First Ladies Phenomenon - Is Tanzania doing that bad?

[WomanOfSubstance]

I have been looking at some of the accusations leveled against our First ladies regarding their participation in public life of this country.Some people feel that First Ladies should not engage in political activities alongside their husbands.Yet some feel that our first ladies have not been doing enough.In short I came to realise that perhaps the problem lies with lack of understanding of what the First Ladies institution is all about to make it possible to assess performance. Historically, in Africa, a First Lady’s face was rarely seen in public, except on state occasions. Of late however the First Lady phenomenon has opened doors for women that had previously been closed. There are arguments that this turn of events has created a dynamic in which political space has been appropriated and used by the wives and friends of men in power for purposes of personal aggrandisement rather than for furthering the interests of the society. Criticisms have been leved against First Ladies NGOs that have been created as a wa to deliver different services to communities.Unfortunately no one has really come out to give the genesis of why and how such institutions or NGOs run by the first ladies have come into existence and for what purpose such that a conclusion can be made. It must be noted from the outset that the office Of First Lady is extra-constitutional in most countries if not all. First Ladies title can only be attained through marriage or in the cases of bachelor or widowed presidents or those whose wives are unable to fill the position, a special invitation to serve as State hostess as was the case with Cecilia Kadzamira during Banda’s tenure in Malawi. For a long time, actions of the First Ladies were carried out through the office of the husband, the President. The new trend, however, is to augment the power of the First Lady through the creation of specific state and non-state structures that provide her with independent instruments.

On the international scene, First Lady institution is a relatively new political phenomenon which can be traced to the 1992 World Summit for the Economic Advancement of Rural Women, hosted in Geneva at the initiative of six First Ladies, three of whom - Maryam Babangida, Elizabeth Diouf and Suzanne Mubarak - were African (Mama Siti Mwinyi of Tanzania attended this summit). For the first time, wives of heads of states sought to play an autonomous and co-ordinated role in international politics in their capacities as spouses of leaders. It was at the 1995 Beijing Conference, however, that the First Lady Syndrome however attracted major international attention, when a large group of First Ladies met in the context of a major world event and took centre stage. Hilary Rodham Clinton, wife of the then US President played a leading role. In Africa, the first Summit, for First Ladies was hosted at Yaounde in Cameroon by President Paul Biya's wife, Chantal Biya, during the 1996 OAU Summit. The wives of the heads of the following states attended it: Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Mama Anna Mkapa attended this meeting. The communique of the meeting, which focused on strategies to improve the lives of rural women, was incorporated into the official communique of the OAU meeting.

Lets take a look at what some First Ladies in Africa have done during their husband’s tenure as presidents so that we may look at what is happening here in Tanzania and judge whether we are off track or not:

NigerIn the 1960s, Aisha Hamani Diouri, the wife of the President of Niger, was reputed to be even more powerful than her spouse, whom she was alleged to have controlled like a marionette. Her legendary powers in manipulating the country's elite and dictating the pace and content of cultural and social trends are recorded in the songs and poetry of the country. During a coup in 1966, they spared the life of President Hamani Diouri, but assassinated his wife, whom they considered the personification of illegitimate power. Yet Aisha Diouri never had any autonomous space or structure through which she exercised power.

Ghana:During her husband's rule, the wife of the former Ghanaian President, Jerry Rawlings - Nana Agyeman-Rawlings had no official position in government, but nevertheless played a major role in formulating and even implementing policies relating to women, successfully creating a powerful and autonomous space for herself within the country's politics. Nana Rawlings therefore set up her own machinery, the 31 December Women's Movement (DWM) as her main organisational structure. Named after her husband's second ascension to power in 1981 the DWM was a huge organisation, with about 30 affiliate organisations and it claimed a rural membership of over two million. Much of its work has involved mobilising women around small-scale, village-level economic projects, financed by external grants. It seems that the DWM was converted to an NGO so that it could benefit from grants distributed by international funding agencies. In spite of this reconfiguration, some of its staff members remained on the government payroll. The organisation was also represented in the District Assemblies, the structure for local governance in Ghana. Nana Rawlings' influence grew to such an extent that there were strong suspicions that arrangements were being made for her to succeed her husband as President. The significance of Nana Rawlings was that she heralded the phenomenon of the First Lady who demanded an important role for women in society. She was able to appropriate current and pressing concerns in the international development community about the necessity of focusing on rural and poor women. She virtually re-invented rural women as a constituency that all public officials in Ghana are now obliged to pretend to acknowledge. She also demonstrated that there was considerable money and influence to be gained in making claims to represent the women's movement


