Tatizo la ma-First Lady wetu...Mwanahalisi

[Bramo]

MWAKA 1919, aliyekuwa Rais wa Marekani, Woodrow Wilson, aliugua kiharusi kilichopunguza uwezo wake wa kufanya kazi.
Katika kipindi hicho, mkewe, Edith, inasemwa ndiye aliyekuwa akifanya kazi za urais .
Edith alikuwa akipanga miadi yote ya Ikulu, akimsainisha rais Wilson maamuzi aliyoona yanafaa kuridhiwa na kukataa kumsainisha yale aliyoona hayafai kwa taifa.
Kwa hivyo, Edith ndiye alikuwa akitambuliwa kiongozi wa nchi.
Kwa bahati nzuri, kwa muda ambao alifanya kazi za urais, Edith hakupata tatizo la kiutendaji. Wamarekani waliona kila kitu kinakwenda sawa.
Mtazame Cherie Booth, mke wa aliyekuwa Waziri Mkuu wa Uingereza, Tony Blair.
Hawa walikutana chuo kikuu ambako inaelezwa Cherie alimzidi Blair kwa akili ya kusoma.
Cherie alikuja kuajiriwa mapema kuliko Blair, katika kampuni kubwa ya masuala ya kisheria.
Bado Cherie aliendelea na kazi yake ya uanasheria huku Blair akiwa waziri mkuu.
Wote ni wasomi. Wote wana bongo zinazochemka. Uwezo wao wa kujenga hoja unafanana.
Tumeona pia namna Hillary Clinton alivyopambana na Barack Obama kwenye mchakato wa kuwania uteuzi wa kugombea urais ndani ya chama chao cha Democrat mwaka jana.
Clinton hakutaka kuwania urais kwa sababu aliwahi kuwa First Lady wa Marekani. Alifanya hivyo kwa sababu aliamini katika uwezo wake kama msomi wa kiwango cha juu na mwanasiasa.
Na Marekani isingekuwa na tatizo lolote kama angekuwa rais wao.
Tazama namna mke wa aliyekuwa Rais wa Marekani, Jimmy Carter, Rosalyn, alivyokuwa akishiriki vikao vya baraza la mawaziri kwa sababu mawziri wote waliamini alikuwa na uwezo mkubwa.
Na Wamarekani wataendelea kumkumbuka Eleanor Roosevelt kwa alivyokuwa mwanaharakati mkubwa enzi mumewe, Franklin, alipokuwa rais.
Kwa nchi zinazoendelea, zikiwemo za Afrika, tofauti ni kubwa mno.
Tazama Ufilipino, na mfano mzuri utakuwa kwa aliyewahi kuwa mke wa Rais Fernando Marcos, aliyekuwa akiitwa Imelda.
Mwanamama huyu mrembo alikuwa akifahamika sana kwa tambo na matanuzi yake. Alipata kumiliki jozi zipatazo 1,000 za viatu.
Kuwa mke wa rais, kwake ilimaanisha kuvaa vizuri, kula vizuri na kusafiri kila mahali duniani.
Hatujasahau Oktoba 2005 aliyekuwa mke wa Rais Olusegun Obasanjo wa Nigeria, Stella, alipofariki dunia hospitalini Hispania alikokwenda kwa operesheni ya uso ili kumfanya apendeze zaidi ya alivyokuwa.
Alitaka aonekane kijana zaidi ya umri wake. Apendeze sana kuliko alivyokuwa.
Kwake, kuwa First Lady, aliamini alipaswa kuwa mzuri isivyo kawaida ili kila anayemuona ampe tabasamu.
Grace, mke wa rais Robert Mugabe wa Zimbabwe, amepewa jina la utani la First Shopper. Ni kwa sababu ya tabia yake ya kupenda manunuzi utadhani maduka yote yatafungwa siku ya pili. Mpenda starehe babkubwa.
Kenya yupo Lucy, mke wa Rais Mwai Kibaki. Anapenda ugomvi, tena wakati mwingine usio na sababu.
Anapenda kuheshimiwa japo si lazima yeye kujiheshimu. Mtu asipomheshimu, au akamdharau mumewe, atajuta.
Ajuavyo, kama mama wa nyumba kubwa, First Lady, lazima aogopwe na kupapatikiwa na kila mtu, bila ya kujali kama ana elimu, uwezo au hoja.
