OPINION
|
OPINION |
Opinion
Analysis
IT has been a tradition in this country to see a top government leader giving directive to junior officers to implement something, without the work actually getting done. The same scenario applies to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Lt. Yusuf Makamba.
The Dar RC has given a directive to his junior officers, including the regional traffic police officers, to arrest and punish the notorious commuter bus touts who roam around the parking sites to embarrass the passenger, but nothing has been done so far.
Mr Makamba himself is the National Chairman of Road Safety Committee, entrusted with all matters concerning road security in the whole of Tanzania. But what confuses us is how his directives are perceived by his juniors, including the city police officers.
Untidy touts are always found flocking the city buses, most of them are not employed by vehicle owners, but the police just keep cool. Lt. Makamba himself visited many parts of the city and felt concerned over the situation, which no passenger would encourage at all.
Schoolchildren are the generally the victims of such notorious touts who hang over the vehicles looking for passenger belongings like handbags, necklaces, watches and money when there is a chance to snatch them.
We sincerely believe Lt. Makamba will tighten his fists and enforce his directives because the situation is growing worse. We see thousands of touts flocks bus parking sites, sitting idle, waiting to victimise passengers or even the vehicle owners.
Traffic police officers are quick to arrest any bus driver who goes wrong but are not interested at all on cracking down on the touts. Rarely one finds touts under police custody, contrary to the large number of drivers and conductors who are the daily offenders in the eyes of traffic police officers.
The controversial issue of whether Zanzibar should change its constitution or not is no longer relevant. Even the daily press which had been screaming through its banner headlines seems no longer interested in the issue.
It is a clear indication that democracy is becoming visible in Tanzania although at a slow pace. Many people applauded the Dodoma decision to discourage Zanzibar President Dr Salmin Amour to change the Isles constitution to give the president an open room to run for three terms in office.
The Dodoma decision which was made by the members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has received big support from all political stakeholders, even from the opposition camp. This indicates that the constitution of any country cannot be tampered with because such a trend would lead the state into chaos.
Democracy in Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland as a whole has gained momentum, and all of us are confident that such a political undertaking would be a milestone for the future of Tanzania as a politically mature state.
It is high time that we the peace lovers see more courageous decisions being made like the one in Dodoma. It is also high time political stakeholders sat down and went through the constitutions of other civilised nations to learn more and more.
Zanzibar, as well as mainland Tanzania, have inherited most of their laws from Britain and are running their legal administration under the Commonwealth system. There is a challenge to Zanzibar and the mainland to learn from other Commonwealth states and get the best options on how to respect their constitutions.
Nobody is interested in favouring any political party in Zanzibar on the issue, but our stand remains intact -- respect the constitution which the people's House of Representative has made over the past fifteen years.
It is our great hope that no one from any political party in power would come up and tamper with the constitution, let it be in Zanzibar or the mainland because we all feel the consequences of that.
Zanzibar has remained poor economically, and the most important factor in getting the island moving, could be economic discussions and politically motivated performances.
Most of us in Tanzania know well and clearly the internal politics of Zanzibar which has been under endless turbulences after its independence in 1963 and later the 1964 revolution.
No matter what the outcome of any political change might be, Zanzibar plays a great role in the entire Tanzanian politics, and if matters go wrong in the Islands, then the Tanzanian state would lose its
sovereignity.
Analysis - By Evarist Kagaruki
One weekly local newspaper published in Kiswahili, reported in its February 20 - 26 issue that the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) national chairman, Augustine Lyatonga Mrema, has echoed the exhortations by the leader of the so-called committee for the Defence of Moslem Rights, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda, to his fellow Moslems in the country not to vote for the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) in the forthcoming general elections slated for October this year.
If my memory serves me well, this is not the first time Mrema is playing the Moslem card to advance his political ambitions. He did so during the Temeke constituency by-election almost four years ago. Then, as NCCR-Mageuzi candidate in that by-election, he devised a strange strategy of going to the campaign rallies in the company of certain famous Sheikh whom he used as a "charm" to try and woo Moslem voters!