NigeriaGhana may have been the first African country to give institutional prominence to the First Lady, but it is in Nigeria that the phenomenon has flourished. Given the long period of military rule in Nigeria, it is not surprising that women played only a marginal role in Nigeria's public life for decades. The public profile of elite women changed dramatically with the coming into power of First Lady Chief-Dr-Mrs Maryam Babangida, wife of General Babangida in the early 1980s. When her husband became President, she opened an office for herself within the Presidency. She was the first wife of a Nigerian head of state to use her spousal position as a basis for playing a prominent role in the nation's public life. In 1987, five years after Nana Rawlings had established her organisation in Ghana, Mrs Babangida launched the Better Life for Rural Women Programme (BLP). The wives of all senior state officials were systematically incorporated into this organisation. The BLP claimed to have made a major contribution towards improving the lot of rural women, including the establishment of 10 000 co-operatives, 1 793 cottage industries, 2 397 farms, 470 women's centres and 233 health centres. Wishing to establish a permanent place for herself in history, Maryam Babangida obtained public money through her husband in order to build a huge edifice in Abuja, valued at N1.6 billion (US$16 million). This she named the Maryam Babangida Centre for Women and Development. In 1992, when it appeared that her husband might have to vacate his office, she applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission to register the Centre as a Trust, with her and her son Mohammed as Trustees for life. Maryam Babangida often behaved as if she was the co-president of the country. According to Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, she summoned him one night to scold him over clashing dates for a cocktail reception she wished to organise for ECOWAS ambassadors and their wives. She apparently informed the Minister, in the presence of her husband, that she had "a joint-right with the President to appoint a new Minister of External Affairs" (The News, October 25, 1993). Shortly thereafter, Professor Akinyemi was sacked and a new Minister appointed. That event, Akinyemi claims, signalled the beginning of a “joint imperial presidency”.

In that "joint imperial presidency", it was often assumed that Maryam was the real power behind the throne.


Now ladies and gentlemen of JF, with those few examples above, you may take a look at our own First Ladies and see whether there is any justification to condemn them for performing their duties as first ladies. In my opinion our first ladies have been too modest. What they have done is in line with what they are expected to do in accordance with Tanzanian/African context. We should encourage rather than discourage them.

 

[BAK]

There is sufficient evidence that Mama Mkapa was busy accumulating wealth during Mkapa's tenure in office.

Mama Kikwete so far she has not done anything tangible and I don't think she'll be able to achieve a lot as FL, only time will tell.

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

1.There is sufficient evidence that Mama Mkapa was busy accumulating wealth during Mkapa's tenure in office.

2.Mama Kikwete so far she has not done anything tangible and I don't think she'll be able to achieve a lot as FL, only time will tell.

BAK,

1.Looking at what other First Ladies have been doing all over Africa,
I think we still have a problem on how to differentiate between what belongs to a First Lady as personal and what falls under the ambit of public property considering that once she steps out of the position she moves out with all what she put together under her NGO.Since we did not have any policy on that we will continue speculating on a number of things.For instance people think EOTF should have been an NGO to be " inherited " by the incoming FL;However looking at WAMA and EOTF we may find that each FL has own vision,thinking and strength in implementing programmes for the community.

2.As for Mama Kikwete, how can we be able to assess if she has tangible results in absence of benchmarks? Do u think it is possible to have those benchmarks or draw up a list of deliverable which we expect at the end of her tenure?

 

[MzalendoHalisi]

Je position ya 1st Lady inatambuliwa kikatiba? Can she be prosecuted akiiba?

Nona Lucy wa Kenya akizidi kutia aibu yaani kila siku!

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

Je position ya 1st Lady inatambuliwa kikatiba? Can she be prosecuted akiiba?

Nona Lucy wa Kenya akizidi kutia aibu yaani kila siku!

Mzalendo,
Nafasi hiyo ya first lady/first gentleman ( kutegemeana na nani ni rais) haiko ndani ya katiba..inatokana tu na ama ndoa au kuchaguliwa kama state hostess/host.
Hivyo basi huyu mtu akifanya kosa la jinai anaweza kushtakiwa!

Nadhani wengi wamekuwa wakijiuliza FL anayoyafanya ni kwa faida au manufaa ya nani kwa vile kwanza hiyo nafasi yake iko too fluid.. haina hadidu za rejea (TOR) ili kupima ukiukwaji au ufanisi na kwa msingi huo wanajikuta wakifanya kutegemeana na utashi wao.

Kutia aibu ama la kwa huyo Lucy Kibaki nadhani inatokana na migogoro ya kifamilia kwa wahusika, yaliyoshindikana kumaliza bila umma kujua.Tuyaachie hapo maana ni nje ya hii mada.

