Is it feasible to husk president's immunity?

TANZANIA’S president - just like other African potentates- is but a god on earth when it comes to powers he commands. He is constitutionally infallible and above the law. This, if anything, has created a very big problem to the president and the citizenry. This does not augur well for the wananchi.

Time for Roma locuta causa finita est -. (What is decided by Roma (presidency) is finished) is over, thanks to abuses of power we are witnessing. By being above the law, one becomes myopic so as to become irresponsible, and sometimes totally blind, not to mention many offences one commits and errors one makes.

This gives him a loophole to toy wananchi not to mention how con men and power brokers (he does not reckon with) deceive him so as to think, he is a god while he actually is not. For a criminal minded person, being above the law enables him to commit many crimes knowing that he is above the law and on top of enjoying immunity.

So, being above the law becomes a tool for destruction for those under the law. Our constitution becomes a ruse instead of tool for emancipation and democracy not to mention a hugger-mugger chief executive it creates.

Before coming to power, former President Benjamin Mkapa was known as 'Mr Clean'. And indeed he truly was. This attracted doyens like the Father of the Nation, the late Mwl. Julius Nyerere, to back and support him.


Even Tanzanians were convinced and attracted by that. But after being wheeled to power, Mkapa’s probity decreased significantly. And later, it was completely gone. He came in as Mr Clean and left as Mr Besmirched. Where is he now when he forces us to re-open his files? Ut sementem feceris, ita metes - As you sow, so shall you reap. (Cicero).

Mkapa cannot blame anybody but himself. Even Basil Mramba currently embattled thanks to allegations that he abused power; under Nyerere, was among clean persons. Where is he now?

So the above episodes can clearly show you how the suitability to lead diminishes when a bin-Adam is put above the law. We're mortal creatures subject to many weaknesses. We tend to be good when we are put under the law. We’re more likely to become evil when we are above the law and vice versa.

Law was invented to curb human weakness that forces him to seek more power and glory even at the expenses of others. Naturally, a human being is egoistic. We love and care for others just because circumstances, rules and laws surrounding us force us to do so. You can see this in people facing insecurity. They come together and act as one for the sake of survival.

To the contrary, people with financial muscles do go solo in many cases. Refer to houses with guards and those that have none.

Going to the need for husking immunity off our presidents, let’s look at how it is or can be abused within the parameters of the constitution. The late Mwl. Nyerere once warned us when he said: as per the current carbuncular constitution, he'd become King had he liked. He went further saying that our constitution accommodates all types of madness and the doer will do so within the premises of the constitution.


Nyerere was right and upright; neither was he a charlatan nor a yo-yo. For immunity was invented by colonial masters to help them get away with it after ruining the colonies. If we're absolutely free, we don’t need immunity. If we're responsible and accountable, we don’t need immunity. And if we seek power to serve people (not ourselves), we indeed, don't need or deserve immunity.


Even terminal benefits for retired presidents must be conditional. If he commits crimes related to sabotage or embezzlement, his entitlement should cease. This will enable us to get a responsible and accountable president in lieu of the current demigod.

Looking at allegations Mkapa, his family and friends face, one sees how weak a human being is especially when he commands immense and unchecked powers. Thank the Lord, Kikwete is not power hungry (as he outwardly seems).
But not all that glitters.. He thus has what it takes to commence now to see to it that this is done quickly so that in 2010 whoever comes to power should serve under these terms.

And this, indeed, will enable him to steal the thunder if he cares. Shall we become cliffhangers leaving things as they are, beware. Days of teeth-gnashing will follow thereof. Brag is a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better. We urge our MPs to see to it that they strike Mkapa off his immunity just as it happened in Zambia where former President Fredrick Chiluba was put on the agora for every eye to see.


Now the mine fields are out in the open, will Mkapa stand and mount his defence and that of his family, especially his wife who is alleged to have amassed suspicious wealth? Will he shed light on Kiwira Coal?Mine, the mansion in Mkuzi Lushoto and the others in Dar, among many others?
Will he evaluate and assess his blind privatization that saw our country being taken by dubious investors like Net Group Solution, South African Airways and others? Will he divulge what ANBEN, Tanpower and Fosnik are? Will he re-declare his wealth and the way he amassed it without forgetting the tax he pays?


Though Mkapa may be lampooned as an individual, when we examine the provisions of our pothole-packed constitution, it is the good source that-if not amended-will leave Kikwete with his neoteny in the same cul de sac.

In principle Nyerere backed a clean person that was corrupted by our constitution and rotten system. It is high time Kikwete changed the constitution before it negatively changes him. And by doing this, Kikwete will prove beyond doubts that he does not intend to repeat Mkapa’s mess.

Given that our president is a bin-Adam like you and I, there are all reasons to embark on amending our constitution or rewrite it so as to have responsible and accountable presidents.

Failure to this, we're inviting yet another calamity. We should append some conditions to presidential terminal benefits.

Let’s do Mkapa justice. We must hull him off his immunity so as to let wananchi judge themselves through their representatives. Though some of his covert sympathizers are discouraging this saying it is a long process, we must ignore them. It's time for our country to change itself before violence changes it thanks to rampant corruption by a kit and caboodle of bigwigs. This will remove our country from the den of Daniel it is currently in.

Bis interimitur qui suis armis perit - He is doubly destroyed who perishes by his own armS.
Source:Thisday December 24, 2008.