership that we would be wise to study.

Implications for national strategy

Punctuality revolution: We must move from a "culture of excuses" to a culture of discipline. National development is impossible without respecting time as a finite, non-renewable resource.

Legal reform as economic strategy: Adopting the WJP’s universal principles—accountability, just law, open government, and impartial justice—is a prerequisite for attracting the investment needed to raise our national score.

Strategic budgeting: Success requires "first things first" financial management. Following Namibia’s lead in prioritising education spending is the only way to ensure long-term national innovation and self-reliance.

Institutional fortification: Protecting fundamental rights must be seen as an economic necessity. When laws are well formulated, debated, and predictable, the entire social fabric flourishes.

Success is never a product of chance; it is the inevitable harvest of disciplined adherence to a clear scale of preference. Whether at the individual or national level, the journey toward excellence begins with the humility to study those who have already mastered the terrain.

Tanzania possesses the latent potential and resources to climb the ladder of success and emerge as a global top performer. By moving beyond the paralysis of envy and defining our essentials with unshakeable clarity, we can bridge the gap from "weaker" to "stronger" global standing. The path to a prosperous future is wide open, but it demands the bravery to abandon non-essentials and finally, decisively, put first things first.