 

[MzalendoHalisi]

Mzalendo,
Nafasi hiyo ya first lady/first gentleman ( kutegemeana na nani ni rais) haiko ndani ya katiba..inatokana tu na ama ndoa au kuchaguliwa kama state hostess/host.
Hivyo basi huyu mtu akifanya kosa la jinai anaweza kushtakiwa!

Nadhani wengi wamekuwa wakijiuliza FL anayoyafanya ni kwa faida au manufaa ya nani kwa vile kwanza hiyo nafasi yake iko too fluid.. haina hadidu za rejea (TOR) ili kupima ukiukwaji au ufanisi na kwa msingi huo wanajikuta wakifanya kutegemeana na utashi wao.

Kutia aibu ama la kwa huyo Lucy Kibaki nadhani inatokana na migogoro ya kifamilia kwa wahusika, yaliyoshindikana kumaliza bila umma kujua.Tuyaachie hapo maana ni nje ya hii mada.

WomenofSubstanc,
Umenijibu vizuri na kwa ustaarabu sana ..nashkuru!

 

[Mkandara]

Binafsi napinga kabisa First lady kupewa wadhifa wa aina yoyote ndani ya serikali isipokuwa sehemu moja tu -Umoja wa Wanawake Tainzania (UWT), chombo ambacho kinatakiwa kiwe cha Kitaifa badala ya kuwa cha chama Tawala.
First Lady ndiye awe mwenyekiti wa chombo hiki na kati ya Taasisi au niseme idara zake ni pamoja na Wazazi, Watoto Yatima, Lisha bora pamoja na maswala yote yanayohusiana na haki za wanawake na watoto - world wide..
Nje ya hapo nadhani tumeona kuwa First Lady wote wa Kiafrika wamekuwa mbele ktk siasa za utawala wao kitandani kuingia hadi ktk Utawala wa nchi nzima..Kutokana na Umaskini wetu hata mila na desturi zetu za kiasili zimepotea hivyo tunajaribu kuiga vitu ambavyo hatuna kabisa uwezo navyo kutokana na mazingira yetu kwani Ukitazama kati ya First Lady wote wa nchi za Kiafrika ni asilimia ndogo sana waliomaliza high school acha mbali chuo kikuu...
Hivyo ni muhimu sana tuwe makini kwa yale tunayopendekeza vitu hasa ambavyo vinaweza kuharibu zaidi taratibu za msimamo na utendaji kazi wa serikali yetu hasa ktk maswala ya Foreign Policies..

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

Binafsi napinga kabisa First lady kupewa wadhifa wa aina yoyote ndani ya serikali isipokuwa sehemu moja tu -Umoja wa Wanawake Tainzania (UWT), chombo ambacho kinatakiwa kiwe cha Kitaifa badala ya kuwa cha chama Tawala.
First Lady ndiye awe mwenyekiti wa chombo hiki na kati ya Taasisi au niseme idara zake ni pamoja na Wazazi, Watoto Yatima, Lisha bora pamoja na maswala yote yanayohusiana na haki za wanawake na watoto - world wide..
Nje ya hapo nadhani tumeona kuwa First Lady wote wa Kiafrika wamekuwa mbele ktk siasa za utawala wao kitandani kuingia hadi ktk Utawala wa nchi nzima..Kutokana na Umaskini wetu hata mila na desturi zetu za kiasili zimepotea hivyo tunajaribu kuiga vitu ambavyo hatuna kabisa uwezo navyo kutokana na mazingira yetu kwani Ukitazama kati ya First Lady wote wa nchi za Kiafrika ni asilimia ndogo sana waliomaliza high school acha mbali chuo kikuu...
Hivyo ni muhimu sana tuwe makini kwa yale tunayopendekeza vitu hasa ambavyo vinaweza kuharibu zaidi taratibu za msimamo na utendaji kazi wa serikali yetu hasa ktk maswala ya Foreign Policies..

