Topic: Why president Kikwete is a poor student of political history?

In any school of management there is a general assumption that after ten years in management one begins to lose his mojo, altogether, but do not tell it to president Kikwete who in 2005 vying for presidency made an indelible mark for himself after he conceitedly equated 17 years in public service with productivity! Little did the naïve voters queried him of what the wanton years in public service had done to his predecessor in Benjamin Mkapa. At that time the public had seen enough of a decade in power of Mkapa administration and they did not like it despite a cynical depression of official inflation data. If there was any historical lesson in politics from the Mkapa years then; it remains, if you decide to overestimate the quality of years in public service please do that at your own peril. The trading off of quantity of public service to the potentiality of quality in the same seems stupendous and fallacious.


Ex-president Mkapa had come from an inner circle of Nyerere and from that Mkapa had almost three decades in national limelight galloping from one cabinet position to another but his ten years in power were abysmal to say the least whereof rampant official graft seemed to have acquired a new status under his watch. Paradoxically Mkapa of 1995 had made hyperbolical claims that he had toured the whole country only to realize people were fed up with grand graft and he promised a new dawn where transparency and truthfulness were new weapons of mass destruction against the scourge! At the commencement of his first term Mkapa proclaimed his poverty stature following the release of his wealth acquisition report and his minions were quick to replicate that deceitful move only for Mkapa and his brigade reneging to repeat that historical feat no sooner after they had parted company with power ten years later! Institutional checks and balances were so eroded that no governance watchdog had the guts to take Mkapa and his closest lieutenants by their horns following illegal amassing of public wealth during their decadent tenure. Today, Mkapa and his closest allies that include “who is who” in Kikwete inner circle seems to have gotten away with looting of public coffers!


The enduring lesson there remains longevity in public service may engrave the status quo but was of little value against reforming of what is wrong with our public service today. When Kikwete became the president in 2005 he enjoyed a popular support partially a gratitude of the fact that the opposition had featured one of the weakest presidential pretenders they could possibly puke. But president Kikwete failed to rally the nation for a higher calling when he viewed the moral dilemmas we were facing could be resolved through his personal micromanagement skills! Out of this, Kikwete attempted with little success to build an aura of personality cult similar to Nyerere’s! Where Nyerere’s invincibility arose from subduing colonial power and building a nation out of colonial ashes, Kikwete was a blue eyed boy who did not know where to etch his legacy. Nyerere’s staying in power was partially a credit to his immense intellect, altruism and possibly that character shaped by his religious belief while Kikwete’s attempt to emulate that had no bearing from the individual himself, at all. Even the imitation of the initial abbreviations J.K where to Nyerere lucidly stood for Julius Kambarage but for Kikwete nobody cares what they are meant for.


From the Mwinyi tenure where Kikwete cut his political teeth there is very little one can discern whether Kikwete had learnt anything, at all. Where Mwinyi; despite his academic underachievement, at least he had a vision to liberalize economy in order to cope with gripping challenges ensuing from the Nyerere’s years of a closed society. Mwinyi earned for himself Mr. Rukhsa as a result of his endeavours. Kikwete’s both terms were marred by a bloated ministerial cabinet and instead of trimming it down Kikwete maintained an oversize government that is notorious for official graft and least known for public service delivery. Kikwete more than his predecessors has rewarded loyalty and sacrificed productivity and no wonder all economic indicators are depicting this nation on an economic abseil never witnessed in our short post-colonial era!

How will political historians remember Kikwete? Well, he is a bold politician who flimsily attempted to fill in the oversize boots left behind by Nyerere, and nothing more.

Ruta! as i have had said before! i have lost this gizza! he has got no idea of what is going on! well, may be NOT!, but he is playing something knowingly that Tanzanians are easy going losers! ooh hang on, i remember the word! i think it is called taking advantage or taking the Mickey! thats what he is up to! flippin hell! We are in massive trouble!!

@......my gut tells me this guy is overambitious for the sake of being called mr. prezzy and nothing more.........

can you please clarify to me who is behind the system or who is supposed to change the system (the president or people)?

Mercyless....we elect leaders to reform system,s and not people to reform leaders.............if that happens then the positions leaders occupy were not vacant to begin with...........

Ninakupa THNKS & LIKE live.

bakhati mbaya sana vote of thanks was taken out of the equation.............

By Rutashubanyuma

In any school of management there is a general assumption that after ten years in management one begins to lose his mojo, altogether, but do not tell it to president Kikwete who in 2005 vying for presidency made an indelible mark for himself after he conceitedly equated 17 years in public service with productivity! Little did the naïve voters queried him of what the wanton years in public service had done to his predecessor in Benjamin Mkapa. At that time the public had seen enough of a decade in power of Mkapa administration and they did not like it despite a cynical depression of official inflation data. If there was any historical lesson in politics from the Mkapa years then; it remains, if you decide to overestimate the quality of years in public service please do that at your own peril. The trading off of quantity of public service to the potentiality of quality in the same seems stupendous and fallacious.


