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Touched by 'Three Generations of Women Beggars'

February 20, 2016, 1:26 am
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Charles Makakala Jr.

"We need to look at beggars with different eyes, not as a scourge on society, scum by some peoples’ definition, but as human beings who got transplanted from their natal homes by poverty; drought and lack of food security; patriarchy; insufficient infrastructure to accommodate their needs" - Leila Sheikh on 'Three Generations of Women Beggars'.

Indeed. When you are born to a mother that is 14, living on the streets from a family of beggars - unless something miraculous happens - your lot in life is already cast in iron. That is not right. 

When I was living near the city centre I used to take night walks around the places where [they] sleep. Once I saw an old woman with her back completely bent - she could hardly carry herself. The sight was heartrending, I wanted to cry out loud. The world can be a terribly cruel place to the best of us, but at least we have some hope for tomorrow. For others, it is completely hopeless. And that is just inhuman.

We can look at the government for the solution - and surely it can do more - but probably we the people have something that we can do. I once worked part-time for Compassion International, an organisation which helps linking children from poor communities with sponsors abroad to provide for their education. There were thousands of sponsors from the West, and these were normal individuals pledging USD 25 or more per month to care for these children. I saw no record that there was a Tanzanian contributing to the sponsorship program even though the amounts were pretty small and the beneficiaries were children in their own nation. 

We have talked about this in this forum I guess. We need to institutionalise philanthropy. Unlike Westerners, many Africans are probably contributing to the welfare of many people in their extended families. I have a colleague who has had the burden of taking to school and college four or five of his siblings. I have seen firsthand how this can hold a person back. But the question is: what about people like Tumaini who come from families where there is no one to fall back to? If we only divert half of the funds we contribute to have the senseless extravagant parties and ceremonies (oh, the madness!), this could be achieved.

Poverty is not a laughing matter and for many supposedly well to do Tanzanians, including myself, it is just a life shock or two from being a reality again. That is why we take national development quite personally. That may be our only hope in the future.
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Travel Well Captain Gower - I Miss Cecil the Lion

March 3, 2016, 10:00 pm
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Travel Well Captain Gower. I Miss Cecil the Lion

Media furore over the shooting down of a helicopter in Tanzania, killing Roger Gower, masks a bigger picture of hunting and evictions in the name of wildlife preservation

By Navaya ole Ndaskoi   
                                                                                  

RECENTLY a helicopter was gunned down in the Greater Serengeti Region, Tanzania. The attack left one Briton, Captain Roger Gower, dead and a South African, Nicky Bester, wounded.

Within hours the incident went viral online with articles portraying Gower as a wildlife saving hero, shot down while he was on an anti-poaching mission. The social media was literarily filled to the brims. Foreign press had its field day too. The BBC, CNN, the Guardian of London, The Independent, AFP and all the others celebrated Christmas nearly a year before. The Telegraph went a bit far quoting campaigners saying “the killing [of Gower] would be poaching’s ‘9/11’”. 

Tanzanian officials, like vultures congregating over a carcass, rushed to the site of the wreckage. Notable among them were the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof. Jumanne Maghembe and Alan Kijazi, Director General of the State-owned parastatal, Tanzania National Parks. The way Prof. Maghembe bemoaned on the death of Gower equals only to a eulogy given to a fallen hero in defending his nation. As Jonathan Adams and Thomas McShane wrote convincingly in their book, The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation Without Illusion, published in 1992, “nothing plucks the heartstrings better than a lion cub or a baby elephant.”

Several friends telephoned me asking that I comment on Gower and the tragic episode. However, there is the African saying which goes, “Do not shoot a dead sheep.” The honorable thing to do, therefore, is to wish Gower a safe journey in his trip to join the ancestors. I will concentrate the main fire instead on some fundamental issues surrounding the tragic attack, a chain of events showing that Gower was not simply on an anti-poaching mission. Claiming this is an effective way of immortalizing him. The reality is that Gower was working for a company that sells game hunting trips, that plays the role of a gamekeeper as conservationist. The attack on Gower’s helicopter is the second of its kind, following the shooting of Andrew Kock in the same area in 2011. Kock was working for yet another trophy hunting company called Robin Hurt (T) Ltd.

Trophy hunting of elephants in Tanzania

The mass media in general and travelogue in particular is deliberately telling fibs to the unsuspecting world public about poaching, especially of elephants, in Tanzania.
In February 2014 the British Government hosted a conference in London to help eradicate illegal wildlife trade. Prince Charles, the other Duke of Wales who is himself a wildlife killer, claimed, “More than 30,000 elephants were killed last year, amounting to nearly 100 deaths per day.”

President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, addressing the same conference, asserted that “a new census at the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem revealed the elephant population had gone down to just 13,084 from 38,975 in 2009.” These figures are included in numbers of elephants in Tanzania.

Kikwete, shortly after sounding nice in London, issued a Hunting Permit to eight members of the family of billionaire Thomas Friedkin to kill for pleasure 204 animals including eight elephants. The online version of The Guardian [of London] in an article published on February 1, 2016 revealed that Gower recently came to “Tanzania to work for the Friedkin Conservation Fund.”

What is Friedkin Conservation Fund? Thomas Friedkin started a game hunting company in Botswana in 1972. In 1989, he chose to hunt in Tanzania and after purchasing a preserve there, began Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris (TGTS). TGTS make profits by selling game hunting for fun trips. The company “returns some profits [from killing animals and donations] through the Friedkin Conservation Fund, a non-governmental organization established in 1994.”

Trophy hunters and all the Friedkins of this world think, with their heads on the ground and feet in the air, that by killing elephants for fun they are helping preserve elephants.

It is not only the elephants that the Friedkins kill. They also illegally bait and kill lions. The Western press shed crocodile’s tears when Cecil the Lion was shot in Zimbabwe. Yet suddenly, following the downing of the ill-fated chopper, it started heaping praises on the Friedkins.

Land grabbing – in the name of conservation

The second issue is unparalleled land grabbing in the area in question. Moringe Parkipuny in his unpublished MA Thesis titled Maasai Predicament Beyond Pastoralism dated 1975 and Prof. Jan Shetler in her book captioned Imagining Serengeti documented in shocking details how Prof. Bernhard Grzimek, a soldier and one-time member of the Nazi Party, led the eviction of the Maasai and other tribes to give room for the creation of Serengeti National Park in 1958.

Tanzania has set aside 40% of her territory for wildlife conservation. This is in the form of national parks, a conservation area, game reserves, forest reserves, game controlled areas and marine parks. By comparison, continental United States, one of the countries supporting preservation initiatives in Tanzania, has set aside less than 4% of her land for conservation.

Third, there is discontent in villages on the fringes of Serengeti National Park. Tension springs from creation of new forms of wildlife protected areas in territories belonging to indigenous peoples. In 1998, for example, Frankfurt Zoological Society, a Germany-based not-for-profit wildlife preservation agency, spearheaded creation of Makao Wildlife Management Area in Meatu District. Irambandogo, Mwangudo, Makao, Sapa, Jinamo, Mwabagimu and Mbushi Villages lost over 47,000 acres of ancestral land to the new form of preservation.

Evictions and elitism

In 2011 the worst thing happened. In the name of wildlife preservation Mwiba Holdings Limited and TGTS, banding together like poisonous worms, worked together to see Hadza hunter-gatherers, Datoga pastoralists and Sukuma agro-pastoralists brutally evicted from Makao Wildlife Management Area. Court cases were fabricated against many indigenous people. Courts freed many of them after long legal battles. Some, like Masunga Luchemba, is in remand for four years now facing a murder case. Normally a murder suspected cannot be bailed in Tanzania.

Often people disappear in this part of the world. Two brothers Gineau Gidahasi and Gitienga Gidahasi went missing in 2015. Villagers level accusing fingers to Mwiba Holdings which in turns strenuously denies any wrong doing. The missing young men are presumed dead.

The foreign press has massive space to flood with crocodile tears following deaths of Gower and Kock but the same hardly publishes anything about local victims of conservation in Tanzania. 

Fourth, Nelson Mandela once said that a protected area in Africa “is a preserve of a rich elite.” He got it right. The Greater Serengeti Region is immensely a popular destination of the privileged of this world. These include Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Others are Bill Gates, Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, Roman Abromovich, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Chris Tucker, John Wayne, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie and many others.

White saviour complex

Lastly, but in way least, is the chronic racism in the wildlife and tourism sectors in Tanzania. If names are any indication Roger Gower and Nicky Bester are people of European stock.

To be sure, it is impossible not to notice that famous wildlife preservationists working in Africa, and especially Eastern and Southern Africa, are white. Think of Mike Fay, Jane Goodall, George and Joy Adamsons, Bernhard and Michael Grzimek, Diane Fossey, the Leakeys, Delia and Mark Owens, David Western, Moss, Joyce Poole, the Douglas-Hamiltons, Jean and Mathieu Laboureur, Bill Webber, Craig Packer, Ian Redmond, Amy Vedder and the new species.

In his groundbreaking book, Celebrity and the Environment, published in 2009 Prof. Daniel Brockington, Director of Sheffield Institute for International Development asks, “Why, in Africa, should this domain be dominated by white people? In South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya conservation was and often still is dominated by the descendants of white settlers.”
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Mwalimu Nyerere Aliondoka au Aliondolewa?

March 4, 2016, 2:59 am
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What if Olduvai Gorge is in Kenya?

March 6, 2016, 4:42 am
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Olduvai Gorge is in Kenya! If not, Olorgesailie is the cradle of humankind!

Muhidin J. Shangwe


The Internet has provided humanity with a social space that was unimaginable not very long ago. Information travels faster like never before, an incident in the streets of Lilongwe is a click away for someone in Shanghai and vice versa. The amount of information we are bombarded with every time we switch on our internet-connected computers or smart phones to be precise, is sometimes too much to read. We receive video and audio clips of all sorts, images we would and wouldn’t want to see, breaking news coming from right, left and center- just to keep you posted, so is the logic. 

