THOSE WHO THINK AFRICA IS POOR MUST WATCH THIS

Today's photo is the spring photo of my good neighbour

For the first time in my life, I have secured the trust of my long-time neighbour, a squirrel. Believe ye me. I took this video so close that my heart was running like crazy with joy of securing a rare trust from this cute small creature. It seems. It knows me thanks to seeing me almost everyday. I am delighted to share this photo with you all. Hopefully your comments will come in thousands. What have you to say about this action however small and trivial it may seem?

COVID-19 Chinese xenophobia Guinea offers the solution

I used to doubt the sovereignty of almost all African countries in the matters to prove that they are independent and worth just like any other nations. Truly, I used not only to doubt but pooh-pooh it. This is because since Africa gained its fake independence, remained cowardly and pointlessly dependent on its former and new colonial masters. However, the arrival of the COVID-19’s pandemic has proved me very wrong. For, to the contrary, what transpired recently in a very poor and small country of Guinea but assertive turned my understanding to its head. I was one of those who wrongly believed that China has Africa by the balls little I knew they are some Africans worth salt who wouldn’t take anything for their independence ala the founder of Guinea Ahmed Sekou Toure who turned tables on French colonial masters when they wanted to give him fake independence just like they did to the rest of their ex-colonies whose reserves they retained up until tomorrow. After evidencing of the clips of Africans being maltreated, Guinea decided to take the bull by the horns timely and quickly. In the footages, Guinea decided to arrest Chinese nations up until Africans will be returned back to Africa from China without necessarily going on being discriminated against.

For those who do not know what Toure did is that he flatly refused half-baked freedom. For, French wanted to offer independence and retain the reserve of the country and keep on charging it for keeping and printing its currency as has been the case for its other ex-colonies. This step infuriate the then highly feared French President Charles de Gaulle who order the removal of some French aid. To prove his seriousness, Toure told France to take everything including even pins and papers. As of recently, this relatively poor country flexed its muscles after footages showing Africans being racially discriminated against in China by arresting Chinese nations who are within its jurisdiction as a quid pro quo to what racist China did to Africans whom those maltreating them thought were spreading covid-19 despite the fact that covid-19 started in China but not in Africa. Guinea provided motivation for other African countries to take step––by, at least––showing their discomfort with what happened to their people though not all.

Thereafter, other video footages surfaced online showing South African police interrogating some Chinese nations which they had never done before. Ironically, it is this South African police who never take on xenophobic attacks carried on other Africans from neighbouring countries that contributed hugely in the struggle for the liberation of South Africa. It was interesting to see how the country whose citizen commit the same sin feel when its citizens are subjected to the same atrocities they have been committing against others, especially of the same brethren of the same pedigree. Swahili sage has it that mkuki kwa nguruwe kwa binadamu mchungu namely the spear is pleasant to a big but it is bitter to a human. Before long, some guys in Nigeria also were shown as they were attacking Chinese factory in Nigeria to send message to Chinese that Africa they used to bully, and fool is long gone.

In Uganda, the authorities had the guts of apprehending Chinese nations who were escaping self-quarantine as they headed for the DRC. As well, this is a new trend for African countries whose law enforcers are renowned for bribe-taking. Standing up against those who were deemed and thought untouchable is a is not only a new trend but also an emancipatory gesture that many Africans who are still sleeping at the wheel need to heed.

The lesson we get here is that the nation does not need to be a superpower or rich to stand for its interests. Instead, it needs just courage whenever an opportunity avails itself as is the case in question here. When Northern Korean regime decided to stand against world’s superpowers over many issues, it only needs what some thought was a kamikaze spirit.

Africa needs to wisely deal with China. For, its coming has been misunderstood to be friendly while it is actually colonial. China has tried to hoodwink Africa that is a friendly partner but not a colonial power like the West has been while its agendas are not different from the West. While the West was sending a few of its officials to colonise Africa by using local chiefs and sell-outs, to the contrary, China is now dispatching its jobless army to occupy Africa thanks to its joblessness and overpopulation. Thus, poor and unwanted Chinese have somewhere to go and thrive thanks to Africans’ docility not to mention their corrupt and myopic regimes that allow them to occupy their countries. Apart from getting job and settlement, Chinese aim at taking over Africa. This is a lasting mission of occupation through elimination thereafter colonising.

Another face of China in Africa is nothing but substandard goods that it has been dumping to Africa. In this, India, another rising power, has been doing the same plus dumping its poor and unqualified people to Africa despite having been doing this for many decades. More importantly, racism against Africans does exist in India and even in Africa as well.  Like the West, China would like to see a dependent Africa which is easy to exploit perpetually. On top of such raw deals, China has been so generous in issuing toxic loans to many corrupt and inept regimes with the aim of taking their economies and resources even land over soon after failing to repay such loans.

Now, what should Africa do? There are many measures Africa needs to consider among which are: stop supplying China with crucial resources that it needs for the development of its industries. So, too, Africa must stop allowing jobless and unqualified to inundate it. As well, Africa needs to apply international law of reciprocity by taking the same actions against China so as to force it to respect Africans and stop its racism against them. Africa should know one important reality that China needs it more than Africa needs China. For, if it is the supply of manufactured goods, Africa used to get them from the West before China became a world workshop. So, too, Africa should not act severally. Instead, all African countries should come together and issue an ultimatum to Chinese authorities to see to it that they commit themselves to respecting human rights by thwarting xenophobia attacks against Africa. More importantly, African countries such as those in the Maghreb and South Africa that tolerate xenophobic attacks against Africans should put their house in order first for them to make sense and been take seriously.