Mkandara,
Nimekusikia vema...ila naomba kutofautiana nawe katika kipengere kimoja... kwanza tuelewe kwamba "First Lady" siyo wadhifa ambao labda mtu anapewa na hivyo kumpa mhusika madaraka au wajibu fulani kiserikali/kitaifa.Kumbuka pia kuwa hawa watu hujipatia hiyo title kupitia ndoa zao.Kilichokuja kujitokeza hasa siku za karibuni in the 90s ni FLs wenyewe kuchukua initiatives kwa kufanya mikutano na kuweka makubaliano ili waweze kuchangia katika sera za kimataifa ( siyo lazima wanachopendekeza kikachukuliwa).Kwangu mimi nionavyo ni kuwa nao walikuwa wanajitafutia sehemu wajidai na kutanua! Ninaona hatari kama tukisema First Lady wa Tanzania awe say mwenyekiti wa UWT! Itakuwaje kama " hakubaliki" na wananchama? Na je kama hana uwezo kuongoza chombo hicho maana tusifikiri UWT ni ya chombo kisichohitaji watu wenye uwezo.Binafsi ningetamani kama hao First Ladies wangeendelea kuendesha taasis zao ( NGOs) lakini iwepo jinsi ya kudhibiti ukiukwaji na hata matumizi mabaya ya nafasi hizo kwa manufaa binafsi.Kisheria, zipo taratibu za kucheck abuse kwa NGOs chini ya Ofisi ya Makamu wa rais na pia chini ya ofisi ya msajili wa NGOs Wizara ya Mambo ya Ndani na hata kule kwa msajili wa makampuni kutegemeana na NGO ilisajiliwa wapi.Labda cha kujiuliza ni vipi hizi taratibu zinakiukwa? Je wanaogopa kuwafuatilia?

Kuhusu elimu ya FLs,hayo sasa ni majaliwa maana wanachi wanapomchagua rais wao sidhani elimu ya mkewe/mumewe inaangaliwa kama kigezo.Huenda huko tunakoelekea hili likawa si ishu maana wanawake wengi wanaendelea kupata elimu kwa njia mbalimbali ikiwemo distance learning etc.Lakini unadhani elimu hiyo hata wakiwa nayo itasaidia sana kunufaisha jamii kwa ujumla? Umeona jinsi kwa mfano "Chief-Dr-Mrs Maryam Babangida" msomi mzuri alivyoweza kutumia elimu yake to manipulate everybody including her hubby? Food for thought.

 

[Zakumi]

WoS:

What a topic. Una-contemplate kuwa FL nini? Lakini tukiwa kwenye mada ni lazima vilevile tuangalie uwezekano mwanamke kuwa rais kama ilivyotokea Liberia.

I am just curious to know, katika mazingira ambayo nchi itakuwa na FD, First Dude. Je entitlements za First Dude zitakuwaje?

 

[MzalendoHalisi]

WoS:

What a topic. Una-contemplate kuwa FL nini? Lakini tukiwa kwenye mada ni lazima vilevile tuangalie uwezekano mwanamke kuwa rais kama ilivyotokea Liberia.

I am just curious to know, katika mazingira ambayo nchi itakuwa na FD, First Dude. Je entitlements za First Dude zitakuwaje?

Zakumi,

Hii kweli..hivi yule mama wa Liberia..sijawahi kumwona mme wake..hivi jamaa yupo?

 

[Congo]

Zakumi,

Hii kweli..hivi yule mama wa Liberia..sijawahi kumwona mme wake..hivi jamaa yupo?

Umeenda mbali. Kwani viongozi wetu hapa nchini ambao waume zao sio mawaziri au viongozi wakuu waume zao umeshawahi kuwaona hadharani? Wanawake ndio zao akishakuwa mkubwa anamwacha nyuma mumewe. Hawi nae bega kwa bega. Hata kwenye sherehe hutawaona. Je, ulimwona mumewe Sophia Simba siku ile anachaguliwa kuwa mwenyekiti wa Umoja wa Wanawake? Mie sikumuona.

 

[Congo]

Sina tatizo la wake za viongozi kuongoza taasisis zao binafsi katika jitihada za kusaidia jamii. Tatizo nililonalo ni lile la wanawake hao kutumia nyazifa za waume zao kujilimbikizia mali. Taasisi ya mama Mkapa ilikuwa ikipewa $10,000 kwa ajili ya kusaidia wahitaji, yenyewe inatoa cherahani moja kwa walengwa. Kimsingi wote na hasa thread hii imeanzishwa kwa sababu kutoridhishwa na taasisi ya EOTF jinsi ilivyotekeleza wajibu wake.

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

WoS:

What a topic. Una-contemplate kuwa FL nini? Lakini tukiwa kwenye mada ni lazima vilevile tuangalie uwezekano mwanamke kuwa rais kama ilivyotokea Liberia.

I am just curious to know, katika mazingira ambayo nchi itakuwa na FD, First Dude. Je entitlements za First Dude zitakuwaje?

Za10,
I like ur question na nitajibu kama ifuatavyo:
Sorry sikukujibu kabla maana sikua mtandaoni kwa kipindi...
1. contemplating to be FL hahahah..who knows one day?not really.. may be a position which will be more interesting than being just an FL HAHAHAHAH!

