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Anna Makinda: A distinguished woman politician
TUMA ABDALLAH, 11th June 2009 @ 02:31,
For Anna Makinda joining politics was not a matter of coincidence. She was born a leader. She has so far spent almost all her life since graduation from college serving the nation and the people at various leadership positions.
Ms Makinda, an Accountant by profession trained at the Morogoro-based Institute of Development Management (IDM), started practising politics in primary school when she was an active member of TANU Youth League. At that time she served as a young pioneer.
She got her secondary education at Masasi Girls where she was also very active in politics. The school, she says, was run by Salvatorian Sisters who were foreigners and therefore left all political affairs in the hands of students. "I was the Chairperson of TANU Youth League branch there.
We used to do everything from receiving political leaders at the school to organization of commemoration of various anniversaries," she says. In 1975 she joined active politics at her pick age of 23 when she was nominated an MP through the youth wing and therefore becoming the youngest legislator of that time.
"Under one party there was a system of having MPs from various party organs such as Parents, Women, Cooperatives, Universities and Youth. I got an opportunity to enter the legislature through the latter," she says. She had just completed studies at IDM and employed by the Tanzania Audit Corporation (TAC).
"When I contested for the parliamentary seat I was still on probation at TIC. I graduated in June and joined the parliamentary race in October. When I won the seat I had two options of either becoming a full time MP or continuing with my employment at TIC as a state auditor.
I chose to become a full time legislator," she says. She opted for Bunge to avoid conflict of interest. "The salary at TIC was many times higher than that of Bunge and my employment there was guaranteed for many more years than Bunge which was a 5-year tenure…but I decided to take chances," she says.
Her decision was the right one. Bunge was where her future was. This is her seventh consecutive term in the National Assembly where she has served as a back bencher, a cabinet minister and now as Deputy Speaker. She has been a constituency MP (Njombe South) since 1995.
Given her age, at the beginning she thought she did not deserve to be there. Her obligation was therefore to learn and work hard to justify her presence. "I did not want people to start asking what is this young girl doing there," she says. Her determination worked as she turned to be one of the most active MPs.
She served as a back bencher for eight years till 1983 when she was appointed Minister of State in the Prime Minister and First Vice-President's Office in charge of policy affairs, disaster management and coordination of government business in the National Assembly (Chief Whip). Ms Makinda says she became minister at a time when the country was faced with a lot of developmental challenges.
We had the Late Edward Sokoine as the Prime Minister by then. The economic situation was very bad and it was really tough to get things moving," she recalls. Being a minister in the PMO in charge of operations of the central government, I had a lot to do. This is the time when my hair started to turn grey. We almost developed peptic ulcers," she says.
She was at one time Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (Information and Broadcasting) before she was appointed founder Minister for Community Development, Women Affairs and Children from 1990-1995. A big challenge at the Community Development ministry, she says, was to visualise how people can actively participate in bringing about their own development.
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We tried very hard to make people understand that they are the engine for their own development. The concept was to improve people's lives through self reliance. I liked the task," she says wishing that animation of the concept continues with the same speed.
She was appointed Ruvuma Regional Commissioner in 1995, the post she served till the year 2000. This, she says, was the responsibility that she liked most because it gave her daily direct contact with people.
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You work with the people. You can make plans and implement them. If you do it people will know you have done and if you don't they will know you have failed. When I was a minister there were some decisions I made which were not implemented at lower levels," she says.
She also likes very much working as a constituency MP, which she says also, gives her daily direct contact with her electorate. "With my people we plan what to do and when to do it," she says. From 2000 – 2005 she served as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Poverty alleviation.
She was also Chairperson of Bunge, assisting the Speaker in the running of parliamentary sessions and other related matters. In 2005 she was elected the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, becoming the first Tanzanian woman to hold that position.
Ms Makinda is bold and visionary. She has made a turn around in Njombe's educational development. When she became the MP for Njombe in 1995, the area had very poor educational infrastructure with very few primary schools and a limited number of secondary schools.
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Now we have sufficient primary schools and a secondary school in every ward…We have also done well in the provision of other social services including health and water supply," she says. She says a big challenge now is to ensure that the people are economically empowered.
"With weak economic power, we won't be able to accomplish the other responsibilities. We have therefore to fight poverty," she says. Ms Makinda represents a constituency endowed with fertile land, blessed with good weather and hard working people.
"We don't have a problem with manpower. People in Njombe are very good in agriculture. We work on the farm throughout a year. What we badly need is facilitation in terms of adequate and timely availability of farm inputs and at affordable prices," she says.
Her life is full of experiences. She has also served in many boards of directors including the
Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), National bank of Commerce (NBC), Texco, Legal Corporation, Tanesco, Mwatex, Mutex, Mbeya Tex, Engineers Registration Board and Bora Shoes Company.
She devoted, generously her time, energy and even material resources. She actually has a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which makes her serious and gives her the motivation to follow through on tasks. She is a model citizen, and pillar of the community.
She is organized and methodical in her approach, and normally succeeds in any task she undertakes. For those who have known her over the years will agree that she has a drive for leadership, which is well-served by her quickness to grasp complexities and in making quick and decisive judgments.
Ms Makinda has a tremendous amount of potential. She is capable, logical, reasonable, and an effective individual with a deeply driven desire to promote national development. She is generally very loyal, faithful, and dependable and places great importance on honesty and integrity.
She has a strong sense of duty and is extremely dependable on following through with things which she has promised. Her inner strength is vividly reflected by her strong confidence in doing her work. One of the attributes that make her different from many women is that she does not feel intimidated by men or expect favours from them.
"I like to struggle. I believe I can always do what men can," she says citing as an example her life at IDM where there were only two women out of 52 students. "So the notion that women cannot do this to me does not apply. After all I don't have time to think that the people I am working with are men or women.
What matters to me is doing my work as per the laid down rules and regulations," she adds. Ms Makinda says she is irritated by the tendency of women who don't want to face challenges and seek relief on the pretext of their sex. "Many times women use emotions to show their capacity. That is not correct. We have to abide by rules and regulations governing our functions.
Law does not discriminate against in terms of sex, age or position," she says. She is also of the opinion that women should not sit down and think men are the reason for their underdevelopment rather than establishing what men do that makes women seen incapable. "There is no law that prevents women from showing their capability.
Once you are educated and you know your rights men and women become at par", she says adding, however, that the situation is rather different for women who have not gone to school. These, she says are pinned down by customs and traditions. "That's why we insist on educating the girl child. Because it is through education that women can be truly liberated," she says.
But Ms Makinda's leadership aptitude is rooted on his father who was a renowned politician. He retired in early 1970s as Regional Commissioner. He was also an MP as at that time when RCs were sitting in the Parliament by virtue of their positions. On gender equality, she says Tanzania has made a very big step forward and is ahead of many countries.
"If we manage to bring to the House a bill for 50-50 representation, we will be very far ahead of many," she notes.
But she says being ahead of other countries is actually not a big deal, what matters is for the people to understand their roles and responsibilities. She observes that women comprise more than half the population but still weak in many ways.
So a few in power, she says, should work harder than men to compensate their weakness. "We should also support one another. Gone are the times of condemning one another. We have to stand together as one. The world is about fighting for our own rights. Let's work with men and thy will finally recognize us as their partners in development," she says.