Source: African Executive Magazine

MY UNUSUAL RETURN TO THE SPEAKE’s OFFICE.

My  career   in  the  Public  Service  started   at  the  Speaker’s  Office  in  1960,  in  the  top-Management  positions  of  Clerk-Assistant,  later  rising  to  become the  Clerk  of  the  National  Assembly.  And  now,  some  thirty   long  years  later  in  1990,  I  found  myself  returning  to  the  same  Speaker’s  Office, but  this  time  in  the   top-leadership  positions of  Deputy  Speaker, later  rising  to  become the  Speaker  of  the  National  Assembly.  Such   career  route  is  rather unusual,  and  actually  happens  pretty  rarely.                                                                                                

As  indicated  last  week,  I  had  wisely  decided  to  seek   the  elective  political  service  posts;  starting  as  a  constituency  Member  of  Parliament (MP)  for  Ukerewe  constituency;  followed  immediately  thereafter by  that  of  Deputy  Speaker,  and  subsequently  Speaker  of  the  National  Assembly,  all together  covering a  total  of    15 years,  from  1990 -  2005.

My  second  tenure  at  the  Speaker’s  Office..

I  campaigned for  election  to  the  Deputy  Speaker’s  post  on  the  strength  of  my  rich  knowledge  and  experience of  parliamentary  affairs,  which  I  accumulated   from  my  previous  service  as  the Clerk  of  the  National  Assembly.  That is  what  enabled  me  to  defeat  the  person who  was  Deputy  Speaker  in  the  Previous  parliament,  and  who  was  seeking  re-election.   Barely   two  years  after I  was  elected  Deputy  Speaker,  the  veteran  Speaker,  Chief  Adam  Sapi’s  health started  deteriorating.  It  thus  became  necessary  for  him  to  reduce  his  the  amount  of  time  he  was  required to  sit  in  the  Speaker’s  Chair,  guiding  the  proceedings  of  the  House;  and  I,  therefore,  had  to  take  over  that  responsibility.                                                                   

That is  why,  for  example,  in  January  1993,  and  again  in  August 1993,  I  found  myself  handling  two   interrelated  politically  sensitive  and  delicate  issues;  with  the  first  being  the  direct  source  and  cause  of  the  second  issue. The  first  issue,  which  occurred  in  January,  1993;  was  the  National  Assembly  debate,  and  subsequent  adoption,  of  a  resolution  challenging  Zanzibar’s  right  to  join the  OIC  (Conference  of  Islamic  States),  which  Zanzibar  had  quietly  done  the  previous  December, 1992.  Wow!  challenging  Zanzibar’s  right  to  make  that  decision  was  regarded  as  challenging  Zanzibar’s  sovereignty!                            

The  other was  another  National  Assembly   debate, and  adoption,  of  a  resolution   demanding  the  establishment  of  a  Tanganyika  Government within  the  Union.  Wow!  this  was   in  absolute  defiance  of  the  Ruling  party’s  “sacred  cow”   policy,  of  the  two-government  Union  structure!                    

  The  issue  of  Zanzibar  joining  the  OIC.

The Zanzibar  Government  had,  apparently,  secretly  joined  the  Organization  of  Islamic  States (OIC);  which  was   a  breach  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic  of  Tanzania.  However,  by   mid-December,  1992,  the  watchful  media  had  discovered this  breach,  and  reported  the  matter.  The  Zanzibar  Government,  through  its  Chief  Minister  confirmed  that they  had  indeed  joined  the  OIC,  and  strongly  defended  Zanzibar’ right  to  take such  action;   pointing  out   that  “although  forming  part  of  the United  Republic,  Zanzibar  has  its  own  President, its  own  House  of  Representatives, and  its  own  Judiciary,  which  are  independent  from  the  Union  Government”;  and  was  therefore  entitled  to  take  such  decisions  on  its  own.  That  is  when  the  Parliamentary  Constitutional  and Legal  Affairs  Committee  requested  the Speaker’s  permission  to  investigate  this  breach  of  the  Union  Constitution.  Permission  was  granted,  and the  investigations  commenced  immediately. 

 Upon  completion  of  the  investigations,  the  Committee  reported  its  findings  to  the  whole  House  in  February  1993,  which  confirmed  the  Constitutional  breach.  These   findings  also  revealed  that,  in  fact,  the  Charter of  the  Organization  of  Islamic  Conference  itself  restricts  its  membership  only  to  “Any  State,  which  is  a  member  of  the  United  Nations,  and    has  a  Muslim  majority in  its  population”.  Zanzibar  is,  of  course,  not  a  member  of  the  United  Nations.   

In  the  light  of  these  findings,   the  Zanzibar  Government  magnanimously agreed  to   withdraw  from  membership  of  the  OIC. 

