Painful Moments…

Life is just, well, life
It provided me with a wonderful mother-in-law,
A mother to my wife
But why would she go so soon, what was her flaw?
These are painful moments

Life is just, well, life
Through many questions, pains and even sorrow
That cut as knife,
Your memories will be alive today and tomorrow
To overcome painful moments

Life is just, well, life
But through it all, God is still the best
In joy and strife
He provides peace, wisdom and uncommon rest
Even in painful moments

Jaduong’ Metty
Columbus, Ohio

In memory of my wonderful mother-in-law who passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on Monday, March 31, 2008 in Moshi, Tanzania.

When Politicians Lie…

The good thing about advancement in technology, particularly the information technology is this, I can prove our politicians wrong right here from a foreign land. Isn’t that amazing?

Honestly, I have so much respect for Dr. Slaa. He has been one of the fiery politicians who are not afraid to stretch the imagination of those in power. He could be just another politician, but what he has accomplished in bringing the BoT scandal to light deserves its due praise.

So, does that mean Dr. Slaa gets it right all the time? You would think that, him being a PhD holder and all. Just read the following story to get the context in which I am slamming this dude.

What caught my attention in that story is the following sentence from Dr. Slaa:

“I have not seen any country that has privatised power supply”

Mh….let me scratch my head a little bit. Well, the sentence could mean two things. Either no country has ever handed over a government-owned power supply company to private ownership or no country has ever allowed privately owned companies to play in the power supply market.

Given the context and discussion within which Dr. Slaa made his point, it is safe to argue that our esteemed Doctor meant that no country in the world has ever allowed privately owned companies to supply power. We will find out if that is true.

I just hate it when my fellow Bongolanders are fed junk. This was definitely one of those dumpster materials from a reputable politician. Let me just shred Dr. Slaa’s statement into tiny little pieces. I will accomplish that with practical experiences.

Dr. Slaa, please hear this. The supplier of electricity to my humble abode is none other than American Electric Power (AEP). AEP, dear friend, happened to be a non-government owned power supply company. The company also is publicly traded at New York Stock Exchange. You want some proof? Check out the company’s website for yourself.

Need I say more?

The saddest part is that I am sure someone clapped for that crap.
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Photo Credit: Food For Thought Blog.

If It Ain't Your Forte...

Sometimes I just laugh at how Bongolanders like to pull a fast one on themselves. I mean, someone would pretend to be an expert in an area where…well, they are essentially Maimunas. The end result, for someone who really knows the field, is just downright hilarious. I am not against trying, but there are areas where experimentation is a no-no. Especially when you call a press conference, with planned points.

Let’s get down to it, shall we?

Well, y’all know the whole BoT scandal and how there have been a whole lot of dilly-dallying displayed by the Tanzanian AG – Mr. Johnson Mwanyika. By the way, I just think this guy is a really good example of how “empty” the Tanzania government is. I mean, the guy can’t make a convincing point! That, to me, begs the question, how in the heck did become the country’s AG? Is that how Tanzanian legal experts are?

I wouldn’t conclude that though, because I have heard some very good Tanzanian lawyers making some very good and convincing points.

Going back to the EPA funds thievery, the Attorney General initially contended that commission appointed by the President was taking all its time and cautions to finalize the investigation on BoT funds’ looters. In his explanation, he pointed two things – one, exposing the name of looters would be jeopardize the possibility of collecting all the funds, and secondly, going after these thieves is a bit complicated given that the recipients of the EPA funds were companies, which are legally regarded as “persons”.

I have very little knowledge of the Tanzanian business laws, but I would imagine that those laws are not far off from “universal” business laws. Based on my understanding, it is true that a limited liability company, typically denoted by a LTD in Tanzania, shields owners from being pursued when the company owes money. In other words, when a company goes belly up, debtors cannot go after personal assets of the owners.

This is called a corporate veil, which Mwanyika explained above.

Corporate veil could be pierced in some cases, especially if a company was a sham and essentially set up to defraud. Given the facts regarding the EPA funds’ thievery, AG’s contention of complication in prosecuting EPA funds’ looters is…well, stupid. Unless, the Tanzania laws are set up in such a way that corporate veil could not be penetrated for any reason under the sun. I am presuming that is not the case and that Mwanyika was trying to pull a fast one on us.

Let forget about Mwanyika for a minute and fast-forward with me.

Apart from Mwanyika, another member of the EPA investigation commission is the Inspector General of Police – Said Mwema. Apparently Mr. Mwema has taken a somewhat tougher stance on the looters, likening the looters to terrorists. Tanzania Daima covered part of IGP's address to the press. But what really caught my eyes was this sentence:

“Sasa tumeshavuka corporate vein (wigo wa makampuni)…”

Given the context of the EPA scandal and what the AG has earlier talked about, I am sure Mr. Mwema meant “corporate veil”. Was he misquoted? Possibly, because the Tanzania Daima undisclosed writer opted to interpret corporate vein as a “corporate network”, which does not make sense also in the given context.

This story does not have any juice to it, from a contextual standpoint, but it still highlights one of the biggest problems in Tanzania, where folks are trying to impress in areas which are not their strength. This is my perspective: given that plenty of information and speeches given by politicians and whoever calls a press conference are posted online, it is necessary to avoid exposing yourself (negatively) to the entire world.

If indeed Mr. Mwema talked about “corporate vein”, then I can only assume he picked that from AG, but didn’t quite understand what it meant. Given the Tanzanian culture where asking questions for clarification is equated to stupidity, it is very possible that the poor guy went on and used a word he didn’t understand!

On the other hand, if the Tanzania Daima writer misquoted the IPG (which is more than likely), then just shoot the writer, would you? Someone once contended that Tanzania journalists should have at least a college degree. In cases like this, that person was absolutely justified. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the person who made that suggestion is nobody other than Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe.

My point is this, if an area is not your forte, don’t play a hero. You could end up making a fool of yourself.

By the way, what in the world is corporate vein? I could be the one missing something here. Please let me if you know anything.

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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

I Told You So…

Let me just admit to the fact that I am not a genius by any imagination. As a matter of fact, I goof just like the rest of humanity. I err just like all of us. Nonetheless, once in a while I get things right. And that makes me feel justified in calling out the doubters of this blog – I told you so!

I have been accused on leaning towards the negative side of the Tanzanian experience. I understand that and I am doing that deliberately. But, boy, it feels so great to “dunk” on my “enemies” and wag a finger like Mutombo Dikembe (in case you have not seen Mutombo do that, please consult any NBA nut head).

So what is this fuss or junk I am writing about? I will tell you.

Once upon a time when Tanzania faced drought which led to power problems, the then elected Mr. President contended that power problems were not to be blamed on anybody in particular, as this was an act of negligence, but a test from God. In case you forgot the story, just revisit my original reflection right here.

Little did I know that almost one year and a half later; I would be proven to be right on the money. In case you didn’t have time to revisit my reflection, let me fill you in. In a nutshell, I bored a hole in Mr. JMK’s argument that electricity problems in Tanzania were not to be attributed to negligence. I provided the fact that Tanzania Meteorological Agency is charged with weather trends observation and prediction. I also pointed out the fact that TMA actually predicted rain deficiencies and that data was available – on the TMA’s website!

