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TANZANIA : Leadership Gap That Fails this country.
SEPTEMBER 2021The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
By Kasera Nick Oyoo
What country are we in, where the minister in-charge of internal security speaks of a Certificate of Marriage as a free pass - thus virtually authorising a fumanizi beating?
There is no direct translation of the Swahili word fumanizi. Suffice it here to say that it usually implies the right to embarrass someone, including unleashing instant punishment on a spouse who is caught red-handed, in the act of betraying their marriage, Indecent jokes?
What country are we in, where a government minister almost casually cracks indecent jokes about Covid-19 vaccinations?
Why would a minister virtually condone chaos in the marital stakes when finding a spouse in a compromising situation is only grounds for divorce?
Why does a district government official take time out to advise men against sucking their wives' breast milk?
A self-styled church bishop is taking on the government over medical matters in which religious faith has no room, claiming that vaccinations are not always effective against pandemics.
Apparently, we are an indecent country that wants to be seen as decent. We are a country in which leadership is known by the huge gulf it causes among the led Narrow-minded.
We are a country in which the leaders are not different from the led: all of us seem to be narrow-minded - as proven by the fact that people at each and every kijiwe and pombe shop almost invariably focus on non-issues.
This explains why bedroom chitchats tend to get very serious traction in our public discourses at the expense of more serious issues that demand public attention.
This is the tragedy of Tanzania. As a soon as a government minister speaks on fumanizi, broadcasting stations just as soon fall in line with the empty talk; this shows how we lack seriousness as a nation.
It's like we are a country of melodrama in a modern-day 'Theatre of the Absurd.' The more people take you seriously, the more absurd it becomes.
And, in such a situation, the nation is unable, unwilling or unready to take the likes of Lands Minister William Vangimembe Lukuvi seriously because he is always focusing on real issues, not theatrics.
The trouble with being a nation that is not serious is that we begin to always look for vents through which our people ventilate... And, it seems, political leaders and ordinary Tanzanians are agreed that trivial talk is the be all and end all for Tanzanians.