The  emergence  of  the  ‘G.55’.                                                                                                                                However,   this  challenge  by  the   National  Assembly,  had  immensely  displeased  Zanzibar  President  Salmin  Amour;  who  regarded  it  as  an  insult  to  the  sovereignty  of  Zanzibar.  He soon  responded  angrily  in  Kiswahili,  that:  “Wabunge  hawa  wametingisha  kiberiti.  .  .  watagundua  kuwa  kimejaa”.  But  that  cheeky response  in  turn  angered many  of  the  MPs,  who  quickly  joined  together  to form  a  “pressure  group”,   for  the  purpose  of  demanding  the  immediate  establishment  of  a  “Tanganyika  Government  within the  Union  structure “  which,  they  said,  will  be  Tanganyika’s  kiberit  kilichojaa”,  in  order  to  deal  on  equal  terms  with   President  Salmin  Amour’s  “kiberiti  kimejaa”).    That  is  the  group  which  famously  became  known  as  the  “G55”,  because  it  was  composed of  fifty-five  MPs.  

It  was  on  30^th  July,  1993,  while  the  Budget  session  of  the  National  Assembly was  in  progress, when  this  Group   duly  submitted  to  the  Speaker,  in  accordance  with  normal  parliamentary  procedure,   a  formal  notice  of  their  jointly  sponsored  ‘Private  Member’s  motion’,  which  called  upon  the  Government  “to  initiate  immediately a  process of  consultations with  all  the  relevant  stake  holders,  with  a  view  to  presenting  to  the  National  Assembly  before  the  month  of  April 1995,  a  Constitutional  Amendment  Bill  which  will  make  provision  for  the  establishment  of  a  Tanganyika  Government  within  the  Union  structure”.                                                                                                    

  That  was  also  the  time  when  I  was   shouldering  the  Speaker’s  responsibilities, due  to  Chief  Adam  Sapi’s  indisposition.   I  therefore  had  to preside  over  what  was,  technically,  a  ‘rebellion’  against the  ruling  party’s   “sacred  cow”  policy  of  the  two-government  structure  of  the  Union!

The  move  to  establish  a  Tanganyika  Government  within  the  Union  was  actually  intended  to  create  a  three-government  Union  structure.  Thus, it  was  indeed a   kind  ‘rebellion’,  because  all the Members  of  Parliament  were  also  members  of  CCM,  the  Ruling  party.   And  all  of  them   knew,  or  ought  to  have  known,  that  this  move  was totally  against  the  party’s  declared  policy  of  the  two-government  Union  structure.  But  they  still  went  ahead  with  their  ‘rebellion’  which,  in  the  short  term,  actually  succeeded;  since  it  was  dully  debated  in  the  National  Assembly,  and  eventually  unanimously adopted,   nemine  contradicente  (with  no  one  dissenting).  

But  the  motion  had to  go  through    several  different  amendments,  arising  out  of  discussions  held  at   several  party  caucus  meetings;  until  a  final  agreed  version  was  crafted,  which  was  eventually  adopted   on 24^th  August, 1993.

However,   their  action  brought  about  a  serious  political  crisis,  which  took  CCM  a  whole  year  to   grapple  with,  aided  by  the  active  personal  intervention  of  Mwalimu  Julius  Nyerere  himself,  who  described  its  gravity   as  “having  put  our  country  on  the  edge  of  a  dark  and  dangerous  precipice”.   He  had  by  then  gone  into  voluntary  retirement  both  from  the  Presidency  of  Tanzania  as  well  as  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Ruling  party  CCM;   but  he  suddenly  emerged  and  played  a  very  crucial  role  in  successfully  managing  that  crisis.    

Mwalimu  Nyerere’s  role  in  solving  the  crisis.

Information  about  the  G.55  motion,  reached  Mwalimu  Nyerere  at  his  Butiama   residence  on  2^nd  August,  1993;  through  a  message  sent by  Prime  Minister  John  Malecela,  who  said  that  “in  his  opinion,  if  this  motion  is  debated  in  Parliament,  many  of  the  Ministers  will  support  it,  and  that  he  himself  would  have  a  problem  in  either  opposing  it  or  supporting  it”.  He  therefore  suggested  that  a  seminar  should  be  arranged  for  all  Members  of  Parliament,  together  with  those  of  the  House  of  the  Zanzibar  House  of  Representatives, which  will provide  a  forum  for  that  motion  to  be  discussed  and  opposed outside  Parliament;  and  he  asked  Mwalimu  Nyerere  to  agree  to  participate  in  that  seminar,  in  the  hope  that  his  mega  influence  would  “kill”  that  motion.  Mwalimu  Nyerere  agreed  to  participate.   But  the  seminar  proposal  was  rejected  by  the   Members  of  Parliament, and  had  to  be  abandoned.   

Surprised by  that  development,  Mwalimu  Nyerere  called  a  press  conference  in  Dar es  Salaam,  which  was  held  on  16^th  August, 1993;  at  which  he  vehemently  opposed  the  motion  by  the  G.55.  After  which  he  went  back to  Butiama,  in  the  (mistaken)  belief  that  the  Government  would  make  use  of  his  clearly  stated   position  on  the matter,  and  strongly  oppose  that  motion  when  it  came  up  for  debate.  However,  to  his  utter  disgust  and  disappointment,  that  did  not  happen  at  all.  Instead,  when  the said  motion  was  moved  for  debate,  it  was   readily  supported  by  the  government  benches  and  thus,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  unanimously  adopted  nemine  contradicente  by  the  whole  House.

