A word of advice from louder than swahili blog

[Geza Ulole]

Territory of Microphone Holders



I'm quite interested in how politicians express themselves, how the media quote them and why the journalists refrain from asking them complex questions. Basically I find it entertaining, but it is also part of convincing myself that it might help me understand this country to a higher degree.

For instance, lately I have been enjoying reading papers quoting Tanzania's prime minister, Mizengo Pinda, who seems to be travelling to every corner of Tanzania to ensure that citizens act accordingly to government policies.

Back in January Pinda encouraged mob justice on albino killers, which he however later regretted during a speech in the parliament.

In yesterday's Daily News Pinda was in Arusha, where Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has threatened to take action against a Chinese company building the Arusha-Namanga road if it fails to complete its work within the agreed time.

I drove on that road a month ago. It is rather strange that it isn't finished. And true, the road construction does appear as the Chinese have given it up. What I find most interesting, however, is that this is another example of how Pinda gets quoted for expressing severe disatisfaction.

Pinda threatens. But with what?

Last week it was the power tillers in Lindi which made the Daily News headline: Procure power tillers or else... Again I did ask myself 'or else what?', and hoped that the journalist would have been just as curious.

In yesterday's Daily News Pinda was in Ireland, and while adressing the Tanzanian diaspora he appealed to Tanzanians living abroad to bring tractors. Maybe the journalist could also here have asked some few practical questions? For instance if that sentence was meant as a metaphor? Or how do you bring a tractor to Tanzania if you live in Ireland?

Not to forget quizzing Pinda a bit more when he stated that the economic situation in the country (Tanzania) had improved contrary to some media reports, Pinda in fact said Tanzania was not a country of corrupt people,and that the government was taking legal actions against suspected corrupt officials.

I mean if anyone in real life opens any conversation with any of these statements over a Kilimanjaro in Bongo, there will be heated debate.

The journalist could maybe have asked if Pinda was familiar with the Transparency Index (TI) which was published some two weeks ago, and which dropped Tanzania four steps down the list of the most corrupt countries in the world. At least to get some discussion going as this journalist is doing (though I am not completely sure what track he's on).

In Denmark we call journalists who don't ask critical questions 'microphone holders'.

Microphone holders can be bought here (where the photo also is taken
from).

http://www.pernille.typepad.com/

 

[Bluray]

Journalistic integrity nimeipigia kelele sana humu, watu wanaona mimi mlalamishi.

 

[Geza Ulole]

Journalistic integrity nimeipigia kelele sana humu, watu wanaona mimi mlalamishi.

In Bongo journalists are the worst corrupt people!

 

[William J. Malecela]

- Wanafanya kazi under katika very difficult environment hapa kwetu, lakini responsibility ya ugumu wa mazingira wanayofanyia kazi inatuangukia sisi wananchi wa hili taifa, na hasa uwezo wetu mdogo wa kuelewa kinachoendelea kuhusu taifa letu ndio,

- Kwa kawaida hatukuzoea kubeba responsibility, siku zote tulifundishwa kuwa either ni Kawawa ndiye mwenye matatizo au Kambona, sasa tusionee waandishi kwa matatizo yetu wenyewe!

Respect.

FMEs!

 

[Geza Ulole]

- Wanafanya kazi under katika very difficult environment hapa kwetu, lakini responsibility ya ugumu wa mazingira wanayofanyia kazi inatuangukia sisi wananchi wa hili taifa, na hasa uwezo wetu mdogo wa kuelewa kinachoendelea kuhusu taifa letu ndio,

- Kwa kawaida hatukuzoea kubeba responsibility, siku zote tulifundishwa kuwa either ni Kawawa ndiye mwenye matatizo au Kambona, sasa tusionee waandishi kwa matatizo yetu wenyewe!

Respect.

FMEs!

hakuna cha respect wao ni kioo cha jamii wanapaswa kuthamini kazi yao ili waheshimike! Sasa kama leo wanatumika namna hii kwa kisingizio cha pesa basi wasiwaandike mafisadi kwa vile nao ni mafisadi pia! Haya ndio matatizo ya hii fani kuchukua division zero na fours!

Wanatuharibia nchi sasa hivi hakuna habari inayotolewa nikaiamini at least 80% sasahivi ni kwa sababu hawana credibility! They are corrupt like hell!