Ex-president Mkapa had come from an inner circle of Nyerere and from that Mkapa had almost three decades in national limelight galloping from one cabinet position to another but his ten years in power were abysmal to say the least whereof rampant official graft seemed to have acquired a new status under his watch. Paradoxically Mkapa of 1995 had made hyperbolical claims that he had toured the whole country only to realize people were fed up with grand graft and he promised a new dawn where transparency and truthfulness were new weapons of mass destruction against the scourge! At the commencement of his first term Mkapa proclaimed his poverty stature following the release of his wealth acquisition report and his minions were quick to replicate that deceitful move only for Mkapa and his brigade reneging to repeat that historical feat no sooner after they had parted company with power ten years later! Institutional checks and balances were so eroded that no governance watchdog had the guts to take Mkapa and his closest lieutenants by their horns following illegal amassing of public wealth during their decadent tenure. Today, Mkapa and his closest allies that include “who is who” in Kikwete inner circle seems to have gotten away with looting of public coffers!


The enduring lesson there remains longevity in public service may engrave the status quo but was of little value against reforming of what is wrong with our public service today. When Kikwete became the president in 2005 he enjoyed a popular support partially a gratitude of the fact that the opposition had featured one of the weakest presidential pretenders they could possibly puke. But president Kikwete failed to rally the nation for a higher calling when he viewed the moral dilemmas we were facing could be resolved through his personal micromanagement skills! Out of this, Kikwete attempted with little success to build an aura of personality cult similar to Nyerere’s! Where Nyerere’s invincibility arose from subduing colonial power and building a nation out of colonial ashes, Kikwete was a blue eyed boy who did not know where to etch his legacy. Nyerere’s staying in power was partially a credit to his immense intellect, altruism and possibly that character shaped by his religious belief while Kikwete’s attempt to emulate that had no bearing from the individual himself, at all. Even the imitation of the initial abbreviations J.K where to Nyerere lucidly stood for Julius Kambarage but for Kikwete nobody cares what they are meant for.


From the Mwinyi tenure where Kikwete cut his political teeth there is very little one can discern whether Kikwete had learnt anything, at all. Where Mwinyi; despite his academic underachievement, at least he had a vision to liberalize economy in order to cope with gripping challenges ensuing from the Nyerere’s years of a closed society. Mwinyi earned for himself Mr. Rukhsa as a result of his endeavours. Kikwete’s both terms were marred by a bloated ministerial cabinet and instead of trimming it down Kikwete maintained an oversize government that is notorious for official graft and least known for public service delivery. Kikwete more than his predecessors has rewarded loyalty and sacrificed productivity and no wonder all economic indicators are depicting this nation on an economic abseil never witnessed in our short post-colonial era!

How will political historians remember Kikwete? Well, he is a bold politician who flimsily attempted to fill in the oversize boots left behind by Nyerere, and nothing more.

Great piece Ruta. First of all, based on the facts at hand, it is apparent that public service has been overrated. It also rise question of what kind of service were they providing to the public. There is definitely a need for an operational audit through rank and files in the public sector. Second, It appears that there a revolving door in the administration, which could also be the same for aides and advisors. This leave a new leader vulnerable to the unduly influence. I think everyone could be required to vacate the statehouse, and let the new leader rehire them in his own peril. Another thing, the failure of checks and balance might a result of how the system matrix has been designed. I have noted that most misters are Member of Parliament, as if you must be a parliamentarian be getting appointed to run a ministry. The requirement creates an impression that public service is pre cursor to management position in government. On the other hand it tilts the balance toward executive branch and legislature due to the exclusive relationship. As a result, the court becomes weak. Thus, the so called checks and balance fail the independence test. Court become weak, since executive branch and legislative branch are on the same bed it result what the writer call “Erosion of institutional checks and balance”
In addition, the “governments watchdogs” are mostly are under executive branch, so if you the decider or the commander in chief does not command it keep watchdog in an awkward position. But in the past public used have trust on these guys, now is not the same. When the public lose faith on the law enforcement it will make their job very hard. But then, Aren’t the watchdogs supposed to work with the court.
In the end, it goes back to your question, “How will political historians remember Kikwete?” Well, how about this, a bold politician who made self-sacrifice and stop the gravy train of thugs, squanderers and blood suckers.
I am not done yet.

