Malipo ya Wabunge Hawa Ni Ufisadi Mwingine

Hivi karibuni rais Samia Suluhu Hassan aliwahakikisha na kuwaaminisha watanzania kuwa mapambano dhidi ya matumizi mabaya ya fedha na raslimali za umma yaliyoanzishwa na Hayati Dkt John Pombe Magufuli yanaendelea. Bila hiyo, hata chini ya kauli mbiu yake Kazi Iendelee, wengi waliamini kuwa watanzania na taasisi zote walimwelewa. Mbali na rais kutoa hakikisho, kumekuwapo na sauti za kutaka iwepo kodi ya uzalendo ambayo haitalenga kuwaumiza maskini bali vigogo katika ngazi za juu serikalini. 
        Leo tutaongelea kadhia ambayo–––licha kuwagombanisha Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA)–––inaonekana kuikichafua Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) na serikali yake kama hawatabadili msimamo wao juu ya wabunge hawa. Tunajiuliza maswali mengi kuhusiana na kadhia hii. CHADEMA kilisema wazi kuwa wahusika walifukuzwa uanachama tokana na kwenda kinyume na maagizo ya vyombo husika kwenye chama. Kimsingi, chanzo cha mgogoro mzima ni pale CCM iliposhinda viti vyote vilivyokuwa vimeshikiliwa na CHADEMA hadi kwenye uchaguzi wa mwaka jana. Baada ya pigo hili, wanawake waliobwagwa, wakiongozwa na Halima Mdee, waliamua kupindisha kanuni–––kwa mujibu wa CHADEMA–––na kuendesha uchaguzi wa viti maalum na kujipatia ulaji. Hapa kimsingi, wahusika walionyesha namna walivyokuwa wakisaka madaraka bila kujali kama walikuwa wakifuata au kuvunja taratibu za chama chao hadi wakafukuzwa. Baada ya kufukuzwa, wahusika walikimbilia bungeni ambako waliapishwa bila hata kusikiliza malalamiko toka kwenye chama chao. Hii si haki na wala haiisaidii CCM, serikali yake wala nchi hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa fedha na marupurupu wanavyolipwa si mali ya CCM, serikali wala bunge bali ni kodi ya mwananchi. Bila kufuata utaratibu na kujulikana sababu za msingi za wabunge hawa wasiomwakilisha yeyote wala chama chochote kuendelea kuwa bungeni na kulipa ni matumizi mabaya ya fedha za umma. Kimsingi, ni ufisadi wa kimfumo ambapo faida za kisiasa za kundi moja zinawekwa mbele hata kwa maumivu ya wananchi maskini ambao fedha yao inatumika kuwatunza watu hawa wasio na chama wala uhalali wa kuwa bungeni ukiachia mbali kutomwakilisha yeyote bali matumbo yao.
        Baada ya mgogoro kunyunyuta, spika wa bunge Mheshimiwa Job Ndugai alisikika akiwatetea tena ka kuita barua ya CHADEMA ya kumtaka awawajibishe kipeperushi jambo ambalo lilifanya wengi wakune vichwa na kujiuliza kunani? Kama haitoshi, Ndugai aligeuka wakili wa wabunge hawa 19 ambao wamepewa jina la Covid-19 bila kueleza alianza lini kufanya jukumu hili na ili iwe nini. Japo ni haki yake kumtetea au kumshabikia hata kumkingia kifua amtakaye, si haki ya spika kutoa maamuzi ambayo yanayonyesha wazi yanavyowatwisha mzigo walipa kodi kama ilivyo kwenye kadhia hii.  Je ni fedha kiasi gani taifa linapoteza kwa kuwalipa wabunge waliokwisha kufukuzwa na chama chao? 

        Siju mshahara na marupurupu ya mbunge. Hata hivyo, tuchukulie kuwa kila mbunge analipwa shilingi 10,000,000 kwa mwezi. Hii maana yake tunapoteza karibu shilingi milioni 200,000,000 bila kuhusisha matumizi mengine kama vile posho ya kila siku, pesa ya mafuta, nyumba na mengine mengi. Kama wabunge hawa bandia wataendelea kuwa bungeni, ina maana kwa mwaka watakuwa wanakula si chini ya shilingi bilioni 2.4 kwa nwaka. Na kama wahusika wataendela kuwang’ang’ania hadi uchaguzi ujao, taifa litakuwa limepoteza jumla ya shilingi bilioni 12. Je pesa hii–––kama ingetumika kwa busara–––ingeweza kufanya mambo mangapi ya maana kwa watu wetu maskini. Kama sikosei hesabu, pesa hii inaweza kujenga si chini ya kilomita 60 za reli ya kisasa ya Standard Gauge. Niruhusu nitoke nje kidogo ya mada. Kama tukifutilia mbali ubunge wa viti maalum, tunaweza kwa miaka mitano, tuna uwezo wa kujenga barabara ya lami toka Dar es Salaam hadi Tabora hata Mwanza bila kukopa.  Je tunafanya hivi kwa faida gani na kwa utajiri au ulazima upi? Je, kama tutaachana tabia ya kuhudumiana, wanabariki jinai hii kweli hawaoni kuwa wanawaumiza wananchi na wanachofanya si haki? Je hata hawa wanufaikaji hawaonyeshi walivyo wabinafsi ambao wako tayari kupinda na kuvunja sheria ilmradi wapate wao? Je mamlaka za juu hazioni ufisadi huu wa kimfumo? Je kwa kuendelea kunyamazia jinai si ushahidi kuwa ima viongozi wetu si makini au wana sura mbili?
        Juzi rais SSH alimtumbua aliyekuwa mkurugenzi wa TPA, Deusdedit Kakoko ambaye niliandika barua ya kuunga mkono kadhia hii kabla ya kufanya utafiti wa kina, jambo ambalo nalijutia kwa kusikiliza upande mmoja, kwa upotevu wa shilingi bilioni tatu na ushei pale Bandarini. Je rais ambaye alionyesha ukali kwa fedha ndogo kama hii ikilinganishwa na wabunge hawa watakayofuja, yuko wapi aone haya mabilioni?
        Tumalize kwa kuwaomba wakubwa wetu wanaowang’ang’ania wabunge tajwa au kuwafumbia macho na madhara wanayosababisha kwa fedha za walipa kodi waachane nao wamalizane kwenye chama chao. Kama wanawaona ni mali sana basi wawashawishi wahamie CCM kama wengine ambao walishafanya hivyo. Na kama ni vyeo, wawape vyeo vingine badala ya kutujazia mkanganyiko kwenye bunge tukufu la wananchi ambalo linapaswa kuwa na wawakilishi wa umma na siyo wa matumbo yao. Pia hawa wanaowakingia kifua wajue kuwa pesa wanayolipwa watu wao si pesa toka mifukoni mwao. Kuna kesho pale wahusika watakapokuwa nje ya mamlaka waliyo nayo wakilipa kodi au kuulizwa walifanya nini wakati walipokuwa na mamlaka. Pia na wabunge husika wajitathmni wakijua kuna kesho.

Chanzo: Raia Mwema kesho.