Guess what? Recently, Raia Mwema reported that Dr. Mohammed Mhita, TMA’s director general, confirmed that the agency do produce weather reports that are disseminated to, among other places, the State House and TANESCO!

So who is still doubting the fact that Mr. JMK is a goofball and that Tanzania will NEVER go anywhere (except backward) with him as the president? In case you are wondering why I think so, just revisit many of my past reflections, some of which dissected the president’s thinking. Honestly, I don’t think we have the greatest critical thinker in the president. But that is just me.

But re-dissecting the Prez wasn’t my main point though. I just wanted to let know how great it feels to say “I told you so!”

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Photo Credit: NBA

Introspection – The Fear of Self?

According my Google search, introspection could be defined as “self-observation of one's thoughts and feelings”, “is a technique of self-observation”, “a process of inward attention or reflection, so as to examine the contents of the mind”, etc. The underlying concept though, is that introspection is about taking an inventory of self.

I am not a psychologist, so if I get some of the concepts wrong in this reflection, I am welcoming those who are experts in the field of psychology to help out by correcting me. In the end, my objective is for all us to grow and learn.

What has prompted me to write on this piece is my observation of the way most Tanzanians, including my very own relatives, tends to attribute their issues and problems to some external factors. Hardly do you come across a person who is willing and humbly ready to take ownership of their state of affairs. Everyone is just almost always on the lookout for that mchawi out there.

Unfortunately, our political leaders are not exempted. I have hardly come across an African leader who is ready to take an inventory of Africans’ own doing. You are more than likely to hear the old and tired rhetoric, such as how badly the white folks are exploiting Africa and how Africa could have been developed if it wasn’t for colonialism. You know the usual junk that flows, like river Nile, from the mouths of the so-called African leaders.

Well, I know that colonialism wasn’t the best thing that happened to Africa. But that Africans are not the only people that were colonized. History attests to that. I also think that it is crazy to blame the West for exploitation of Africa, while the same Africans are exploiting each other. So I threw this challenge out - to what extent should we blame Africa’s problems to external factors and to what degree should we attribute the Continent’s woes to self-destruction?

Guess what? No one has ever given me a response to that.

And I am not surprised. That is because responding to that question requires self introspection. Not in Ghana, not in Zambia, not in Tanzania, would you find a typical African willing to take a closer look inside. And that is where the biggest Africa’s problems lie. We are very afraid of ourselves, because what we see inside is not pretty. So we find a comfort zone is singing the same old songs.

But let me just speak to my peeps – Tanzanians.

Shifting or projecting of our problems to external factors diminishes a sense of personal responsibility. And I am not crazy for saying that. The fact that our president would proudly regard his trips abroad as a success simply because he secured some donor funds proves my point. The beggar’s mentality, which I have address in this very blog, is just an outcome of lack of self introspection and a sense of personal responsibility. If the government is not setting up realistic goals on when to end donor dependency, that tells a lot about our character and the desire for personal responsibility. It is very sad that we derive more satisfaction from what others do for us than the best we can do for ourselves.

Lack of introspection has also made Tanzanians reactive. I stand to be corrected, but I don’t see any indication that Tanzanians are proactive. That is because lack of introspection leads to a victim mentality. The victim mentality makes one feel that whatever happens to them is attributed to someone or something out there and not self. The worst part is that the victim mentality does not encourage the assumption of a leadership position. You can never be a leader (in politics, science, sports, etc) if all you do is wait for something bad to happen to you (giving you a reason to throw a pity party) or something good to be handed to you (giving you a reason to feel accepted).

Because Tanzanians, and most Africans for that matter, tend to glorify the victim mentality, it has become very difficult to identify and focus on their unique strengths and potential. You know what? Everyone faces obstacles and opposition. The world is a competitive place. Nothing comes for free and only those determined enough gets the prize. Most winners, however, focus on their strength while minimizing their weaknesses. The reality is that you can never fully identify and exploit your strength if you don’t know who you are. And discovering self requires plenty of introspection.

At the very end of the day, lack of self introspection brings down a very damning outcome, and that is lack of development. And this is not only at a national level, but also on a personal level. Progress and development requires adaptation to changing environment and boldly taking a lead in setting the future trends. Taking those steps is impossible if you think that your circumstance is controlled by someone else.

See, what introspection does is to give us an opportunity to connect our failures or success to our mindset, attitudes, strategies, tactics, tendencies, etc. All successful people do that. I know that most Tanzanians are quick to conclude, typically without concrete evidence or wrong political ideas, that problems in Bongoland are attributed to some evil wazungu. That is not entirely true. I think we should all look inside before we step out looking for that mchawi, because our enemy in most cases is ourselves.

How big is the problem of lack of introspection in Tanzania? It is humongous. Just read
this article .

Why in the world would the Tanzanian government be offended by the delay of donor funds? When was the last time beggars had any rights? That, amigo, underscores the fact that we can’t even be ashamed. Shame, of course, comes when we can look at ourselves and know that we messed up. When we justify shameful things, we are either stupid, insensitive, or we are just not from this world.

May be self introspection is also a sign of intelligence. If that is the case, then, oh well.

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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

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

So, What’s the Point…?

I think I have taken this road before, but I will dare take it again just for the sake of clarity. I typically don’t like to open up a whole new post just to respond to my readers’ comments, but I am prompted to do that in order to clarify my position.

Recently, one of my readers pointed out that this blog has “increasingly become irrelevant”. Let me try to draw an analogy to that. If I were a soccer player, that would mean that I am increasingly getting tired and losing my “juice”, can’t dribble and juggle anymore. If I were a soda, I am getting flat as flat could be. Man that is heavy.

I have to admit that I didn’t do a good job of being specific and articulate of what I wanted to say in my last blog. If I say something that leaves room for two thousand interpretations, I have failed as a writer. So I am shouldering the blame, 100% of it.

The biggest question that I have; in response to the reader’s comments that this blog is increasingly becoming irrelevant, who decides the relevance of any blog? At what point was this blog so relevant? And if there is such a concept, how do we determine a blog’s relevance, given that the subjectivity of all blogs? Could it be that I undermined the expectations and responsibilities that were unofficially placed on me?

I don't know.

So what exactly is the point of this blog? It is my personal reflection of what is happening in Bongoland. There are plenty of things that happen in Bongoland on any given day. So I have to pick and chose what I want to say and how I want to say it. At the end of the day, this is not a newspaper with a strict editorial concept. This is my field. This is where I open my mind and my heart to the entire world.

I can only guess why some readers feel that this blog is losing its juice. The issue is really not with me, the issue is with the Tanzanian society that is not changing. As such, by pointing out the same ills over and over again, I find myself in a position that could be viewed as nagging. That is a tough position to be in.

Seriously though, let try to explain the foundation on which this blog is standing on. My view is that issues facing Tanzania are not due to lack of money or resources. The problem is a wrong mindset. As simple as that sounds, it is not easy to see if you are part of a typical Tanzanian mindset. So my attempt is to connect various stories and incidences to that central theme of mindset. Occasionally, I would venture away from that, but the mindset thing is the major theme of this blog.