Kukosana na rais umekosana naye. Na kukosana naye umemkosea rais na usisahau yeye analala kitanda kimoja na mheshimiwa sana!
Wake wa marais Afrika wana matatizo kiasi kwamba wangekuwa na kiwango cha uwezo na hoja kama za Hillary au Cherie, Afrika ingekuwa mbali.
Katika nchi ambazo uongozi ni mipango ya muda mrefu siyo zimamoto, suala la mke wa kiongozi ni jambo la kuzingatiwa sana.
Ndiyo maana si ajabu kwa wenzetu walioendelea, kuamini kwamba “nyuma ya mafanikio ya mwanamume yupo mwanamke.”
Na mifano ya namna wenzetu wanavyotafuta wake iko wazi. Anayetaka kuitafuta, ataipata tu.
Chukulia mfano wa Rais Abraham Lincoln wa Marekani. Mkewe, Mary Todd, alikuwa na elimu nzuri kumzidi.
Lakini kubwa zaidi, Mary Todd alitoka katika familia yenye uwezo mkubwa kifedha.
Isingekuwa utajiri huo, pengine mwanamke huyo asingekuwa rais wa Marekani.
Kwa hiyo, ingawa hawakupatana kwa mambo mengi, Abe alijua mwanamama huyo angemsaidia kufika Ikulu kwa elimu yake na kwa fedha zake.
Napata taabu sana kuona namna ambavyo Kenya ingekuwa iwapo Kibaki angepatwa na tatizo lolote la kiafya halafu Lucy ndiyo akawa anakaimu kama ilivyokuwa kwa Edith.
Au, katika namna ya kipekee, kama Mama Lucy angewania urais, kama ilivyokuwa kwa Hillary Rodham Clinton, na kushinda.
Fikiria Kenya ingekuwa ya namna gani chini ya uongozi wa Lucy Kibaki? Nani angethubutu kuandika lolote kuhusu uozo wa serikali anayoongoza?
Haiwezekani rais wa nchi akawa na mwanamke ambaye tamaa yake kubwa ni mali na kuvaa vizuri na bado nchi ikaendelea.
Kwa kuwa watu kwa kawaida wamezoea kuwaogopa viongozi wao, mkewe ni lazima atakuwa mtu wa mwisho kumuogopa. Kama kuna ukweli wa kumwambia atamwambia.
Hata aina ya mijadala watakayokuwa nayo kabla ya kulala, itakuwa ni ya manufaa kwa taifa. Watazungumzia uchumi, siasa, utamaduni na kadhalika.
Lakini, kama mke wa rais ni dizaini ya wengi waliopo Afrika (na Tanzania), rais atakuwa anapewa habari za umbeya, majungu, madogoli, ushirikina na zile zinazolenga kumfurahisha tu mama.
Kwa kujua umuhimu wa wake za marais, nchi kama Uingereza au Marekani, zimeamua kuanza kuwahoji wake za wagombea urais kabla ya uchaguzi.
Wanavyoamini ni kwamba ukimfahamu mke wa rais, ni rahisi kufahamu mumewe ni mtu wa aina gani.
Hii ni kwa sababu kama rais au waziri mkuu ameshindwa kuchagua mwanamke mzuri wa kuishi naye maishani, atawezaje kuchagua la manufaa kwa taifa lake?
Wenzetu wanaamini, kama mwanamke wa rais ni ovyo, na rais mwenyewe atakuwa wa ovyo tu.
Wanaamini mawazo ya rais yanaathiriwa sana na maoni ya mkewe. Hii ni kwa sababu, huyu, pengine, ndiye mtu wake wa karibu zaidi kuliko wote awaonao duniani.
Tazama namna Wafaransa wanavyomuadhibu Nicolas Sarkozy kwenye uchaguzi wa serikali za mitaa unaoendelea.
Ni kwa sababu amemuoa Carla Bruni, mwanamitindo aliyewahi kupiga picha kibao za uchi. Wanajua tu kwa First Lady huyu, Sarkozy hawezi kujenga hoja nzito za kuikwamua nchi yake kutoka msukosuko wa kiuchumi.
Badala ya kuwazia matatizo ya Ufaransa, atakuwa anawaza tu kuhudhuria hafla ambazo zitamtoa ajitanue kwenye fukwe na kujianika kwenye viti vya uvivu.
Itakuwa umefahamu sasa kwa nini Tanzania inaendelea kujichimbia kwenye dimbwi la ufukara.