Mkoa Mpya wa Chato Mtendeeni Haki Hayati Magufuli

Hivi karibuni nimesoma kwenye vyombo vya habari juu ya mapendekezo ya kuunda mkoa mpya wa Chato mahali alipozaliwa shujaa wetu Hayati John Pombe Magufuli rais wa awamu ya tano aliyetutoka ghafla mwezi Machi mwaka huu. Gazeti la Mwananchi Mei 29, 2021 linaandika “Mkoa mpya wa Chato umependekezwa kuwa na wilaya ya Chato, Bukombe zilizopo mkoa wa Geita kwa sasa na wilaya mbili za mkoa wa Kagera ambazo ni Biharamulo na Ngara, huku ikimega kata tatu kutoka wilaya ya Muleba pamoja na baadhi ya maeneo kutoka wilaya ya Kakonko iliyopo mkoani Kigoma.” Kwa wanaomjua Hayati Magufuli, hiki ni kituko cha aina yake ambacho kwake kingekuwa machukizo yasiyo na msamaha. Katika kuunda mkoa husika kwa kumuenzi Magufuli, kuna mambo ambayo wahusika wanapaswa kuyatilia maanani ili wasionekane kama wanamkejeli. Kwa mfano, inakuwaje wanaondoa sehemu kama wilaya ya Karagwe ambako inasemekana alikuwa na makazi ukiachia mbali michango mingine kwa mkoa wa sasa wa Geita kama vile Mbuga ya Burigi-Chato na mambo mengine muhimu?
        Kwanza, tuseme wazi si haki kwa Hayati Magufuli ambaye kimsingi, ndiye aliyeipaisha wilaya ya Chato ukiachia mbali kuanzisha mkoa wa Geita na sasa kuwa kwenye harakati za kuanzisha mkoa mpya wa Chato kama namna ya kumuenzi Hayati Magufuli. Pamoja na uzuri wa wazo hili, hata hivyo, ukiangalia mapendekezo hayo hapo juu, kwanza unashangaa na kusikitika hasa kwa waliomjua Hayati Magufuli na mipango yake ya baadaye kama angeishi hadi kustaafu urais.                             Wanaopendekeza wilaya na kata tajwa hapo juu, hawajaeleza sababu za kuziteua. Hawajatoa sababu na vigezo vya kisayansi na vinavyoingia akilini vya kupendekeza wilaya na kata husika. Sijui kama hawa wamezingatia mambo muhimu katika kufikia hitimisho hili hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa kuna sehemu nyingine ambazo zinafaa kuwa sehemu ya mkoa husika kuliko hizo tajwa kama tutakavyoeleza hapa baadaye. 
        Pili, hata kama hawa wanaoendesha mchakato tajwa wana sababu, haziwezi kuwa na nguvu kama sababu nitakazotoa hapa chini ni kwanini Mkoa mpya wa Chato usiache wilaya ya Karagwe na Ngara na badala yake uache zile za mkoa wa Mwanza wenye ukubwa wa kilometa za mraba 9, 467 ambao tayari ni mdogo ikilinganishwa na mkoa wa Kagera wenye ukubwa wa kilometa za mraba 35,686 yaani karibu mara nne ya mkoa wa Mwanza. Namba huwa hazidanganyi hata kama hatuzipendi. Ukitoa ukubwa wa wilaya ya Karagwe ambao ni kilometa za mraba 7,716 na ule wa wilaya ya Ngara yenye 3,744 bado mkoa wa Kagera utabakia kuwa mkubwa kuliko Mwanza ukiwa na ukubwa wa kilometa za mraba 24, 226 mbali na ukweli kuwa wilaya mbili tajwa ni kubwa kuliko mkoa wa Mwanza wenyewe. Tuseme wazi kuwa–––kama lengo ni kuanzisha mkoa wa Chato ili kupeleka huduma kwa wananchi, basi wilaya tajwa za Karagwe na Ngara zinafaa kuwa sehemu ya mkoa huu mpya. Kama sababu ni za kisiasa tu na nyingine, basi wilaya husika hazifai.
Tatu, ukweli ni kwamba Hayati Magufuli mwenyewe alikuwa amekwisha kuanzia makazi yake kwenye wilaya ya Karagwe (Sauti Kubwa, Januari 20, 2021) kiasi cha kupafanya nyumbani namba mbili. Japo si wengi wanalijua hili tokana na Hayati Magufuli kutofanya maisha yake binafsi habari, alikuwa na makazi mengine wilayani Karagwe ambako inasemekana alikupenda sana kiasi cha kuanzisha shamba la mifugo. Je hawa wanaotaka kuiweka kando wilaya hii ambayo Sauti kubwa inasema “…. Rais John Pombe Magufuli (JPM) yuko Mkoani Kagera. Alianzia Bukoba na sasa yuko mapumzikoni “nyumbani” kwake kwingine, Karagwe” wanamuenzi kweli au wanamtumia kutimiza matakwa yao binafsi? Je familia ya Magufuli imeombwa mawazo katika mchakato huu?
Tatu, mbali na Hayati Magufuli kuipenda na kuweka makao wilayani Karagwe, pia wilaya hii pamoja na Ngara huchangia sehemu kubwa ya mbuga maarufu ya Burigi Chato. Katika pita pita zangu na kuuliza huku na huku, niliambiwa kuwa hata jina Burigi asili yake ni Karagwe ikitokana na jina la ziwa Burigi lililoko wilayani Karagwe. Hivyo, kwa vigezo hivi na vingine, mkoa mpya wa Chato hauwezi kuiacha nje wilaya ya Karagwe.
Sababu ya nne, ni kwamba––––kwa wanaojua historia ya Ufalme wa Karagwe ambao ulikuwa ni moja ya himaya kubwa kabla ya ukoloni ikishindana na kushirikiana na himaya nyingine kubwa za wakati huo za Bunyoro-Kitara, Buganda na Busoga–––atakubaliana nami kuwa eneo la Chato hadi Sumbawanga liliwahi kuwa chini ya himaya hii kubwa ambayo ilisifika nchini Tanzania ikishindana na Zanzibar kwa umaarufu na kufanyiwa utafiti na wazungu kabla ya kuitawala Afrika. Hata hivyo, himaya hii iliyokuwa na nguvu na maendeleo ya hali ya juu, ilififishwa na hatimaye kufishwa baada ya wakoloni kuanzisha kabila la wahaya ambalo halikuwapo kabla ya kuja ukoloni na kuchukua nafasi yake kiasi cha mkoa wa Kagera kuonekana kama umekaliwa na wahaya wakati una makabila mengine mengi.
Tumalizie kwa kuwataka wanaohusika na mchakato wa kuunda mkoa mpya wa Chato watoe vigezo watakavyotumia kuunda. Pia waeleze kila kigezo kwa ufasaha ili kuepuka kuingiza siasa katika maisha ya watu mbali na kutokumuenzi Hayati Magufuli au kumtumia kufikia malengo yao ya kisiasa. Hivyo, chonde chonde. Mtendeeni haki Hayati Magufuli na kumuenzi kiukweli badala ya kutaka kumtumia kisiasa kwa faida binafsi au tokana na kutojua ukweli wa mambo.

Chanzo: Raia Mwema kesho.

End of ethnic kingpins is nigh

The miserable and sad attempt to crown National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi as Mt Kenya kingpin is actual proof of the end of Kikuyu domination of Kenya.

File | Nation Media Group

I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. However, I can’t help but notice proof of life in the nest. Let me give it to you straight. The end of ethnic kingpins in Kenya is nigh. It’s not today, but definitely tomorrow. Kenya has long been a patrimonial state in spite of the 2010 Constitution. Power usually flows directly from the head of state who has a symbiotic relationship with all major ethnic kingpins who then distribute state loot to their elites. That’s how Kenya has been governed since Independence. That’s about to change – not by design, but accident. The current ethnic matrix will be the last of ethnic kingpins in Kenya. Politics will dramatically change.
        No one – and nothing – defies time. We know this. We are born. We live. And then we die. We can die a political death, but the biological one is certain. That’s the “T” factor – time. The death of Kenya’s ethnic kingpins – whether political or biological – will catapult us to the next democratic milestone. It will free Kenyans from their primordial moorings in which they act like herds of cattle and deliver them to the world of individual atomism. The individual egoist doesn’t have to be a soulless pagan. No. Individualism isn’t sacred, nor is it a summit of human genius. But it can be a good thing if tempered by community and grounded in Ubuntu. Let’s dig deeper.
Rent-seekers
        The modern state of Kenya is a scatter shot hodge-podge of disparate nations slapped together by British imperialists. They created it for their own benefit. After they left in 1964, global hegemonic powers that run the “international order” took over. Kenya is a charge of this scandalous international order. The people we call Kenyans don’t actually own Kenya, the country. Kenyans are only tenants in Kenya. Kenya’s leaders and their ethnic kingpins are the rent-seekers in Kenya. Even they don’t own Kenya. But the only way they can collect rent is to assure their international puppet masters that they can keep “order”, not “law”. This “order” is kept through ethnic alliances and cartels through kingpins and their lackeys.
        “Natives”, for that is what Kenyans are in the view of the international order, must be kept “pacified”. The job of “pacification” has been given to ethnic kingpins. This is where Kenya hasn’t cohered into a single nation. Nations become so when they develop into an idea, not just an accidental geographic cartography on the planet. I don’t know any “Kenyan” who can describe Kenya as an idea. Ask the person next to you to define Kenya. They’ll start stammering immediately, or describe Kenya innocuously as a “country in East Africa”. Kenya is a state and a country with a government, but it’s not a nation. That will start to change in 2022 when Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta retires.
House of Mumbi
        Why 2022? That’s because 2022 will signal the collapse of the House of Mumbi in Kenyan politics. For the first time in Kenya’s history, the Kikuyu – and the Meru, Embu, Tharaka, and Mbeere with whom they co-exist in concubinage – will have no kingpin. The miserable and sad attempt to crown National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi as Mt Kenya kingpin is actual proof of the end of Kikuyu domination of Kenya. Mr Muturi is a scallywag who can’t even whip a stray cow back into the kraal. He can’t fill a seat erased by the gravitational pull of history. The revolt against Mr Kenyatta in his backyard signals Kikuyu political exhaustion and infertility to produce another ethnic kingpin. It’s over.
        In Luo Nyanza, where ODM’s Raila Odinga and his father Oginga Odinga have ruled for eons, change is coming. Mr Odinga – unless he becomes the next President – will retire from active politics and become an elder Africa-wide statesman. He has no successor among the Luo. None. That’s why there won’t be another Luo kingpin. In Ukambani, Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka is on his last legs. His time on the ethnic stage will expire in 2022 if he can’t deliver the presidency to the long-suffering Akamba. There’s no one who can even remotely claim to be the next Kamba ethnic kingpin. There are strong leaders in the region but the Akamba will be through with being herded after Mr Musyoka.
        This leaves the Abaluhya and the Kalenjin. The Abaluhya aren’t really a single nation and haven’t truly had an ethnic kingpin, in spite of the claims of the Mudavadi clan. Amani’s Musalia Mudavadi is the closest thing to a kingpin, but he’s proven that he can’t carry the mantle. This leaves only DP William Ruto among the Kalenjin. He will be the only ethnic baron among the Kalenjin, Kanu’s Gideon Moi notwithstanding. However, a single ethnic kingpin is like a castrated bull. Mr Ruto’s hold on the title will be for naught because there won’t be other ethnic kingpins to trade with. The game of ethnic kingpins can’t be played solo.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School. He’s chair of KHRC. @makaumutua

Source: Sunday Nation today.