2.Wamekuwepo quite a good number of First Gentlemen/dudes by virtue of their marriages to women presidents kama Jose Miguel Arroyo mume wa rais wa Phillipines,pia marais wengine wanawake ni kama rais Mary Robinson, Ireland (03.12.1990-12.09.1997 );Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka (14.11.1994-19.11.2005 ) Janet Jagan, Guyana (19.12.1997-11.08.1999( huyu aliukwaa urais baada ya mumewe kufariki) ;na hapa Africa tunaye rais Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia (16.01.2006 hadi leo).Huyu ni divorcee kwa hiyo huwezi kumwona na FG wake!( na kama sikosei huyu bwana aliyejulikana kwa jina la James Sirleaf alishaaga dunia.)Haiyumkini siku moja na sisi Tanzania tukawa na Rais mwanamke why not?

3. Entitlements za First Dude??? well...........nadhani itategemeana na nchi husika na usharp wa FG/D muhusika.Fikiria entitlements za FL halafu utapata jibu.

 

[Zakumi]

WoS:

Pole kwa matatizo yaliokukuta na natumaini unaendelea vizuri. Bubu alifanya kazi nzuri ya kutupa taarifa.

Ndio kwanza nimefika kwenye mabox. Ngoja nijipange vizuri.

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

WoS:

Pole kwa matatizo yaliokukuta na natumaini unaendelea vizuri. Bubu alifanya kazi nzuri ya kutupa taarifa.

Ndio kwanza nimefika kwenye mabox. Ngoja nijipange vizuri.

Asante! Mungu anasaidia.

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

Wengi wanauliza FL/FG kazi zake ni nini na ziko kikatiba? U first lady ni cheo ceremonial tu hakiko kwenye katiba na mhusika atakuwa na cha kufanya chenye manufaa kwa jamii kutegemeana na ingenuity yake mwenyewe.

Kama FLs wako busy vya kutosha, Janet Museveni angegombea Ubunge na hatimaye kuteuliwa kuwa waziri?

 

[Zakumi]

Vipi ulisikia mzozo alizua mama Kibaki baada ya kutokea maafa ya kuungua watu kwa moto?

 

[WomanOfSubstance]

I have been looking at some of the accusations leveled against our First ladies regarding their participation in public life of this country.Some people feel that First Ladies should not engage in political activities alongside their husbands.Yet some feel that our first ladies have not been doing enough.In short I came to realise that perhaps the problem lies with lack of understanding of what the First Ladies institution is all about to make it possible to assess performance. Historically, in Africa, a First Lady’s face was rarely seen in public, except on state occasions. Of late however the First Lady phenomenon has opened doors for women that had previously been closed. There are arguments that this turn of events has created a dynamic in which political space has been appropriated and used by the wives and friends of men in power for purposes of personal aggrandisement rather than for furthering the interests of the society. Criticisms have been leved against First Ladies NGOs that have been created as a wa to deliver different services to communities.Unfortunately no one has really come out to give the genesis of why and how such institutions or NGOs run by the first ladies have come into existence and for what purpose such that a conclusion can be made. It must be noted from the outset that the office Of First Lady is extra-constitutional in most countries if not all. First Ladies title can only be attained through marriage or in the cases of bachelor or widowed presidents or those whose wives are unable to fill the position, a special invitation to serve as State hostess as was the case with Cecilia Kadzamira during Banda’s tenure in Malawi. For a long time, actions of the First Ladies were carried out through the office of the husband, the President. The new trend, however, is to augment the power of the First Lady through the creation of specific state and non-state structures that provide her with independent instruments.

On the international scene, First Lady institution is a relatively new political phenomenon which can be traced to the 1992 World Summit for the Economic Advancement of Rural Women, hosted in Geneva at the initiative of six First Ladies, three of whom - Maryam Babangida, Elizabeth Diouf and Suzanne Mubarak - were African (Mama Siti Mwinyi of Tanzania attended this summit). For the first time, wives of heads of states sought to play an autonomous and co-ordinated role in international politics in their capacities as spouses of leaders. It was at the 1995 Beijing Conference, however, that the First Lady Syndrome however attracted major international attention, when a large group of First Ladies met in the context of a major world event and took centre stage. Hilary Rodham Clinton, wife of the then US President played a leading role. In Africa, the first Summit, for First Ladies was hosted at Yaounde in Cameroon by President Paul Biya's wife, Chantal Biya, during the 1996 OAU Summit. The wives of the heads of the following states attended it: Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Mama Anna Mkapa attended this meeting. The communique of the meeting, which focused on strategies to improve the lives of rural women, was incorporated into the official communique of the OAU meeting.