FOr whatever things we can say about Kikwete, be good or bad, we must not exlude those who attempted to put him to power. they are also to be blamed for all bad things experienced during Kikwete's reign. Kikwete and the system will for a long time continue to be blamed. however, in my opinion, Kikwete has two sides one side of bad things and the other of good things. the point here is to determine where the balance falls or bends

By mzamifu

FOr whatever things we can say about Kikwete, be good or bad, we must not exlude those who attempted to put him to power. they are also to be blamed for all bad things experienced during Kikwete's reign. Kikwete and the system will for a long time continue to be blamed. however, in my opinion, Kikwete has two sides one side of bad things and the other of good things. the point here is to determine where the balance falls or bends

Well,all leaders have their good and bad sides,it is the degree of which side that people see most that matters,where the scale weigh more.In the case of Jk,it's a 'res ipsa loquitor',the facts speaks for themselves,even he himself knows that.

Kikwete is seems poor in the head, he doesn't read any rather than watching movies.

By Rutashubanyuma

Lonestriker.......................I can only hope JK's aversion to pigs averts him from reading your comments in red......

Pigs have no religion...it is the context that matters.Anyway just because a certain ancient person revered by a certain of groupof people had a 'bad experience' with a certain pig does not make all pigs dirty.

when u talk abt tanganyika kikwete has done alot ,but he's only based on one side .we wants our zanzibar to be setfree no union any more , if he's care bt our wellfare and democracy he should set zanzibar free have our own government. im not politions but,he is concerned to destroy our counrty , poor economic system and education, my opinion he should listern zanzibar needs ,,no need use forces we need to be idependent , we don't want t b under tanganyika colony apart from british .. im sorr iknow majority of u here is from mainland ,we are tired ,, . we need changes

kikwete has given this nation a lesson that there is no of any importance,people kupigana vikumbo simply to be a president,but unfortunately the society has learn it differently because most of them for now think every body can be a president because kikwete eventhough incompetent has been.

I just wonder why all these maendeleo is not taking place in Lindi or Mtwara, inspite of the fact that they're all in Dar, and with similar demographies. It all boils down to quality leadership. A leader doesn't wait for supreme conditions to lead and achieve goals, but works with what he/she has to achieve same goals. It might take a little longer, but the ability to overcome adversity separates leaders from pretenders.

people forget that development is a continous accumalation of small efforts by all. If you wait for grand one term maendeleo, it wouldn't happen. It's about time, maendeleo and politics moves hand-in-hand. The more we pull people out of poverty, the more we will pull our politics out of the Ufisadi, poverty of ideologies & ideas!

By Mtoboasiri

He just wanted to be a president, but didn't know what presidency is all about. .

I have nothing more to add, you have said it all

Rutashubanyuma, I like your perspective on the matter, I however observe it as attached contrary to being detached. It would have been an almost perfect piece if you had produced the thing interjected with the other side of the coin's in the same depth of Postulation.

Uongozi si lelemama!

By AshaDii

Rutashubanyuma, I like your perspective on the matter, I however observe it as attached contrary to being detached. It would have been an almost perfect piece if you had produced the thing interjected with the other side of the coin's in the same depth of Postulation.

The other side is simply insignificant,it is not there,I mean there is nothing worth to credit him for,trying to look for the other side is like time wasted looking for a black object in a dark room yet ironically the object is not even there.He has no legacy apart from being remembered as the chairman who brought CCM to it's knees.If history will be kind to him I think it will remember him as the smiling president.Period.

The history shows he was not a good student of economics either, just to keep up with your title.

he real try to be good president but he fail because of low capacity of thinking so what next............ CDM HUREE 2015 WE REAL NEED CHANGES.Af uwe unatumia kiswahili nina mengi lakin mistari ya ze zi ze wa imeniishia.

Ruta umeamua kuja na kiinglish hatukusomaga zamani.

Rutashubanyuma, I like your perspective on the matter, I however observe it as attached contrary to being detached. It would have been an almost perfect piece if you had produced the thing interjected with the other side of the coin's in the same depth of Postulation.

ninashukuru AshaDii...tatizo hapa JF watu hawapendi makal ndefu kwa hiyoinabidi ufupishe mengi.............lakini nimempa maksi ya kuwa laikuwa na uzoefu wa miaka 17 kabla ya kuwa Raisi lakini haukumsaidia........ni bold politician though a Nyerere poor copycat...................a micro-manager though with some devastating results....................sik u mtupa kabisa kabia penye ukweli wake amepewa....................... .but history will judge him best particularly his over-reliance on good looks were of beneficial to the country............

naona na Lonestriker amekujibu kama alivyoona..................... ..

The other side is simply insignificant,it is not there,I mean there is nothing worth to credit him for,trying to look for the other side is like time wasted looking for a black object in a dark room yet ironically the object is not even there.He has no legacy apart from being remembered as the chairman who brought CCM to it's knees.If history will be kind to him I think it will remember him as the smiling president.Period.

AshaDii you may also add his other attributes if any.......................and will truly appreciate.

Ruta umeamua kuja na kiinglish hatukusomaga zamani.

Mamndenyi pole ninaanda tafsuru ya kiswahili na nitaibandika hapohapo..........