Kuna Haja ya Mataifa ya Afrika Kuachana na Unafiki Kuhusiana na Israel

Kwa waliokua miaka ya nyuma hadi miaka ya 80 watakumbuka namna mataifa mengi ya Afrika yalivyosusia utawala wa kikaburu na kibaguzi wa Afrika ya Kusini ya wakati ule. Msimamo huu dhidi ya ubaguzi na ukaburu haukutokana na kuichukia Afrika ya Kusini kama taifa bali sera zake za kibaguzi na kikaburu ambazo ziliwabagua, kuwanyonya, kuwatesa na kuwanyang’anya utu Weusi wa Afrika ya Kusini. Hivyo, kuuadhibu na hatimaye kuutokomeza, mataifa mengi ya Kiafrika yaliutenga na kuuwekea vikwazo vya kiuchumi na ushirikiano utawala wa Afrika ya Kusini na hatimaye kuutokomeza toka kwenye uso wa ardhi. Kimsingi, kilichokuwa kikiendelea nchini Afrika Kusini ilikuwa ni jinai ambayo kila binadamu mwenye akili alipaswa kupiga vita na hatimaye kushinda kama ilivyotokea mwaka 1997 baada ya kutokomezwa kwa utawala huu habithi.
        Leo tutaongelea namna hasira na namna ya kupambana na ukaburu unaoendelea nchini Israel ambako wapalestina wanatenzwa hata zaidi ya makaburu walivyowatenza Weusi wakishirikiana na mataifa ya Ulaya. Katika kupambana na ukaburu na ubaguzi wa rangi, Tanzania iliongoza mataifa ya mstari wa mbele hadi ukaburu na ubaguzi wa rangi vilipoteketezwa na kuondolewa kwenye uso wa dunia pamoja na kuungwa mkono na kusaidiwa na mataifa ya magharibi. Kwa sasa, kadhia ya ubaguzi na unyama tulivyoshuhudia nchini Afrika Kusini vimehamia nchini Israel, taifa ambalo liliundwa na mataifa ya magharibi ili kuzitisha na kuzinyonya nchi za mashariki ya kati zenye utajiri wa gesi na mafuta. Tangu taifa hili liundwe, limekuwa likiwanyanyasa wapalestina ambao dhambi yao ni kuwa na ardhi iliyomegwa na kuundwa taifa la kibaguzi la kizayuni.  Kinachofanyika nchini mashariki ya kati kinapaswa kulaaniwa na kupigwa vita kwa nguvu zote. Hivi karibuni, dunia ilishuhudia mauaji na uharibifu wa mali vya kutisha. Unyama huu ni mkubwa kuliko hata ule wa Septemba 11 wakati taifa la Marekani lilioposhambuliwa na kikundi cha kigaidi cha al Qaida ambapo majengo yaliyokuwa alama ya ushufaa wa taifa hili yalishambuliwa na kubomolewa sawa na majengo ya Palestina yaliyoangushwa hivi karibuni ukiachia mbali vifo vya watu wengi wasio na hatia. Kwa mujibu wa Al Jazeera (Mei 26, 2021) ikikariri ripoti ya umoja wa mataifa, majengo zaidi ya 1,000 yaliharibiwa katika mashambulizi ya siku 11 huku watu 243 wakiwamo watoto waliuawa ambapo Israel ilipoteza watu 12 tu (BBC, Mei 26, 2021)
        Wakati haya yakiendelea, kuna baadhi ya mataifa ya kiafrika ikiwemo Tanzania yameimarisha uhusiano na taifa hili la kibaguzi na kigaidi. Je kwa kufanya hivyo, hatujirahisishi na kuwa sehemu ya jinai dhidi ya watu wasio na hatia? Je huu si unafiki unaofanywa na watu waliokuwa mstari wa mbele kupambana na kuangamiza utawala uliofanana na huu wa Israel wakati wakifumbia macho jinai hii inayoendelea? Tunamkomoa nani? Ajabu na unafiki wa ajabu, hata mataifa ya kiarabu ambao ndiyo waathirika na walengwa wakubwa nayo yamegwaya kwa kuogopa viongozi wao wasipoteze ulaji wao binafsi hata kama wanajua uovu wanaolinda au kugwaya.
        Mbali na kushinikiza kuwa kuna haja ya kuitenga Israel kwa kuwaonea wapalestina, tuchukue fursa hii kuwataka waafrika waanze kujithamini na kuwathamini wenzao ili nao wathaminiwe kama watu sawa na wengine. Kwa mfano, wakati tunapohanikiza kuwalaani makaburu wa Israel, tunakaa kimya kuhusiana na wenzetu wanaouana kwenye nchi kama vile the Central African Republic ambapo waswahili wanauana kwa misingi ya imani za kigeni. Tunakaa kimya wakati waswahili wanapoendelea kudhalilishwa, kubaguliwa hata kuuana mashariki ya kati walipokwenda kusaka vibarua kama vile kufanya kazi za ndani, ulinzi na nyingine nyingi. Tunakaa kimya ambapo waswahili wenzetu wa kwenye nchi za maghreb yaani Algeria, Libya, Moroko, Tunisia, Mauritania, Misri na Jamhuri ya watu wa Saharawi wakiwauza waswahili wenzao utumwani. Tunakaa kimya pale waswahili wenzetu tena Weusi nchini Sudan ya Kaskazini wanapoukana uafrika na kujiita waarabu. Ni aibu kiasi gani?
Kadhia ya mashariki ya kati juu ya ukaburu na ubaguzi wa Israel imetugawa waswahili baina ya wakristo na waislam. Waislam walio wengi wanailaani Israel si kwa sababu inawatesa wanadamu bali kwa vile inawatesa waarabu na waislam ilhali wakristo wakiunga mkono Israel chini ya dhana hafifu na feki ya taifa teule. Wanadhani waisrael ni wakristo wenzao wakati siyo. 

        Tunapaswa kulaani kinachoendelea kwa misingi ya ubinadamu lakini siyo misingi ya udini.  Jinai, ubaguzi na ukaburu havina dini na kama vinayo basi ni dini ya shetani. Israel inayowahadaa waswahili kuwa inaweza kusaidia nchi zao nayo inaishi kwa misaada toka Marekani na mataifa ya magharibi. Isitoshe, Israel inawabugua hata watu Weusi. Waulize waethiopia waitwao mafalasha waliodanganywa wakahama nchi yao na kwenda kuishi Israel wanakobaguliwa kwa kisingizio kuwa wao ni waisrael Weusi. Hakuna kitu kama hicho zaidi ya ujinga na ubabaishaji wa kawaida ambao unatokana na ujinga, roho mbaya na uroho. Al Jazeera (Machi 28, 2018) licha ya kuripoti maandamano ya mafalasha kupinga ubaguzi linasema kuwa kiongozi mmoja wa kiyahudi rabbi Yitzhak Yozef aliwaita watu weusi nyani kwenye kwenye mahubiri yake mnano tarehe 17 Machi, 2018.
        Mbali na mafalasha, wakimbizi wa kiafrika walioko Israel wanateswa na kubaguliwa sawa na walivyofanyiwa wenzao wa Afrika ya Kusini chini ya ukaburu. Mwaka 2013, mkimbizi  Hatftom Zarhum toka Eritrea aliuawa na kundi la wayahudi na hakuna alichukuliwa hatua. Badala yake watu wanne waliohusika na mauaji haya walipewa adhabu ya kifungo cha nje na kutoa huduma za kijamii kana kwamba aliyeuawa alikuwa mbuzi. Kwa mujibu wa Al Jazeera, mwaka 2014 vijana wawili wa kiyahudi walimuua msudan  Bbikir Ali Adham-Abdo (40)  na hawakufungwa kwani walipatikana na hatia ya kuua bila kukusudia pamoja na kufanya mauaji ya dhahiri.
        Tumalizie kwa kushauri kuwa kinachofanywa na nchi za kiafrika tokana na ujinga zijue kinachoendelea dhidi ya waafrika nchini Israel na kuchukua hatua. Kama wanachofanya ni tokana na roho mbaya, ubinafsi na ujinga, hatuna cha kufanya bali kuwakumbusha kuwa wanashiriki jinai na ni unafiki wa kunuka tena kujidhalilisha na kuwadhalilisha na kuwachuuza waafrika wote.

Chanzo: Raia Mwema leo.

REVISITING THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF “MWONGOZO WA CCM WA 1981”.