Does it get boring at times to hammer the same thing over and over again? You bet it does. Honestly, sometimes I don’t feel like writing on the same crap from Tanzanian leaders. Sometimes I don't feel like writing, period. So I find ways to keep myself going. Does it also feel like that I am only critical? That also is true, and that is because I feel my calling is not to hold hands and sing love songs with a typical destructive Tanzanian mentality.

If you don’t get what I am saying, check the difference between Michuzi and Mjengwa’s blog. We all have a voice and I acknowledge that mine could be a little bit harsher. Nevertheless, that’s my calling and I have to live with that.

My plea is this: if you think I am pointing out is irrelevant, think again. Let me just give you a good example. Recently, a Daily News columnist, Makwaia wa Kuhenga reflected on donor dependence syndrome, That was Thursday, February 21, 2008. I don’t mean to brag, but I have reflected on that on the same concept on July 18, 2006. If you do a little bit of math, that was over one and a half years ago!

That defies the irrelevance of this blog, wouldn’t you agree? Perhaps my biggest shortcoming is being ahead of many Tanzanians.

My point is this: I try to talk about fundamental concepts that are universal. We don’t have the same talents, so I don’t expect every Tanzanian to jump on my bandwagon. Nonetheless, failure to embrace universal principles I am pointing out will just result in our Tanzanian society being stuck on the same spot year in, year out. I wonder if Makwaia reads my blog, but even if he does not, it is thrilling to know that he has finally found a voice of reason and seen those universal truths.

Pointing out those fundamental truths have been the mission of this blog all along. I don’t see that mission changing anytime soon.
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Photo credit: Michuzi

Tanzania: No Hope for the Future?

Did I ever tell you that my job requires “professional skepticism” as one of the pillars? Well, maybe I have demonstrated that level of skepticism in my writing, who knows. I wouldn’t be surprised if you readers have noticed that. That is because sometimes your professional life influences your personal life to the extent that the two ends up intertwined.

Am I allowed to crack jokes at my own line of work? I think I am. Well, the key word there is “skepticism”. The word “professional” is attached to it so that we won’t spook ordinary citizens. In a nutshell, “skepticism” requires me not to take anything at face value. You have to throw me some proof, otherwise I will just give you a look that will rush you into producing (or doctoring) your supporting details. You have to convince me. I guess that’s why I laugh when someone like Mr. JK goes around announcing a new push for a fight against majambazi . Dude, what happened to the last push, which resulted in formation of a special security unit?

Stuff like that doesn’t make sense to me. My natural response, therefore, is to become cynical. I truly desire to believe, but man, these Bongo politicians are full of crap. Surprisingly though, you will find poor wananchi clapping. Clapping for what? What has this smiley face done for you lately? Hasn’t the talk always been “serikali ina mpango wa blah…blah…blah.”? In my thirty-something years, the Tanzanian government has always been about planning and very shallow on doing.

Don’t get me started.

Well, I had a point about the whole skepticism thing. My job, due to the required level of skepticism, prompts me to look for little detail, the small prints. So I was going through this article publish by Washington Post and my mind couldn’t just help, but to zoom on the following line from the author, Anne Applebaum:

“The more hope you have for the future, the more frustrating it is to be badly governed”

The main thrust of the article, obviously, was the Kenyan election fiasco. Nevertheless, I could stop my mind from reflecting on my fellow Tanzanians. The biggest question that came to mind is this: Are many Tanzanian really hopeful for the future? If so, how is wananchi’s frustration on bad governance reflected? I mean, really, do you have to be a genius to see that Tanzanian government, when it comes down to good governance, is a joke?

Maybe, again, it is just I just see things in a totally different way.

I stand to be corrected, but my assessment is that the majority of Tanzanians have little hope for the future. That is evidenced by lack of courage to call for a new political direction. There is no real courage to even vote for the alternative. While lack of the opposition’s strength in Tanzania is self-made, I strongly believe that the opposition cannot do much, if wananchi prefer clinging to CCM despite the party’s evident lack of true leadership in this current generation. My argument, however, should be regarded as unfounded if the recent EL’s resignation could be regarded as a major political shift in Tanzania.

But let just wait and see.

You know what? I think the Kenyan experience has clearly brought to life that pathetic state in Tanganyika, and that is the fact that majority of Tanzanians are not educated enough to see their potential. Quite naturally, you can’t hope for what you don’t know or can’t visualize. I am not pulling these arguments out of thin air, trust me. Statistics prove the difference between the post secondary education level in Kenya and Tanzania.

According to statistics I found on the International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA) online resource, in 2000, the number of enrollment in higher education institutions in Kenya was approximately 49,000 compared to 37,000 in Tanzania. If you take those figures as a percentage of the entire population (even ignoring the fact that capitalist economy had forced many Kenyans be aggressive in the pursuit of opportunities for years), Tanzania is obviously a country full of Maimunas.

In a nutshell, Kenyans have been able to make political changes (though it hasn’t been smoothly) simply because the majority of the population is well-informed.

On the flip-side, the Tanzanian population, which is bit ignorant compared to that of Kenya, has been swallowing political rhetoric from CCM like peanuts without a critical look at the performance of those in power. That notion, again, is just not pigments of my imagination. According to recent polls conducted by the Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania (REDET), which I had blogged on, there is a higher correlation between the approval of the CCM’s performance and the education level of the general Tanzanian population. In a nutshell, the less educated a Tanzanian is, the happier they are with CCM’s governance and vice versa.

Obviously, education and information are key elements in enlightening someone about not only themselves and their environment, but also what they can achieve. My conspiracy theory is that CCM has deliberately put a system in place to undermine education. One can argue otherwise, but I don’t think the Lowassas and Nchimbis are that dumb to create an environment where their influence, power and position in society will be eradicated through provision of quality education to the “other class” of Tanzanians.

I strongly believe that things are changing in Tanzania. And they must. There are signs that wananchi are starting to demand accountability from their leaders. Nonetheless, the level at which wananchi are displaying their discontent is not significant enough. As change happens, I can’t just wait for the day when wananchi would demonstrate their frustration with the CCM clowns through their votes or hijacking the streets, whichever works. All in all, I don’t think that the majority of Tanzanians are that hopeful for a better future. If they do, it doesn’t show.

But what can we say about hope though? “Hope is a good thing, may the best of things…”.

That quote, amigos, is from one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. May be Dr. Mwakyembe knows something about hope.
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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

EL: Just Couldn't Wait?

As I pointed out in my previous post, I don’t feel sorry for Mr. Lowassa. Obviously, I desire for him to repent for all his sins, but it is all up to him to do a soul search. Nevertheless, as far as his resignation is concerned, I just feel that “justice” was served. I am over 5,000 miles away from Tanzania, but the joy that the rest of Bongolanders felt when this guy announced his resignation, couldn’t just solidify my feelings even more.

We all transgress and hence beg for mercy and forgiveness at times. But forgiveness must come when one has seen the evil and wrong in them. Not my friend EL. He had to defend and justify his corrupt ways. The guy does not even feel an ounce of shame. Would you forgive a guy who is that arrogant?

