Many years ago, I watched the then British Prime Minister, John Major say on TV ‘no one forced me to be Prime Minister, so I can’t
complain’. He made the remark because he was seen working tirelessly on his ministerial ‘red box’ on a Sunday. The inference is that he took the job of Prime Minister with his eyes wide open, and his hands untied. Sacrificing his weekends therefore was small change in comparison to the responsibility of governing and making decisions on behalf of the 60 million citizens of the United Kingdom.
Governing in whatever guise is a ‘responsibility’ issue not a ‘vanity-
savouring’ posture and President Kikwete and his team have a
responsibility to save Tanzania within a 1 .5 -year timescale. Given
that Mr. Kikwete willingly presented himself for election and
considering the numerous problems confronting our country, he has to
make bold decisions quickly to save the country. We need fast and deep reforms. The President must go for radical, dynamic, life changing policies some of which will demand taking on the entrenched political principalities.
The issue of power generation cannot be deferred any longer. Former
President, Benjamin Mkapa has said that one of his greatest regrets
was not solving the power problem. Mr. Kikwete ; you have the
opportunity to face this issue headlong with the tenacity of a bull-
dog and subdue it. This is not the time to listen to the impossibility
peddlers and the nay-sayers. If the United States could send people to the moon and ordinary men and women in their hundreds have been able to conquer Everest, surely Tanzania must be able to provide uninterrupted power supply to its people.
We are wasting too much energy and money on generators; we are
endangering lives and property by storing petrol, diesel and kerosene
at home. We are endangering health with the fumes and noise from the 24/7 stuttering chorus of generators. Whatever your Political Party
may say, Mr. President, your mandate is to represent Tanzanians, not CCM . If you are planning a sale, Mr President, do yourself a favour, sell-in to the people, don’t sell-out to your Party or to the men in flowing Bunge . You need to save Tanzania within 1.5 Years or things may go awry in your time.
Apart from its health and safety cost, uninterrupted power supply
could also be argued purely on economic terms. Businesses spend a
fortune on fuel to power their generators passing the cost to their
customers. It is believed that the prohibitive cost of telephony in
Tanzania is fueled by the high cost incurred by telecoms companies in powering their base stations. If we are remotely serious about
entering the premier league of economically strong nations in the
Future , we need the basic turf of stable power supply. Besides, we
also have to take serious the issue of global warming however
prejudicial we may be on issues like this.
If you do not agree completely with the economic case for power
generation, what about a humanity case. Just consider how different
and easy life will be for elderly citizens in a hut somewhere if they
can be relieved from the heat of a Tanzanian afternoon. Mr Kikwete
the peoples’ despondency is palpable. Act! do it fast.
The Muafaka issue has the potential to be the biggest threat to
Tanzania since the Uganda war. This matter has been underestimated by successive governments and now requires closure. It is a matter of pure injustice that can only be corrected when the Government does the right thing. We don’t have the luxury of time to feign any form of indifference; we also do not have the moral standing to take the high road of hunting down local ‘terrorists’. Mkapa bullying tactics
failed ; an injustice can only be solved by a determination to right
the wrong through any means possible. This may involve having direct talks with CUF and other groups. Afterall, the British Government had direct talks with the IRA in Northern Ireland. The government will do well to consider whatever is necessary and do this with speed to save lives and ensure that terrorism is not introduced to Tanzania as it is usually impossible to contain the genie once it’s out of the bottle.
The President must also find a way of ending the back-scratching
economy that almost certainly cost the country billions in revenue.
ministers scratch the backs of party chieftains that nominated them
for appointments. Or would the President not know for example that
most Tanzanians pay about 50000 Tshs above the prescribed fees for a Tanzanian passport? And that 30000 Tshs of this illegal money supposedly weave its way to officials as high up as the Director General and even ministers in Dar es salaam ? Has the President never encountered a police checkpoint even as an ordinary citizen? Every Tanzanian knows that the money collected from the checkpoints by the police go right to the top. What about giving the Inspector General of Police a deadline to end police corruption within three months or give way to someone else. The same procedure should be repeated until we get a competent person. Tanzanians are not interested in seeing the IG or Regional Police Commissioners daily parading criminals on TV when we know that they have no far-reaching strategy to contain
crime.
The back-scratching or ‘settlement’ economy cannot be confronted by
television jingles or gentle appeals; what is required is
institutional transparency that is backed up with adequate sanctions.