In last  week’s  article,  we  made  a  brief  reference  to  the  CCM’s   major  policy  guidelines  document  titled  “Mwongozo  wa  CCM  wa  1981”,  when  we  were  tracing  the  origins  of   CCM’s   ‘culture’  which  encourages   its  members  as  well  as  leaders,  to  develop  the  habit  and  practice  of  self  criticism,  and  constructive  criticism  among  themselves.  But,  in  fact,  the  significance  of  that  particular  document  in  the  political  history  of  Tanzania   deserves  much  greater  attention  and  elaboration,   than  just  mere  reference  to  it. For  that  reason,  we  will  devote  today’s  article  to  that  subject.
The   document’s  significance.
The   great  significance,  and  historical importance  of  “Mwongozo  wa  CCM  wa  1981”;  arises  from  the   fact  that  it  presents  a  clear  manifestation  of CCM’s  practical  implementation  of  the  theory  and   concept  of  “party  supremacy”  ( Chama  kushika  hatamu)”.  which  prevailed  throughout  the   era  of   the  monopolistic  ‘one-party  state’  political  system.                                                                                        
        The  concept  of  “party  supremacy”  was  conceived  at  the  end  of  a long  and  controversial  debate  which  had  been  raging  in  the  National  Assembly  since  1968,   regarding  the  question:   “In  relation  to  policy-making,  which  of  the  two  institutions  is  supreme:   the  National  Assembly, or  the  National  Executive  Committee?    The  debate  was  prompted  by  the  adoption  of  the policy  document  titled  the   “Arusha  Declaration”   by  the  National  Executive  Committee,  at  its  Arusha  meeting  in  February,  1967.                      

        But  the  mere fact  of  daring  to   raise  this  question  by  the  MPs,  who  strongly   asserted  that  the  party had  no  power   to  make  such  a  major  policy; plus  what  they  said in  that  debate,  had apparently,  irritated  the top   party  bosses,  particularly  Rashidi  Kawawa  (who  was  Prime  Minister  and  leader  of  government  business  in  the  National  Assembly   at  that  time).  Thus, at  its  regular  meeting  held  in  Tanga  at  the  end  of  1969,  TANU’s  National  Executive  Committee  resolved  to  expel  all  those  MPs  who  had  dared  to  question  the   party’s  supremacy  in  matters  of  policy  making.  And,  by  operation  of  the  country’s  Constitution,  their  expulsion  from  the  party  automatically  also  expelled  them  from  the  National  Assembly. 
Subsequent   demonstrations  of  the  party’s  supremacy.
At  its  meeting  held  in  Kigoma  in  March  1973,  the  National  Executive  Committee  imposed  a  bad  on  the  importation  of   “luxury cars”,  as  a  measure  of  controlling  the  use  of the  country’s  foreign  currency  reserves.
During  the  years  1974/75, TANU  went  ahead  and   made  a  series  of other   crucial  decisions  in  the field  of  policy  making,  which  were  a  clear  demonstration  of   its  supremacy  over  the  National  Assembly;  including  the  following:-                                                                         

(i)  The  abolition  of  the  Local  Government  Authorities,  namely  the  Urban  and  the  Rural   District  Councils.  This  was  based  on  the  reasoning  that  because  of  the  wide  disparity  between  the  country’s  Regions  and  Districts  in  terms  of  natural  resources  endowment;  expecting  and  relying   on   the  Local  government  Authorities  to  bring  equal  development  to  all  the  people  would  be  an  unrealistic  objective.  Hence,  it  was  decided  that  the  responsibility  for  peoples’  development  should  be  left  to  the  Central  Government,  which  is  in  a  better  position  to  collect  taxes   according  to  each  area’s  ability  to  pay,   and distribute  the  country’s  wealth  equitably,  according  to  each  area’s  needs. 
(ii)  the  introduction  of   major  reforms  in  the  education  sector;  when,  at  its  meeting  held  in  Musoma  in  April  1974,  the  National  Executive  Committee  decided  on  a  number  of  issues,  intended  to  implement  the  Arusha  Declaration  concept  of  “Education  for  Self-reliance”;  including the  following :-
(a) That  the  objective  of  Primary  education  should  not  be  to  prepare  its  recipients  for  entry  into   Secondary  education,  but  should  be  self-sufficient  in  itself,  in  order  to   enable  its  graduates,  the  majority  of  whom  do  not  proceed to  Secondary  Schools,   to  be  self-  reliant.                                                                                                                                                                    And  similarly  for  Secondary  education,  whose  primary  aim  should  not  be  to  prepare  its  students  for  entry  into  tertiary  education,  but  should  equip  them  with  the  skills  that  will  enable  them  to  be  self-reliant  thereafter.
(b) That  primary  education  should  be  universal  education,  to  be  made  available  to  all  boys  and  girls  of  school-going  age.                                                                                           

 (c)  That  there  should  be  no  direct  entry to  the  only  existing  University  of  Dar  es  Salaam.  Instead,   qualifying   students  were  now  required  to  undertake  some  supervised  work  for  a  period  of  two  years,  before  they  could  be    admitted.
Following  this   de factor  recognition,  and  practical  practice  of  the  concept  of  ‘party  supremacy’,  the  National  Executive  Committee,  at  its  meeting  held   in   Shinyanga  in  March  1975;    directed  the  Government:  “to  make   amendments  to  the  country’s  Constitution, in  order  to  enshrine  the  concept  of  party  supremacy  therein”.  In  other  words,  to  enable  the  Constitution  to  designate  the  party  as  the  supreme Organ  in  the  governance  of  the  country.   

         The  government,  through  the  Legislature,  took  immediate action  by  preparing  the necessary  constitutional  amendments,  which  were  duly  adopted  by  Parliament  in  1975. As  amended, the  Constitution  now  provided  that:  “All  activities  of  State  shall  be  conducted  by,  or  under,  the  auspices  of  the  party”.                                    

In  a  subsequent  statement,  President   Nyerere  said  the  following:-  “Under  our  One-party  Constitution,  TANU  is  supreme.  It  has  the  mandate  to  give  directions  to  the  Government  about  the  general  policies  which  must  be  followed  for  national  development;  or  to  give  specific  instructions  about  the  priorities  to  be  adopted  in  any  aspect  of  our  life  as  a  nation.  The  party  can  also  summon  any  Minister  or  government  official,  to  give  an  account  of  their  activities”. 
        And   in  a  book  titled “Tanzania  and  Nyerere”  (Orbis   Books,  New  York, 1976),  the  authors  describe  TANU’s  then   dominant  status  in  the  following  words:-  “Within  Tanzania,  TANU  is  politically  all-powerful,  and   is  also  the  principal  agent  of  change;   since  it  is  now  recognized  constitutionally  as  the  only  political  party  on  the  Mainland. TANU  is  also  the  principal  instigator  of  government  policy  in  social,  economic,  and  political  fields”.

        Furthermore,   the  President himself,   Mwalimu  Julius  Nyerere (in  his  capacity  as  the  national  party  Chairman),  routinely  gave   practical  effect  to  this  concept,  when  he   routinely    directed  that  all  major  issues  relating  to  the  country’s   governance,  be  submitted  for  consideration  and  final  decision  by  the  party’s  National  Executive  Committee,  including  those  of  a  wholly  governmental  nature,   such  as  matters  relating  to  the  country’s  Constitutional  development  which,  ordinarily,  should   be  considered  and  decided  upon  by  the  cabinet  of  Ministers.                                                                                 

The  CCM  “Mwongozo  wa  1981”.
‘Constitutional  development’ was  in  fact  the  major  function  which  was  performed  by  the  CCM  Guidelines  of  1981;  because  it gave  specific  directives  to  the  Union  Government,  and  the  Government  of  Zanzibar,  to  make  certain   specified  constitutional  amendments. 
A  statement  issued  in  1983,  by  the  Party’s  ‘Department  of  Propaganda  and  Mass  mobilization’  said:- “In  view  of the  new  situation   which  has  been  created  by  the  adoption  of  “Mwongozo  wa  CCM  wa  1981”,  the  National  Executive  Committee  considers  it  desirable that  appropriate changes  should  be  made  to  our  Constitution,  which  will  re- align  it  properly   with  this  new   situation”.
         The  said   Guidelines  were  adopted  by  the  National  Executive  Committee  “after  a  careful  consideration  and  evaluation  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs  in  the  areas  of  the  country’s  politics,  and  the  stage  of  our  social  and  economic  development,  which  led  to  the  realization  that  it  was  necessary  to  issue  new  directives,  in  order  to  spell  out  more  clearly,  the  correct  implementation  strategies   for  the  achievement  of  our  development  goals”.
        Hence,   in  addition  to  the  other matters  relating  to  the  party  itself,  these  Guidelines  had  also  specifically   focused  on  the country’s  state  of  the  Constitution,  and  directed  as  follows:- “Ni  muhimu  kuutazama  tena  mfumo  wa  demokrasia  yetu   ya  Chama  kimoja,  kwa  lengo  la  kuuimarisha”. The  Guidelines  had  actually  identified  the  areas  of  the  Constitution  which  should  be  specifically   considered  for   amendment,  which  were  the  following:-                                                                                        

 (i)   The  distribution  of  powers  between  the  Party;  the  President;  and  Parliament.          