A  short-lived  success.

Mwalimu  Nyerere  was  absolutely  flabbergasted by this outcome.  He  was  particularly  annoyed  that the  Prime  Minister had  done  nothing  to  oppose  that  motion  on  behalf  of  the  Government.  He  therefore  asked  to be  invited  to  the  next  following  meeting  of  the party  National  Executive  Committee, so  that  he  may  explain  his worries  about  the dangerous  effects of  that  Bunge  resolution  on  the  stability  of  our  Union.

 It  is  a  long  story,  which  has  been  succinctly  narrated  in  my  book  Uongozi  na  Utawala  wa  Mwalimu  Julius  Nyerere   (Nyambari  Nyangwine  Publishers, 2012). 

What  happened  is  that  the  matter  was  put to  a  referendum  of  all  CCM  members,  who  were  asked  to  decide,  by  secret  ballot,  what  Union  structure  they  preferred:   the  One-government;  the  two-government; or  the  three- government  structure?   The  referendum  results  showed  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  members  preferred  the  existing  two-government  structure.                                 Upon   receiving   these  results  at  its  August  1994  meeting,  the  National  Executive  Committee,  requested  its  Chairman,  President  Ali  Hassan  Mwinyi,  to  convey this  information  to  the  members  of  Parliament,  and  try  to  persuade  them  to  abandon  their  rebel  resolution,  a  task  which  was  carried  out  successfully  at  a  special  caucus  meeting  of  the  MPs;  who  magnanimously  accepted  the  views  of  the  majority  of  CCM  members,  and  agreed  to  return  to  Parliament  to  pass  a  new  resolution to  withdraw  their  previous  contentious   resolution,  which  was  to  be   expunge  from  the  records.                                                       “All  is  well  that  ends  well”  (William  Shakespeare).

However,  Mwalimu  Nyerere  had  the  last  say;  which  is  narrated in  his  book  titled  “Uongozi wa  Nchi  yetu  na  Hatima  ya  Tanzania”.   In  that  book  he  discloses  firstly,  how  he  administered   his  revenge  on  Prime  Minister  Malecela,  for  the  unforgivable  offence  of   giving   his  personal  support,  and  also  allowing  the  Ministers  to  give  their  support,   to  that  rebel  motion  in  the  National  Assembly.    He  persuaded  President  Mwinyi  to  dismiss  Prime  Minister  John  Malecela;  and CCM  Secretary  General  Horace  Kolimba  from  their  respective  offices.                                                                                                                                   

But  secondly,  Mwalimu  Nyerere  also  had   a  nice  paragraph  in  there   which,    in  effect,  defended  me   from   some  unwarranted  attacks  by  certain  callous  politicians.  He  said  the  following:- “Kwa  sababu  uamuzi  wa  kutaka  Serikali  ya  Tanganyika ‘ndani  ya  Muungano’  ulifanywa  na  viongozi  wetu  wa  Serikali  kwa  hila,  na  kupitishwa  Bungeni   kimya  kimya;  sisi  wengine  hatukujua  kilichokuwa  kimetokea.  Tulikuja  kufahamu  baada  ya  hapo,  kutokana  na  kauli  ya  Mhe.  Pius  Msekwa  aliyekuwa  amesimamia  kikao  cha  Bunge  kilichofanya  uamuzi  huo,  kwamba  huo  ulikuwa  ni  uamuzi  wa  Bunge  zima,  baada  ya  kuungwa  mkono  na  Serikali.  Nadhani  viongozi  wetu  wa  Serikali  walitaka  kuendele  kuficha  hilo  na  kuvunga vunga.  Lakini  yeye  akatoboa.  Nasikia kwamba  baadaye  aliitwa  na  kukemewa.  Sijui  kwa  nini !”.                     

Yes  indeed,  on  one  blessed  day,  I  found  myself   being  literally  ‘harangued’  at  a  meeting  of  the  party    Central  Committee (of  which  I  was  a  regular  member),  with strange   accusations  that I  had  been  “overly  enthusiastic"  (shabikia)  in  supporting  the  Bunge  motion  on  the  introduction  of  a  Tanganyika  Government!   But  even  at  that  meeting,  I  had  been   fully  defended  by   Horace  Kolimba,  the  CCM  Secretary  General  who,  fortunately,   knew  the  whole  truth.  

(will  be  continued  next  week)

piomsekwa@gmail.com   /  0754767576. 

Source: Comrade Msekwa

HOW AFRICA DEVELOPED EUROPE

BIG LESSONS FROM COVID-19

Before COVID-19 came to light in Wuhan China, the world was relatively doing fine in many areas. Superpowers were overweening about their cutting-edge weapon discoveries. Others were amassing many more weaponry as they flexed muscles against the powerless. Two conflicts were prominent globally­­––in Syria and Yemen––where superpowers such as Russia and the US were using their proxies to fight each other’s leverage in the Middle East. As well, min-superpowers such as Iran and Turkey were busy claiming the piece of the cake geopolitically. However, soon after COVID-19 struck, everything lost traction. For, all attention was on it thanks to a) breaking out in one of the superpower, China; then spreading to Europe and Americas and thereafter globally. b) spreading alarmingly and quickly, c) sparing Africa initially and d) crippling many economies after the world was forced to alter its normalcy by embarking on lockdowns almost in all countries. Despite spreading everywhere, the cruelty COVID-19 has displayed is much more felt in Europe and the US than anywhere up until now despite their advanced health services.