Mrema, as everybody had predicted, emerged the winner. But his victory was in no way influenced by the Sheikh with whom he had been closely associated "during the whole campaign. Pundits tend to believe that he won the Temeke seat basically due to two important factors: One is that, at that time he and his party (NCCR- Mageuzi) were still relatively popular, and a cross-section of the electorate felt that Mrema, who a short while ago, had been defeated by President Benjamin Mkapa in the 1995 general elections would be consoled by going to Parliament. The other factor is that the unseated Temeke MP, whom the court found he had cheated on his academic credentials, seems to have left some dent on the credibility of CCM.
The scandal gave everybody the impression that the ruling party was not serious when screening its candidates, especially with regard their educational background, or rather the authenticity of their academic letters of credence.
If there are people in Temeke who gave their votes to Mrema simply on account of his pretentious association with Moslem leaders, such people are definitely a very insignificant minority, although Mrema himself and, certainly his spin doctors might still want us to believe that the Moslem card had played the trick.
Since Mrema went on a collision course with his former second - in command in the fractured NCCR-Mageuzi, Secretary General Mabere Marando ( a situation that forced Mrema to cross the Rubicon to join the erstwhile unknown TLP), his (Mrema's ) popularity has waned. Beleaguered by endless court cases for, which apparently no longer cause the down-trodden to sympathise with him, the maverick politician is certainly aware that his political fortunes were equally diminishing with the passage of time.
Given this position, therefore, it is not surprising that, in his frantic efforts to salvage whatever political stamina and credibility still left in him to be able to enter the Presidential race in the next elections, Mrema is once again futilely resorting to the same old trick of courting the Moslems for his own selfish ends. But Mrema is making the mistake of thinking that he can easily, if at all, use Sheikh Ponda's back to enter the province of Islam to win votes!
I am sure the Sheikh has neither forgotten nor forgiven Mrema who, as Home Minister in the CCM-government seven years ago, used the iron fist to deal with some Moslems who had attacked and destroyed pork butcheries in Manzese. Since that nasty incident, Moslems in general see him only as an unrepentant "Kafir" who, no matter how disguised in his Moslem cap, and despite his vitriolic diatribe against the CCM -government, has participated in the "oppression" of Moslems in the country.
The defiant and elusive Sheikh Ponda, and other Moslem leaders of his ilk, whose fundamentalist exposition on both matters of Islamic faith, and the earthly controversial social, economic and political issues which they have been raising with government over the last few years, would definitely be the last people to want to see Mrema in the State House.
But all said, both Mrema and Sheikh Ponda, and the likes of them, seem to forget, despite the abundant historical lesson, that the majority of Tanzanians are allergic to the game of mixing politics with matters of faith. Which is why they don't vote on the basis of one's creed. Otherwise if religion were the guiding principle in elections in this country, following the 1995 elections, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, and not President Benjamin Mkapa, would be the President today.
Oct polls: Are we going to be ruled by hooligans?
Campaigners in the coming elections have been prohibited from making personal attacks on their opponents' womanising habits in order to gain political prominence.
The warning was sounded by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) at a seminar of 13 political parties called in Dar es Salaam to explain procedures to be followed in the October 2000 elections.
Kiongozi of February 26, reports that candidates are forbidden from exposing their opponents as womanisers or divorcees. This will be contrary to election rules.
Farmers in Southern Highlands to be loaned tractors
Nipashe of February 26, reports that petty farmers of the big four regions of Ruvuma, Iringa, Mbeya and Rukwa will be loaned 400 tractors, model Massey Ferguson, to help them raise crop production in their rural areas and be able to pay back loans.
Talking to the paper recently, the chief executive officer of Small Holder Tractor Company Ltd, Mr. Basil Saprapasen said his company will start delivering the loaned tractors next March 2000. The tractors cost between Tshs 16,000-20,000.
Postponement of Zanzibar Constitution amendment hailed
Mtanzania Jumapili has reported that the bid to divide the CCM for political prominence, has failed. Dr. Salmin Amour, President of Zanzibar, has accepted the decision by the CCM National Executive Committee (NEC) to postpone the issue of amending the constitution of Zanzibar till after October elections.
He said Mwalimu Nyerere died last October and the CCM has pledged to honour him through party solidarity and unity. Opposition strength depends on CCM division
. "We have cleared our political pollution in CCM. I am now ready to tout for any presidential candidate in the coming elections and the CCM will win," Dr Salmin said.