 (ii)  Giving  Parliament   greater   authority,  and  strengthen  its   powers  of  supervision  over  the  Government.                                                                                                                             

 (iii)   Strengthening   people’s   representation   inside   Parliament,  by  removing  some  of  the  other  categories  of  MPs.                                                                                                              

 (iv)  Strengthening  people’s  power  at  the  grassroots,   by re-establishing  the  Local                             Government  Authorities  in  the  Villages,  Districts,  and  designated  Urban  areas.
In  relation  to  the  directives  regarding  the  Constitution,  the  National  Executive  Committee  subsequently   held  two  special  meetings,   to  deliberate  on  the  methodology.  The  first  one  was  held  on   12th  September,  1982,  which  appointed a  small  ‘Constitutional  Review  Task  Force’  that  was  given  the  task  of  making  proposals  for  the   appropriate  amendments  which  should  be  made  to  the  !977  Constitution,  and  the  1979  Zanzibar  Constitution, in  order  to  implement  the  said   Guidelines.  
        I  was  appointed  a  member  of  that  Task  Force,  and  so  was Joseph  Warioba. The  two  of  us  were  tasked  to  study  the  provisions  of  some  other  countries  Constitutions,  to  see  if  there  was  anything  useful  that  we  could  learn  from  them.  We  travelled  together  to  London,  to  study  the  Union  of  Great  Britain  Constitution,  Thereafter  Joseph  travelled  to  Ottawa,  Canada  to  study  the  Canadian  Federal  Constitution,  and  I  travelled  to  New  Delhi,  India,  to  study  the  Constitution  of   the  Union  of  Indian  States.   Our  Task  Force  worked  hard  and  fast,  and  we  were  able  to  present  the  Report  of  our  findings  to  the  National  Executive  Committee  at  its  other  special  meeting,  which  was   held  on  18th  October,  1982;  which,  happily,  accepted  with  only  minor changes. 
        We  have  already  identified  above the  specific  constitutional  areas  which  were  targeted  by  1981  Guidelines.  But,   in  addition, in  the  course  of  the  extended  deliberations, two  other  major  reforms  were also  introduced.  They  were:                                                      

(a)   The  inclusion  of  the  Bill  of  Rights    in  the  Constitution,  which  spelt  out  the  basic ‘Rights  and Duties’  of  the  citizen  of  Tanzania.  

        These  citizen’s   rights, were  to  be  exercised   subject  to  the applicable laws  of  the  land;  and   included  the  following:-    The  right  to  equality  before  the  law;  the  right  to  life;  the  right  to  personal  freedom;  the  right  to  privacy  and  personal  security;  the  right  to  freedom  of  movement  of  expression;  of religion,  and  of  association;  and  the  right  to  participate  in  the  country’s   governance.                                    

        However, there  was  added  an  important  proviso,  that:  “in  order  that  all  persons  may  benefit  from  the  rights  and  freedoms  specified  in  this Constitution,   every  person  has  the  duty  to  so  conduct  himself  and  his  affairs  in  a  way  that  does  not  infringe  upon  the  rights  and  freedoms  of  others,  or  of  the  public  interest”.                                                      

        The  specified  ‘basic  duties’  included  the  duty  to  participate  in  any  productive  work;  the  duty  to  abide  by  the  laws  of  the land;  the  duty  to  safeguard  public  property;  and  the  duty  to  participate  in  the  defense  of  the  nation.
(b ) The  imposition  of   a  limitation  on  the  number  of  terms  that  the  President  of  Tanzania  will  serve,  by  providing  for  a  maximum  of  two  five-year  terms.  This  proposal  was  made  by  Mwalimu  Nyerere  himself,  in  the  following  words:-  “We  should  not  leave  it  to  the  incumbent  President  to  decide  when  he  will  leave  office.  It  is  the  country’s  Constitution  which  should  make  that  decision  for  him.”
        These  1984 decisions  were  subsequently  incorporated  in  the  1977  Constitution  of  the  United  Republic  of  Tanzania. I   personally   continue  to  derive  great  pleasure  from  the  memories   that  I  was  an  active  participant  in  both  the  1984  constitutional  exercise;  as  well  as  in  the  drafting  of  CCM’s  proposals  for  the  1977  Constitution.  
piomsekwa@gmail.com /  0754767576.      

Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa tomorrow.                                     

Union of Africa and EAC: Lesson from Canada

Many people in East Africa have never actualised the profits of the East African Community individually and collectively. Today, I’ll use Canada’s confederacy to show what Africa can learn from Canada. Canada’s a confederacy brings together ten provinces and three territories with the population of approximately 40m binadams. Canada is one of the richest countries on earth.
         If Canada were to be divided into 13 countries, its economic clout would vaporise right away. With three territories and ten provinces, Canada would perilously and pointlessly give birth to thirteen trifling countries, which would throw billions of dollars onto military budgets and purchasing weapons to protect themselves against their neighbours who happen to be Canadians as well. Imagine. How much the tiniest of all, Prince Edward Island (PEI) with 200,000 homos, would throw away to fear-driven military expenditures just like African colonial-tailored states have always done? The upshot’s simple. If all African states could divulge their military budgets, it is obvious that they’ve what it takes to finance their own development and social services. Arguably, Africa’s capable of improving the lives of its people by just spending billions of dollars it burns thanks to colonially calculated divisions and fearmongering resulting from colonial legacy. This anomaly doesn’t need an ace mathematician to debunk. According to the World Bank (2020), in 2019, Canada’s military expenditure stood at 1.3% of its GDP compared to ever-begging South Sudan 3.4%, Uganda 2.1%, Burundi 1.8%, Tanzania 1.3% and Kenya and Rwanda 1.2%, which makes an average of 1.8% for the EAC.
        Apart from military expenditure, how many billions of dollars Africa spends on feeding its do-nothing presidents not to mention keeping its borders safe? Surely, Africa’s what it takes to become a world economic dynamo without begging as it currently is. I know.  There are those who may doubt the viability of such an anecdotal proposal due to the fear that Western countries won’t like the idea of unifying Africa. For how long will Africa feed on and internalise colonial fear? Consider this. Rwanda used to be a Francophone country. After the 1994 genocide, Rwanda became Anglophone; and nobody stood in its way despite its move not auguring well with its former colonial monster, France. Yet, Rwanda pressed on; and stood its ground. Again, for how long will Africans fear the West as if it is their God? Methinks. Even God’s never been feared this much. For, humans still commit sins. Let’s commit this sin of pragmatically and truly reuniting Africa commencing with the East African Community (EAC) that’s now wobbly. Let’s give it a try. For, we’ve nothing to lose except our shame and sufferings.
            Essentially, the fear of the unknown is the major factor that prevents Africa from being reunited; and thereby become stronger. Apart from the fear of the unknown, individuality and greed, especially of our rulers are the major obstacles for our unification. As noted herein-above, if Canada were to be divided just like Africa was, countries produced out of it would only become bankrupt not just because of spending much on buying weapons for the fear of neighbours but also would become economically vulnerable; and would lose their interdependence and interconnectedness. The democracy that Canada enjoys would go under.  Single election season would bankrupt the new countries. How much money would they burn on elections just like it’s been in slapdash and rigged elections that produce but just the same rotten and venal rulers?
        What’s more, by having their individual interests secured at the detriment of their future, African countries still blindly plot to use each other for its interests and those of colonisers instead of working together for their true emancipation of Africa as a whole. This can’t; and won’t work. By being commandeered in their narrow and petty interests, African countries are at home with divisions among themselves and their people based on rash and trivial things such as flummery and flummoxed sovereignty. That’s why countries with bigger land mass and voluminous resources have always been seen as a stumbling block to the unification of East Africa. Again, did these countries apply to be what they’re namely colonial-design structures? As indicated above, in Canada’s confederacy there are big and small members. For example, comparably, the province of Quebec is 62% of the East Africa but still feels at home with being in the same confederacy with the PEI, which is just 0.2 of the EAC comparably. 

        The same applies to Tanganyika and Zanzibar whereby the latter is just 0.36 of the United Republic of Tanzania but still have equal rights in the Union.
I, for one, am an unflagging advocate of a single unitary Africa that’ll demolish faux borders; and thereby abolish division based on feeble and pseudo sovereignties. I’d like to see the current presidents hitting the road to give room for one president of Africa or the EAC. If this happens, we’d not be complaining about the dictators that want to illegally die in power. We’d not be suffering from the brutality from them and their private but public kept armies. For, without reunifying Africa to the tune of what it’s prior to 1884, all we’re cosmetically doing’s but feeding a black hole. Why’s it difficult to think as one nation instead of thinking like useless colonial-sired states we’re jealously protecting today for our peril? For today, this is the lesson from Canada. Hastas entonces.

Ndii, an advocate of impunity

        

Kenyan economist Dr. David Ndii speaking during the Linda Katiba campaign launch at Serena Hotel, Nairobi on February 2, 2021.

By Makau Mutuaat SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.