Lets take a look at what some First Ladies in Africa have done during their husband’s tenure as presidents so that we may look at what is happening here in Tanzania and judge whether we are off track or not:

NigerIn the 1960s, Aisha Hamani Diouri, the wife of the President of Niger, was reputed to be even more powerful than her spouse, whom she was alleged to have controlled like a marionette. Her legendary powers in manipulating the country's elite and dictating the pace and content of cultural and social trends are recorded in the songs and poetry of the country. During a coup in 1966, they spared the life of President Hamani Diouri, but assassinated his wife, whom they considered the personification of illegitimate power. Yet Aisha Diouri never had any autonomous space or structure through which she exercised power.

Ghana:During her husband's rule, the wife of the former Ghanaian President, Jerry Rawlings - Nana Agyeman-Rawlings had no official position in government, but nevertheless played a major role in formulating and even implementing policies relating to women, successfully creating a powerful and autonomous space for herself within the country's politics. Nana Rawlings therefore set up her own machinery, the 31 December Women's Movement (DWM) as her main organisational structure. Named after her husband's second ascension to power in 1981 the DWM was a huge organisation, with about 30 affiliate organisations and it claimed a rural membership of over two million. Much of its work has involved mobilising women around small-scale, village-level economic projects, financed by external grants. It seems that the DWM was converted to an NGO so that it could benefit from grants distributed by international funding agencies. In spite of this reconfiguration, some of its staff members remained on the government payroll. The organisation was also represented in the District Assemblies, the structure for local governance in Ghana. Nana Rawlings' influence grew to such an extent that there were strong suspicions that arrangements were being made for her to succeed her husband as President. The significance of Nana Rawlings was that she heralded the phenomenon of the First Lady who demanded an important role for women in society. She was able to appropriate current and pressing concerns in the international development community about the necessity of focusing on rural and poor women. She virtually re-invented rural women as a constituency that all public officials in Ghana are now obliged to pretend to acknowledge. She also demonstrated that there was considerable money and influence to be gained in making claims to represent the women's movement


NigeriaGhana may have been the first African country to give institutional prominence to the First Lady, but it is in Nigeria that the phenomenon has flourished. Given the long period of military rule in Nigeria, it is not surprising that women played only a marginal role in Nigeria's public life for decades. The public profile of elite women changed dramatically with the coming into power of First Lady Chief-Dr-Mrs Maryam Babangida, wife of General Babangida in the early 1980s. When her husband became President, she opened an office for herself within the Presidency. She was the first wife of a Nigerian head of state to use her spousal position as a basis for playing a prominent role in the nation's public life. In 1987, five years after Nana Rawlings had established her organisation in Ghana, Mrs Babangida launched the Better Life for Rural Women Programme (BLP). The wives of all senior state officials were systematically incorporated into this organisation. The BLP claimed to have made a major contribution towards improving the lot of rural women, including the establishment of 10 000 co-operatives, 1 793 cottage industries, 2 397 farms, 470 women's centres and 233 health centres. Wishing to establish a permanent place for herself in history, Maryam Babangida obtained public money through her husband in order to build a huge edifice in Abuja, valued at N1.6 billion (US$16 million). This she named the Maryam Babangida Centre for Women and Development. In 1992, when it appeared that her husband might have to vacate his office, she applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission to register the Centre as a Trust, with her and her son Mohammed as Trustees for life. Maryam Babangida often behaved as if she was the co-president of the country. According to Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, she summoned him one night to scold him over clashing dates for a cocktail reception she wished to organise for ECOWAS ambassadors and their wives. She apparently informed the Minister, in the presence of her husband, that she had "a joint-right with the President to appoint a new Minister of External Affairs" (The News, October 25, 1993). Shortly thereafter, Professor Akinyemi was sacked and a new Minister appointed. That event, Akinyemi claims, signalled the beginning of a “joint imperial presidency”.

In that "joint imperial presidency", it was often assumed that Maryam was the real power behind the throne.


Now ladies and gentlemen of JF, with those few examples above, you may take a look at our own First Ladies and see whether there is any justification to condemn them for performing their duties as first ladies. In my opinion our first ladies have been too modest. What they have done is in line with what they are expected to do in accordance with Tanzanian/African context. We should encourage rather than discourage them.

Mama wa kwanza - Salma Kikwete ndiyo huyoooooo kenda US - wengine wanamponda mara ohh hajui kizungu, mara elimu yake ndogo, mara anatia aibu akihutubia.Ndiyo keshakuwa First Lady na kama ni aibu basi tutaipata tu.Asaidiweje? Nani anapaswa kumpiga msasa ili amudu kufanya shughuli za ki first lady?