A few days ago ‘news broke’ that Olduvai Gorge is in fact in Kenya! The news breaker was a Kenyan named Rosemary Odinga, who took the advantage of International Young Leaders Assembly (IYLA) meeting in New York last year to make the announcement. This is what she said:

“…. You see up until then I had been taught that the oldest fossil was found in Kenya, a place called Olduvai Gorge. And that Kenya was a cradle of mankind… which means when I look at all of you here no matter which country you come from, to me you are all Kenyan!” 

The news made it to the social media- that space so egalitarian that everyone’s opinion seems to matter. As anyone could have predicted, Tanzanians were aggrieved and wasted no time to vent their anger on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, you know, these online platforms. I would be very surprised if Kenyans were at least not embarrassed seeing a daughter of the soil making fun of their education system on that international podium. Nevertheless, Tanzanians turned in numbers on social media, references were made that Kenyans have made it a habit of “stealing from us”, and that they have been stealing Mt. Kilimanjaro for sometime now but because their belly is too big to be full now they want “our Olduvai Gorge!”

Odinga has since issued an apology via her Instagram account, blaming it on a Freudian slip. She maintains that she had meant to say Olorgesailie, not Olduvai Gorge, is in Kenya. She stopped short of saying whether she still thought Olorgesailie, not Olduvai Gorge, is the cradle of humankind. She leaves it in the air for you to decide! 

Despite a well-worded apology, a big section of an army of Tanzanian netizens (citizens of the internet) was having none of it. Most of them resorted to abuse, calling her names and all sort of nasty comments popped up. The thing with internet is that it has produced space for keyboard warriors, bullies, bigots, sexists, misogynists, and racists to air their opinions without having to look over their shoulders. 

Now back to Odinga. I am not a psychologist nor am I an expert in body language but when I first looked at the video of her speech, I took it for granted that she was only being ignorant rather than someone “stealing” the Gorge which every history record, except for her history book- of course, shows that it is located in Tanzania. That conviction of mine has not changed, even after her apology. My judgment was merely based on a simple question that how could someone in her right mind use an international platform in a foreign country to tell lies on something which is otherwise elementary history? At this time and age where a quick search on official pages will take you to pages that will then tell you that Olduvai Gorge is not only found in Tanzania but is scientifically proven to be the cradle of humankind? 

Ignorance! It has been argued that too much information available to us makes us less focused. There is just too much information, which means that every piece of it is just a piece of information! It seems that no degree of importance attached to certain information would grab our attention! This explains the fact that even a basic knowledge on plain issues still eludes us as we are busy scrolling up and down our smart phone screens looking for information yet reading none- in the midst of it!

But I want to talk about the reaction to Odinga’s Freudian slip. Her apology seems to have confirmed my belief that hers was ignorance as opposed to intentional ‘theft’ of the priceless Olduvai Gorge. A quick search of official pages in Google (which I had thought she should have consulted before her speech) shows that the historic Olorgesailie has human fossil that dates back 900,000 years ago while Olduvai Gorge’s dates back 1.9million years. It means that Olduvai Gorge has recorded human existence 1 million years before Olorgesailie! So which one has the oldest fossil? What is perplexing about her apology is that suppose she meant to say Olorgesailie instead of Olduvai Gorge, does it still make the former the cradle of humankind to the extent of declaring that all the attendees in that meeting were in fact Kenyan? 

Again, I truly think it was a case of ignorance, something she has tried to cover. Ignorance is real, even to some of us who have the privilege accessing the Internet. However, one can still sense elements of pseudo-nationalistic drive in her declaration that “we are all Kenyan”- something which appears to have incensed pseudo-nationalists in Tanzania. Kenyans and Tanzanians are not new to trading blows in the social media and elsewhere.
For Tanzanians, Kenyans are hardcore capitalists, predators preying on our resources, job and land stealers, or in one word, Manyang’au. Recent remarks by the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, that his compatriots are experienced thieves have provided additional ammunition to Kenya’s bashers in Tanzania. Meanwhile for Kenyans, Tanzanians are a lazy lot, socialist dreamers and, more importantly, murderers of the English language! Kenyans speak English and Tanzanians cannot is the accepted innuendo. 

Back to Odinga. One argument I picked from the reaction to this ‘saga’ was one which suggested that Odinga was schooled in the USA therefore she is not acquainted to African history! Upon suggestion that her Freudian slip could have been corrected by a Tanzanian in attendance, the author of this argument exclaims, “I would not be surprised to learn that the Tanzanian attending that meeting does not know where Olduvai Gorge is, let alone its historical/archeological significance!!!” He goes on to accuse the Tanzanian attendee of being from an elite family- the type who knows little of their surrounding because they have been brought up as ‘other’ people. 

I do not know for sure whether this is true or not, but it is one of the arguments floating out there in the wake of this story. What this brings to our attention is the state of our education. When I say “our”, I mean Africa as a whole. Reading across reactions, there is a strong indication that some Tanzanians, as angry as they appeared, knew little about Olduvai Gorge. You could tell from the misspelling of the name itself! Indeed for many it seemed that it was only a case of “defending” the country against yet another robbery by Kenyans. Pictures of Kenya Airways plane with ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’ tags on the side were shared, as proof of how Kenyans are stealing from us! 

Along with it was an allegation that Kenya attracts more tourists because they have been telling the world that Africa’s tallest mountain is in Kenya. Pictures of the Kenyan Airways plane were provided as evidence. I must say I have never fathomed how a tourist would fall for this blatant lie, in this time and age of Google but some of us seem to believe so. Some even went further to claim ownership of Kiswahili, accusing Kenyans of stealing the language too! As I said, ignorance is real. I am not going to ask how many Tanzanians (I will spare Kenyans) know a thing or two about Olorgesailie and what it signifies.

The urgency, rigor and vigor with which they took on Odinga are a perfect example of pseudo-nationalistic tendencies so apparent in the social media these days. For sometime now, online battles between this African country and that African country have been fought. And won. Kenya is said to have arguably the strongest army of netizens. They even defeated Nigerians, I am told. On Twitter they boast the name KoT (Kenyans on Twitter). They are not the type to be messed with. 

The online battles, more often than not, are about trivial issues which get blown out of proportion, invoking chauvinistic, pseudo-nationalistic sentiments as other netizens join in to “defend” their respective countries. What is sad is that in most cases, knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, they all come down to “we are more Europeanized than you”, or something similar to that.

Back to Odinga again. Her apology, although still wanting, is wrapped in Pan-Africanist overtone that makes it difficult to not forgive, at least for some of us. She writes:

“I have just been reminded of an incidentwhich occurred while attending IYLA in New York last year where I had a Freudian slip. Apparently our brothers and sisters from TZ are alarmed that I have grabbed their Olduvai Gorge. I meant to say our equally historic Olorgesailie site in Kajiado. As I have learnt, what happens in New York does not stay in New York. So, what would Magufuli do? Sorry Tanzanians, your Olduvai Gorge is safe. In the spirit of one East Africa let’s shake hands after all at the end of the day we are the cradle of humankind.”

Sweet words.

Ironically, she could have mentioned during the IYLA meeting in New York that Olduvai Gorge is in East Africa and that no matter which countries her audience came from, they were all East African! But hasn’t she apologized? Let’s forgive.
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Tanzania vs Vietnam: Comparing Apples & Oranges?

March 7, 2016, 11:54 pm
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When is Judging a Book by its Cover Okay?

March 24, 2016, 8:05 pm
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"See this bizarre&embarrassing cover image of a recent bk from Tz. A fisher boy eyeing high rise on 2nd St. New York!" - @IssaShivji

Cf. 

"It is just a parody of poverty and pandering to an intellectually poor view of prosperity" - https://twitter.com/IssaShivji

Cf.

"Giving an overview of the book earlier, Dr Bashiru Ally from the UDSM and one of the writers of the book, said the book is written with a strong desire of helping the government and all Tanzanians, so they can turn the corner towards economic prosperity" - Rose Athumani via Daily News

Cf.

"Presenting the book, Dr Bashiru Ally from UDSM said for the country to mark off poverty, leaders must push for higher standards of education, performance and integrity. "We need a strong and visionary leadership with achieving attitude to ensure transformation process, for it is hard to realize the objectives if people are disorganized", he noted. Dr Bashiru also emphasized the formation of long-term and sustainable socio-economic plans to which all leaderships should adhere regardless of their time succession" - http://www.ippmedia.com/ippmedia/news/scholars-fight-poverty-road-map

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Which Individuals Institutionalize Corruption?

March 25, 2016, 2:56 am
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Which Individuals Institutionalise Anti-Corruption?

Chambi Chachage

This week the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) assembled our best minds in dealing with corruption. Probably to cut the cost associated with paying for our venues, this #BBCAfricaDebate was held at the British Council in Dar es Salaam. Of course, dealing with the apparent "Africa's biggest killer" can mean anything from conceptualizing to combating even among those who practice it.

Nonetheless, our very own Zuhura Yunus from BBC Swahili was there to co-moderate an English-speaking panel that included Aida Kiangi, Ali Mufuruki, John Githongo and Zitto Kabwe. Afterwards we got to hear the same debate in our mother tongue, Kiswahili, that featured Betty Masanja, Manson Nyamweya, Nape Nnauye and Zitto Kabwe. On the front rows were lined up some sort of supporting panelists such as Aidan Eyakuze, Ave Maria Semakafu, Boniface Mwangi, Maria Sarungi, Maxence Melo from the whistleblowing Jamii Forum, Sandra Mushi and a representative from the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).
As someone who is suffering from the fatigue of hearing and talking about corruption, I did not expect much. Yet the lively debate inspired me to muse on a model for instituonalizing and individualizing anti-corruption. The spark came when one of the moderators, Owen Bennett-Jones, conducted an impromptu poll on the audience. Interestingly, roughly 75% said they had given a bribe before. Expectedly, no one said they had asked for bribe before.

