tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28061765.post8501946915711229254..comments2023-10-26T04:40:48.561-04:00Comments on Metty'z RefleXions - Tanzania in Focus: If I Were Nicholas Mgaya….Jaduong Mettyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03845759887672890549noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28061765.post-30820100981727143232010-05-14T15:48:45.689-04:002010-05-14T15:48:45.689-04:00Professor,
I have to commend you for finding the ...Professor,<br /><br />I have to commend you for finding the linkage between the WEF meeting JK's anger outburst. <br /><br />Where I would differ with you - and this is a matter of perspective - is that there have to be a balance between international affairs and domestic issues. <br /><br />Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears to me that JK is more interested in external than internal affairs. I guess his days as a Foreign Minister conditioned to be so.<br /><br />To ignore a hardworking civil servant in Tanzania for the sake of entertaining Robert Mugabe, for instance, for two days doesn't make sense to me. But I guess my worldview is just weird.Jaduong Mettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03845759887672890549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28061765.post-24903917255651970892010-05-08T18:51:31.842-04:002010-05-08T18:51:31.842-04:00In his speech, JK talked about two issues: the Wor...In his speech, JK talked about two issues: the World Economic Forum meeting and the TUCTA strike. He made an elaborate argument explaining the importance of the WEF meeting, stressing what an opportunity it was for Tanzania, and what an honour it was.<br /><br />Then he talked about the planned TUCTA strike. It was clear to me that he spoke the way he did about TUCTA because of anxiety and perhaps apprehension regarding the effect of such a strike in the context of the WEF meeting. Even though I might not condone his harsh and threatening language, I see his anger in that context.<br /><br />JK is not a person who normally speaks the way he spoke on that day. In fact, people have always complained that he is too soft, always smiling, even when he ought to be tough. So, if that is the JK we know, we just have to wonder why he spoke the way he spoke about TUCTA; hence my argument about context.<br /><br />I am surprised that the people who have commented on JK's speech conveniently ignore the WEF aspect and the linkage between the WEF meeting and the TUCTA strike. They ignore the context completely, and proceed to talk about JK's TUCTA diatribe as if it just came out of the blue. That is irresponsible, to say the least.<br /><br />I salute TUCTA for wisely putting off the strike to another day. I had hoped that they would do this, in view of the argument JK had made regarding the national importance of the WEF meeting and the need for the Tanzanian people to give the guests the best hospitality. <br /><br />I see TUCTA's decision to postpone the strike as patriotic. Attacking TUCTA's action seems really odd to me. <br /><br />Neverthess, I support TUCTA's demands regarding the minimum wage. JK did not persuade me with his claims that the Government cannot afford to meet TUCTA's claims. Like many Tanzanians, perhaps most, I have always decried the profligacy and wastefulness of the Government when it comes to our national wealth. <br /><br />We know that our country's resources are being plundered by pirates masquerading as investors in collusion with our own so-called leaders. There is much to be said on this score, as TUCTA itself has done. TUCTA should continue pressing its demands. When Mwalimu Nyerere talked about what his government couldn't do, it was easy to believe him. He and his government were committed to the masses and were frugal, unlike the CCM Government of today.<br /><br />I am somewhat surprised that you see CCM as a party of the working people. CCM started abandoning the people many years ago. All you have to do is read Mwalimu Nyerere's last works and you will see he was complaining about CCM's betrayal of the working masses. CCM went ahead and abandoned the Arusha Declaration, for example, and put in place the Zanzibar Declaration, which effectively paved the way for the plague we call "ufisadi." The emblem CCM has on its flag and other paraphernalia is at variance with the spirit of CCM.Mbelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16077261126944002622noreply@blogger.com