Our 'Senses' Vs Our Future: Individual, Organisational and National Self - reflection!

[HKigwangalla]

Our ‘senses’ Vs Our future: Individual, Organizational and National Self-reflection!

By Hamisi Kigwangalla, MP.​

Don’t be stupefied with what I am just about to write. It’s not medical jargon but rather some little concept which I think would help us move forward. There are some cognitive processes and contents that deserve our attention as we live our lives every day. These I wish to bring to light today. I will detail them in the perspective pertaining to taking leadership steps and responsibility of our own self, organizations and the country.
A sense is a ‘general conscious awareness’, a ‘cognizance’, a feeling, a perception, a ‘cognitive reflection’ of some sort. In Biology we learnt that a sense is a mental faculty by which the brain perceives external stimuli, and we were taught of the faculties of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. In other ways one could define it as ‘a feeling that something is the case’ – this latter definition would be used for the purpose of this article. There could be other meanings and perspectives but I would limit myself to this definition for the purpose of this article.


A ‘sense of duty’ means that we have a motivating awareness of an ethical responsibility to attend to our duty to us ourselves, to others and to the state as appropriately as possible – the least we could do is at least seen to be working toward this goal. And this is not to be confused as a duty of politicians – party members, fans or political stalwarts, but a duty of all. A sense of duty to ourselves for instance for all of us as individuals entails, just in this one aspect, in education – to educate ourselves on a continuous way, to strive for excellence in school environment, or even outside in sports, games and the performing arts; just to be the best in everything we do – this is the role that we as individuals have to be aware of, that we are ethically bound to be better educated. If every one of us does that in the same essence, we would find ourselves excelling in education as a whole, as a country. It will become our culture to strive for excellence, hence a ‘sense of excellence’ turned into a ‘culture of excellence’ amongst our countrymen.


It is an enigma that is hidden but highly needed for a nation to prosper. In another more political aspect, we need to have politicians who have a ‘sense of duty’ to the nation. This would help us conduct ourselves in a way that is more responsible for the betterment of our nation. For instance, members of parliament would shun away from shameful, grotesque mishaps in the parliament while in session just for the sake of hitting it to the front page of newspapers. That fame for someone searching for timeless triumphs is short-lived and meaningless; that no one smart enough would elect you or not elect you because you walked out of the house or because you are a champion at picking up on other colleagues from a different political party while the house is in session (that you are a ‘hero’), no one, at least me for one. Gutter politics in its best of forms, has never won someone votes for office.


These kinds of political maneuvers does more harm than good to our nation, and for us politicians, this shall ring bells that the time for playing around with important national matters is over. Instead of clinging to political acrobatics for gaining party prominence we should transform into standing for national interests. This is a more beneficial position and a meaningful one to the nation. In most cases, for instance, most of the ‘things’ portrayed in the parliament as are done for national interest, are actually very well on the contrary. Some good ‘actors’ in the parliament could uphold an agenda with a very good portrayal of ‘national interests’ in terms of the tone of the voice, the lobbying and the like while in essence it is ‘own stomach interests’. For instance, where is ‘national interests’ in all the rush for issuing new blocks for gas exploration and development now that we are in the process of writing our new gas policy (before even we enact a new oil and gas law that fits the current wave of the industry) and our new constitution (that would protect our natural resources), we are training our technical cadres in oil and gas and building our financial capital and institutional framework?



This is so shameful to all of us who have been given an opportunity to be in a prestigious house making decisions for the rest of our countrymen. A sense of duty works better and in close relationship with a another sense, a ‘sense of shame’, that if you feel shameful at yourself sometimes on what you have done or of what have become of you, you then would have a chance to correct your wrongs by making them right (if you have time and space to do so) or just to ‘make it up’ for your wrongs by improving yourself. So for all of us – we have a chance to make it up for the better. An upright individual would have a ‘sense of right and wrong’ which is very high; this sense will govern his thoughts and actions from deep in his conscience. The ‘sense of right and wrong’ is like an ‘inner’ voice from within that emanates from your superego which motivates your ethical responsibility to logically govern your thoughts and actions.


There is a saying I would like to borrow from African literature that ‘if you don’t know the way you could never get lost’. This leads me through to another sense, namely the ‘sense of direction’. No man smart as he may be could undermine the importance of knowing where you are going before you even start your journey. This sense is all about knowing the orientation of your space at any material time. This works in very close proximity to another most important sense that I refer to as a ‘sense of purpose’; meaning having a quality of knowing what you want to achieve in life, a quality of having a defined purpose. This also is an important sense for individuals, organizations and the whole nation. For an individual; to know the purpose of man on earth would have cleared us of a lot of unnecessary ‘things’ and ‘pleasures’ that we spend much time and energy worrying about: things as material wealth, titles and power and pleasures such a sex, food and drinks and narcotics – what do they matter at all to deserve ‘going an extra mile’ on them. An ‘extra mile’ here refers to engaging in major graft, killing of one another, theft, engaging in illicit business and others of the same sort. I wish all of us should ask ourselves this one million dollar question: what is my purpose here on earth?