Not in my court. And I think this guy is just evil. I am sorry to say that, but when a guy is not remorseful there must be plenty of ugliness brewing inside of them.

You know what though; I liked what the courage exhibited by MP Seleli, by challenging the former PM to swallow his own words and withdrew his stupid counterpunch. I just wonder why this story wasn’t widely publicized. But it was definitely juicy. Read on…

I do not evidence, but the vineyard in Tanzania has it that Mr. Lowassa started his corrupt ways a long time ago. That prompted the late Nyerere to carry out a negative campaign against this guy. That story could somehow be construed to be true, given the fact that Mr. Lowassa was eventually dropped from the Cabinet by President Mkapa in 2000. Given that Mkapa was handpicked by Nyerere, dropping Mr. Lowassa from the Cabinet was done by Mkapa to appease Nyerere.

Could it be that Mkapa was all hypocritical and not loyal to Nyerere? According to IPP Media, Mkapa brought Mr. Lowassa back to glory following the 2000 elections . Is it just mere coincidence that the reinstatement of Lowassa to a ministerial post was done after Nyerere’s death in 1999? You be the judge.

We all know that the Mkapa ended being just as corrupt as Mr. Lowassa himself.

I think I am getting off track. Let me steer my mind back to where I was going with this.

In Tanzania, Mr. Lowassa is regarded to be the president’s buddy, best buddy to be exact. I think there is nothing wrong with having your friend help you run the government. That is because a friend is in the best position to understand your ambition, goals and vision. That also works out great when such goals and visions are positive and meant to advance the country. Ideally, Mr. Lowassa could have helped Mr. Kikwete be the best Tanzanian president ever.

Time will tell if Kikwete is not another Mkapa in terms of corruption. Nonetheless, if Mr. Kikwete turns out to be of a different breed, then Mr. Lowassa is and will be in a very awkward position. That is, Mr. Lowassa will forever be regarded as a stupid PM who selfishly betrayed his friend. Mr. Lowassa will forever be regarded as the worst friend because a good friend doesn’t steal from a friend’s pockets. A good political friend doesn’t smear a friend’s government with dirt. But guess what? Mr. Lowassa just violated those friendship “codes”.

Of all stinky things that Mr. Lowassa could have done, to jump on the very first country crisis that Mr. Kikwete faced as a president to set in motion his corruption machine was the worst.

Try to imagine that.

It is scary to imagine that on the very first country crisis, the PM rolled out his corruption guns. Try to imagine what he could have done in ten years potentially as a PM. Try to imagine the fact that the guy was in a position to become the Tanzanian president in about 8 years.

Given that Mr. Lowassa, who was already stinking rich in Tanzanian terms, couldn’t wait for a couple of years before dipping his fingers into the government honey pot speaks volume about his character. And to me, that character is a stench of evil.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kikwete didn't know that. Or did he?

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Photo Credit: www.kikweteshein.com

EL’s Downfall: One for The History

There is an old Swahili saying which goes like this “Kila lenye mwanzo halikosi kuwa na mwisho”. The meaning of that proverbial saying is that anything with a starting point must have an ending point. From a practical standpoint, seeing an end, particularly of a painful experience, could seem like an eternity. I just sensed that something was changing in Tanzania, thought at a slower pace, but I didn’t expect it to come this fast.

What I am talking about if you might ask? I am talking about an abrupt the resignation of the embattled Prime Minister, Mr. Edward Lowassa. Man, was that a joy in my heart!

Just read blog posts from Michuzi and Mrocky.

It is not like I am coldhearted, but I don’t feel sorry for the dude. Knowing the Tanzanian culture, forgiveness is almost always granted for those in higher position, with very stupid excuses such as “shetani mbaya alimpitia” or “hii ni mara yake ya kwanza”. For all y’all non Swahili speakers, the two excuses stand for blaming the devil and downplaying the misconduct for being the first offense, respectively. I am not feeling sorry for Mr. Lowassa for two reasons. One he was trusted by the poor Tanzanian people and secondly he did everything deliberately.

One has to picture a poor farmer in Morogoro, for instance. One has to visualize the poor farmers who are trying to make ends meet on a handheld hoe, poor folks who do not have access to better health care while the so called “viongozi” get their regular medical check-up abroad, school kids who don’t have adequate facilities while “viongozi” are driving expensive cars, or “educated” officials who sign stupid mining contracts to really see that what Mr. Lowassa and other folks implicated in the Dr. Mwakyembe’s report did was just gross betrayal.

I can’t really see how a sensible human being would do what the likes of Lowassa do. Probably being a leader in Tanzania requires being crazy, stupid and insensitive. Probably it requires throwing out your basic humanity for power, prestige and money. Probably it requires thinking more of you than the rest of the poor people who trust, depend, and hope that your knowledge, education and vision to help them out. I really don’t know.

Nonetheless, I honestly think that the likes of Mr. Lowassa are simply evil. Very evil. You can’t explain that differently.

I was just reading the reaction from both Mr. Lowassa and Mr. Karamagi and I couldn’t just help myself but laugh. How could these people be so stupid? In their defense against Dr. Mwakyembe’s report, these two honorable ministers claimed that they were never interviewed by the parliamentary committee headed by Dr. Mwakyembe.

Let me just throw in another Swahili saying “Mfa maji haachi kutapatapa”. Do you want me to interpret that? I’ll let you learn a little bit of Swahili on your own. Well, apparently these two gentlemen are trying to make it sound like being interviewed by the parliamentary committee could have exonerated them. Nice try. I read Dr. Mwakyembe’s report and the report provided enough detail, including documented communication and directives from Mr. Lowassa and Mr. Karamagi. As a matter of fact, Mr. Karamagi asserted that “the report is factually correct, but debatable in some aspects”. Let me think about what that means.

What it means is that these two are crazy, stupid, or hallucinating. Just like someone drowning, a little feeble root in the ocean could be thought of as a saving rope. Dudes, you are going down!

What makes Mr. Lowassa and Karamagi’s defense childish is the fact that the conclusions made by Dr. Mwakyembe’s report were not based on personal opinions, but supported by solid evidence. I just hate it when people like Lowassa and Karamagi, despite being on their way down; still think we are all stupid. For instance, when Karamagi makes a phone call from Canada or Lowassa writes a memo that gives directives that violate procurement regulations, how in the world is that “debatable”?

Besides, to what degree is the report factually correct? 100%? 90%? 10%?

I am saying it again. These people are just evil to the extent that they have lost sense of reality. You know what though? Being evil sometimes makes one stupid also. I think I heard that somewhere.

I am just glad for the poor and powerless Tanzanians who have waited for so long for a day like this. I am excited for the likes of Dr. Slaa who have tirelessly and boldly spoken against evil in Tanzania. I am happy for the likes of Dr. Mwakyembe who deliberately decided to violate the CCM political norm for the sake of poor Tanzanians. I am glad for the saints who have tirelessly prayed for Tanzania.

This one is definitely for the history. This one is a genesis of a better Tanzania. I consider myself blessed and privileged to be a part of probably a progressive generation of Tanzanians.

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Photo Credit: IPPMedia

JMK: Arghhhhhhhhh....!