I thus reminisced of the day when I decided, against all embarrassing odds, to stand in front of a packed audience at Soma Book Cafe and share my experience of giving a bribe. At that time I doubt if I knew anything about the statute of limitation and how our learned brothers - and sisters - use it to protect people who have broken the law in the distant past. The naive and dreamer in me simply thought that since 'honesty is the best policy' then 'coming out' may be contagious enough to help us to 'open up' about our personal challenges in dealing with everyday corruption.

One incidence occurred when, in search of adventures in Pan-Africanism, I took a bus from Cape Town in South Africa to Dar es Salaam. Anticipating that the police in the borders may ask for a bribe, I ensured that all my travel documents were carefully packed. But, alas, for some strange reasons when I got to the Zimbabwean border I could not see my yellow fever card.

What is now known as the Zimbabwe crisis was beginning. All the police officers wanted were South African Rands or American Dollars. I had Zimbabwean dollars and some caution money for exchanging for Zambian Kwacha and Tanzanian Shillings. The bus driver was becoming impatient. The choice was clear: we leave you  at the border or you give the bribe. To my surprise some passengers contributed money for the bribe and gave the conductor to give to the police officer. I still wonder if they didn't share the spoil.
How, then, does one institutionalize anti-corruption among individuals who are 'cornered' in a situation like that? Do you simply say it is all about 'changing our mindset' from such a 'moral economy' that 'characterizes' Africans as some critics put it? Or do you start by dealing with the 'dialectics' of institutionalization and individualization that would put the 'chicken-egg question' to rest?

For me, the answer is the latter. You cannot simply say we first need institutions as if they are not built by/on individuals. We cannot safely - as Ali Mufuruki aptly put it when responding to a question about whether we need dictatorship or democracy to deal with corruption effectively - depend on corrupt individuals to build anti-corruption institutions. After all, corruption begets corruption.

But the question is: What type of individuals are out there? I am convinced that there are three types though there is a thin line between each of them. The challenge then is to ensure that those who are caught in between are 'nudged' towards the type that is better positioned to institutionalize anti-corruption countrywide.
Group 1 is a very small one. It is made up of those who would not give or receive a bribe no matter what. I suspect they are hardly 1%. Even if the heavens fall they would stand by their principles as a needle to the pole. You can do all you want - even put a knife on their throat or a gun on their head - but they would not change their minds. If touching their skin is not enough you may touch their loved ones yet they would not give in. Such folks have no price as they are ready to pay the ultimate price in order to not partake of the poison chalice. They are a rare, if not an endangered specie.

Next to them you would find most of the 75% we encountered in the BBC debate. They are not proactive in giving bribe. But when they are cornered - as Yours Truly at the Beitbridge Border - they may buckled under the strain. Give this Group 2 a strong leader - a Magufuli - who seems to be against corruption and they would thrive. After all they hate giving bribes yet they are not ready to lay down their life - or forsake the access to whatever they have to give a bribe to get a privilege to - for the sake of the war on corruption.

Put individuals from Group 1 in power together with those in Group 2 then you are on your way to institutionalizing anti-corruption. What you end up with is a virtuous cycle that could keep on engendering individuals who are ethical through our families, schools, churches, mosques and workplaces. The more you do this, the more you shift those who are in-between these two types to become deeply ingrained with an anti-corruption ethos.
 Despite some of my failings, I would like to believe that I am one of those who fall in-between Group 1 and 2. Let me illustrate. When our country was issuing new versions of passports I was in the Scottish Highlands. Our Tanzanian community there organized for Immigration officers to visit us so we can apply as a group without having to resort to bribing. However, I had to go back home to Tanzania before they had issued our new passports.

Knowing what I would encounter at the Immigration Office in Dar es Salaam, I went to ask them not to send it to the UK. Luckily, I met someone who was excited to learn that her/his sir name is like my first name. Things turned sour when she/he started saying she/he had set it aside after noting that we were namesakes yet she/he could not see it. I kept coming back and that is when I realized there was some sort of 'code language' that was being used among those who were asking or giving bribes to get passports. 

 My 'passive resistance' led me to inquire about it in another cubicle far from away from the office my newfound namesake lest she/he notices that I suspect she/he was playing foul. Incidentally, she walked in and when our eyes locked I knew my passport is doomed for yet more delays. After going back and forth, she/he finally told me that she/he had shipped it to the UK, thinking I had already left Tanzania. How on earth could I go there without a (new) passport?

So, at the end of the day I had to refund more than double the money to our community leader in Scotland to courier the passport to me. For once, I had exhibited what individuals in Group 1 would do. It felt good to be on the right no matter the cost. But how does an individual sustain that if she/he is more or less in Group 2? By  institutionalizing the social cost of corruption. This is what Nape Nnauye referred to as social sanctions in the BBC debate though I felt he went a bit overboard with glaring examples from Botswana.
One has to feel and know it is more rewarding socially - and even economically - to move from Group 2 to 1. The old Psychological concept of punishment and reward as  reinforcers is still workable as innovations in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) indicate. But you need individuals from Group 1 who can take a lead on this.

Could those from Group 3, i.e. individuals who proactively ask for bribes or give bribes to 'oil' their way through, be transformed or rehabilitated through this model? Is there hope for them? As long as they are not in the higher echelons of (political) power, their influence can be curtailed. They may tow the line out of fear yet when an opportunity come their way, corruption would be business as usual. But we do not need a (benevolent) dictator to instil the fear of God in them. All we need is to ensure that their vicious cycle is cut short through the democratic process of ensuring that once those in G1 and their G2 allies are in power they remain there. 
John Githongo and Manson Nyamweya from Kenya seemed so optimistic about Magufulification in Tanzania and its prospect for spreading across Africa in their contributions to the BBC debate. It may be too early to the cynics in some us to not be wary given that Magufuli, as Zitto Kabwe reminded us, has been part of the same government for 20 years as a cabinet minister and deputy minister.

Yet, in term of our model, our President and Commander in Chief seems to be an individual who is in Group 1. Whether he has always been there or moved there now from Group 2 is beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to conclude that, we need to seize the 'Magufuli Moment' against corruption while - and lest - it lasts.
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Outsourcing - A 'Bridge' to Quality Education?

April 9, 2016, 9:04 pm
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Christine Mungai's article on An Africa first! Liberia outsources entire education system to a private American firm. Why all should pay attentionhas sparked a heated debate in the social media. Find below some interesting responses and connections. 

Chambi:


"The word "outsource" was a bad choice. It's my understanding that they are entering a partnership to have Bridge take over a limited number of schools. I don't know a whole lot about the situation but I'm hopeful that it can bring some level of positive change to the education landscape in Liberia. We'll be watching to see what actually happens" - From a Liberian friend involved in the education sector in Liberia.

  
Michaela:

This joint letter from a number of Kenyan CSOs to the President of the World Bank provides an interesting critique of how Bridge International Academies [BIA] has performed in Kenya, and also of the World Bank, Gates Foundation etc. provide support for the private company and not for the Kenyan public educational system. The letter may help inform our own analysis of the BIA/private v. public education issue. 


The criticism breaks down into (a) specific complaints about BIA and its performance and (b) a critique of the principle of supporting a private education provider instead of the public system, which at least in theory strives towards achieving the principle of free education for all. 

On the performance of BIA, the CSOs note: 

-A BIA education is actually quite expensive/not affordable for most Kenyan families, with lots of hidden costs not included in the $6 per month (which in itself is not exactly cheap).

-There is no independent study confirming that BIA students actually out-perform their peers, despite the company claiming high performance rates.

-The company does not invest in school infrastructure, but rather builds flimsy wood and sheet metal structures that will not last.

Now with these criticisms of BIA, it's possible to think that maybe another private provider could do better, or perhaps its just a question of BIA improving its own game. But I think the CSOs raise some interesting, and more fundamental concerns, about private vs. public education provision and the basic need/right for a public system:

-A public education system, which includes trained teachers, is crucial to a country's development, and self-reliance (although they don't quite phrase it that way).

-They specifically criticize the WB for supporting a private, US provider instead of the Kenyan public education systems. This limits the potential to build up durable state capacity in the education sector and also to work towards achieving the principle of free primary education for all, which is in any case guaranteed by law.

I would add to this critique that this shift towards more private education mirrors a trend in the US, which as seen the rapid spread of Charter Schools. They've been aggressively championed by Republican but also Democratic politicians, who argue that they can help solve the budgetary challenges that many school districts face, while also improving performance. The reality is somewhat different:

-The spread of charter schools has actually increased the financial burden in many school districts, because they have an obligation to both maintain the public schools while also subsidizing the charter schools. 

-Charter schools do not out-perform public schools, and when they do, they've been known to expel poor performing students while retaining the better performing students, and this in order to boost the charter schools' exam results and thereby to substantiate their posturing as good performers. This then drains public schools of the better students, adding a further handicap for them. 

-There is a lack of effective oversight of charter schools and a systematic under-reporting of their failures, which is consistent with the aggressive political campaign in favour of charter schools (largely ideological in nature - i.e. private is better than public).
-The roll out of charter schools, which has opened up a lucrative new area for investment, has been plagued by corruption, including politicians contracting out to companies owned by personal/political allies (c.f. Philadelphia in particular). 

I'm not saying all of these issues would resurface in a Liberian or Kenyan context, but they do highlight some of the challenges of a US-born enthusiasm for private education providers, and the largely US-led export of this model to developing countries. I also very much believe that there are no shortcuts to a good educational system (admittedly this is based on my own intuition/ideological proclivities, but the other side of the debate hasn't been any better in providing sound, evidence-based arguments). Whether its the US, Kenya or Liberia, the hard work of building a public education system is the best way to achieve the goals of equal and improved access, quality, and good performance. It's obviously not easy, and there have been plenty of abject failures (corruption, lack of infrastructure, lack of/poorly motivated teachers, etc). But I don't see how a durable solution involves simply throwing in the towel.