What you need to know:
Dr Ndii has become an advocate for impunity.
He’s ginning up intellectual fallacies to justify unthinkable sins.
        Economist David Mwangi Ndii, my fellow intellectual, is a deep and provocative thinker. He would be a gift for any serious university. But he’s a man of ungoverned extremes, especially when he veers into politics. There – in the thicket of ambition – he allows his hormones to run wild like a boy who’s just entered puberty. Recently, he served up a doozy. In widely discussed outbursts, Dr Ndii proposes that Kenya forgive all looters so that it can genuinely start fighting corruption going forward. His thesis – which they didn’t teach at Oxford University – is a simpleton’s head fake. He avers that Kenya can’t depoliticise corruption and defeat it unless all past and present thieves are given a blanket amnesty.
        Dr Ndii has become an advocate for impunity. He’s ginning up intellectual fallacies to justify unthinkable sins. In a breathless voice, he’s stated without batting an eyelid that those forgiven for corruption should include DP William Ruto. Now that one threw me for a loop. Dr Ndii, as is well known, is Mr Ruto’s economic Svengali. He tells Mr Ruto what to think and parrot about the economy. He’s sold him line, hook, and sinker worn-out clichés and outdated models. These catchphrases, which are sold as though they were iPhone 15, are nothing but warmed over ugali. They include “hustler,” “bottom-up,” and the ubiquitous “wheelbarrow” economics. It’s a hackneyed, tired bag of tricks for empty populism.
        Mr Ruto is like a child in Dr Ndii’s candy store since he’s never heard of these terms before. What he doesn’t realise is that the language is out of date. Only aspiring dictators mouth these slogans to a hapless electorate hoping it will drool all the way to the ballot box. It’s like telling someone to climb the tree from the top. Any real transformational economic models in Kenya must be preceded by the replacement of the thieving political class and the uprooting of the culture of impunity and voiceless-ness. Cheap slogans meant to bamboozle the hoi polloi won’t do. Dictators from Hugo Chavez to Muamar Gaddafi and Mobutu Sese Seko are dead proof of their futility. 
        What I couldn’t fathom was why Dr Ndii mentioned Mr Ruto in the same breath with corruption. It’s true that in the past, Dr Ndii has called DP Ruto every epithet and dirty name, from murderer, thief, to conman. He even accused him of holding a fake PhD. If you doubt me, check Dr Ndii’s Twitter timeline over the past three years. It’s all there – in black, white, and whatever colour you choose. But that was back in the day when Dr Ndii was a key strategist for ODM’s Raila Odinga and Nasa. Today, his epithets are directed at Mr Odinga and the Luo community, not Mr Ruto any more. To Dr Ndii, Mr Ruto is today a saint. 
Highly conditioned
        I don’t know whether Dr Ndii was speaking on his own volition, or whether he was cleared by Mr Ruto to float the balloon of amnesty. Or whether it was an admission by DP Ruto through Dr Ndii that the latter was corrupt but should be amnestied with other pilfering mandarins. If I didn’t know any better, I would conclude that Dr Ndii suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the mental discombobulation caused by extreme emotional or physical violence. It’s not also clear whether the amnesty Dr Ndii supports for looters and other criminals would be extended to everyone, including Hustler Nation chicken thieves, rapists, and small-time pickpockets. Would tax cheats go scot free, and all jails emptied?
        I know a little something about truth commissions and transitional justice. I ran the official task force that preceded the establishment of Kenya’s truth commission. I’ve taught and written about truth commissions for three decades. An amnesty, even in the exceptional circumstances it’s agreed upon as policy, is highly conditioned. The thief, or perpetrator, returns the loot and suffers lustration, which is a bar from holding any public office. In no case – ever – would the thief be elevated to the highest office in the land. Amnesty isn’t about forgiving evil conduct, or forgetting it. It’s a permanent scarlet letter that marks the perpetrator as society’s enemy who’s been let go without criminal sanctions after restitution, penance, and public shaming.
        Amnesties are only given to make sure the perpetrator never ascends again to power to torment society a second time. In no situation is the looter or perpetrator of atrocity given the keys to the treasury and welcomed by singing virgins at the gates of the kingdom of heaven. He’s a pariah to be recorded in history as a lesson to others and to society never to allow such a pariah to emerge again. Dr Ndii needs to know that no society develops on impunity, or amnesia on past wrongs. I hope this isn’t how Dr Ndii and Linda Katiba protect the Constitution. Justice always cries out until it is done. 
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School. He’s chair of KHRC. @makaumutuaSource: Sunday Nation tomorrow.

                                  

Wanaomlaumu Wampe Muda Rais Samia

Baada ya kifo cha ghafla cha rais  Dkt John Pombe Magufuli na makamu wake Samia Suluhu Hassan kuapishwa kuchukua nafasi yake, wengi tulidhani lau watu watamwacha Magufuli apumzike kwa amani. Pia tulidhani, baada ya Samia kuvaa viatu vikubwa na vizito alivyoacha Magufuli, naye angeachwa atimize wajibu wake. Lakini hali inavyoonyesha siyo hivyo. Ukipita kwenye mitandao unakutana na maneno ya kikabila, kizushi na kipumbavu kama Sukuma Gang, Mataga na mengine mengi yote yakihusishwa na Hayati Magufuli. Pamoja na kwamba Magufuli hatarudi tena, kuna watu wa ajabu wanaoendelea kumtukana na kumkejeli kana kwamba watamuumiza wakati wanajiumiza na kuonyesha upumbavu wao. Wanashindwa kuwa akili na muda wanaotumia kufanya hivyo, vingetumika kujikomboa ingekuwa faida kwao.
Mbali na Hayati Magufuli, mwingine anayesakamwa wazi wazi kwenye mitandao na kisirisiri na baadhi ya taasisi–––tena nyingine nyeti katika jamii–––ni rais SSH. Tangu ashike ukanda na kuonyesha anavyoumudu kweli kweli, hajakosa maadui ambao kimsingi, wengi ni wale waliiomchukia mtangulizi wake ambao ima walimgwaya au walimlaumu kisirisiri au kujificha nyuma ya unafiki wa kumkweza hadharani wakati wakimponda nyuma ya pazia. Hata siku mia ofisini hajamaliza, wengi wameishaanza kumlaumu hata kumzushia SSH. Rafiki yangu mmoja aliposikia na kusoma baadhi ya mashambulizi kwa SSH aliniandikia ujumbe huu “hata sielewi zaidi ya kuona ni unafiki wa kiwango cha lami. Saa hizi watu wanapinga kila kitu na kukitafutia kasoro. Chanjo wanasema haifai wakati wameambiwa ni hiari kwa raia ila watumishi sekta nyeti hakuna hiari.” Hapa rafiki yangu alikuwa akishangaa namna watu walivyoshupalia chanjo ya corona. Wapo ambao hawajaamini kuwa mwanamke anaweza kuwa rais wa Tanzania na akafaa. Wanasahau kuwa Tanzania siyo Vatican ambayo siku zote hutawaliwa na wanaume na mfumo dume. Sasa SSH ni rais kamili wa Tanzania kwa mujibu wa katiba, kanuni na sheria hadi uchaguzi ujao watake wasitake. Ingawa wanachotaka kufanya ni kumuonyesha kuwa hafai. Wao wanapinga kwa sababu wazijuazo mojawapo ni ile hali ya kutaka tuendelee na msimamo wa kuwa Mungu atatuponya wakati serikali haipingani na hili bali kuongezea kuwa wananchi watakaotaka kuchanjwa, wana hiara ya kufanya hivyo bila kuvunja sheria yoyote. Kwa wanaojua Mungu anavyofanya kazi kiakili, wanawashangaa watu wa namna hii. Mungu anasema kuwa humsaidia anayejisaidia. Hivi kweli uone simba anakuijia ili akutafune, nawe kwa upumbavu wako upige magoti au kusujudu ukitegemea Mungu atamzuia simba asikutafune? Huku ni kumjaribu Mungu. Na Mungu katika mazingira kama haya atafanya kazi moja tu. Kumruhusu simba akutafune ili ulipie upumbavu wako. Hivyo, wanaompinga au kumlaumu rais kuhusiana na corona wanamuonea hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa serikali yake haijamzuia yeyote kuamini aaminivyo au kuchanjwa au kutochanjwa.
Jambo jingine linalotia kichefuchefu ni uongo wa mchana. Huu ni pale alimpomteua CP Salum Rashid Hamdun kuwa mkurugenzi wa Tume ya Kuzuia na Kupambana na  Rushwa (TAKUKURU) makelele yalisikika kuwa kamteua mzanzibari mwenzake wakati maskini Hamdun mwenyewe ni msukuma mwenye damu ya kimanga. Nadhani hapa kilichomponza ni rangi na jina lake vinginevyo, bwana huyu hana nasaba yoyote visiwani. Hata angekuwa mzanzibari, kwani kuna sheria inayomzuia kuwa mkurugenzi wa TAKUKURU? Kesho sitashangaa kusikia kuwa rais SSH anawapendelea akina mama hata wazanzibari hata waislam katika teuzi zake japo wote ni watanzania tena wenye sifa. Huwezi kuwa na watanzania wasio na sifa hizi.
Kama haitoshi, mnamo tarehe 8 Aprili, 2021, rais SSH alimtuma rais wa Baraza la Mapinduzi la Zanzibar, Dkt Hussein Ali Mwinyi kumwakilisha kwenye kikao cha SADC juu ya masuala ya ulinzi kilichofanyika Maputo Msumbiji. Wakosoaji wasiojua kitu wala kuheshimu haki na uhuru wa rais kumtuma amtakaye kumwakilisha walisema walipiga makelele wakiona kama ukiukwaji wakati–––kama tutakuwa wakweli na weledi–––tutakubaliana na ukweli kuwa Dkt Mwinyi ni mzoefu wa masuala ya ulinzi ukimlinganisha na SSH na makamu wake Dkt Philip Mpango. Dkt Mwinyi ni mtanzania aliyeshika wadhifa wa waziri wa ulinzi kwa muda mrefu. Hivyo, rais alimtuma, mbali na kuwa haki ya rais (prerogative) si kwa upendeleo bali kwa kutambua uzoefu na ujuzi wake katika masuala ya ulinzi ya kitaifa na kimataifa. Wapo waliohoji itafaki katika kusafiri wakasahau kuwa Dkt Mwinyi ni namba tatu katika safu ya uongozi wa kitaifa. Mbali na hili, iwapo waziri wa mambo ya nchi za nje anaweza kumwakilisha rais, inakuwaje nongwa rais wa BMZ kumwakilisha rais wakati wote ni marais? Kweli, akutukanaye hakuchagulii tusi. Hivyo, wanaomkosoa rais hapa, wanaonyesha kutokujua kwao mambo haya yanavyokwenda ukiachia mbali ngoa na chuki vya kawaida.
        Jana nilikuwa nawasiliana na rafiki yangu aliyepo Dar es Salaam ambaye ni kati ya wale wasioona zuri lolote serikali ya SSH na CCM inaweza kufanya. Mojawapo ya habari aliyotaka kunijuza ni madai kuwa barabara ya kwenda Mwenge  kutokana na kile alichosema kuwa alikuwa amesikia kuwa rais SSH alikuwa ameshindwa kuwalipa wakandarasi. Hili lililenga kumdhoofisha rais aonekane kutofaa kuongoza nchi na kuendeleza miradi ya mtangulizi wake wakati juzi juzi tu aliliahidi taifa kuwa hakuna kitakachoharibika. Baada ya kumaliza kuongea na huyu rafiki yangu, nilimpigia mwingine ambaye kimsingi, huwa si mhafidhina katika kuidurusu serikali. Alichonijuza huyu rafiki yangu kiliniacha hoi. Kwani alisema kuwa akiwa anakwenda zake nyumbani, alipita barabara tajwa na kuacha mafundi wakiwa kazini. Hivyo, alisema hajui hiyo barabara niliyokuwa nikiongelea. Baada ya kupima taarifa za pande mbili, niliwasiliana na rafiki yangu ambaye ni mwandishi wa habari. Naye alithibitisha kuwa hakuna kitu kama hicho yaani serikali kushindwa kulipa.
        Tumalizie kwa kuwataka wale wote wanaoona kuwa ni haki yao kuzusha na kulaumu wampe rais muda wa kutimiza majukumu yake. Kama wana lolote linalowakera, si kuna uchaguzi ujao. Kwa wanaojua vizuri siasa za Tanzania, watakubaliana nami kuwa kinchoendelea ni siasa za makundi zilizotamalaki nchi ambapo makundi tofauti ya kimaslahi hupingana kutaka kudhoofisha ili kupitisha mtu au watu wao. Makundi haya, hata yanapojikuta hayana namna ya kupenyeza mtu wao, huendelea kuzusha hili na lile ilmradi ima yajiridhishe kuwa yanawadhoofisha wapinzani wao au wale wasiowataka kwa vile hawalindi maslahi yake au wanaandaa mazingira mazuri ya kupata nafasi wakati ukifika. Kwa wanaofuatilia utendaji wake, SSH anafanya vizuri tena ndani ya muda mfupi. Mnyonge mnyongeni, lakini haki yake mpeni. Mama anajitahidi. Ila mjue kuwa SSH siyo JPM. Na hatakuwa hivyo bali kubaki kuwa alivyo kama binadamu na rais wa Tanzania. Akifanya kama JPM bado atalaumiwa. Na hata anapotenda kama SSH bado atalaumiwa. Hapa cha mno ni kwa SSH kuziba masikio na kufanya yale anayoona yanafaa kwa taifa kwa mujibu wa katiba.