I hardly struggle to come up with a catchy title for my musing of the day. On this day, let me just scream. In case you are wondering what is prompting me to scream, this president of ours is driving me nuts. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect the president to be perfect. That is because we all err. We all make mistakes in our judgment. As a matter of fact, to err is human.

Despite the fact that we all err, it is laughable when the president is surrounded by advisors and speech writers who are responsible for scrutinizing every word, every sentence and every concept that is disseminated from the president’s mouth for public consumption and analysis, yet comes up with wobbly ideas.

Let’s just get down to why I am musing today. Recently, the president addressed the nation. I am not going to dissect the whole speech, but two things caught my attention. One, he touched on the subprime problems in the United States of America. The president pointed out that he had directed folks in his government to review the impact of economic problems in the United States of America on Tanzania.

It is true that the United State of America is one of the largest economies, and that what happens in the US could send a domino effect across the globe. My question, however, is the extent to which what happens in America could largely affect Tanzania. The last time I checked, our stock market is a tiny, weeny, little drop in the ocean, not even tied to the global stock market. Secondly, we do little business with the United States of America compared to the rest of East African countries, so it is not like Tanzanian export to the American market would greatly be affected.

Since Tanzania depends on tourism a lot, you could make an argument that American tourists, with little change in their pockets due to recession, would find it meaningless to trek across the globe to see wild animals in Serengeti. But the last time I checked, America does not produce a larger portion of tourists visiting Tanzania. As a matter of fact, we just recently started marketing Tanzanian tourist attractions in the US. If you ask me, the president’s call is all political rhetoric without any practical meaning.

I think the Kenyan crisis, to the contrary, is affecting Tanzania more than the American subprime mortgage problems. If we can’t even see what is happening in our own back yard, why in the world do we think we can fathom complex issues farther away? I know, I know. Just throw in America in your sentence and all of a sudden you sound intellectual and informed.

Psssss…I am letting you in on a little secret. As stock markets across the globe do badly, guess what happens? The price of gold soars, since investors move their money from stocks to gold. What that means is that if we didn’t have imbeciles structuring mining contracts, we could have actually been making more money on the subprime mortgage crisis. But since we are stupid, the sharp rise in gold prices will only end up benefiting Canadians. So don’t you feel like sending Mr. President a good luck greetings card?

We must have really smart people in the Tanzanian government.

We can all be aloud now. The second issue that Mr. JMK touched on was the call for political leaders to make a choice between business and public service. On the surface, this call actually seems logical, given the recent Bank of Tanzania scandal, which I am sure implicated plenty of CCM big dogs. To regain political equity, the president is essentially calling for a reversal of the Zanzibar Declaration, which paved way for political leaders to play into the business arena.

I can understand where the president is trying to go with this, but again, his view (or the thinking of his advisors) ignores plenty of other practical solutions. There are plenty of ideas on the way to solve political leaders’ ethical meltdown that have been provided by my fellow Tanzanians. You can check out Mr. Lusekelo's ideas right here and Dr. Semboja and others' thought over here.

Just to punch some more holes in the president’s thinking, let me just focus on one aspect, which is the process through which ministers assume their positions. As far as I know (and please fellow Tanzanians, correct me if I am wrong), ministers are appointed by the president. Also, I know that ministers must be members of parliament. So this is my bone with the president – if ministers do not apply for their positions, but appointed by you, why in the world would you go in public to cry out against the very people you appointed? If you have an issue with business owners-cum-politicians, why appoint them into ministerial positions in the first place?

Honestly, I think that it is ridiculous that the president acts as if he just experienced an epiphany about the political system in Tanzania. This is all stupidity and cheap political ploy, if you ask me.

The reality of the matter is that barring politicians from owning businesses will not stop them from owning one. It is one thing to formulate policies and regulations, and it is another to have a serious resolve in enforcing those policies and regulations. If anything, rules and regulations, especially those associated with leadership ethics, mean nothing in the Tanzanian context. Wouldn’t you expect the president’s advisors to know that the solution is a different enforcement mechanism and not reverting to failed Ujamaa thinking, given that we have a plethora of ethical guidelines already in place?

I guess I am living in a different world. I guess I don’t understand the world in which our president lives in. But if I have to be honest, Mr. JMK is the biggest goof ball Tanzanians have ever had for a president. History will someday prove me right or wrong. But I have no reason to believe that this guy has a clue of what he is doing. I don’t see any sense of direction or purpose from him.

I really didn’t think the shortage of intelligent people (generally speaking) in Tanzania was really that bad, but I am starting to believe.
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Photo Credit: Michuzi

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

Hasheem and UConn Rocking

I was just relaxing at home, flipping TV channels, when I bumped into the UConn and Indiana game. Surprisingly, UConn, which is unranked team, beat Indiana which is ranked #7 in the country.

I don't have sophisticated video equipment, but I was able to catch a few shots of Hasheem in action. Watch out for the UConn #34 and enjoy. UConn are in dark colors...

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Living In Yesterdays

I am a firm believer in equality. Well, I also understand that equality could be relative, based on what you are referring to. Regardless, I believe that all of us should be given an opportunity to express our thoughts and feelings. I have a little son and I can tell you that the boy is trying so much to express himself. Though what I hear from the little fella is gibberish, he is always trying to say something. He is trying to express himself just like the rest of human beings.

Because we are all wired differently, human beings don't typically agree on all things. Though the judgment of whether what we say is meaningful could be agreed upon by all human beings. That standard is called common sense. Sometimes, I come across articles and thoughts from my fellow human beings and I can't just help but wonder, what was this fellow human thinking? Is this all he or she can see? What about the other side of the coin?

I recently came across this article written by a fellow Tanzanian, Simon Mkina. In a nutshell, the guy was bemoaning the departure of Mwalimu Nyerere. You can definitely feast on the article yourself, lest you accuse of me making stuff up.

One of the things I hate is being stuck in the past. That is not to say that I undermine and belittle the past. I am far from doing that, because there are cases where the past is actually better than the present or even the future. My contention is that we must have a very compelling reason to long for the past. We can't just be nostalgic of the past just for the sake of it. My humble opinion is this – Mr. Mkina's article is a typical example of being stuck in the past.

On the other hand, I can't blame the guy that much. That is because most folks in Tanzania tremble at the very mention of the name Nyerere. We all can't deny the fact that Nyerere's name is very much connected to the Tanzanian history. Honestly, at times it seems like Nyerere is the Tanzanian history. And that is why it becomes difficult for people to differentiate between Nyerere the person, Nyerere the former president and Nyerere the ideals.

Obviously, Mr. Mkina's article demonstrated the failure to dissect those three Nyerere personas.

As I pointed out, it is Simon's prerogative to articulate life as he sees it. That includes his cry for Nyerere. However, my assessment is that this article is overly glorifying Nyerere. This article also prompts to question whether Tanzanians have really come to grips with the fact that Nyerere was just as human as we are, and that the ideals he preached were not new. King Solomon, who lived ions before Nyerere, had already alluded to the fact that there is nothing new under the sun. We just go over the same concepts, though in different forms or times. So Nyerere didn't invent anything new.