 

[Kiranga]

That is Mwanahalisi for you, perhaps I am snobbing them, but to me it comes so close to building a case, and you feel what they are trying to say, but somehow they still remain incoherent and one sided.

For example, they either don't know or chose to ignore the fact that one of their example as a dumb First Lady, known only for shopping and extravagances, Imelda Marcos, just won a seat in their ( The Phillipines') House of Representative. With the Phillipines' politics as competitive as they are, she obviously is not that dumb. See the story here

The story fails to point out some balancing cases in Africa. For example, I just heard a very eloquent interview that Janet Museveni (who is now a cabinet minister, smells of nepotism... I know) gave to the BBC, she described her life with Yoweri from the time they were refugees and freedom fighters all the way to State House, she dispelled some nagging rumors about his husbands commitment to democracy, she came off very down to earth.The interview was presidential. You can hear/ read more about it
here

Mwanahalisi could have built a more convincing case by sticking to Tanzania as an example of template First Ladies and drawing positive and negative examples from the developing countries.

I am not thrilled by the almost non-intellectual way they drive points home, with minimal and unsubstantiated reasoning, but I know they have a nugget of the truth, it is just that their delivery lacks the rudimentary of the margins of courteous reporting.

But then again, maybe the intellectuals and top talents are too filled with British understatements to be of any meaningful use, a case of the educated being too polished to say the truth and the Mwanahalisi's of the world being too crude to give an adequately representative picture.

In any case, one could argue that the First Lady is not an elected position and not in the constitution. Even the case that is used to open the article, that of Woodrow Wilson's wife - I was just reading about that in Paul Johnson's fascinating book "Modern Times, The World from the Twenties to the Eighties" - far from being proud of that incident, Americans are embarrasssed that their president was incapacitated and their First Lady forged signatures and practically ran the country, this was not supposed to happen, to them this is not a source of pride that the First Lady was able to pull this off, it is a source of shame that she was deceiving. So they have a point in that a formally educated and naturally smart woman is more desirable as a Firs Lady, but they miss the point that the First Lady position has no other criteria other than being the wife of the president.

Sasa hapa kitu cha kukazania ni kuhimiza elimu kwa Watanzania wote ili pool anayochukua mke rais wa Tanzania (most likely) iwe na average education iliyo juu.Tuongeze graduates wa vyuo vikuu tuwe tunaongea hundreds of thousands per year, naturally tutapata ma bright first ladies.Tuongeze quality ya hiyo elimu yenyewe, tuongeze ushirikisho katika civil society etc. Huwezi kumlaumu first lady mwenye elimu average ya Mtanzania, huyu ndiye mtu wa kawaida Tanzania.Badala ya kumlaumu mtu mmoja, angalia jinsi ya kubadili system nzima ya elimu.

Au unataka watu wakipata urais wawataliki wake zao wa ujana na kuoa maprofesa ?

 

[Mahesabu]

nilikuwa msokaji mzuri wa baadhi ya magazeti....mwishoni nikaja gundua......MAGAZETI YA BONGO ARE TOO MUCHBIASED......1! NA YANA INTEREST KARIBU KW KILA HABARI WAANDIKAYO.....! SASA NAMUELEWA VIZURI H.E. B,W. MKAPA