 

[Petu Hapa]

Mama wa kwanza - Salma Kikwete ndiyo huyoooooo kenda US - wengine wanamponda mara ohh hajui kizungu, mara elimu yake ndogo, mara anatia aibu akihutubia.Ndiyo keshakuwa First Lady na kama ni aibu basi tutaipata tu.Asaidiweje? Nani anapaswa kumpiga msasa ili amudu kufanya shughuli za ki first lady?

Historically this is how they do it in USA.

The role of First lady, By Carl Sferrazza Anthony

Since Martha Washington in the 18th century, first ladies of the United States have held a highly visible yet undefined position in the U.S. government. The author describes how several first ladies fulfilled this unique role, according to their own interests and the times they lived in.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony is the author of First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power, a two-volume set that examines every first lady from 1789 to 1990, and other titles about the first families.

The role of the first lady, the U.S. president’s spouse, has evolved from fashion trendsetter and hostess of White House dinners to a more substantive position. While there have been diverging views on the roles of women in society, the first lady is still a role model for American women. One of the highest-profile jobs in the U.S. government comes with no official duties, no paycheck, and almost limitless possibilities. The first lady can influence the president and can even exercise a degree of political power over policy and legislation.

Having a “first lady” has been part of American life since the founding of the presidency in 1789. Although the United States had just recently won its independence from Great Britain following the American Revolution, the first president’s wife, Martha Washington (1789-1797), was treated by the elite of the first capital cities of New York and Philadelphia as if she were a “lady” of the British royal court. She was referred to in public as “Lady Washington,” her popular nickname from the Revolutionary War era.

Her immediate successor, Abigail Adams (1797-1801), had also earned some fame of her own during the Revolution for her highly political opinions expressed in letters to her husband and other legislators. During her husband’s presidency, she was criticized as “Mrs. President” for so publicly voicing her politically partisan views.

Fusing elements of the ceremonial and political, the ebullient Dolley Madison (1809-1817) firmly established this new national archetype. Dolley Madison risked her own well-being to remove iconic treasures of the fledgling United States from the burning White House during the War of 1812. Her heroism made her a legend and identified her in the public imagination as an ideal “presidentress.” Dolley Madison dressed in elegant fashions to attract newspaper coverage yet remained democratically accessible to all citizens. She led an effort for orphans and sought equal access for women in public places from Supreme Court hearings to oyster houses. She created the standard by which all of her successors were judged until the time of the global humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt (1933-1945).

The public expectation for such a position was so established by the mid-19th century that when Harriet Lane (1857-1861) served as hostess for her uncle, the only bachelor president, James Buchanan, a new title was used for her that covered both presidential spouses and other women relatives who served as hostesses for those presidents who were widowed or single — first lady. The title was first printed in 1860 in Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

A Chronicle of Firsts

The achievements and activities of first ladies who served between Dolley Madison and Eleanor Roosevelt did not attract great public attention but were often notable. Julia Tyler (1844-1845) was the first to be photographed and have her image publicly distributed in an engraving. Mary Lincoln (1861-1865) was the first enmeshed in controversy and was the subject of newspaper editorials. Lucy Hayes (1877-1881) was the first exploited for commercial merchandising. Frances Cleveland (1886-1889 and 1893-1897) was the first to issue a press release, which denied a whispered scandal about her private life. Helen “Nellie” Taft (1909-1913) was the first to ride in her husband’s inaugural parade, declare her support for women’s suffrage, and earn public credit for successfully lobbying for federal legislation. Edith Wilson (1915-1921), in the context of protecting her husband as he recovered from a stroke, became the first to assume management of the presidency, prompting many to consider her something of the first “first lady president.” Florence Harding (1921-1923) was the first to vote, deliver speeches, and publicly declare her sense of obligation to intervene in government affairs affecting specific constituencies, such as veterans, working women, and humane societies.


First Lady Barbara Bush reads to preschoolers in New York in 1990.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s husband, President Franklin Roosevelt, had polio, a disease that prevented his walking and thus his freedom of movement to inspect various conditions around the country. Mrs. Roosevelt assumed this essential role, which she said was like being his “eyes and ears.” In addition to her duties as first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a monthly magazine column and a daily newspaper column, lectured, hosted a weekly radio show, and authored several books. She was an international figure who had influence on the world stage.