            Currently, COVID-19 is the most talked about thing globally thanks to bringing many economies to their knees not to mention the thousands of fatalities in many so-called developed world. Importantly, the break of COVID-19 has offered many lessons to the world at large. The following are some lessons:

Firstly, COVID-19 has proved that world priorities, when it comes to personal and national security and stability, are shockingly flawed and erroneous. Many countries spend much more money on national  defense and security by inventing or purchasing many types of weapons and allocating much more of their budgetary money to their departments of Defense than to those of health and others critical areas with the assumption that they’re bolstering their national security. Ironically, the enemy that––even a naked eye cannot see––has put every security measures to hooey. At a personal level, when the lockdown came into effect in many places, there were different ways of responding. In my town, people bought much more toilet tissues and sanitizers than food. One’d think that food was supposed to be priority number one then interconnection among the members of the society to see how they’re going to fight this pandemic together but not severally or just depending on what the authorities will order them to do. Another nugget is that those who used to  be guests in their own homes are now hosts of those who used to host them namely the kids and wives. Time for going and spending much time in the pub is long gone. 

Secondly, COVID-19 has exposed the myths that the so-called developed countries have strong and sound health services and health infrastructure. Zilch. There’s nothing like that. If we consider the thousands that have already died simply because there were no enough facial mask, ventilators even sanitizers not to mention vaccine. Such countries faced the shortage of such cheap and simple thingamabobs not just because they didn’t have money to buy them. Nope. They invested hugely in wrong priorities. For example, in many poor African countries, it is not uncommon to find anti-riot yobbos well supplied whereas hospitals and schools are not. Many countries do not have clean and safe water that is crucial in fighting COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, the same have a lot of batons, boots, bullets, guns, teargas bombs, rubber bullets, shields and all tools of war aimed at being used against their citizens.

Thirdly, COVID-19 has proved that everybody is vulnerable and our resilience as a people is rickety not to mention our livelihoods. As it was for rich countries to fail to have stable health services and infrastructures to curb the pandemic compared to poor countries, rich people, as well, have proved to be equally vulnerable as the poor are. In Africa, we were used to see rich people––who in many instants are either politicians or their associates––going abroad for advanced treatments after felling their health services in their countries was a norm. Thanks to the lockdown everywhere, our tycoons are now likely to die at home. That’s because many borders are shut for the fear of bringing COVID-19 positive victims and thereby exacerbate the problem. Planes are grounded. For, there are no passengers to transport from one country to another.  

Fourthly, COVID-19 has proved that our consumerism is likely to finish the world. After China ordered the lockdown, the satellites picked up some signs of improvement in air quality globally. This means, lockdown serves two purposes namely to curb the spread of the virus and reduce the burden on our environment as we stay home and not over-consume, which result to the improvement in our air quality.

Fifth, COVID-19 has proved that capitalism is not viable, particularly at this time the world is facing the growth in population. As humans, we need to reconsider our lifestyles, particularly rich countries which encourage their people to just consume without considering those they pauperised through slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism.

Sixthly, COVID-19 has unearthed systemic racism in the world. Refer to how US president Donald Trump kept on referring to COVID-19 as Chinese viruses whereas, in some European capitals, some people with Asian pedigree were openly discriminated against simply because COVID-19 started in Wuhan China. Ironically, when Chinese were discriminated against complained a lot. Interestingly, at home, some Chinese in Wuhan replicated the same as they brutally and shamefully expelled Africans for the fear of spreading COVID-19. Why? It is simply because they’re black and Africans. After seeing  the footage of Kenyans expelled from their rented homes so as to sleep in the pavements, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China “have precipitated unfair responses against foreigners, particularly of African origin, from some members of the local community in Guangzhou, especially landlords.”

 Similarly, in the US, it came to light that African-Americans, Latinos and unregistered labours were dying at high rates compared to their counterpart whites. The same was replicated in the UK where non-whites are 15% of the country’s population. However, in the UK, ironically, the number of fatalities indicated that 50% of them are non-whites! On top of that, the west has already started to sound a death knell that Africa will be hugely affected because it does not have sound health services. Well, what have their sound services done to arrest the menace while we saw New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, complaining that his megalopolis would not cope with the  spread of COVID-19 thanks to being overwhelmed. Moreover, to show how some bigoted whites still think backwardly, two French doctors  came with desiccated idea by openly proposing that the test for vaccine for curbing COVID-19 should be conducted in Africa despite having minimal numbers of victims compared to everybody else.