 In Kenya, there are already signs that BIA is not achieving its goals while diverting financial support that could otherwise go towards tackling issues in public education. And let's say Liberia does substitute its entire public system with BIA schools, how do you then go back? In 50 years, will Liberia still be dependent on BIA? What if they want to change the BIA approach, will the government have any power to influence the private company through its own education policy? If the government decided to re-invest in public education, where would it find the trained teachers, or teacher training colleges, or even the basic infrastructure? It'd have to start from scratch. 

Of course, that latter scenario seems unlikely, particularly if Chambi's friend is correct and this is only about a few schools and not the entire educational system. Still, it's interesting to extend the logic of privatization and see where it lands us, namely a pretty dystopian situation where a private company controls education, substituting and subordinating the state in the process.

Mabala:

I absolutely agree with Michaela. Although actually i would prefer an alternative to schools altogether that is for another day. But simplistic, externally driven solutions do not work. When I was in Ethiopia they had introduced a South African system through videos in good South African English. When there was a semi-uprising against the government, the first things students burned in the schools were the video sets. This might seem counter-intuitive but in fact these programmes, which the majority could hardly understand were not providing education but merely emphasising to the students that they could not access such an education. 

For those who argue public bad private good let us not forget that the majority of private schools in Tanzania are still pretty hopeless. It is only a few which gain the limelight.

Charles:

I don't think if it is practical to expect African governments, and Tanzanian in particular, to provide 'equal access to quality education'. We neither have the resources nor the strategic capability to pull that off.

Given the state of education in this country I think we ought to experiment with different models and with time we will know which ones work best. The idea of private firms managing operations of existing systems can help improve efficiency and effectiveness. It is a model that is being used in many industries - so why not education?

Also, when a firm builds temporary buildings for classes purists might find that offensive - but what is the point of education, improving buildings or developing minds? This is where expectations ought to be managed. If that is considered a priority the government can choose to focus on the building infrastructure and allow private firms to manage operations.

NB: This idea is a major trend in Telecommunications. Also see this example from the hospitality industry in India and see how this model can improve operations, efficiency and profitability. As long as it is the owners who still determine the policies and objectives, I don't see why the model should be rejected at face value.
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Corruption - A Structural Issue?

April 9, 2016, 9:26 pm
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Find below a couple of responses to Which Individuals Institutionalise Anti-Corruption?

Michaela:

Nice blog post! 

I had a couple thoughts reading it. I agree with you that individuals and their personal attitude definitely matter, particularly if we want to admit any room for individual agency in fighting corruption. And yet in general I think I see corruption as more of a structural issue. I've probably been over-influenced by recent writing by people like Khan, Whitfield, Gray, etc., but there is a large political economy literature emerging at the moment, which focuses on corruption in developing economies as discouraged/encouraged depending on the distribution of power among elites. 

As in, where you have a strong, centralized leadership, corruption may persist (in fact it's generally assumed that in most developing economies a degree of clientelism is almost inevitable), but if the leadership is interested in containing corruption, this will be possible as a result of the tight control exerted from the top level and also the institutions put in place to reinforce/further centralize that top level power. Countries like Rwanda (Behuria, ROAPE article) or Vietnam (Gray, African Affairs article) fit this model. By contrast, where the leadership is factionalized, you may have competing clientelist networks both engaging in corruption and effectively unable to hold each other accountable due to shared guilt (Tanzania pre-Magufuli according to Gray). 

So from this analysis, it appears what may prove most effective is a strong leadership that can centralize control and discourage corruption, and crucially (this is where individual attitudes come in), sees a value in doing so. There are plenty of cases of a strong, centralized leadership where all you end up with is a kleptocracy (Angola under Dos Santos might be an example of this, or maybe Gabon under Omar Bongo). 

Of course, there's something somewhat depressing about thinking a strong, centralized leadership is key to fighting corruption. It is not a very democratic vision. And I certainly think there are other, messier and more round about ways of progressively decreasing the scale of corrupt activities (in the US, for instance, clientelist politics seem to have slowly declined as a result of a multiplicity of factors, e.g. economic growth, a growing associational life, a more educated population, progressively stronger institutions, etc). 

Anyway, these are just a few thoughts. Otherwise, really enjoyed the piece!

Charles:

A very thought-provoking article. Interesting. But just a couple of comments:

1. In Mwl. Nyerere Tanzania probably had the person in your Group 1. Yet, after decades as President, Nyerere failed to build a serious group of followers. In fact, the very people that he annointed went on to become the main conductors of the corruption scheme. How do you reconcile this with the views expressed in the article?

2. I once attended a Christian businessmen seminar and during discussion time the question of bribes came up. While I initially thought that I would hear a very conservative position, akin to what you would expect from members of Group 1 but, alas, people had found ways to rationalise bribery. In my opinion, that would have been unthinkable 20 years earlier. One of the question which was asked was 'What if a family member was very sick and needed emergency care and the only way to get it was through bribes. Would you give it?' Even the Pastor responded affirmatively. The point is: these are not people I would consider to be predators. These are people who are very well grounded in their moral compasses but for some reason they have adopted what Prof. Joseph Fletcher had called a 'situational ethics'. In the most extreme cases, situation ethicists may rationalise murders. I think these people ought to be considered as survivors, possible the biggest victims of the situation they help sustain through their pragmatism. (I know of one contractor who had not won any contract for over a year and he went to a Pastor crying of the situation. You would think that the Pastor, who also owned a similar business, would tell him to persevere. He didn't. Over the years I have seen myself treading the same thin line between my conscience and situations, from being a hardline G1 to a pragmatic G1 - or G2?)

3. About those in Group 3, these are the people of whom I wrote that the behavioral conditioning principles of Edward Thorndike and B. F. Skinner apply. The stakes should be high. You comply, the rewards should be great and immediate. You don't, the punishments should be quite severe. What JPM was supposed to do was to go for several symbolic 'sacred cows'. In Nigeria Bukhari is going after military generals and the officers of the National Security Adviser. These are the sacred cows. But here in Tanzania I think evidence suggests that JPM is being partial - a respecter of persons in his anti-corruption crusade. As long as some people know that different rules apply to them, corruption will never be routed out. 

I tend to agree with those who believe that corruption is more of a structural issue. In Tanzania, its roots are entrenched in people's views of success and being clever. Apart from building institutions to combat it, it is important to do things which symbolise a surgical departure from the past. Public shaming of, and recovery of ill gotten assets from, the top leaders may be necessary. JPM has not mustered the guts to do so yet. We probably can link this with the de-Stalinasation process in USSR and a similar process against Mao's legacy in China as a break-away from the previous practices. So, the question 'which individuals institutionalise corruption' is apt. Those are the 'high places', 'exalted altars' which must be destroyed.

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Is CCM with Magufuli?

April 9, 2016, 9:32 pm
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Is his party with him? 

By Michael Collord

Analysts argue that widespread corruption and economic stagnation In Tanzania have much to do with the internal politics of the long-time ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). In recent decades, competing factions have increasingly divided the party, hindering its ability both to control corruption and to implement a coherent economic policy agenda. As Brian Cooksey argues, ‘within the ruling party, the use of rent-seeing of all types to advance the interests of groups of rentiers intent on taking control of the party has heightened pressures to loot the public purse and natural resources.’ Hazel Gray meanwhile underscores how, despite CCM’s strong formal institutional and appearance of centralized authority, ‘neither the president nor any one particular faction could enforce its particular agenda within the ruling party.’

There is a possibility that Magufuli is well positioned to impose discipline within the party in a way his predecessors could not. For one, Magufuli’s path to the presidency has left him relatively unencumbered by the kind of political baggage that has hampered his predecessors. He built his reputation as a competent, largely scandal-free minister, who most people discounted out of hand during CCM’s hotly contested presidential nomination struggle. One major reason for this was Magufuli’s lack of a strong mtandao, the Swahili word used to refer to the opaque political networks behind successful candidacies within CCM. And yet he emerged the surprise winner after two rival factions, one headed by then President Jakaya Kikwete and another by his former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, dealt each other a mutual, knockout blow.

A second factor that could play in Magufuli’s favour is the exit, or at least temporary silencing, of the faction within CCM associated with Lowassa. After losing out on his nomination bid, the former PM left the party to become the opposition presidential candidate during last year’s general elections. Politicians who were known to support Lowassa, and yet remained within CCM, are now being made to denounce their former ally while others have been threatened with the prospect of expulsion from the party. Meanwhile, members of the Tanzanian business community who backed Lowassa now find themselves in a very precarious position, with some reports of businessmen taking their operations abroad. Senior officials within CCM have suggested that, far from weakening the party, the fall from grace of one of its strongest factions could actually help restore unity, at least temporarily.

Another important point in his favour is that Magufuli himself has made an accurate diagnosis of the political challenge ahead of him. When delivering his inaugural address before Parliament, he identified two obstacles to achieving his development aims: ‘leaders like us in here and crooked, deceptive businessmen.’ Unlike his predecessors, who have made similar observations, Magufuli is showing signs of actually following words with action, notably through his crackdown on tax avoidance. He is also set to take over as CCM Chairman later this year and, along with the reform minded Secretary General, has hinted at a political cleanup in the 2017 internal party elections.

Finally, Magufuli’s popularity since taking office also makes it more difficult for any political opponents within the party to criticize him openly.

Each of these apparent advantages has its downsides, though. Magufuli’s lack of a strong network coming into office makes him vulnerable as much as it frees him from costly political debts. Discussions with some insiders have pointed to a potential isolation within the party, something which may not be helped by his tendency to appoint technocrats to key positions, or by his promise of an aggressive crackdown on political financiers and corrupt politicians alike. The purge of Lowassa supporters in the party, which former President Kikwete is leading, also shows signs of creating more divisions rather than restoring unity.

