Abstract:
Tanzania had long held dream of rebalancing rural development through villagization policy. But
villagization policy could not be implemented without through analysis of the prevailing and existed
mode of economic production. Co-operative was prevailing mode of economic system but for the past
fifty years, cooperatives have been prevented from advancing economic empowerment due to the anticapitalist policies and actions of the government. When malpractices were observed, the state used
government officials to replace leaders instead of strengthening the legal framework. After the Arusha
Declaration, the state began moulding cooperatives into socialist institutions. Alongside this the
cooperative sector was made into an arm of the ruling party to control farmers, and in the end, they were
abolished altogether. In this paper we argue that. The intention of government to rebalance rural
development through villagization policy was good but the approach used was wrong leading to major
failure of policy. Based on that this paper show how Hersay and Blanchard (1985) Situational leadership
model could have been ideal model to implement villagization policy in Tanzania and eventually
rebalance rural development. Thus, the model offers good framework for any change and policy to be
implemented effectively in future.
