IN remarks we made in this column roundabout ten years ago, we quoted various authoritative sources as having warned that countries across the globe were experiencing severe shortage of employment opportunities, mainly spurred by economic turmoil.

The sources were emphatic that they did not see the nightmare of joblessness wearing off anywhere in the world in a few years, most especially in the developing world.

Developing countries were seen suffering the most from the gravity of unemployment and its impact on the economy.

Some analysts went to the extent of drawing comparisons between unemployment and the Covid-19 pandemic then wreaking havoc on social and economic development globally, as countries the world over fought to come up with various measures meant to mitigate the severity of the problem.

There were incessant appeals to employers in our country to give our own people priority whenever jobs were up for grabs as long as they had the requisite qualifications.

For instance, very understandably, no lesser an authority than the prime minister on several occasions reiterated the need for public institutions to make greater use of Tanzanian researchers instead of hiring foreign experts for jobs that locals could do just as well – if not better.

All in all, one might still wonder whether we as a nation are doing enough to make sure that all the jobs that can be efficiently done by our own people are not taken up by foreigners.

The problem of unemployment has hit the entire globe, with even economic giants like the US and Germany not safe at all.

That explains the importance of every nation devising surefire ways to keep employment opportunities for their own people and only welcome foreign experts where truly necessary.

We would not be the first to do so: a neighbouring country not long ago decided to tighten rules and regulations on the issuance of work permits to foreigners.

The new modalities there demand that employers issue the names of local understudies before such documents are issued, and this to ensure that the understudies take over the foreigners’ positions jobs soon after the foreigners’ permits expire.

A decisive reason for bringing in foreign experts should be transfer of knowledge and skills to locals, and not otherwise. With the unemployment problem still raging in our own backyard, we need as many local experts as we can get if we are to guarantee ourselves sustainable development.

We need to be extremely vigilant on the issuance of work and residence permits, at least to ensure that recruitment of non-Tanzanians for jobs where we ought to be self-sufficient comes to an end.

Joblessness is a time-bomb that can cause untold misery, chiefly because it can grow into a recipe for the proliferation of crime.

In the circumstances, we must do the most we can to tame it – and keeping the employment of foreigners to the minimum could prove one of the surest ways out of the mess.