Rorya HQ Decision: Say What…?

I try to objective in all my reflections, but I would ask to be allowed to exercise at least a tad of biasness on today’s reflection. That is because my reflection is a bit close to heart. I am stakeholder in this. This is where I hail from.

My reflection is based on the story published online by Daily News. Apparently, the president has directed a fresh determination of where the newly established Rorya district’s headquarters should be. The driving force behind this directive is the accusation of corruption in the previous council members’ voting. The council members had initially elected Utegi as the district’s headquarters.

Election of Utegi as the district’s headquarters was a stupid choice in the first place. I don’t have a problem with Utegi being the new district headquarters, as that alone would not stop other areas within the district from developing. I just hated the fact that the headquarters’ determination process was marred by corruption accusations. In addition, Utegi is just a few kilometers from Tarime, which was the initial district’s headquarters. This was probably one the decisions that highlights the very best folks in Tanzania do – act stupidly.

You know what though? I am not that disappointed with the people of Rorya. The fact of the matter is the Rorya’s story is not any different from the rest of Tanzania. The majority of the population is uneducated and asking them to make a logical, informed decision as to most appropriate place for a district’s headquarter is way too much. They are the victim of their circumstance. As such, in the very end, people resort to emotions as the basis for making decisions. That is why strong ethnic allegiance has trumped logical analysis in deciding where the Rorya headquarters should be.

But the government knew that.

I am not convinced that government officials, including the president himself, are unaware of social dynamics in Tanzania, particularly in Rorya. That being said, it is stupid, in my mind, to resort to “voting” as a way of determining where any district’s headquarters should be. For one, I don’t know of any place in Tanzania where a district’s headquarters have been deciding through a ballot. Why this time around in Rorya? I know that change happens and we should not be bound by fear of change, but deviation from the “norm” should be logically explained. Trying to politically please the people is not good enough, especially if such an act turns out to be time consuming and financially costly to the government.

My second argument for concluding that the government’s call for balloting is stupid is my presumption that the establishment of Rorya’s district was strategic. My expectation is that this decision was made to achieve a specified vision and particular strategic goals. As such, the government, which ideally owns this vision, was expected to know where the district’s headquarters should be. Furthermore, it is my expectation that any district’s headquarters in Tanzania is established based on known technical criteria, and not based on feelings and ethnical influences. Unless the decision to divide Tarime district into two, like many other crazy decisions in Tanzania, was made on a whim without any logical thought process.

And I wouldn’t be surprised that this was the case, as anything is possible in Bongoland.

I am not calling for the central government to just impose on local people. My contention is that the decision to divide Tarime into Rorya district is not only strategic, but also a change in itself. As this decision involves bringing change into the lives of Rorya people, the government should have exercised good change management techniques. That involves identifying potential roadblocks to the implementation of the idea, which in this case tribal and ethnic influences.

Getting around the ethnic tensions could have been achieved by impartially making the decision from Dar-es-Salaam, then educating Rorya folks as to the technical and logical reasons for the decision. Any feedback from the constituents could have been implemented in the final cut. I don’t think that is rocket science.

I get surprised at how even very simple things in Bongoland becomes too complicated. And that frustrates the heck out of me.

I really don’t know how this whole thing will come out in the end, but this much I know, this was another proof of how ineffective our president and his cabinet is. I can't really undersand why Mr. Mizengo Pinda, the Minister for Regional Administration and Local Governments, could not advise his boss. Obviously, it appears that the Rorya folks are against this balloting crap. And I believe they are justified.

I am not that good, but I honestly think I can make a very good Tanzanian president. If this is the best Kikwete can offer, I have plenty of hope that Tanzanians can do better with me. Vote Pedro…err…me for President!


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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

Rorya HQ: Blah Blah Continues…

I wish I had this wonderful magic wand that I could just swing around. Trust me on this – the first folks that I would have wiped out, or turn into little creepy creatures would have been Bongoland politicians. Man, I hate them.

And talking about Bongoland, did you know that witchdoctors are licensed by the government? Honestly, that was a huge revelation to me. I thought all you had to do was to find a mat and a shade at Mnazi Mmoja in Dar and walaahh!

Seriously, since these things are supposedly done in the “dark”, how would government’s regulatory body know which doctors are qualified? Or could it be that the process is so easy, since most of the government officials are customers anyway, putting them in a great position to gauge the effectiveness of the doctors?

I’m just kidding, but October 2010 is not that far. Just watch out for the heavy traffic on Bagamoyo Road.

Sorry for the digression.

My talk really was this Rorya headquarters thing. I know for some of you, this is a nonissue. I can understand that. Nonetheless, to me this is a classic case of how folks in Bongoland will NEVER see progress in a short while. I mean, if the government can’t decide on a newly established district’s headquarters, what makes you think they are capable of managing other complex and scientific endeavors?

Think about that.

News is, folks in Bongoland are waiting for the president to decide on the Rorya HQ.

The saddest part is that I reflected on this on January 28, 2008. That was exactly one year ago (that is discounting the fact that the whole saga started in 2006). Essentially, it is going to take the government more than 365 days to decide something that could be done in a day!

How I wish for that magic wand!

Seriously, something is very wrong in Bongoland.

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Photo Credit: Me

PSP: Buyers Beware

In case you are wondering what PSP stands for, it is my own coined term – Politicians’ Sales Pitch. I think politicians are the dirtiest sales people. They overpromise while delivering little or nothing at all. The worst part is that, in a Tanzanian case for instance, “consumers” can’t terminate the “business relationship” until after five years. What a waste of time!

Amazingly, though, after failing to deliver, politicians would come back with a new set of promises for the next five years or so. Think I am kidding? There is an MP in the current Bunge who was my headmaster back in the days before joining politics. The guy has been the MP for over 15 years and nothing has really changed for his people. Isn’t that something to marvel at?