Ultimately, it is unclear how Magufuli—or anyone else—could do away with the entrenched cronyism that has come to characterize CCM. Since the 1980s and 1990s when first economic liberalization saw the party lose control over parastatals and then political liberalization cut its lucrative government funding, CCM has grown to depend on financial support from the private sector, which it then rewards through government tenders, tax breaks, and other kickbacks. This state of affairs is what has helped fuel party fragmentation across rival clientelist networks, as observed by Cooksey and Gray earlier in this piece. While Magufuli appears to have a window of opportunity to reign in rent-seeking within CCM, and deliver substantive development gains in the process, it is unclear how long his agenda can endure without a relapse into the old way of doing politics.
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MAKE IT (PAN AFRICANISM) SEXIE

April 9, 2016, 11:22 pm
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MAKE IT (PAN AFRICANISM) SEXIE

Make it of light complexion
and of less complication,
Make it simple, attractive, precise
Make it sexy...
Tena, have it end with an 'ie' instead,
As the 'y' doesn't have much entice,

Embrace it with beauty
Thus (we) the young ones would generate our affection,
Speak of it in a tone appealing to the tongues
and the minds of the young,

Lecture it not
For your lecturers are boring and long,
Instead (Professor) make it a song,
Sing it...
4 to 5 minutes tops,
All at once and in rhymes we'd be able to grasp,

One more thing "Doctor",
Take back your books
and have them in your shelves,
Post us your book reviews in your facebook page instead,
Further summarize them in 140 words...
So as we'd be able to tweet
and share them to the world,

Wanazuoni...
Make Pan Africanism sexie
and you shall see if it (Pan Africanism) won't be trending.

#MakePanAfricanismSexie
©Jasper Kido
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High Level Debate on History in Tanzania

April 15, 2016, 7:50 am
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For or Against outsourcing of Liberian schools?

April 15, 2016, 8:43 am
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C. Patrick Burrowes has given the following clarion call: Wanted: An international campaign to block outsourcing of Liberian schools. Find below two opposing responses to the call from Wanazuoni, a listserv of Tanzania's Intellectuals. You may also wish to revisit: Outsourcing - A 'Bridge' to Quality Education?

Charles:

Standing in the way of progress, aren't we?

There are three reasons I am quite open to this idea of outsourcing of Liberian schools and may even advocate for the same to be attempted in Tanzania. One, because I see it working in Telecoms. Two, the existing systems have proved to be too ineffective, and, three, if their situation is as bad as ours, things cannot become any worse. 

In Telecoms this is quite normal today. Whole departments such as operations, technology, customer support, asset management, logistics and warehouse, etc. have been outsourced to those better equipped to manage them thus making the companies lean and focused on their core businesses. For example, a customer care agent employed by a contractor will probably handle three times the number of issues at half the pay. Efficiency.

Similarly, I can see the same dynamics at play in the Education system. First, considering the number of teachers and staff in the education department, this is a significant burden administration-wise to the government. It might be better for the government to focus on its core functions which is not managing staff but delivering services. Second, everything that the government can do the other firms can do too. Same teachers will be employed by the contractors - only that they will know how best to deploy and manage them. Third, the government will remain as a client, hence it will determine the curriculum and monitor the achievements of the pre-agreed standards. Fourth, since the consultants will be profit driven they will most likely introduce radical approaches to achieve efficiency. The author argues that good teachers are irreplaceable in early childhood education. Probably, but I think nobody is arguing against using good teachers but for addressing issues related to the system which make their presence irrelevant: number of teachers, classrooms, desks, books, libraries, labs, too many pupils, etc. 

In management and leadership, sometimes we have to experiment to learn and get solutions. When Deng Xiaoping started experimenting with the state-controlled capitalism he didn't even know where he was going with the idea. He only knew that the status quo was unacceptable. So it is wrong to reject this idea at face value. (I am actually impressed that the Liberian government has had the guts to break away from the norms. When this move is compared to the Nyerereian Ujamaa experiment in Tanzania, it is much less disruptive and has significant chances of success.) 

I have some concerns though: it probably would have been better to implement the idea gradually, a couple of districts or regions at a time instead of going wholesale from the beginning. Also, it would have been better to contract three or four firms to introduce an element of competition and giving the best performing firms more schools to administer and vice versa.

The idea is brilliant in my opinion. The campaign organisers are misguided.
Michaela:

Charles, previous posts already show that we don't agree on this one. I think your comments are interesting, but there's an unfair market bias running throughout. 

A few thoughts on your comments:

(1) I don't see the parallel between outsourcing certain services in a telecommunications operation and outsourcing the entire education system (teacher recruitment/training/employment, curriculum design, school building construction, etc). Should the provider prove unsatisfactory, it's not like the Liberian government can just switch to someone seemingly better, as in a competitive market. The entire system, and all the expertise for running it, will be in the hands of a single company, leaving the Liberian government as 'client' in a pretty poor position. 

(2) You say that managing teachers/staff in an education department is a burden to government, so it should focus on its 'core functions' of 'delivering services'. How are these two separate? Delivering quality educational services is, I'd say first and foremost, about managing teachers/their training. 

(3) You say, 'everything that the gov can do the other firms can do too. Same teachers will be employed by the contractors--only they will know how best to deploy and manage them.' This smacks of pro-market ideology, as if firms are always better than government. As noted in the Pambazuka piece, a lot of would-be excellent Charter schools in the states have been an utter disaster. 

(4) You say, 'the government will remain as a client, hence it will determine the curriculum and monitor the achievements of the pre-agreed standards.' So to build on (1), this is assuming some kind of competitive market scenario where the all-powerful client can simply dump a non-performing firm and opt for its competitor. That is not the case here at all. Even if there were multiple firms competing within Liberia, investing in schools, teachers, curricula, etc. presents a sunk cost. You can't go about changing everything on the fly if you're unsatisfied with performance. How is the Liberian government going to go about pressuring BRIDGE to up its game if it is dissatisfied further down the line? It won't have its own administrative capacity to replace the private company, and the resource requirements to contract someone new would be huge. The government is at a fundamental disadvantage in any future negotiations with BRIDGE. 

(5) You say, 'since the consultants will be profit driven they will most likely introduce radical approaches to achieve efficiency.' So profits before education? That should terrify us, not be cause for celebration. 

(6) You say, 'I am actually impressed that the Liberian government has had the guts to break away from the norms.' What norm is the Liberian government breaking with? If anything, it's simply going with the latest fad being propounded by the World Bank, and contracting out to an American company which the leaders of the World Bank are probably very happy to do a little soft diplomacy in supporting. Also, this is as neo-liberal as it gets, and last I checked, that's been the new normal since the 1980s. 

(7) You say, 'It probably would have been better to introduce gradually.' Well yes, at the very least, this needs to be evidence-based policy following a trial run. And as noted in the Pambazuka piece, similar trials have been attempted in the US, with poor results. Meanwhile, the best performing educational systems around the world are those where the government invests heavily in building up the state/administrative capacity to ensure it delivers quality education. Of course those states struggled with poor education services in the past, when they were industrializing and still had high illiteracy rates. But part of their development trajectory involved overcoming those state weaknesses, and building up their education systems to be something they can be proud of today. 

Obviously there are problems with the educational systems as they currently stand in Liberia and Tanzania for that matter. But this just simply is not the way to go. And if you want some more concrete evidence, look at how Tz's East African neighbours have already soured on BRIDGE, as I mentioned in an earlier post. One last thing, education is not just any other commodity to be bought and sold. This is where by own bias comes out but seriously, it should be a right, and a public service, which everyone has access to. However 'efficient' BRIDGE might seem, tallying up the costs (tuition, books, exam fees, etc) shows that for an average to low household budget, this is just an impossible expense. If for no other reason, that is enough to scrap the Liberia plan. 
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Misery at MISR: Looking Beyond Mamdani & Nyanzi

April 21, 2016, 10:58 pm
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The fiery exchange between Professor Mahmood Mamdani and Doctor Stella Nyanzi at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) is only part of a larger battle for academic freedom and democratisation of higher learning institutions in Africa. However, in personalising this in terms of the two heavyweights we may miss out on the struggles that some students themselves are carrying there. In the interest of foregrounding them for wider engagement, I post below my response to one of the students and her rejoinder.

Chambi Chachage:

Folks, I have not said any learning form must be dictated at a strict point. My point is simple - and not new: A university by its very foundation is not a democratic institution, administratively. We may claim it is, intellectually. But when it comes to 'administrating' it as a 'modern' academic institution, it is not simply about sharing opinions and ideas as our good professor Kitila Mkumbo (PhD) seems to profess:

"Prof. Mamdani is the one who has been teaching young scholars how to argue intellectually. He is a strong advocate of an academic and intellectual freedom. I can't believe he's the one saying 'a university is not a democratic institution'.... If universities cannot practice basic democratic principles characterised with open and frank exchange of ideas and opinions, then I argue that there should never be democracy at all anywhere on the soil!" - Prof. Kitila Mkumbo's reaction to Noosim Naimasiah's A Response to Prof. Mamdani's Press Release and the debate about Makerere

A university is all about 'hierarchy' hence the provisions of 'titles/rank's - you get this then you become that. You become that then you can do this. Even the use of Latin is part and parcel of that legacy of 'pontification' from the 'Roman' era. Do we even wonder where the terms we use come from? Refer to these definitions:

DOCTORATE: ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin doctoratus ‘made a doctor’. 

SENATE: ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French senat, from Latin senatus, from senex ‘old man’.

CHANCELLOR: ORIGIN late Old English from Old French cancelier, from late Latin cancellarius ‘porter, secretary’ (originally a court official stationed at the grating separating public from judges), from cancelli ‘crossbars’.

MASTERS: ORIGIN :Old English mæg(i)ster (later reinforced by Old French maistre), from Latin magister; probably related to magis ‘more’.