I wonder also, whether Tanzanians have come to terms with the fact that Nyerere lost his influence, not after his death, but even before his death. How many times did Nyerere speak against the boys he left in power while still alive? That definitely is a sure sign that the man lost his influence long before he died. Therefore, such a line as "If you (Nyerere) would emerge now, tears would roll down your cheeks over fate of your people" is missing the timing of when Nyerere became less of a factor in the Tanzanian experience.

What breaks my heart is the fact most Tanzanians don't realize that leadership is not endowed on just an elite group of people or a chosen few. The Tanzania of today has just a larger pool of potential great leaders as it was in the early 1950s. That potential could not be realized if we keep on gluing ourselves to Nyerere. That is because is hanging on to Nyerere we miss the fact that there will be no other Nyerere. Also, we miss the fact that Nyerere was fitting his time.

Even more, gluing ourselves to Nyerere is an insult to those folks who, in the present Tanzania, are boldly standing up for the Tanzanian people. Furthermore, it undermines the contribution and greatness of those wonderful folks at Haki Elimu, or even some opposition leaders such as Zitto Kabwe and Dr. Wilboard Slaa. Even worse, gluing ourselves to Nyerere gives an opportunity to outdated folks (like John Malecela and Kingunge Ngombale Mwiru) who cling to Nyerere's rhetoric to fool the regular folks who have no clue of changing times.

And speaking of changing times, with all these new the global forces, how do we know how Nyerere would have fared? As we don't know that, I wouldn't cry for Nyerere in 2008. It is disastrous when leaders go past their times. Just look down under in Zimbabwe and you can understand my point. What we are doing with clinging to Nyerere is creating a fear that Tanzanian without Nyerere is impossible. The effect of that is silencing those with a new vision for Tanzania, just like Nyerere had his.

Every society gets a great leader who influences his generation. The question, therefore, is not what Nyerere did for his generation, but rather who will influence (positively) our current and future generation. As a pointed out earlier, I am not bashing the past, but I think it is stupid to drive your car through a rear view mirror.

And who says a great leader, other than Nyerere, can't arise out of the 35 million folks in Tanzania?

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Photo Credit: www.africanpath.com

That's Moving Forward...(3)

I am not going to hold back giving praise when praise is definitely due. I recently put up a post, highlighting the fact that it only one office in Dar-Es-Salaam was charged with birth and death registration. From my perspective, that wasn’t only stupid given the population statistics of Tanzanians, but also was a nice way of creating a corruption breeding environment.

Well, I just come across this story, and I was definitely thrilled to learn that there is a Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), which is charged with the responsibility of birth and death registration at a ward level. I think that is brilliant and it makes perfect sense.

For that, I commend the government for doing what is sensible. Above all, that's moving forward...

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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

RTF: Sometimes, You Got To Lead Up

It is another week, another dollar…err…shilling…or whatever. Well, what I really wanted to say is that I am glad to be back for another week. You know what; sometimes we take life for granted. Would you kindly kiss your spouse and children, or just call loved ones? Put life into the right perspective now and then, would you? This political stuff that we talk about won’t go away anytime soon, but loved ones can pass on before you know it.

Sounds preachy don’t it?

Let me just throw in this caveat, I am not a genius by any imagination. So don’t take it that whatever I say is because I know it all. As a matter of fact, I’m still learning. Probably a lot. I couldn’t tell you how they make a pencil, or even how this very computer I am using came to being. So I’m just sharing the little I know.

I love Tanzania, but I have to be honest with you. That country stinks sometimes. You have educated people who are acting (on a world class) as little kids. I recently came across this story on the Internet, where the Tanzania Revenue Authority’s Commissioner-General, Harry Kitilya, admitted that there were major weaknesses in mining tax management and that TRA lacked capacity in handling mining tax management.

Read the original story for yourself right here.

From my perspective, that is a scary thought. But in Bongoland, everything is possible, even dumb things.

So if you want to know what I think of Mr. Harry Kitilya as a TRA’s Commissioner-General, I think he stinks. I don’t know the man personally, so this is just an assessment of his managerial and strategic planning abilities.

I honestly believe that all facets of our life follow certain universal principles. There are physical principles, for instance. If you want to buff up your biceps, you have to hit the gym. From a spiritual standpoint, spiritual growth also depends on spiritual exercises such as prayer, fasting and delving into the word of God, for instance.

I believe that one of the universal principles that separate the average Joe from a super Joe is the ability to study and modify one’s approach as the environment changes. The ability to view life from a prospective as opposed to a retrospective alone could easily tell who is living in yesteryears’ glory and who’s chasing the next big wave.

This is my conviction, and I would not argue if I am corrected – tax systems are not static. Tax systems are dynamic, being influenced constantly by political, social and economic forces. On the other hand, tax systems also could influence social and economic aspects of citizens’ experience. That being said, why would a tax commissioner not be in tune with the changing economic policies in his own country, given that the economic policies and even administrative directives from the government very much influence daily activities of a tax authority?

Mr. Kitilya can’t argue against being out of touch with the changing factors that influence the tax system, particularly the capacity to enforce tax laws. That is because the Tanzanian government’s decision to solicit foreign investors, particularly in the mining sector, was bound to bring in a requirement of a different tax experience and skill sets. As a tax Commissioner, Mr. Kitilya is and was supposed to know this. As a Commissioner, Mr. Kitilya is and was supposed to have the ability to assess the impact of all policy changes in the country on the TRA.

Surprisingly, TRA's own website lists principles of a good tax administration, which includes Managing and Adapting to Change. So what good does it do to have theoretical principles on the website that TRA couldn’t put into practice?

Remember I talked about having a retrospective versus prospective view? While I commend Mr. Kitilya for acknowledging that TRA weaknesses when it came to complex mining tax issues, that does not take away the fact that this assessment should have been done prospectively and not retroactively. We can all agree that the cost of Mr. Kitilya’s incompetence in prospective assessment of the impact of policy change on the tax system has been in terms of billions of shillings.

I know some of you are thinking that sacking Mr. Kitilya would be unjust. It is not. That is because I believe in the concept of leading up. The president, AG, or ministers of finance are not tax experts. As such, they depend on the expertise and recommendations of this tax guru. I know that things don’t run as they should in Tanzania, and that it isn’t surprising that the minister of finance could very much ignore the tax guy’s ideas. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that Mr. Kitilya tried to lead up his superiors by trying to influence either the timing of mining sector policy implementation or solicited TRA capacity and capability building in anticipation of mining sector changes.


If I were the top dog in the country, this dude would have been shown the door. I know the question to me would be then what? Who’s the next guy who will be able to show true leadership skills? Honestly, that is dilemma in Bongoland. I don’t think that we have a pool of great leaders. If we do, they are probably swallowed somewhere within the system.

My message, however, is that you can’t have a leader who is unable to manage the changing environment or lead up by communicating his knowledge to his or her superiors. It is that simple. Sometimes, a leader has to lead up in order to be successful. Waiting for directives to come only from above is a sure sign of puppetry. I don’t think that TRA, being so technical and functioning in a constantly changing environment, can do well with a leader who’s waiting for politicians to make decisions for him or her.
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Photo Credit: http://www.kikweteshein.com/

RTF: Demanding Freedom From a Brother?