Her immediate successors, Bess Truman (1945-1953) and Mamie Eisenhower (1953-1961), were more traditional hostesses and charity patrons. Jacqueline Kennedy (1961-1963) added the roles of historian and decorator as she presided over the historic restoration and preservation of the White House and other public sites, and she was a champion of American arts and culture. Global fascination with Mrs. Kennedy intensified because she spoke several languages and visited South American, Asian, and European nations. In conjunction with the rise of television and the growing movement for women’s equality in all spheres of life, there was a public expectation at the time that first ladies address current issues, tailored to their strengths, ambitions, expertise, and interests.

A More Substantive Role

Lady Bird Johnson (1963-1969) became a pioneer of the growing environmental protection and urban renewal movements, fostering federal legislation that sought to restore public highways to their natural appearances and to remove visually marring sites.

Betty Ford (1974-1977) stirred controversy by her frank discussion of political issues that affected women, registering her support for the Supreme Court decision upholding a woman’s right to choose abortion and lobbying state legislatures to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. When Mrs. Ford disclosed her own breast cancer, she helped eradicate the taboo against discussing the health problem that affected millions of women.

Rosalynn Carter (1977-1981) testified before Congress to aid people with chronic mental health problems, led a global relief effort for Cambodian refugees, and held substantive meetings with Central and South American political and military leaders as a representative of the president.

Nancy Reagan (1981-1989) led a campaign to dissuade school-aged children from using illegal drugs, helped monitor her husband’s appointments to ensure that his advisors remained loyal to his policies, and encouraged President Reagan’s friendship with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, which eventually led to an arms reduction treaty.

Barbara Bush (1989-1993) led an effort to reduce adult illiteracy, believing it to be an underlying cause for many social problems.

In 2001, Hillary Clinton (1993-2001) became the only former first lady elected to public office, the U.S. Senate. As first lady, she headed a health care reform effort to provide insurance to all Americans. In the more traditional role of first lady, she created an outdoor sculpture garden and displayed contemporary American art in the historic rooms of the White House. In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran for president of the United States and nearly won her party’s nomination.

Laura Bush (2001-present) began her tenure as first lady by encouraging childhood reading but expanded her influence into a broad range of issues, including heart disease in women, aiding at-risk young men with positive-oriented goals, increasing federal support for libraries, and teacher training. She also made independent trips to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, promoting equal access to health care and education for women. Notably, she spoke out in support of persecuted Buddhist monks in the nation of Myanmar.

The first ladies’ travels, their causes, and activities are newsworthy events in the United States. Because of their relation to the president, they are political celebrities and have been able from earliest times to use their position to influence styles and advocate for social and political causes.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.

 

[Mkandara]

WomenofSubstenc,

kwanza tuelewe kwamba "First Lady" siyo wadhifa ambao labda mtu anapewa na hivyo kumpa mhusika madaraka au wajibu fulani kiserikali/kitaifa.

Bibie hapa kidogo sintakubaliana nawe kwa sababu neno First Lady ni wadhifa (kwa kuelewa kwangu) ..Otherwise tulitakiwa kumwita Mrs. Kikwete.. Hilo neno First Lady lina uzito mkubwa sana na heshima zote anazopata zinatokana na neno hilo na mnategemea vitu fulani kutokana na wadhifa huo. Na wadhifa huu hukoma tu pindi akiondoka Ikulu...Ni sawa na wadhifa wowote ule hata iwe dereva, ataitwa dereva kwa sababu amnaendesha gari, nje ya hapo sii dereva.

Pili, kinachonisumbua mimi na hoja nyingi zinazohusiana na First Lady ni ile copy cat ya First Lady wa Marekani. Kila hoja humu inatazama kazi za First Lady wa Marekani na tunajaribu kulinganisha jambo ambalo sii lazima kabisa. Kuna mataifa mangapi duniani? na ni First Lady wangapi wanayafanya anayoyafanya mke wa Bush au Obama..
Hizo Public Appearence na misafara ni ngapi tumewaona wake wa viongozi hawa wakishiriki..Wachache sana hawaweza kuwa sawa au kulingana na rais wa Marekani. Hivi navyozungumza simfahamu mke wa Gordon hata kwa sura maana sijawahi kumwona popote..Acha huyo naweza sema asilimia 99 ya wake za Marais sina habari zao kikamilifu na umenisaidia sana kusoma baadhi ya maelezo yako ya mwanzo.

Muhimu kwetu ni tufikirie tunataka nini mke wa rais akifanye na anatweza vipi kulisaidia Taifa letu kutunza, kutangaza na kuimarisha asili na mila zetu..
- Mwanamke ndiye mtendaji mkuu (rubani) wa familia zetu!.