DEGREE: ORIGIN Middle English (in the senses ‘step’, ‘tier’, ‘rank’, or ‘relative state’): from Old French, based on Latin de-‘down’ + gradus ‘step or grade’.

PhD: ORIGIN from Latin philosophiae doctor.

A student, having being attracted to MISR primarily if not precisely because of Mamdani, cannot thus argue for what he terms 'Mamdanism' as opposed to 'Mamdanisation' in their #MamdaniMustWalkHisTalk as if in its quest against neoliberalism, Mamdanism is about turning upside down the university that was hierarchical and undemocratic way before the ascendancy of neoliberalism. For the author of "Ideological State Apparatuses and the Reproduction of Alienated Subjects: An Insider’s Critique of the MISR PhD Programme" to also think that 'Neoliberalism [is] the ideology at the root of all our problems' as if universities were so socialist and democratic before the neoliberal turn is ahistorical. It is truncating the history of universities to what Samir Amin would refers to as a parenthesis - a bracket - in the long history of human 'civilisation'. A very short period indeed that 'may' not last. Hardly 100 years.

My conclusion is thus also straightforward - and not novel: If we want to truly democratize knowledge provision/ administration we have to dismantle the 'whole' apparatus/edifice of learning through such a hierarchical system by committing 'class suicide' as 'educated elites' who 'accumulate' masters, PhDs and other ranks that 'reproduces' what Althusser aptly captured below when analysing the structure that emerged before the coining of the term neoliberalism - a structure we aped since colonial times:

“It takes children from every class at infant-school age, and then for years, the years in which the child is most 'vulnerable', squeezed between the family State apparatus and the educational State apparatus, it drums into them, whether it uses new or old methods, a certain amount of 'know-how' wrapped in the ruling ideology (French, arithmetic, natural history, the sciences, literature) or simply the ruling ideology in its pure state (ethics, civic instruction, philosophy). Somewhere around the age of sixteen, a huge mass of children are ejected 'into production': these are the workers or small peasants. Another portion of scholastically adapted youth carries on: and, for better or worse, it goes somewhat further, until it falls by the wayside and fills the posts of small and middle technicians, white-collar workers, small and middle executives, petty bourgeois of all kinds. A last portion reaches the summit, either to fall into intellectual semi-employment, or to provide, as well as the 'intellectuals of the collective labourer', the agents of exploitation (capitalists, managers), the agents of repression (soldiers, policemen, politicians, administrators, etc.) and the professional ideologists (priests of all sorts, most of whom are convinced' laymen). Each mass ejected en route is practically provided with the ideology which suits the role it has to fulfill in class society: the role of the exploited (with a 'highly developed', 'professional', 'ethical', 'civic', 'national' and apolitical consciousness); the role of the agent of exploitation (ability to give the workers orders and speak to them: 'human relations'), of the agent of repression (ability to give orders and enforce obedience 'without discussion', or ability to manipulate the demagogy of a political leader's rhetoric), or of the professional ideologist (ability to treat consciousnesses with the respect, i.e. with the contempt, blackmail and demagogy they deserve, adapted to the accents of Morality, of Virtue, or 'Transcendence', of the Nation, of France's World Role, etc.) (p. 118-119)" - UDADISI: Schools as State Apparatuses for Failing Students

Can our dear compatriots - Sabatho, Baha and Diana - at MISR have their cake (PhD) and eat it too?
Noosim Naimasiah:

My response to this 'fascinated academic' argument is this, adding onto what Sabatho has already writen. You are right, this is not a new argument. The apparatuses of the modern status are fundamentally undemocratic even though they use, among other functions, representation which is ideally democratic to run their institutions. The struggle, as I see it, is to expand this function of representation with the modern state and by extension, the university, and adopt increasingly and radically, the political alignments from our culturally historical or/and emerging notions that in their imagination and operation center love and expansive horizontal participation.

As for the question you ask Sabatho, Baha and Diana - it can be asked to literally anyone struggling against forms of injustice in its varying degrees anywhere in this world. Because we are living in this world. A world which for the most part, in varying degrees is informed by hierarchy even at the microlevel, and the struggle is to raise ourselves, beyond ourselves, which though never complete, provides a new horizon, partly for ourselves (because we are always tied to the hierachies we have known, at least in part), and perhaps entirely for others, who come after us.
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Udadisi on 'Decolonizing the Academy'

April 22, 2016, 6:54 am
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Exhibition: Women in Liberation

April 22, 2016, 8:54 am
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Throughout 2016, Ireland is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The 1916 rising was a major catalyst in Ireland's journey towards independence and the foundation of the modern Irish state. 

As part of our centenary programme, the Embassy of Ireland is hosting a panel discussion and exhibition on the theme of Women in Liberation, to be held on the evening of 19th May, 2016, at the National Museum in Dar es Salaam. 

Irish historian Dr Mary McAuliffe will join a panel of Tanzanian women to explore the role of women in liberation struggles and share insights from the experiences of both countries. The discussion will be accompanied by an exhibition on the lives of women in the Irish and Tanzanian liberation movements. For further information please visit dfa.ie/irish-embassy/tanzania/news-and-events/2016/women-and-liberation-struggles/  

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A quest for African ontologies and epistemologies

April 26, 2016, 6:44 pm
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Bukhi:

With reference to the ongoing discussions (in Wanazuoni) on African universities and diaspora academics, African academy and policy-oriented research, African scholarship, African education systems, the 'need' for innovation in African universities and 'innovation universities' in Africa and to what others think the need to Africa to have its own methods of evaluating things (Rev. Kishoka), I have been thinking about African ways of engaging with ontological and epistemological questions. To make it clearer, I'm talking about African ways of questioning about existence, reality and its nature, and knowledge/truth and the relationship between an observer and what can be observed and how? This implies the need for African philosophies, philosophers and metaphysical thinkers. But, one may ask, is there a need to have African ontologies and epistemologies? What have been the implications on African development planning and policies, and African academia in general?

Whether being a positivist/realist, or a constructivist/deconstructivist, critical realist/pragmatist etc. we have all been influenced by non-African ways of engaging with the ontological and epistemological questions. From Achille Mbembe, Kwame Appiah, Mogobe Ramose to Wole Soyinka, they have all been influenced by non-African philosophy. Michel Foucault has significantly influenced Mbembe's 'necropolitics' and other writings. I'm not sure about Soyinka's influence, but it is certain that Hegel influenced Appiah (at least for how I read his writings and thinking).

I have heard of African 'philosophies' such as Ubuntu etc., but there are almost no sustained academic engagements with such philosophies, especially in terms of deciphering complex and not-easy-to-understand concepts, and make use of them for African scholarship and development at large. At least Mogobe Ramose has written extensively on Ubuntu, check his book, African philosophy through Ubuntu. On the other hand, I know with heterogeneous African societies and cultures, it is unrealistic to have universal African ontologies and epistemologies i.e. to have universal African forms of knowing and truth/reality. But, I wish for more engagements with Ubuntu and other unknown African philosophies.
As someone with interest in conservation and development (both at theory and practice levels), I sometimes wish I could engage more with the discussions from African ontological and epistemological viewpoints. I find that necessary especially in today's complex, place-based and dynamic environmental problems and challenges. I wish for a 'movement' against hegemonic scientific orientations/frameworks for understanding socio-economic and socio-ecological processes in Africa, and Tanzania in particular, and coming up with local-specific ways of dealing with the problems. I wish for African ontological and epistemological paradigms in contrast to the Western ones. Do we have African thinkers cum philosophers who have written about ontologies and epistemologies without being influenced by non-African philosophers? Thinkers who have written on African metaphysics, ontologies and epistemologies before colonisation? 

I might be wrong, but this is how I see it so far.

What do you think?
Kassala:
Ndugu Bukhi's contribution to the discussion on the African 'wasomi' and 'wanazuoni' needs to be taken very seriously and critically. I have italicized the words 'seriously' and 'critically' on purpose. Many of us are not yet intellectually conscious enough to realize the gravity of the 'African problem'. For that reason they do not take critical thinking seriously. The problem with the 'African problem' is about the African meaning of meaning. It is about what and how an African makes sense of the fundamental common sense. The fundamental common sense is the meaning that a critical thinker discovers intellectually and conceptually to be what existentially drives human beings commonly.

That paragraph above, I know, has already raised some questions to anyone who is reading this! If that has happened, I am glad to say that we are moving in the right direction. The thing is: very unfortunately our higher learning institutions are so intellectually and cognitively lazy that they do not teach or give instructions on what I call 'critical thinking about thinking'. For me this 'critical thinking about thinking' is what the Western people have called 'philosophy', although the Greek etymological meaning of the word 'philosophy' is 'the love of wisdom'. Philosophy per se is not an academic discipline! It is part of being a rational human person! It is the effort to seek answers, solutions and responses to questions, problems and challenges respectively about the meaning of human existence. Since Africans are human beings, they must have their own way of seeking such answers, solutions and responses.

I do not want here to start a discussion within a discussion on the issue of the definition of philosophy. However, we African intellectuals need to raise critical questions such as: Is “philosophy”, in the way it was brought to Africa and taught to Africans by the West, a scholarly methodology for examining logical truth? Or is it a coherent set of beliefs about the nature of the world and the place of human beings in that world? If it is a methodology and/or a set of beliefs, then what we have is a Western methodology and/or a Western set of beliefs about the universe and humanity. If this is so, then what I have said before, i.e. the problem with the 'African problem' is the African meaning of meaning, needs to be followed up. In other words, we need to follow up this question: What meaning do we Africans give to Western philosophical methodologies and their philosophical beliefs? Is what is meaningful to a European or a Western man/woman meaningful as well to an African man and woman?