 

[Kwame Nkrumah]

Juzi waziri Mkulo alipokuwa na press conference angeulizwa kuhusu PHD yake ya uongo, lakini hakuna mwandishi wa kuuliza kwa sababu akiuliza hataitwa tena kwenye mkutano huo, na asipoitwa hatapata posho ya kuhudhuria mikutano, jina lake litakuwa kwenye "blacklist" sasa nani mjinga awe tayari kulaza watoto njaa.
Hii ni takrima, na ni halali bongo. Mikutano mingi ikiisha waandishi wanapewa bahasha za brown.

 

[Bluray]

- Wanafanya kazi under katika very difficult environment hapa kwetu, lakini responsibility ya ugumu wa mazingira wanayofanyia kazi inatuangukia sisi wananchi wa hili taifa, na hasa uwezo wetu mdogo wa kuelewa kinachoendelea kuhusu taifa letu ndio,

- Kwa kawaida hatukuzoea kubeba responsibility, siku zote tulifundishwa kuwa either ni Kawawa ndiye mwenye matatizo au Kambona, sasa tusionee waandishi kwa matatizo yetu wenyewe!

Respect.

Wewe na wao hamna tofauti ndio maana una wa excuse.

Mambo ya "wanafanya kazi under katika very difficult environment" indeed!

I am at a loss whether this style of communication, complete with sentences left unfinished, is a cultural issue deeply embedded in the Tanzanian respect ethos, or even awe, of the unsaid, lazyness, manufactured grandiosity (an unsaid threat, left to the imagination can be more threatening than the appropriate action) or some relic of the chieftains and their governing style.I hope someday somebody will do a PhD thesis or write a book about this. I presume this person is Danish and living in Tanzania, if it is this confusing to a native born Tanzanian like myself I cannot imagine how more so it is for a foreigner.

The "softball" questions are probably due to a combination of lack of confidence which is linked with lack of education and self awareness, and a culture of a ridiculous and unhealthy level of respect for elders and anybody in a position of power, even if they are clearly in the wrong. This guy rightly noted that the PM can get away with saying something outrageous, even a bold lie that the average Joe cannot get away with utterring at a bar, but the PM is the PM, there is this culture of "authority is not to be challenged" sort of like "you can't challenge the man who is holding the handle while you are holding the blade", why, the previous PM who resigned in disgrace amid corruption accusations was widely known for sending his liutenants to newspaper editors, demanding they apologize for stories that portrayed him in bad light!

Mizengo Pinda -and for that matter the entire top brass of leadership- is a joke. The Tanzanian political system is designed in such a Socratic twist so that the really capable and honest people will never make it to the top, for one their honesty does not guarantee campaign money, which is a prerequisite, and the people at the top only want "networked" people, in other words, people who can be as principleless and corrupt as them, no risks of whistleblowers, snobby idealistic intellectuals and their likes.

That is why one ends up with Jakaya Kikwete as president and Mizengo Pinda as PM.

As for the journalists - well calling them that is an insult to true journalists- I am sorry to say that they are mostly semi literate people, who through their jobseeking days happenned to have found the news as the only employment option, and with a six months diploma in "journalism" that is not worth the paper it is written on, they are churning articles, articles with no organization, wrong attribution, deliberate misinformation, zero journalistic integrity, you name it.

I was just reading today an article headlined that a prominent young leader of the opposition (Mnyika) "said" that President Kikwete is going to win the election in 2010, and that he should not forget the young people of Tanzania in his appointments.Turns out the reporter gave direct quotes about nearly everything under the sun except anything related to the headline.And even the indirect quote, the paraphrasing, does not mention anything remotely related to the headline. Apparently they just want to trick people into buying these papers, and this opposition leader never said what he was headlined as saying. The sad thing is most people do not analyse the written word in the way I just did (looking for direct quotes vs paraphrasing, examining content in the context of the political wars going on etc)

Such is the predicament of my nation. The good thing is, at least on the net, especially at here at JF people, especially young Tanzanians are starting at least to talk about these issues.

But talking and actual change are as far apart as the earth and the sun.

The adage about a journey of a thousand miles beginning with a single step comes to mind.

I am tired though, ngoja ngoja yaumiza matumbo.