Chanzo: Raia Mwema leo.

CCM UNDER PRESIDENT SAMIA’s STEWARDSHIP; WHAT CHANGES SHOULD WE REASONABLY EXPECT? (Continued).

In  our  article  of  last  week,  we  went  ‘down  memory  lane’  by  recalling  the  relevant   important    events  in  CCM’s  history  since  its  establishment  on  February  1977;   but,  because  of  the   limitations  imposed  on  editorial  space,  we  ended  without  providing  an  answer  to  the  question  ‘What changes  should  we  reasonably  expect  from  the  new  Chairperson,  President  Samia?            

         In  this context,  the  words  “reasonably  expect”  are  used  in  order  to   exclude those ‘wild ‘ expectations that  emanate  from  an  individual  person’s  idiosyncrasies.  In   today’s  article,  we  will  continue  with the  remaining  part  of   this  discussion,  and  bring  it  to  a  close.  
         What  changes  should  we  reasonably  expect  from  the  new  Chairperson?  
The  word  “change”,   ordinarily  means  ‘any  act  of  making  something  different’ (either  for  better  or  for  worse);  but   more  often   in  order  to  make it  better.  As  was  pointed  out  in  last  week’s  article,  CCM’s  inherent  strength  has  always  been  based  on  three  basic  factors:-                                                                                          (a) its  Mission  and  Vision;                                                                                                      (b)  the  successful  implementation  of  its  policies  and  programmes  (which  are  regularly   articulated  in  its  successive  election  manifestos);  and                                         (c)  Its  strong  Organizational  structure  (which  makes  the  presence  of  CCM  felt  everywhere  throughout   the  whole  country,  from  the  national  level  down  to  the  remotest  villages;   and,  indeed, to  every  ten  individual  peoples’  residences,  called  ‘party  cells’).     
            In  my  humble  opinion,  it  will  be  extremely   difficult,  and  indeed  retrogressive,  for  any  new  leader  to introduce a  different  mission,  or  vision  for  the  party;  or  to  change  its  basic Organizational  structure.  In   last  week’s  article,  we  took  note  of   CCM’s  ‘Mission and  Vision’,  as  defined  in  the  preamble  to  the  party’s  Constitution,  which   reads  as  follows:- “Chama  tunachokiunda,  tunataka  kiwe  chombo  madhubuti  katika  muundo  wake,  na  hasa  katika  fikra  zake  na  vitendo  vyake  vya  kufutilia  mbali  aina  zote  za   unyonyaji  hapa  nchini,  pamoja  na  kupambana  na  jaribio  lolote   lile la  mtu  kumuonea  mtu  mwingine,  au  Shirika  au  chombo  kingine  cha  Serikali  kuonea  na  kudhalilisha  wananchi,  kudhoofisha  au  kuzorotesha  maendeleo  ya  Taifa”.
        These  would appear  to  be  all  time  sacrosanct,  and  thus  “untouchable” objectives;  that  would  be    imprudent and  inadvisable to  change.  And it  will  be  equally  imprudent, for  any  new  leader  to    attempt  to  ‘change’   the  party’s   Organizational  structure  as   provided  for  in  its  Constitution.  This  structure  has  served  the  party  well  for  the  past  four  decades,  and  would  be  better  left  to  continue  as  it is,  in  its  present  form.  
        The  new  Chairperson  seems  to  have  recognized  this  fact,  when  in  her  acceptance  speech  delivered  immediately  after  being  elected,  she  said  the  following:- “CCM  ni  chama  kikongwe  chenye  misingi  imara,  iliyowekwa  na  waasisi  wake”.
        However,  the  door  is  not  firmly  closed  for  operational  changes  to  be  made  in  the  operations  of  its   system  of  Administration.  For,  indeed, such  operational  changes, specifically  relating to  the  sizes    of   some  of  the  party’s  decision  making  organs,  including  the  National  Executive  Committee,   were  in  fact  made  by  CCM  Chairman  Jakaya  Kikwete in  2011;  who  raised  the  size  of  the  National  Executive  committee  to  over  480  members.  similar  chsnges  were  also  made   by  Kkwete’s   successor  the  late CCM  Chairman  John  Pombe  Magufuli  in  2016,  who  trimmed  it  back  to  just  over  160  members.   Chairman  Magufuli’s  other  operational  changes  included his  introduction  of   a  new  digitalized  system  for  the  party’s  operations,  particularly  in   the  management  of  its  properties  and  its finances;   measures  which  rapidly  increased   the  party’s  annual  revenue  collections.                                                                                                              

            I  am  of course  aware  of  the  popular  saying that  “there  is  always  room  for  improvement”.  However,  in  the  light   of  these achievements  by  her  predecessor the  late  CCM  Chairman  John  Magufuli,    I  personally  see  no  room  for  any  substantive  changes   being  made  at  this  early  stage  by  the  new  CCM  Chairperson,  President Samia  Suluhu  Hassan.                                                   

          My   take  on  this,  is  that  her  primary  responsibility  will  be  limited  to   just  carrying  on  from  the  point  where  her  predecessors  had  reached;  and  not  to  seek  to  change  anything.  Chairperson  Samia   herself    appears  to  be  fully  aware  of  this  responsibility;  because  in  her  inspiring  acceptance  speech;  among  other  things,   she  also  said  the  following:- “Nataka  kuwahakikishieni  wajumbe  wa  mkutano  huu,  kwamba  katika  kipindi  cha  uongozi  wangu,   kwa  kushirikiana  na  wenzangu,  niitahakikisha  kwamba  tununasimamia misingi  ya  Chama  chetu.  Lakini  pia  tutaendeleza  utamaduni   wa   kujitathmini,  kujisahihisha  na  kubadilika;   ili  kuendana  na  wakati”. 
  The  culture  of  criticism  and  self-criticism.
Her  promise  to  promote “Utamaduni  wa  kujitathmini, kujisahihisha,  na  kubadilika”)  carries  special  significance,  and  therefore  needs  to  be  given  greater  attention. In  last  week’s  article,  I  referred  to  my  “great  good  fortune”  of  having  been  a  key  player,  or  actor,   in  respect  of  all  the  major  party  decisions  that  were  being  made,  first  by  TANU,  and  subsequently  by  CCM  (after  the  historic  merger  of  TANU  and  ASP  in  February  1977);  and  that  because  of  these  opportunities,  I   have  many pleasant  memories  ‘recorded  in  my  brain’,   which  I  should  share  with  the  present  young  generation  of Tanzanians.                    