So why do we keep on electing these conmen? I really don’t have a scientific answer to that. Nonetheless, I believe having politicians is a result of a natural order. Somebody has to lead in any given social setting. Unlike the Tanzanian experience (and for the most part many other African countries), individuals who step up to the leadership role in other countries do so to bring something new and better to the table.

I honestly think that being a political leader in Tanzania is an end to itself. And to me that is just both myopic and pathetic. Having that mindset is not at all progressive. That is why the recent (seemingly) political shift in Tanzania following the Richmond scandal has been viewed differently, depending on who you ask. While the Dr. Mwakyembe’s committee is being commended by progressive thinkers for stepping outside the Tanzania political box, others like Mr. Emmanuel Ole Naiko have condemned the parliamentary report for stepping into personal space.

My personal view is that Mr. Ole Naiko is a pure representation of the older and regressive thinkers who view their public service positions as personal success. I stand to be corrected, but equating the Edward Lowassa’s resignation and pressure on TIC for not conducting adequate due diligence on the Richmond company to ethnic cleansing is not only stupid, but it gives the impression that neither EL nor Ole Naiko (were) are serving the interest of the Tanzanian people, but the Maasai people.

I know that following the resignation of Edward Lowassa, Tanzanian have ushered into a new invigorated hope. The danger, though, is that most Tanzanians lack the capacity to gauge and judge whether the change will actually bring the desired end. I recall the euphoric feeling when Kikwete came into power. Two years later, I wonder if Tanzanians have really seen the fruits of their choice.

One of the specific areas that I would really get an answer to is the creation of jobs. Not just jobs,one million jobs by 2010, to be exact.

I know that politicians talk about crap they don’t mean. Giving specific numbers is not equivalent to giving hard-to-assess promises such as “improving the quality of life”, because the evaluation of “quality of life” could be based on an array of factors. Nevertheless, when you give promises that are measurable by hard numbers, it makes our job easier, as regular folks to vouch and verify.

So two years into the Kikwete’s presidency, how many new jobs have been created in Tanzania?
Perhaps I am a little bit ahead of time, idealistic, or just overly skeptical, but empty words typically tick me off. Hope, as I previously pointed out in one of my blog posts, is atician, for instance?

I really don’t know Mr. Mizengo Pinda, the current Tanzanian Prime Minist good thing. Nonetheless, in the context of political promises, hope should be based on something concrete. May I suggest basing our hope even on the past performance of a polier, personally. To be honest, I have never heard of the guy before his appointment to the Minister for Regional Administration and Local Governments post. That is not to say that he is not suitable for the PM’s job. Mr. Kikwete must have seen something in him, which stood out among the 30 million plus Tanzanians.

Despite the President’s vote of confidence in him, putting all my eggs in Mr. Pinda’s basket would be a risky strategy. I don’t know everything, but I am not that naïve either. If I have to project Mr. Mizengo’s future performance based on what he has produced in the past, the picture ain’t pretty. My recollection tells me that under Mr. Pinda’s watch, the government failed to establish where the newly established Rorya district’s headquarters would be, effectively and efficiently. As a matter of fact, the issue is still unresolved.

I blogged on that and you can definitely check that out over here.

In my perspective, the establishment of the Rorya district, including where the headquarters should be, was not such an overly complex endeavor. So why in the world would Mizengo Pinda, with the most recent leadership failure, be given even more responsibilities? Maybe the Rorya failure wasn’t such a big deal to Tanzanians. Perhaps Tanzanians have such low expectations that any warm body can become a PM.

That could be the case, but if Tanzanians want to make strides, the quality of people we give leadership responsibilities should match our aspirations and desires. I don’t see anything in Mizengo Pinda’s past to match that future grand vision.

I know it is too early to judge, but if the Swahili saying “Nyota njema uonekana asubuhi” holds true, then Masoud Kipanya sees something bigger that the rest of Tanzanians should be aware of. It was definitely great for Edward Lowassa to go, but may be Mizengo Pinda is also “all hat and no cattle”, if I should borrow a saying from Texas.

Buyers, please beware.

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Photo Credit: KP

Pinda: Passionate Men Do Cry

My son, Jedrick, found this little game of power. He thinks it is so cool of him to order people around to cry. Now and then, when we are in a playful mood (and where fimbo is not involved as a way of bringing some order and discipline); he would order me to cry. I’m typically ordered to cry when I ask for one of his toys. My cry, it seems, becomes enough to receive his mercy.

So I oblige much to his amusement. But that is just me playing with my boy.

Recently, the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda shed some tears in the parliament for some serious reasons.

Honestly, that’s almost unbelievable. And I’m not trying to be sarcastic about that. It is simply hard to see men in the African context express their emotions. Well, almost all men across the board feel that expressing emotions is wimpy.

Personally, I found a hero in Pinda. Of course, assuming the tears weren’t some political ploy to keep his sweet job.

I found a hero in Pinda for two reasons – one, it takes a lot of courage to defy social norms (like a belief that men don’t cry). And courage, trust me, is a quality lacking in most Tanzanian’s leaders. Mr. Pinda didn’t whack someone in complicated judo maneuvers to acquire heroism, but handled himself with a lot of grace.

The second reason for hailing Mr. Pinda is that he expressed humility. Maybe it is just me, but political leaders in Tanzania got so pompous, to the extend they made you believe they were above reproach. Truth is – we all err, but it is so refreshing to see a person in a higher public office humble himself.

Granted, Mr. Pinda still me owe me a ton – like the Rorya thing – but I can definitely give him some kudos for walking a path that many Tanzania leaders have failed to walk, which is the ability to express their genuine passion and humility. And for that I applaud him.

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Photo: Michuzi