Opinion
Analysis
Opinion poll before Ndolanga
ouster, a must
Just 48 hours after the Christmas, delegates from all regions of Tanzania are
scheduled to meet in the General Meeting, which will later elect the President
of, and his committee members of the newly formed Tanzania Football Federation (TFF).
The centre figure of the controversy is the Acting Chairman of TFF, Alhaj
Muhidini Ndolanga who has insisted to vie for the presidential post amid
pressure from soccer stakeholders to withdraw from the contest and allow Leodgar
Tenga to take the wheel.
Ndolanga and his team, let Tanzania soccer go nosedive with situation at the
national team recording the worst of it.
Set to be held December 27 at Karume Stadium , Dar es Salaam, it was suggested
that Tenga should take TFF highest post from his good record and commitment to
motivate the development of soccer in the country.
Soccer enthusiasts blame Ndolanga and his lieutenants for the totalitarian
management that never bother with development of soccer in the country.
We totally fail to understand Ndolanga’s intention in the soccer body. He has
been there for twelve years but he has done nothing to develop our soccer, so
why should he insist to remain in the position with all ugly outcomes of his
leadership.
If he was a committed sportsman and patriotic enough for the development of
soccer, he could resign and give the post to other Tanzanians capable of doing
it
Everybody has seen how Tanzanian soccer remained static for about a decade. We
have several times failed to prepare our national teams for international
assignments.
Ndolanga is stubborn and will never leave the sport willingly; you the delegates
are the one who give him power. Don’t you see how much harm he has inflicted to
the Tanzanian soccer.
Since Ndolanga and his secretary, Wambura have been in power, several problems
have been experienced, responsibilities, disputes, redundancy of soccer
standards together with the poor preparations of national team, became the theme
of Tanzanian soccer scene.
But on the side, media is partly to blame in this aspect. It is our suggestion
that the media was supposed to conduct mini opinion poll so that the aspirants
and soccer fans know the exact point the majority stand for in the election.
Perhaps Ndolanga is not the way people take him and vice versa. Opinion could
have make things clear ahead of the election next Monday.
EAC OSH harmonization most
welcome
Immediately after the launch of the ILO/EU – EAC Labour Migration Project in
Arusha, the EAC held a stakeholders meeting in Occupational Safety and Health
(OSH) aimed at harmonizing policies and laws on the subject.
The step is indeed timely as the free movement of labour and services will
definitely require a uniform way of treating people from three EAC countries in
the working environment.
According to Dr. Kipyego Cheluget, the community would strive to streamline
occupational safety and health into the EAC programmes.
Furthermore, the EAC secretariat will establish the relevant structures to
address, inform and report on OSH issues in the region. The importance of the
harmonization of OSH policies in the EAC countries becomes more critical as the
region prepares for the implementation of the EAC Customs Union Treaty.
Uniform OSH protocol in the community is important to tackle HIV/AIDS at work
places, growing in formal economy and poor working conditions of vulnerable
group.
Looking from a labour migration point of view, harmonization of these policies
is crucial for achieving the EAC goals which include wealth creation and
enhancing living standards of East African people.
Promoting EAC’s competitiveness in the global market and attracting investment
in the common market is another reason why harmonization of policies and laws on
OSH was important.
It is therefore the duty of all member states to ensure that policies and laws
are looked into and the initiative fully implemented at the earliest, as it has
come absolutely timely.
back
to headline
Let us vote in peace, for a change
By Evarist Kagaruki
In his address at the opening of the 17th ses-sion of the plenary of the
assembly of the SADC Parliamentary forum in Dar es Salaam recently, President
Benjamin Mkapa lashed out at Western countries which unduly involve themselves
in African elections. He called on Africa to rid itself of "the indignity of all
its elections vetted by Western countries, some of which denied us democracy for
many years or were complicit to such denial".
Who can disagree with the president on that score? Who, indeed, can dispute his
assertion that it is a shame on us, Africans, to "subdue ourselves to the stamp
of approval of foreign governments everytime we go to the polls"? I can say,
without doubt, that the president definitely hit the nail on the head!
President Mkapa also warned political parties and civil societies in Africa
against being used by "democracy support foundations" which, he said, had been
created as "conduits" for money, advice and technical assistance and for
political manipulation and destabilisation of Africa. These, certainly, are
poignant points to ponder. (We shall deal with the second point next week).
There is no disputing the fact that the tendency for Western governments to
impose their authority like the imperial masters that they used to be four and
half decades ago - to monitor the conduct of our elections, and put a stamp of
approval on them is a disgrace. But this ignominy which Africa has known since
the independence era is, sadly, destined to remain with us for generations to
come, unless we make serious and deliberate efforts to liberate ourselves
economically.
And by "economic liberation" I mean freeing ourselves from the aprons of our
former masters, to which we continue being economically attached even after we
gained our political independence! Africa is no doubt increasingly becoming
aware of the reasons for its present state of perpertual crisis, but this
awareness has not helped the continent's leaders to stop always turning to the
West for solutions! Even NEPAD doesn't seem to chart a clear pathway to Africa's
economic independence. It falls short of a prescription, for example, that would
reverse the terrible haemorrhage of the continent's resources to the West.
If Africa wants to get its economic freedom it must also espouse democracy and
good governance not merely as concejpts underlying the prescriptions
accompanying aid from the West, but as universally accepted imperatives of
socio-economic advancement. Our continued begging for aid and our unremittting
suffocation under the heavy weight of foreign debt not only militate against our
quest for "freedom" from foreign control and bullying, but also distorts the
whole essence of being independent.
Coming back to elections. Regrettably, there is no way Africa can say "no" to
foreign election observers (who are also our donors) because by virtue of our
dependency relationship with them, feel "obliged" to let them in. Besides, they
have a "stake" in our elections. They use their taxpayers' money to fund our
elections. That money is normally intended to facilitate free and fair
elections. Hence the donors feel duty bound (from the perspective of their home
politics) to ensure that we have in place a transparent process of democratic
elections which are free of intimidation (of voters and the opposition),
gerrymandering, rigging and any other electoral flaws that could turn democracy
into a big joke.
Unlike in most African countries, political leaders in the donor countries are
accountable to the electorate. The latter would always want to know, through
their representatives in parliament, how their taxes were benefiting democracy
and helping development in the far-flung lands called developing countries (some
of which are actually further underdevelping!).
If elections in these countries prove to have been a mess and made a mockery of
democracy, as was observed in Zanzibar in the 1995 general elections, donors
will not hesitate to cut off aid. So, tell me in such a situation where does the
begger country get the courage to tell its befactors to keep off its elections
the next time they are held? Indeed, how can a poor country miserably looking
for funds in the West to facilitate an election tell the same Western
governments that are expected to donate money to stay away and mind their own
business?
So, unless we, Africans, learn to put our act together, the Western powers will
continue to throw their weight around and humiliate us-left right and centre -
not only by supervising our elections, but actually meddling in our internal
affairs generally.