One way of following up this effort to search for answers, solutions and responses, is posing the questions: How do we Africans identify ourselves intellectually? What do we Africans make sense of our historical existence? What kind of thinking is behind our systems, structures, beliefs and ideologies which support our efforts in education, politics, economy, development, etc? What sense do we Africans make of what is beyond the sensible, the physical, the measurable, the empirical? But in making such sense, how do we know that this answer, solution or response makes sense to an African? What African criteria or theory do we have to justify or explain that such knowing is African?

Jacques:

Just one comment: how come there is no mention to people like Cheikh Anta Diop, Théophile Obenga, Ernest Wamba dia Wamba? 

Pater:

I am so delighted going through your thoughts and your view of Afrikan approaches on matters of Philosophy and thoughts. Your thoughts seek to understand Ontological and Epistemological approach of Afrika in various questions.

If I was to be seen in your thoughts I would have advised that for you to understand better this question hereby in thoughts I would have asked you to engage in "HOW KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND DISSEMINATED IN VARIOUS SOCIETY AND THE WORLD AT LARGE" this would give you a right approach of ontological and epistemological usage in various! It isn't that Afrika does not engage in Ontological and Epistemological analysis but rather there is a one sided side of the story about knowledge Production and Philosophies!

Asking yourself why you are not seeing such approaches and Afrikan Philosophies, Afrikan Philosophers and thinkers apart of the mentioned in the usage of non Afrikan ways other than Ubuntu, is the step towards recognizing that you have been all time through trading on only one sided of the story of knowledge and philosophical approaches!
For more than 10 years, under the Directorship of the late Prof. Dan Wadada Nabudere, the Marcus Garvey Pan Afrikan Institute, now Marcus Garvey University in Mbale Uganda, reviewed a very similar question but in a manner that is concerned with re tracing the source of knowledge, how it is produced and disseminated basing on Afrikan Cosmology! A new approach was devised named “AFRIKOLOGY, TRANSDICIPLINARITY AND WHOLENESS”.  A paper was also published in the Journal of African Renaissance Studies, Pretoria by Nabudere, D. W[2005] titled 'Towards an Afrikology of knowledge production and African Regeneration'.

This new approach being a science of knowledge production that maximizes Afrikan cosmology aimed at explaining scientifically knowledge production that has roots in African Cosmology. This due to uncertainty and acrimony in the way we understand the world and the way human beings understand each other as manifested in the way knowledge is being organised and managed today.

“It becomes so important to trace the role the ancient Africans played in laying the ground for the institutions of knowledge creation and its application to human needs. In this way, we shall then be able to see how Afrikology as an all-inclusive epistemology based on the cosmologies emanating from the Cradle of Humankind, can play in rejuvenating the Universal knowledge, which our ancestors first put in place in their growing spread around the world.” Nabudere D. W [2007]

Its role is to retrace this humanistic tradition in order to rid our world of those hierarchies of life that Greek philosophers, especially Plato, introduced from their one-sided understanding of knowledge from the Cradle of Humankind, which has increasingly created the kind of fragmentation in our consciousness that imperils our very existence as a civilised human society.
“We are confronted with an ever more urgent need to find a new morality: a new means of humanising man in society, a new civilisation, or else shake ourselves finally to pieces” [Davidson, 1969:67]. 

I am certain if you go through Afrikology you will definitely understand that it has been a fact in all these philosophies you are trading with but it has been not the truth for far too long. The earlier you discover this in your heart the better you will be able to fit in this world of deception when it comes to knowledge transfer, curriculum development and a sense of human living. 

The truth is that there Afrika has been cut off from many issues that describe black and white of Knowledge and how the world has benefited from the Afrikan cosmologies! You have heard of the saying “know thyself” go read the Pharaoh of Afrikan Antiquity (Cheik Anta Diop) Diop, C. A [1974]: African Origins of Civilization: Myths and Reality, Lawrence Hill Chicago, Diop, C. A [1980]: Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology, Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago you will understand that even that saying was not from Plato as many believe and know! Anyway remember there is a saying which is not so famous; wisdom is not acquired by reading of books but of men!

Imruh:

Today I returned to this mail and its subject, not with answers, but as part of a contemplation of the environment within which the 'quest' for the African onthologies and epistemologies might take place.
I am sure you are aware of current incidents in which African academics are making headlines (for the wrong reasons). There is the Stella Nyanzi-Mahmood Mamdani 'performance' at Makerere, of which I can only ponder how any academic dispute could arrive where it did...

The other that I note is sparked by a mail I received via you, about another Professor, Ibrahim Abdullah at Fourah Bay College (FBC) in Sierra Leone. The case which the petition highlighted, from my understanding, seems to raise some big question about the state of institutions of 'higher' learning and knowledge, and if they really can facilitate any real quest. 

Again, my understanding, there is a war against academic freedom, but the battle lines are so infantile and superficial, it is ridiculous. At FBC it seems, Ibrahim Abdullah has pissed off many, maybe by his personality, but more it seems, because he challenges or is challenging how history should be taught and/or understood. In a country where there are less than thirty professors, and as one report reminds, '... Nearly all departments at FBC have lacked running academic journals for several years now...'; where are the grounds for a dispute based on what has been call 'envious hostility'?

Whether or not this is an accurate term, is left to be judged. However, the academic dispute wrapped up in this situation seems to be at its core, about 'attitudes and epistemology about African' (http://www.thepatrioticvanguard.com/from-creoledom-to-kriodom-a-rejoinder). In my understanding, Ibrahim Abdullah seems to be saying (among other things) that there is no such thing as colonial and post-colonial history. There is instead Temne/Thaimne and other Sierra Leone ethnic histories. This of course, and 'the question of ethnicity within the context of Sierra Leone historiography' (http://awoko.org/2014/06/17/sierra-leone-news-from-creoledom-to-kriodom-a-critical-investigation-of-kriolists-claim/), has political resonances (in a country recovering from an atrocious civil war), even as the academic potential is lost in the mist....

So returning to the contemplation of the envisaged 'quest', not only is there the question of the facilitating environment, but equally, in service of what is this quest suppose to pursued? Maybe, at least in the Sierra Leone case, it not simply that 'Nationalism should Trump Ethnicity' (C. Magbaily Fyle in Research in Sierra Leone Studies (RISLS): Weave Vol 1 No 2, 2013), but that a dynamic Pan-African agenda is needed to take academic inquiry away from a need for 'positive spin', towards a more open and critically engaged debate. Here hopefully the need to sack and lock out would not be part of resource bank.

As you can see, I have referred to a few papers. These require more serious critical attention, but I have used them as a backdrop to consider the meaning of the situation indicated by the two incidents (Sierra Leone and Uganda) which suggest bad news in the prevailing state of academic affairs.

Yunus:

Good thread and good ideas but indeed complex ones. I cannot offer any solace but we must bear in mind that we live in the global world even before the term globalization was created. So we cannot take a purist/nativist position of finding something purely African in the sense that it has not been contaminated by other ideas. Mamdani asks how long does someone or something need to stay in Africa to be African?

But I think, we can start from African archives and libraries--in Mudimbe's sense--to find some of the epistemological and theoretical paradigms to address todays complex issues. If I may suggest, one way to start to take very seriously the life, experience and actions of fellow Africans not simply as data but explanatory models about our social and empirical worlds. 
One book that I would like to recommend, it is an anthropological text on the Kaguru Modes of Thought, I found this text illuminating and charting a way for us to take African ideas seriously as useful analytical and theoretical concepts. I think, it will be great if we start employing middle level theories and concepts developed from our own experiences and testing them out to see how they hold in comparison with other theoretical ideas such as derive from Foucault or Hegel etc. I am will be watching out for your reactions and further reflections.
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Public Debate on Women in Politics

May 4, 2016, 8:21 pm
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The Embassy of France in Tanzania, is pleased to invite you at the Alliance Française of Dar es Salaam to a debate on “Women in Politics”, to take place on Thursday, May 12th at 18:00, followed by a concert by the band the Golden Voices at 20:00.

Women were allowed to vote and stand for election in 1944 in France and in 1959 in Tanzania. Such simple and fundamental rights are actually a recent fact. This debate will look at the issues, the difficulties, the influence and the place of women in politics today.

The panel will consist of Anne-Cécile Mailfert, spokesperson of "Osez le féminisme" and founder of "La Fondation des Femmes", Aida Kiangi, East Africa Manager at Wind Lab, , Victoria Mandari, chairperson of the Gender Forum Coalition (GFC) and Mary Rusimbi, director of the Women Fund Tanzania. Maria Sarungi Tsehai, communication expert, will moderate the debate which will take place in English.

Uniting three young singers, The Golden Voices, is a dynamic band that will make you dance. Diem, Law and Maliya Jackson were revealed in France by the show "The Voice". Allying three different styles in duos and trios, their lively performance will take you from rap to gospel, soul to French variety…
Both events are open to public.

- Le Cercle Franco-Tanzanien


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Will the People of Magufuli Eat Boils?

May 16, 2016, 11:54 am
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Will People Eat Boils?

Chambi Chachage

“Let them eat cake” – Marie Antoinette


The presidential honeymoon is not yet over. President Magufuli is still enjoying the popularity he has earned in his holy war on grand corruption. Christened “bursting the boils”, this crusade is however raising eyebrows among champions of the rule of law.

Such criticisms, or rather critiques, have not passed unnoticed in the corridors of powers. In a clear breach of the separation of the church and state, recently the president used Sunday’s Catholic Mass in Arusha to insist that the bursting of boils through the suspension of public officials should not be interpreted as cruelty. For him, all those civil servants have breached the code of ethics for public service.
Elsewhere the president chided those who defend them, stating – sarcastically – that such critics may also be boils therefore they will start watching them. These human rights defenders have been wondering what is wrong with demanding a fair hearing – and indeed trial – for the ‘accused’? To them, justice is best served when one and the same person is not a judge and prosecutor, that is, when there is separation of powers.