Seventhly, COVID-19 has, as well, exposed some of African leaders when it comes to not understanding their people and the real situation. For, some ordered the lockdown without first addressing the issue of sustenance for those whose life is hand to mouth.  How do you lockdown such a people without showing them how you will help them survive? Because of this, police have already killed or injured some innocent people simply because they can’t adhere to lockdown order that compels them to stay at home without telling them how they’re to survive. Other countries told everybody to stay home without considering thousands of homeless people.

Ironically, whereas humans are now panicking, animals are enjoying a sigh of relief, mainly those that are butchered and eaten in Asia not to mention those that couldn’t cross the roads before the lockdown thanks to many automobiles on the roads.

Source: African Executive Magazine today.

Additionally, another lesson comes from unexpected quarters. The authorities in Guinea have arrested Chinese nationals retaliating  against the attacks on Africans in China. What a good quid pro quo! For more info CLICK HERE.

NENDA NA UPEPO WA KISULISULI

Tangu uhuru wa kuabudu na kuanzisha dini utolewe, wengi walianzisha makanisa yao yawe ya kweli au ya uongo. Walifanya vituko. Na wanaendelea kufanya vituko. Hakuna aliyewahi kufanya hata nusu ya muujizi. Dunia itamkumbuka mmojawapo Getrude Rwakatare aliyesifika kwa kuwapatia wanawake waume wa kuwaoa japo yeye hakuwa ameolewa hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa mganga hajigangi na kinyozi hajinyoi. Sasa tumempoteza mwana mama machachari aliyefanikiwa kuwatuliza wengi huku akifanikiwa kuchanganya dini na siasa kwa kuwa mbunge na mchungaji wakati wananchi wanaaminishwa kuwa siasa na dini hazichanganywi.
Nenda Getrude Nenda na upepo wa kisulisuli.

RACISM AGAINST AFRICANS, WAKE UP AFRICA

We hate injustices even revenge. Eye for an eye has never resolved any conflict. However, when the powers that be become a sitting duck, chances for violence to occur are high and the stakes are high so to speak. African, like anybody else, are not docile as many wrongly think.  Therefore, those who still think they can discriminate against others and get away with it must learn from what is now ongoing in Africa.Things have changed dramatically. Africans have started to wake up and claim their place for whatever reasons. Those abusing Africans are likely to lose in the near future mainly those who are doing so in Africa.

1990 : THE YEAR OF PRESIDENT NYERERE’s RETIREMENT FROM THE PRESIDENCY.

By  far  the  most  important  event  of the  year  1990,  was  the  retirement  of  President  Nyerere  from  the  Presidency;  and its  greatest significance  lies  in  the  fact  that  his cherished   succession  plan  was  again  frustrated.        

 We  have  already  seen  that  his  succession  plan  was  first  frustrated  by  the tragic   death  of  Prime  Minister  Edward   Sokoine in  1984.   It  was  frustrated  again  in  1985,  when  the  all-powerful    CCM  National  Executive  Committee  refused  to  endorse  his  preferred  candidate,  Salim  Ahmed  Salim,  to  stand  for  election  to  that  post  in  the  1985  Presidential  elections.                     

The  resistance  to  Salim’s  candidature   started  at  the  Central  Committee.  The  usual  procedure  was  to  ask  the  proposed  candidate  or  candidates  to  leave  the  meeting,  so  that  they  could  be  frankly  discussed.  Accordingly ,  three  persons  were  asked  by   Chairman  Nyerere to  leave  the  meeting.  They  were  Vice  President  Ali  Hassan  Mwinyi,  Prime  Minister  Salim  Ahmed  Salim;  and  CCM  Secretary General  Rashid  Kawawa.    Rashid  Kawawa  refused  to  vacate  the  room,  declaring  that  he  did  not  wish  to  be  considered   for  nomination.  But  the  other  two  left,  thus  indicating  their  willingness  to  be  considered.   That  is  when  Ali  Hassan  Mwinyi   became the  preferred  candidate,  and  Salim  became  the  loser.  

Being  his  Permanent  Secretary,  I  had  spent  some  time  with  Premier  Salim  in  his  Office  that  morning  just  before  he  went  to  attend  the  Central  Committee  meeting,  in  order  to  wish  him  well.  He  called  me  back  to  his  office  immediately  he  had  returned  from  the  meeting,  to  appraise  me  of  what  had  transpired  therein.  He  was  obviously  disappointed,   because,  just  like  myself,   he  had  not  expected  that  decision  at  all. 

 Former  President  Benjamin  Mkapa  has  recorded  this  event  as  follows,   in  his  book  My  Life,  My  Purpose (at  page 98): “I  did  not  attend  the  Central  Committee  meeting  which  preceded   the  CCM  National  Congress  where  Mwalimu  would  announce  his  retirement   and  proposed  successor;    but  I  was  told  that  Mwalimu  was  absolutely  shocked  by  the  negative  response  of  the  members  of  the  Central  Committee  to  his  preferred  successor,  Salim  Ahmed  Salim.  He  had  to  hastily  change  the  last  two  paragraphs  of  the  speech  he  had  prepared  for  delivery  at  the  National  congress,  in  order  to  reflect  the  different  successor  chosen  by   the  Central  Committee. .  .  The  fact  that  Mwinyi  did become   his  successor,   clearly  shows  the  strength  of  the  party,  as  well as  the  greatness  of  Mwalimu  Nyerere  himself.  For  he  could  have  imposed  his  choice,  but  he  did  not”.         