Do I have to apologize every single time I bounce back? I am not sure, but I think I should. There are folks who have faithfully checked on this blog to see if I have fresh insights on what is happenings in Bongoland. For you faithful readers, I appreciate your diligence. I truly do.

But life, yes life, kept me from this space. I know most of you can relate. A lot have happened in the past few days, some thrilling while some are just straight up sad. Of course the hottest topic is what transpired in the Kenyan election. The aftermath of elections in Kenya couldn’t prove Dr. Watson’s theory of Africans’ lack of intelligence . I mean, seriously, what is it about the State House that makes our tired African leaders act like the merely intelligent chimps? Was that the best Kenyans could do?

Well, the thrilling news for Kenyans (at least) was the victory of their cousin, Senator Baraka Obama, in Iowa. Well, the fact that Hillary Clinton bounced back in New Hampshire is a whole new story. The next thrilling news of the week is the sacking of the Bank of Tanzania’s former governor – Daudi Ballali.I think story which started way back, has had a “happy” ending. I think multiparty system is working, somewhat. If it wasn’t for the opposition camp, I am sure this BoT crap would have gone under wrap. Trust me.

You didn’t think I just wanted to recap what you already know, did you?

Let me just go back to the Kenyan election story. I think it really underscores my reflection for today. You know what? My eyes “opened” in the early 1980s, the period which was still the heydays of the post-colonialism agenda. I grew up listening the preaching of the Kaundas and Nyereres and all other African greats about the evils of the West and the beauty of Pan Africanism. These speeches made me believe that the greatest thing that ever happened to the African kids was for “us” to get out of the chains of colonial rule.

For the most part, that was truly an inspiring story, because the desire for freedom is a universal phenomenon. For the most, “we” had to get our freedom. As such, debating whether Africans deserved to get their freedom then is almost mute pointless.

What is debatable, from my perspective, is whether most Africans are truly free. I seriously think that most Africans are still in bondage. They are enslaved and encaged by the very few elite brothers and sisters they ignorantly elected to occupy State Houses across Africa. They are enslaved by their own brothers who look like them and speak their mother tongues. These are not slave masters who crossed salty waters from continents far away, but slave masters who grew up in their own backyards.

Looking at the imagery I saw in Kenya, where the police resorts to shooting unarmed citizens simply for demanding a fair and just electoral process, one has to wonder – whose interest was the police trying to protect? Are they trying to protect the elite few? Trying to protect that bald imbecile who rigged the election?

Isn’t it crazy that after forty years of "independence", a Kenyan, and many other Africans have to beg for and demand freedom and justice from a fellow African? Why in the world then did we kick the Queen out of Nyanza, Mbarara and Kericho?

I am not that intelligent, nor am I an expert in the psychological makeup of the African mind. Nevertheless, this much I know. It takes so much gut to do insane things African leaders do. It takes a sick mind to boldly do what Mwai Kibaki has done in Kenya. It takes an insane mind to do and say the things Museveni does in Uganda. Honestly, are these best brand of leaders Africa could produce?

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Photo Credit: New York Times

RTF: Those Congested Dar Streets

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was terrific. Got together with some friends, had nyama choma and plenty of other foods. Of course we had a wonderful time just relaxing and having a wonderful conversation. May be it is my “old” age or something, but I don’t get excited about Christmas as I used to when I was a little boy. There was something magical about Christmas time then.

Oh well, I will just let my kids take my place of Christmas enjoyment. May be, as a parent, seeing the twinkle in my kids’ eyes would rekindle something magical in me.

My experience has been that during Christmas, Dar-es-Salaam becomes a “ghost” town. All my friends from the northern side of the country (you know who) always head back migombani for Christmas celebration. May be to show off a few shillings skimmed in Dar-es-Salaam or just to have a good time with friends and family. Regardless, other folks too tend to head “home” for Christmas.

On any other time during the year, Dar-es-Salaam streets tend to be crowded with cars and people. When my brother first came to the United States, he was surprised to learn that downtown Columbus was not crowded; particularly during the hours that Dar-es-Salaam would be going insane. What he missed was the fact that Americans, for the most, part do work. That means you won’t find folks taking long lunch hours, gossiping or running personal errands during typical work hours. Right there, you can conclude that Dar streets gets crowded with folks who could otherwise be sitting at their desk, producing.

Apart from the cultural reasons (work ethic) that contribute to the crowding of the Dar-es-Salaam streets, technical reasons, in my opinion, make a huge contribution. The city’s infrastructure cannot handle the growing population and economic growth that has resulted in an unbelievable number of cars imported annually. Putting aside those statistical numbers, there is unexplainable concentration of businesses in the city center and Kariakoo.

I think it is crazy that someone would board a daladala from Mwenge just to buy onions at Kariakoo! But that is happening. You know what is crazy? The Temeke and Kinondoni municipalities are just letting Ilala run the City! I know probably vigogo in Kinondoni do not want the Kariakoo-type hustle in their neighborhood, but at least that would help decongest Dar city center.

I have just described the internal workings of the City. You what else contributes to the insanity in Dar-es-Salaam? It is the stupid concentration of power within the government. I know these guys talked about Madaraka Mikoani stuff. That is a bunch of rhetoric. The show is still being run from Dar-es-Salaam.

Honestly, I think something of the services that are typically offered Wizarani only could be offered at a regional and district level. Let me give you an example. You want a birth certificate? Good. You have to start from the ward to the district level to process your application, but the actual stinking piece of paper must be issued in Dar-es-Salaam! Try to imagine just one single office serving over 30 million people! Honestly, does it really mean that Vizazi na Vifo folks in Dar-es-Salaam are more qualified to issue birth and death certificate that those at the district level? Try to imagine someone coming all the way from Kigoma, spending about TShs 100,000 for a document that is worth TShs 2,000.

I think that we justify Dr. Watson’s theory of African’s lack of intelligence unnecessarily. Really.

The birth certificate issue is just one simple example. There is a host of other matters that an ordinary Tanzania makes a follow-up in Dar-es-Salaam unwarranted. There are such issues are business registration, issuance of a secondary school certificates, etc that one has to be in Dar-es-Salaam for. The effect of that has been that the City gets crowded. Of all those people you see standing at the new Post Office's daladala stand, chances are that 30% of them are from upcountry, following up something at a government office in Dar!

The most damaging effect, in my opinion, is that concentration of power on one individual at a ministry to serve 35 million Tanzanians leads to only evil – corruption. Sluggishness you see at government offices, especially those charged with offering some kind of service to the general public, is by design. That provides an incentive for kitu kidogo, as customer is typically left with no alternative. One is forced to either wait for 5 years to get a service that would take 10 minutes or part with an incentive that would speed up the process.

I think the three-lane idea to decongest the Dar roads was good, but there is much more that contributes to congestion of the City in general. One of them is the fact that Madaraka Mikoani is just a political hoax, with no practical meaning. If you still have to get some basic services in Dar, then what is the government decentralization for?

RTF: Down The Memory Lane

It is Friday again and I am looking forward to a great weekend. You know, some weekends you just feel like resting. This week, I really need some rest. So I will savor my days off work.