Recall, for instance, the case of officials who were suspended for travelling abroad without the permission from the State House. It is claimed that they applied; however, they did not receive a response on time. Given that Tanzania was regarded as the coordinating secretariat – and thus host – of an important anticorruption event, they opted to rush there, hoping their boss would cover for them. Alas, he got dismissed.

What if they were unfairly suspended? Would they get a public apology? When?

Away with constitutional procedures, some may even dare to say. How many boils have they burst? Why don’t we just let the President do his job of bursting them?
Many of us are indeed not happy with the state of corruption in the country. We are yearning to see all those behind the Escrow and Lugumi scandals, among others, have their day in court. Yet some of us need all this to be done according to the legal and institutional parameters we have been busy building. That is why we are still calling for a new constitution that would curtail the concentration of powers on one entity.

Yet in the context of a centralized system, we appreciate the role of a strong leader in enabling an anti-corruption dispensation. More significantly, we are aware that in the short term things might be difficult even to those who are supposed to benefit from the war on corruption. As they note, the ‘circulation of money’ is limited in the sense that it is no longer ‘trickling down’ to them from the ‘boils’ that have been ‘burst.’
Probably nothing captures this irony more than the sugar scarcity saga that came in the wake of the presidential decision to intervene on its importation. By deciding to crack on those who allegedly hoard sugar to create artificial scarcity, Magufuli seems to be living up to the standards of the very person that some people believe is like him i.e. the late Edward Sokoine. However, it was during the latter’s crack on ‘economic saboteurs’ that Tanzania experienced its worst shortage of foodstuffs in shops yet.

Reminiscing on the battle for sugar that has been recurring since the beginning of liberalization, a seasoned politician notes: “I was almost killed by sugar importing mafia!” Such is the gravity of the war against any corrupt element in the country. It has to involve the society as a whole and not only one individual no matter how good his/her intentions are. Haven’t we seen benevolent dictators turning into despots? After all, we are told that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
For sure, when it comes to institutional building, it is one thing for the Executive to give additional money to the judiciary and quite another to nudge it to speed up the cases on corruption so that the government coffers can get filled when the public prosecutor wins. How does one win against corruption by doing the very thing that those involved in it are accused of? Is this how one builds an independent judiciary?

One cannot help but wonder whether we are eroding even the few gains in the separation of powers between the three arms of the state namely the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. If this accusation from a Member of Parliament, Zitto Kabwe, is true then the signs of the times are troubling: “Whenever we challenge the government here, we are being given letters and sometimes taken to the ethics committee. That is a threat to us and it diminishes our freedom of expression”.
Living in the times of Magufuli is so exciting. Yet it is frightening. Strange times.

It is thus in the long run that a sustained war on corruption that goes hand in hand with strengthening oversight institutions and upholding the constitution would yield a scaled-up ‘trickle down effect’. What we are experiencing now is a serious strain on what has been referred to as the ‘economy of affection’ or ‘shadow economy.’ The ‘patrons’ of corruption can hardly share their looted money with the people in the constituencies. It may take time for the people to get used to be free from ‘patronage’.
However, when the presidential honeymoon is over it is not the burst boils that people will be hungering for. Rather, ‘a better life for all’. Why not institutionalize it now? 
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Kutumbuliwa Kwa Kitwanga Kunaashiria Kitu Kipi?

May 20, 2016, 11:21 pm
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Kutumbuliwa Kwa Kitwanga Kunaashiria Kitu Kipi?



Chambi Chachage

Uamuzi wa Rais Magufuli kutengua uteuzi wa (aliyekuwa) Waziri wa Mambo ya Ndani, Charles Kitwanga, umepokelewa kwa msisimko katika mitandao ya jamii. "Hii", anadai Mtanzania mmoja katika Twitter, "haijawahi tokea tangu Tanzania iumbwe". Mhariri mfawidhi wa gazeti maarufu anaungana naye kwa kusema "Haijapata kutokea. Namba inasomeka kila kona #Tanzania".

Mtetezi wa mchakato wa kuwapima watu kiuchunguzi kabla ya uteuzi wao (vetting)  anasisitiza kwamba kilicho muhimu ni 'tiba'. Naye mwandishi mahiri wa vitabu vya 'ushushushu'amempongeza Mtumbua Majipu kwa 'kutwanga' baada ya kilio chetu 'kumbipu'.

Hata mwanasiasa machachari na mbunge pekee wa chama kinachochipukia kwa kasi cha ACT-Wazalendo naye kaguswa:


Hakika Rais anastahili pongezi nyingi. 'Tusimbanie'. Hongera sana! 
Wakati tunaendelea kumpongeza pia tukumbuke 'hapa kazi tu' kwa wanahistoria ni kuyafukuafukua  makabrasha ili kujaribu kuelewa tumetokea wapi katika masuala fulani, tupo wapi na tunaelekea wapi ili tusije tukayarudia (makosa) yale yale kiuwendawazimu.

Historia ya kisiasa inaturudisha kwenye kampeni za uchaguzi za mwaka 2015. Pale tunakutana na maneno haya ya Magufuli:



Kwa wafuatiliaji wa kila kichesemwacho watakumbuka kuwa hata baada ya kuwa Rais, Magufuli alinena maneno kama hayo kuhusu wateule wake wengine alipokuwa akihutubia pale Kinyerezi:

Mbinu hii ya uteuzi na utetezi ni ya aina yake. Inaleta ugumu na ukakasi hasa kwa wadadisi wanaotaka kujua vigezo vyote ambavyo Rais wetu hutumia katika kuteua. Tukumbuke mwaka jana Udadisi iliwahi kuhoji majibu yafuatayo ya Rais na haki yetu ya kikatiba ya kupata habari/taarifa kuhusu masuala muhimu ya nchi yetu pale wanahabari walipojaribu kuhoji mantiki ya idadi ya manaibu waziri kwa kuzingatia uunganishaji wa wizara na vigezo vilivyotumika kuwarudisha mawaziri kadhaa kutoka kwenye Baraza lililopita:



Baada ya kashfa nzito ya Lugumi kuibuliwa na mti wa Kitwanga kupondwa mawe na wapinzani, tumekuwa tunajiuliza kama vigezo vyote vya 'vetting' vilizingatiwa ilikuwaje akateuliwa kuwa Waziri na Mkombozi wetu wa kupambana na ufisadi nchini? Tunaoamini kuwa wanasiasa wa 'mjengoni' Dodoma wanajuana kwa vilemba, maneno haya aliyoaandika aliyekuwa Mwenyekiti wa Kamati ya Bunge ya Hesabu za Serikali (PAC) yalituacha mdomo wazi:

"Namsihi Waziri Kitwanga amalize matatizo yake yeye mwenyewe. Yeye kama mmiliki wa Kampuni ya Infosys yenye mkataba na Serikali katika Wizara anayoongoza sasa anapaswa aone ni namna gani hana mgongano wa maslahi. Waziri Kitwanga asitafute watu wa kuwatupia lawama kwenye mambo yanayomhusu. Mimi binafsi sijawahi kugombana na Charles Kitwanga. Hajawahi kuwa rafiki yangu. Hajawahi kuni excite kama Kiongozi ( kimsingi nashangaa mtu kama yeye kuweza hata kuwa Waziri wa Wizara nyeti kama hiyo) . Zaidi ya yote Waziri Kitwanga sio 'size yangu'. Kwa protokali za Uongozi, size yangu mimi ni Rais Magufuli, bosi wake. Naanzaje kuhangaika na Kitwanga? Ili iweje? Namsihi asijipandishe chati kwamba mimi nataka kumtoa. Ningetaka kumtoa wala asingejua maana ningeshughulika na aliyemteua. Nasema haya sababu amekaa na Waziri Mkuu na Wabunge kadhaa akilalamika kuwa nataka kumtoa Uwaziri. Asinipe dhambi, Uwaziri atatolewa na aliyemteua kwa madhambi aliyofanya. Asitafute bangusilo!" 
Lakini cha ajabu zaidi mnamo mwaka jana mtandao unaopigwa vita (na mafisadi) wa Jamii Forum ulitumika kuweka maneno haya:


Je, 'vetting' haikuziona ishara hizo za nyakati? Kama haikuziona, hata Mungu wa Magufuli hakuyaona yote haya? Sikio lake la yeye awekaye na aondoaye watawala ni zito hadi asisikie maombi hayo?
Mwisho kabisa historia yetu inatukumbusha kwamba Rais wa awamu ya Nne, Jakaya Kikwete, alipigiwa kelele asiteue baadhi ya watu lakini akawateua tu. Matokeo yake Baraza la Mawaziri likavunjwa baada ya miaka miwili tu tena baada ya fedha nyingi kutumika kuwafanyia semina elekezi mawaziri kwenye hoteli ya kihafahari ya Ngurdoto. Kwa miaka kumi kazi kubwa ikawa ni kuweka/kuziba viraka ambapo katika Wizara moja tu mawaziri walibadilishwa zaidi ya mara tatu - kutoka kwa Naziri Karamagi kwenda kwa Ibrahim Msabaha kisha kwa William Ngeleja halafu Sospeter Muhongo hadi George Simbachewene - na Waziri wake mmojawapo, Shukuru Kawambwa, alihamishwa zaidi ya mara tatu.
Gazeti la Mwananchi linatukumbusha kwa miaka 10 Serikali hiyo ya 'Ari Mpya, Nguvu Mpya, Kasi Mpya ('ANGUKA') na 'maisha bora kwa kila Mtanzania' ikaishia kutumikiwa na"mawaziri 120" huku JK akitema "mawaziri 60". Unawezaje kuendesha Serikali endelevu, thabiti na sikivu katika mazingira hayo ya kupanga na kupangua kila kukicha? Hakika kuwajibika na kuwajibishana ni muhimu katika kujenga utawala wa kitaasisi unaodumu kuliko utawala kinyonga na tegemezi kwa kiongozi mmoja mmoja.

 Ila kinga ya 'vetting' si ni bora kuliko dawa ya kutumbua majipu?
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