         I  will  thus  take  this  opportunity  to  share  with  our  readers,  some    useful  background  information  regarding  the  origin  of  this  particular  ‘utamaduni’.  

The  origin  of  this  culture,  is   the   historic   CCM  policy  document,  titled  “ MWONGOZA  WA  CCM  WA  1981”;   which was  a  product  of  lengthy  deliberations  conducted   at  an  unusually  long  meeting  of  the  National  Executive  Committee,  which  was  held  in  Dar es  Salaam  from 23rd   November  to  7th    December,  1981.                                                   

        The  justification  for  its   enactment,  is  stated  in  the  Foreword  to  the  document  itself  as  follows:- “Halmashauri  Kuu  ya  Taifa  ilifikia  uamuzi  wa  kutoa  Mwongozo  huu,  baada   ya  kuzingatia   na  kuchambua  kwa  kina,  hali  halisi  ilivyo  hivi  sasa  nchini  katika  masuala  ya  siasa,  uchumi,  na  maendeleo  ya  Jamii;  na  ikaona  kuwa  sasa  kuna  haja   ya  kufafanua  kwa  upana  zaidi,   juu  ya  masuala  muhimu  na  ya  msingi  ya  siasa  yetu  katika  fani  mbambali;  pamoja  na  kutoa  maelekezo  yaliyo  wazi  zaidi  kuhusu  mbinu  za  utekelezaji  sahihi wa  masuala  hayo”.  
Further  down  the  document,  the  core  issues  are  elaborated  in  paragraphs  58  to 62;  in  the  following  words:- “Suala  la  kukosoa, kujikosoa,  na  kukosoana;  lina  sura  kadhaa. 

Kwanza,  linahusu  wanachama  wenyewe,  na   pia   Viongozi  wa  Chama,  wawe  tayari  kukosolewa  bila  kuhamaki;  na  inapobidi,  wakubali  kujirekebisha.                

Pili,  ni  kwa  Chama  chenyewe,  katika  Vikao  vyake  vya  ngazi  mbali  mbali,  kuwa  na  utaratibu  wa  kujikosoa   kwa  kuyarudia  maamuzi  ya  nyuma,  kuona  jinsi  yalivyotekelezwa,  na kupima  matokeo  ya  utekelezaji   huo  ili  kuona  kama  utekelezaji wake  kweli  umekidhi  ile  iliyokuwa  nia  ya  Chama  iliyopelekea  kufanyika  kwa   maamuzi  hayo”.
This  then,  is  the  rich  CCM  culture  which  was  crafted  way  back  in  1981,  and   which   Chairperson  Samia  Suluhu  Hassa  has  promised  to  promote. 
An  example  of  its  past  practical  implementation.
             After  CCM  had  suffered  a  drastically  reduced  electoral  victory  in  the  2010  Presidential  election  (which  we  referred  to  last  week   and   described it   as  a  kind  of  “wake up  call”  for  the  party,  to  realize  that  its  popularity  among  the  electorate  had  suddenly  got  lost).                                                     

        This  prompted  the  then  CCM  national  Chairman,  Jakaya  Kikwete, to  take  urgent  action  to  remedy  the  situation  and   restore  the  good   image  of  the  party  in  the  eyes  of  the  electorate.                          

         He  appointed  a  small,  dedicated  ‘think tank’ group  of  CCM  cadres,  and  tasked  it  to  ascertain  the  real  causes  for  this  sudden  decline  in  the  party’s  previous   high  popularity.                                                  

        The  group  worked  hard  and  fast,  and  eventually  produced  its  Report  which   identified certain  specific   weaknesses  that  needed  to  be  addressed;  which  were  the  following:-  
(i)  That  the  party  leadership,  specifically   the  National  Executive  Committee  had  to  be  brought  closer  to  the  people.                                                                            

 (ii) That  the  legacy  of  the  ‘one-party’  political  system  had  effectively  turned  the  party  leaders into   bosses  of  the  people,  instead  of  being  their  servants.       

(iii)  That  the  non  observance,  and  in  some  cases  the  flagrant  violations,  of  the  Leadership  code  of  ethics  by  many  of  the  party  leaders, particularly those at  the  national  level  (described  derogatively  in  Kiswahili  as  Mafisadi),  had  seriously  damaged  the  reputation  of  the  party;  and          (iv)  That  there  had  developed a  damaging  perception  among  a  substantially  large  number  of  people,  that  CCM  and  its  government  had  completely  failed  to  address  the  multitude  of  problems  facing  the  people,  especially  those  problems  that  emanated  from  the  high  cost  of  living,  which  made  life  very  difficult  for  the  majority  of  the  ordinary  people.
        Their  Report  was   submitted  to,  and  thoroughly   examined  by  the  National  Executive  Committee   at  its  April  2011  regular  meeting;  which  directed  that  the  following  immediate  steps  be  taken:-  
(a)  To  reorganize  the  party’s  structure,  in  order  to  bring  the  National  Executive  Committee   closer  to  the  people  by  recruiting  the  members  of  that  body  from  each  and  every  District;                                                                                             

(b)  to  take  requisite  steps to  implement  the  party’s  leadership  code  of  ethics  more  strictly,  by  punishing  all  those  persons  who  were  perceived  to  have  violated  this  code.  and                                  

(c)  to rejuvenate  the  party’s  Central  Committee,  and  the  Secretariat,  by  recruiting  younger  cadres  who  also  had  the  relevant  skills,  to  man  those  important  party  Organs. 
These   directives  implemented. 
        The  decision  to  recruit  members  of  the  National  Executive  Committee  from  the  District  level  was  immediately  implemented,  accompanied  by  the  enactment  of  a  new  rule,  which  made  the  District  membership  of  the  National  Executive  Committee  a   full  time  occupation  for  the  incumbents.    This was  intended  to  emphasize  the  point  that  the  objective  of  electing  such  members  from  the  District  level, was  to  bring  them  closer  to  the  people,  and   was  thus  intended  to  require   the  incumbents  to   spend  all  their   working  time  taking   care  of  his  people’s  needs,  and  solving their  problems.
        And  in  addressing  the  problem  of  leaders  who  violate  the  Leadership  code,  the  National  Executive  Committee  decided  to  grant  them   the right  of   self  examination,  and  to  take  the  initiative  themselves,  of  resigning  from  their  respective  leadership  positions,   in  line  with  the  1981  Mwongozo  wa  CCM,  which  requires  “wanachama  au  viongozi  wenyewe,  kuwa  tayari  kukosolewa  bila  kuhamaki,  na  inapobidi,  kujirekebisha”.   
         The  directives  to  rejuvenate  the  Central  Committee,   as  well  as  the  party  Secretariat,  by  bringing  in  younger,  skilled  cadres,  were  also  implemented immediately. That  is  when  Wilson  Mukama  was  appointed  Secretary  General,  to  replace  Yusufu  Makamba.                                                    

         These  decisions  were figuratively  described  as  ‘KUJIVUA  GAMBA”, ( like  the  snake  which   regularly  sheds  off  its  worn  out  skin,   and  puts  on  a   brand  new  one).   In  other  words,  it  was  an  exercise  in  ‘re-branding’  the  party,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  its  apparently  lost   glory  and  confidence  of  the  electorate.  
Chairperson  Samia’s  inheritance.
        Returning  to  the  question  which  is  under  discussion, namely   “what  changes,  if  any,  should  we  reasonably  expect  to  be  made  by  the  newly  elected  CCM  Chairperson  President  Samia  Suluhu  Hassan?;   my  take  on  this  is  that:-                    (a)  Because  she  has  inherited  the  party’s  top  leadership   at  a  time  when  CCM’s  popularity  is  once  again  at  its  highest peak,  ( as  evidenced  by  the  huge  electoral  victory  which was  scored  last  October,  and  in   last  Sunday’s  bye-elections;                                                                         

 (b)  considering  the  fact  that   in  her  own   public  pronouncements, Chairperson  has  solemnly  vowed  to  maintain  the  basic  foundations  which  were  laid  by  her  predecessors; it  is  my  humble  submission  that:   it  would  be  unreasonable to  expect  her  to  make,  or  introduce,  any  new  substantive  changes  at  this  stage;   simply   because  CCM  is  already  well  grounded  in  all  the  relevant  areas.       
piomsekwa@gmail.com  /  0754767576.  

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