I am not intending to bombard you with anything heavy either. If I have to relax, that has to start with my mind. So I’m allowing my mind to roam and wander around trivial stuff. It is not like I don’t have deeper stuff to muse on, but you would agree with me that life is not only about deep philosophical stuff. There are also minor, but relevant things that make life exciting.

Those minor things could be taking yourself on a journey through a memory lane.

So I couldn’t help myself but wander down the memory lane also. Man, how I miss the good old days! Trust me, there are things I couldn’t go back for in my childhood in Tanzania, but I certainly have good memories to make me nostalgic. How about those chandimu pickup games? You could temporarily shut down the street for a heated soccer game; occasionally being stopped by a passing beat up truck. What about going home all dusty after a long day at a manati factory?

If you didn’t make toy cars and trucks from old empty cans, please don’t think I am crazy. But I know someone out there can relate. Honestly, being creative is where I drew my childhood joy. I know some fellas who were so creative that the entire street soccer team depended on them for a bouncy, well manufactured soccer ball from rugs and old clothes. Of course, that didn’t go without some political power. Occasionally, this fundi would stop the game by threatening to take his ball, if he wasn’t allowed to play or someone, somehow, got them mad. Talking about power play!

Childhood, on the other hand, had its downside. I know older folks were teaching discipline by commanding strict rules on some areas, but I hated the idea that I was subjected to the obedience of every older man or woman in the village. That made me to desire growing up so bad, hoping that I would gain some kind of freedom. Of course I have gotten that kind of freedom now, but boy, little did I know that it was better for someone else to worry about my food and clothing!

Probably what I like the most about childhood is the honest ignorance that goes with it. Just like most of you, I wondered about those people talking in the radio. Just like you, I wondered how they were able to fit in that little box and attempted to open the back of the radio to see them! I also wondered if they even slept. I wondered how they looked like.

And talking about the radio, I always believe that when the program host announced that “Naona bendi ya Mlimani Park wanaanda vyombo kututumbuiza”, Mlimani Park Orchestra was actually in the studio tuning their guitars, trumpets and all that stuff. So when the song came on the radio, I was convinced that the band was performing at that very moment. Don’t laugh at me; that’s what I believed. I am sure you have your own secret stories, where you believed the universe functioned in a certain way, only to realize that you were innocently ignorant as a child.

I also got the idea of rain wrong as a child. In my universe, I believe that when it rained in my village, it was also raining across the globe! Fortunately, I grew out of that scientific theory very quickly. I learned that my theory was wrong as I listened to the conversation between my mom and relatives who resided in some other towns. They would talk about the weather, particularly the rain as it meant so much for the village economy, and in some cases they would talk about how it rained in their town and not ours. Something clicked that I needed to tweak my understanding of the universe.

I still don’t understand why the rainbow moves when you get close to it though.

My best childhood experience is when I learned how to read and write. That tops them all. I can remember vividly one day I was walking with my brother, who was by then in Standard Four. At the time, I had started to put letters together. So on this day, we passed by a dump with TAKATAKA letters on it. I remember putting the ta-ka-ta-ka word together into a marvelous takakata. You should have seen me exploding with excitement. I tell you what; it is like the world opened right before my eyes. I guess I never looked back on reading.

So what’s your childhood story?
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Photo: Mjengwa

RTF: “I Pity The Fool”

Man, it is cold around me. If this is Columbus, Ohio and it is this cold, I wonder what is going on with my friends Jeff and Patrick in Canada. I wonder how colder it is for anybody situated in the northern most part of this globe. Honestly, this is the time I miss Bongoland the most. It is nice when it is snowing, but I am not fond of the extreme coldness and the ugliness that follows.

But guess what? It is appears like it getting colder for our beloved president, Mr. JMK. According to recent polls conducted by the Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania (REDET) and reported by This Day, Mr. JMK’s popularity has dipped to 44.4 per cent.

The poll’s outcome is not surprising to me. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that the country has no clear vision and direction. Just read Mr. Lusekelo’s musing to get the gist of it.

The poll definitely revealed some interesting information. For instance, 40.7 % of respondents “approved” the performance of CCM, while just 19% picked the opposition parties. That is a bit strange. Wouldn’t you expect 59.3% of respondents to pick opposition parties then? That indicates that folks are neither satisfied with CCM nor opposition parties. In a nutshell, Tanzanians think their political leaders are full of crap!

Let’s be honest, would you elect Mr. Mrema to be the Tanzanian president? Would you elect John Cheyo either? And that’s where the problem is. Opposition political leaders, generally speaking, have failed to bring anything new, fresh and inspiring. The opposition camp is just terribly wobbling. The camp has failed to gain credibility. I guess that's where wananchi feel they should stick with CCM, at least this is a familiar devil.

Despite other interpretations you assign to the poll results, one thing that strikes me the most is this: According to REDET co-chairperson Dr. Laurean Ndumbaro, the researchers found a direct co-relation between those who approve or disapprove of the president’s handling of national affairs and their education level. That is, most educated Tanzanians do not approve of Mr. JMK’s performance, while most of less educated Tanzanians think the president is doing a good job.

So why is this disparity? It boils down to the empowerment and freedom that education brings. And there is nothing as bad as being mentally enslaved.

The educated minds in Tanzania are capable of filtering political rhetoric and buzzwords that don’t mean much. But that is true everywhere. You cannot just walk up to an informed person, who is able to critically think, and just starting shooting your blah…blah. Statistics don’t lie, the poll results have clearly indicated that fact. Nevertheless, for CCM, this is also a scary reality: with an increasing number of graduates in Tanzania, true educated Tanzanians will make CCM extinct. Read my lips…err…my pen. I said true because there are educated folks in Tanzania who are nothing more than a joke.

I seriously think the Tanzanian politicians have been, for ions, feeding wananchi plenty of junk. Unfortunately, the uneducated mass has been consuming this junk left and right. I know this is a critical question – which an uneducated mind would probably fail to answer – but what is it about Mr. JMK’s performance that makes one happy and satisfied?

If you have to know, I stand with the 18.6% of Tanzanians who disapprove of the president’s performance. I would be insane to approve of a president who goes on public, claiming that he was scared of receiving his HIV test results. If we all have to read between the lines, the conclusion we deduce is this: the president gets around, unsafely. And for me, a high moral standard is a requirement for my kind of president.

This poll also tells the story as to why CCM has brought constant beat down on the opposition parties during elections. CCM feasts on the ignorance of the poor people, though the opposition parties have also brought this outcome on themselves by being pathetic. It is not surprisingly then, that there is no true desire from the CCM machinery to improve education in Tanzania. The machinery knows too well that eating off a blind man’s plate requires the victim’s condition to stay constant. Ukila na kipofu....so goes a Swahili saying.

In the very end, the vicious circle continues. Ignorant Tanzanians continually elect politicians who are not really for the people’s welfare.

This gets me sad. In some ways, just like Mr. T likes to put it down, “I pity the fool”. I wish there was some magic I could do to make things better for my people. Nonetheless, there is little I can do to save the uneducated 80% of Tanzanians who are willing to bite any bone politicians throw their way.

How blessed I am to be slightly educated!

Enjoy your weekend.

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Photo Credit: KP via Mjengwa