             Yes  indeed,  Mwalimu  Nyerere  could  have  imposed  his  choice,  and  would  most  probably have   easily   got  away  with  it.  But   he  did  not.  Because  he  was  a  man  of  principle. Thereafter,   Mwalimu  Nyerere  retired  to  his  home  Village  of  Butiama.   But  continued  in  office  as  Chairman  of  Chama  cha  Mapinduzi  (CCM),  for  the  remainder  of  his  five-year  term  until 1987,  and  also  agreed  to  carry  on  until  1990;  when  President   Mwinyi   became  also  CCM  national  Chairman.   Thus,  I  continued  to  work with  Mwalimu  Nyerere  in  my capacity as a  member   of  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee;   to  which  I  had  been  elected  in  1982,  and  re-elected   in  1987.  

My  appointment  to  the  Planning  Commission, 1989.

One   of  the  reforms  that  were  introduced  by  President  Mwinyi  in  an  effort  to   improve  the  Government’s   management  of  the  economy,  was  the  establishment  of   the  “Planning  Commission”,   an  Agency  of  Government  which  he  located  in  the  President’s  Office, presumably  to  enable  the  President  to  have  direct  supervision  and  control  over  it.  As  was  the  case  in  many  other  policy   initiatives,   its  establishment  was  a  directive  from  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee,  which  decided  on  the  establishment  of  this  Agency  in  the  first  quarter of  1989.   As  a  member  of  NEC,   I  had  participated  its  meeting   which  made  that  decision;  and  was  therefore  fully  aware  of  the   objects  and  reasons  for  its  establishment.    I  was   delighted  when  President  Mwinyi  appointed  me  to  be  a  member  of  that  Commission.   However,  In  a  striking  departure  from  President  Nyerere’s  style,  who  always  called  me  to  his  office  whenever  he  wanted  to  give  me  a  new  appointment;   this  time  I  learnt  of  this  appointment  from  an  evening    radio  news  broadcast.                                            

 But  all  the  same,  it  came  to  me  as  a  great  relief  to  my  worries  regarding  what  I  was  going  to  do  the  following  year,  when  I  was due  to  attain  the  mandatory  civil  service  retirement  age  of  fifty-five  years.   Luckily,  this  was  a  contract  appointment,  which  would  comfortably  carry  me  over  the  retirement  bridge.    

THE  YEAR  1990 : THE  END  OF  AN  ERA.

President  Julius  Nyerere’s   retirement  from   CCM  leadership  in  1990,  was,  indeed,   the  end  of  an  era,  and  a  historic  era  too. A  major  reason  why  Mwalimu  Nyerere  had  agreed  to  carry  on  as  CCM  Chairman  after  leaving  the  Presidency  in  1985;  was  because of   the  people’s  “fear  of  change”.   There  had  developed   some  widespread  apprehension,   that  without  Nyerere  as  President,  the  country  would  most  likely  be  difficult  to  govern,  It  was  feared  that  there  would   emerge   trouble  makers   in  the  governance  system,   who  will create  problems of  one  kind  or  another,  for  their  own  selfish  benefits.   These  fears  had  to  be  somehow  dealt  with,  and  Mwalimu  Nyerere’s  solution  was  to  remain,  for  a  specified  transition period,    as  head  of  the  powerful  ruling  party,  which  would  give  sufficient  assurance  to  the  people  that  all  will  still  be  well,  with   Mwalimu  Nyerere  around  in  that  capacity.                                 

That  transition  period  came  to  an  end   in  October 1990,  which  was  the  scheduled  time  for  CCM  to  hold  its  mandatory  meetings  in  preparation for  that  year’s  general  elections. That  is  when  President  Mwinyi  was  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  his  second  term;  and  was  at  the  same  time  elected  CCM  national  Chairman.                                                                                The  end  of  an  era. 

Mwalimu  Nyerere,  having  assumed  full  time  political  leadership  in  1955,  when  he  was  forced  to  resign  from  his  lucrative  teaching  job  at  St.  Francis  College,   Pugu;    and  whose  name  thereafter,  became  associated  with  all  the   major political  feats  and  achievements, (starting  with  the  liberation  of  Tanganyika  from  the  yoke  of  colonialism and  the  building  of  the  new  Tanganyika  nation,  followed  by  the  unification  of  Tanganyika  and  Zanzibar  to  form  the  United  Republic  of  Tanzania,  to  the  success  of   the   liberation   struggle  from  colonialism  for   the  whole  of  Africa);  Mwalimu  Nyerere’s  name  had  become  synonymous  with   good,  exemplary  political  leadership; which  lasted  for  not  less  than  two  generations.  Hence,  his  departure  from  leadership  was  indeed  the  end  of  an  era,  not  only  for  Tanzanians,  but  also   for  many   other  international   observers.

It  was  the  end of  an  era  for  me  as  well.