Every public official must be required to make their assets public
yearly. This should be available online, in public libraries and the
Code of Conduct Bureau should be mandated to check that information provided is true and up-to-date. Also, gifts received by officials of state should also be declared within a period of time. The bottom line is that we can only confront institutional corruption with
institutional transparency!
As much as we need a state of emergency on the power sector, we
equally need a state of emergency on security. There are just too many people killed with impunity by armed robbers on a daily basis. They routinely terrorise and waste people in their homes, in traffic, in
banks and on the nation’s highways. In May , an armed gang shot
indiscriminately at passers-by killing and maiming some as they made their getaway from a robbery in Kariakoo , Dar es salaam . This type of tragedy is so common that they barely make the news anymore .
The armed robbers are only taking advantage of the none-security in
the country. They know that there are no street lights and CCTV
cameras; they know that the police are not equipped and that ordinary
people have no police telephone number to call in the event of
robbery. This daylight terrorism is only possible because we choose to ignore it. The bottom line is that some parts of our country are not
any better than the streets of Baghdad.
In a civilised society, this will not be acceptable. It surely should
not be in Tanzania . It is no longer acceptable for the government to
play that everything is well with our nation when people are being
killed in cold blood and in botched daily armed robberies. We need a
state of emergency declared on security and a strategy to reduce armed robbery. Buying Landrovers vehicles for the police is not enough if it is not backed up with training and infrastructure development. Mr. Kikwete must call the IG to task and institute a security committee to come out with a strategy on this matter. We don’t need a hairy chest approach to the issue of security; we need real and sustainable strategy. And we need it now! The President cannot be passionate about the rule of law if security and order is missing. It is a matter of huge injustice if the President is keen on protecting the rights of corrupt politicians when thousands of ordinary Tanzanians are living under the siege of armed robbery.
Tanzanians must also feel there is a sense of fairness in our
national polity. Mr Kikwete must do everything in his power to end
all forms of inequality. The President must end the prevalent feeling
that certain parts of the country enjoy more spending than others; or
the Orwellian belief that some people are more equal than others
because of their wealth, position or tribe. The North-South divide
might yet prove the future clash of our civilisation if the current
situation continues. There is a huge resentment building up and past
leaders have turned down the volume of fairness and equity in
Tanzania to the point that they have become inaudible. Mr Kikwete
must pump up the volume of fairness. Politics is a game of
fundamentals not flash or effizy, Mr. Kikwete must start defining
positions by ability, responsibility and performance and not by title,
cronyism or tribalism.
Perhaps the Attorney General, John Mwanyika who wants to make us believe he is the arbiter of justice should do something about the
rights of individuals being paraded illegally on TV by the police.
Most Tanzania will accept that it is his responsibility to maintain
the rule of law, but his aim becomes suspect if this only affects ex-
Ministers being tried by the PCCB for corruption and not ordinary
people whose rights are equally being trampled. Or has he never seen
the IG and many of his Commissioners illegally grilling and ridiculing
alleged criminals live on television?
The ordinary people of Tanzania must save the country too. We need to save our leaders from their callous indifference. We need to force
government to provide basic necessities for the people and we need to question them when they don’t.
Finally, the current crop of leaders must know that in politics and in
leadership, ‘doing something’ is far more important than ‘being
somebody’ or ‘being something’, more so in present day Tanzania . The people no longer ‘give a toss’ about irresponsible leaders parading themselves as somebody. History will be unkind to the Jumbes , the Kambona , the Babu of this world because there is no visible evidence of what they did for their people. They have learnt too late, the saying that ‘opportunity comes but once’. Like the Haley’s Comet, certain opportunities present themselves only once in a lifetime. They have thus become the profane of our time who learnt too late that it is criminal to downplay the opportunities and responsibilities that come your way. Their situation is sadder because they wish to be accepted as statesmen, the new generation of Tanzanians will offer them no such luxury.
Hopefully, the President will learn from them. Mr Kikwete , the crib
is on fire, this is no time for dithering, save the baby or else it
will die if you don’t act quickly enough.
—
Yona Fares Maro
I.T. Specialist and Digital Security Consultant
– – –
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:22:13 +0300
From: Yona Fares Maro
Subject: Postcard To Mr Kikwete – Few Months To Save US