Since  I  am  writing  the  history  of  my  life  in  the  Public  Service;   I  must  put  on  record  the  fact  that  the  year  1990  also  was,  in  a  way,  the  end  of  an  era  for  me  too.   For  this  was  the  year  of  my  retirement  also  from  the  pensionable  civil  service,  in  accordance  with  the  pension   laws  of  Tanzania  at  that  time,  when   the  compulsory   retirement  age  for  Public  Servants  was  fifty-five  years.    I  attained  that  age  on  9^th June,  1990.  Hence  thereafter,  I  would  now  have  to  plan  and  decide  myself,    what  I  would  like  to  do.             

Fortunately,  1990  was  also  general  election  year;  so  I  quickly  decided  to  join  the  political  Service  sector,  by   contesting  the  Ukerewe  constituency    parliamentary  seat  which,   by  the  grace  of  God,    I  easily  won;   and,   on  arrival  in  Parliament,  I  contested  the  Deputy  Speaker’s  position. Which  I  also  won,  and  was  subsequently,  in  1994,  was  elected  Speaker of  the  House,  to  take  over   from  Chief  Adam  Sapi  Mkwawa,  who  had  resigned  on  grounds  of  ill  health.                                                     

Thus,  in  many  respects,  this  was  the  beginning  of  a  vastly  different   career  path,  compared  to  that  to  which  I  had  been  accustomed  over  the  previous  three  decades,  of  enjoying   Presidential   appointments   to  top-level  pensionable  public  service  posts. This  was  also  the  beginning  of  my  fourth  decade  in  the  Public  Service,  still  going  strong;  and  this  time  being  at  the  helm   of  the  Legislative  Branch  of  Government.  We  will  discuss the  events  of  the  1990s  starting  next  week.

My  appointment  to  the  Presidential  Nyalali  Commission.

President  Mwinyi’s   first  term  in  office (1985 – 1990),  was  relatively  uneventful,   with   Mwalimu  Nyerere   still  around,  as   head  of  CCM,  the  powerful  Ruling  party  which  he   himself  had  founded.  But  things  started  to  change  after  1990,  when  he  became the   sole man-in-  charge. His  major  changes  include  the  Constitutional  reforms  which  re-introduced  multi-party  politics  in  our  country,  in  which  I  was  very  closely  involved.

The   Constitutional   reforms.

The  idea  of  re-examining  our   one-party  political  system,  was  actually  motivated  by   the political  events  which  occurred  during  the  year  1989,  in  Eastern  Europe  when,  quite   unexpectedly,  great  political  changes  took  place  in  that  part  of  the  world  leading  to  the  downfall   of  nearly  all  the  Communist  parties,  which  were  the  Ruling  parties  in  those  countries;  accompanied  by  demands   for  the  enhancement  of  democracy  based  on  multi-party  politics, the  observance  of  human  rights;  and  the  introduction  of  a  market  economy.    

Such  demands  also  quickly  spread  to  several  African  countries,  bringing  about  violence,  and  even  loss  of  life,   in  some  of  them.                                                    

This  is  what  made  it  necessary  for  several  countries  that  were  operating  the  one-party  political  system,  including  Tanzania,  to  start  giving  consideration  to  the  possibility  of  abandoning   that  system,   in  favour  of  the  alternative  multi-party  system.  Consideration  of  this  option  was  done  by  the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee  at  its  regular  meeting  held  in  February  1991  at  which,   among  other  matters, it carefully  reviewed  the  state  of  politics  in  the  world  generally, created  by  the  events  that  had  recently   taken  place  in  Eastern  Europe.   The  CCM  NEC   resolved  as  follows :-(a)  That  judging  from    the  circumstances  then  obtaining  in  the  global  political  environment;  a  national  debate  be  initiated  throughout  the  country,  to  discuss   whether,  or  not,  our  country  should   change  to  multi-party  politics;  and (b) To  authorize   the  President  to  appoint  a  Presidential  Commission,  which  would  coordinate  and  aggregate  these  discussions;   and  in  due  course  present  a  Report  of  its  findings. I   had  just  been  elected   Deputy  Speaker,    but   was  also   appointed  by  President  Mwinyi  to   the  membership  of    that   Nyalali   Commission.

President  Mwinyi’s   economic  reforms

And  in  my  other  capacity  as  a  member  of  CCM’s  National  Executive  Committee,  I  also  participated  in  some  of  the  decision-making  processes  which  resulted  in  major  reforms  of  the  country’s  economic  policies,  which  were  initiated  by  President Mwinyi.                                                                                                         

December  1992,   the  CCM  National  Executive  Committee  approved  a  new  economic  policy  document  titled  “Mwelekeo  was  Sera  za  CCM  katika  Miaka  ya  Tisini” (CCM’s  policy  Vision  for  the  1990s);  whose  principal  objective  was  to  ensure  that  the  country’s  economy  “is  owned  and  managed  by  the  people  themselves,  either  in  their  individual  capacities,  or  through  their  independent  cooperative  societies,  or  joint-venture  companies  in  which  thousands  of  wananchi  will  own  shares”.                   

In  this  way,  it  was  assumed,  “the  larger  part  of  the  economy  will  be  owned  and  controlled  by  the  people  themselves,  thus  giving  them  the  opportunity  to  upgrade  their  living  standards”. However,  a  subsequent  evaluation  revealed  that the  implementation  of  this  policy  had  not  been  entirely  successful.

(Will  be  continued  next  week).

piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576.