If we get a good sense of purpose, we will certainly improve ourselves for the better. For instance, at a national level, for politicians, we wouldn’t find answers in a ‘political competition model’ of democracy but rather in a new own-made system of ‘political cooperation and consultation’ for the betterment of our nation. There wouldn’t be fighting for power and nor battling for who is better than the other. It will be, we do this for us all, for the nation. We would be battling against poverty, illiteracy, diseases, global warming, famine and unemployment. The sense of purpose tells us a lot about purposefulness, meaningfulness; the attribute of being of matter and significance above all. I hope my readers would see it all like that. To me this is the most important of all the senses that I have depicted in my article.



Dr. Hamisi Kigwangalla, MP, is a Member of Parliament representing Nzega Constituency and is a Chairperson, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Regional Administration and Local Government (RALG) Affairs. He has a Doctor of Medicine Degree, a Master of Public Health, a Master of Business Administration and is currently writing his Ph.D thesis in Public Health (Health economics).
Contacts: www.hamisikigwangalla.com or info@hamisikigwangalla.com | Mobile: +255782636963

 

[Tume ya Katiba]

I see u'r point........

Nafikili it's Immoral unethical na illogical kupinga kila kinachotoka kwa wapinzani wako hadi pale wanapotishia kuvunja sheria kama wafanyavyo baadhi ya wana Chama cha mapinduzi, kupinga kila kinachotoka kwa wapinzani wako kwa kudhani kufanya hivyo kutawapa credit hata kama jambo hilo lina manufaa kwa wananchi.

Pia it's Immoral , unethical, illogical and foolishness kuanzisha vurugu kutishia kuvunja amani kuudharau mawazo ya serikali halali na kudhani wewe ni mjuaji sana kiasi cha kupinga kila liletwalo na serikali kama wafanyavyo CHADEMA na wapinzani wengine.

Pia Immoral , unethical, illogical , foolishness and Hypocrisy ndani yake kutumia wingi katika vyombo vya kutoa maamuzi kupitisha jambo baya ama kupinga jambo zuri simply kwa kuwa mpo wengi na mna uwezo wa kufanya hivyo bila kujali uzito wa hoja husika kama vifanyavvyo vyama vya upinzani katika halmashauri ambazo wapo majority na wafanyavyo wabunge wa CCM bungeni.

 

[Bocho]

HKigwangalla lead by example comrade as it is easier said than done!

Common wananchi would like to see political leaders, you being one of them, to behave according to the principles you have articulated above.

I expected the young generation of MPs irrespective of your political ideologies could join and form a 'coalition' when it comes to matters of national interest. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in our parliament.

You can start now, Honorable MP, it is not too late to match the talk.

 

[Descartes]

My take:
For the keen reader would unearth a gem out of your article.Bravo.You sound patriotic if you would live out your words, because for politicians, more or less they could easily say than do. In that line,I personally observed as follows: the fourthly paragraph has some kind of political-smear.

Here I mean you could avoid playing with these day to day political rhetoric we now get accustomed to in order to take on board the neutrality much as you want to talk of national's interest regardless of your being an MP from the ruling party lest your points made could dive deeper but come up muddier.

Nonetheless,the last four paragraphs hold water.They sound patriotic: Gas and oil should be a Tanzania's future bliss not a curse.Its exploitation policy should serve the nation's interest.

 

[CRITICAL MIND]

​

Dr Kigwangalla, this is a brilliant anatomisation of the reality of the contemporary situation in Tanzania

I wish the likes of you were given more space to bring us these THINK PIECES. I also wish the likes of January Makamba et al were more proactive in this place. But I digress.

Your critique reminded me of Sir Lewis Namier's classic study The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (1929) which pa painted a devastating portrait of the British ruling class on the eve of the American Revolution. Sir Lewis sought to demonstrate how idealism, party division and disinterested public service had no relevance at the time. I strongly recommend this book to any JF member and politicians in particular.


24 HOURS ago, we commemorated the death of Tanzaia's founding father (Mwalimu) and we all know what happened in post Mwalimu's death . Within few years after his death Tanzania's Public men sought office as a means of enriching themselves and rewarding their relations, clients and dependants. Throughout much of Continental Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Africa and Tanzania in particular, government is viewed, at least in part, as a method of personal enrichment. Even in the United States of America, -where the Founding Fathers sought to copy the British system with the monarch left out, good old-fashioned jobbery is still a highly obtrusive feature.


In the new post Cold War African democracies, Tanzania (interestingly) however, departed from that path. For reasons that have still not been fully examined by our scholars ( I wish the Visrams, Mkandals, Shivjis, et had done this). But its no secret that Tanzania as the state has state changed fundamentally in the course of 'the last two decates. This was not a matter of size, or even of function. It was mainly a matter of attitude. The governing class internalised the idea of public duty.


It evolved a picture of the state which could not have been more different from the orgy of greed and concupiscence painted by various critiques. Our founding fathers and political ancestors gradually established a series of dividing lines between private and public, and between party and state. Once these boundaries had been put in place, through the creation of powerful cultural conventions and through Acts of Parliament, transgression often led to personal disgrace or jail. The great Nyerereists created the notion of the public domain, from which private interest had been banished, and where all were to be treated with fairness regardless of personal influence or connection.


Love him or loathe him but Nyerere and his allies invented the idea of CLEAN GOVERNMENT, overseen by a new class of benign and above all disinterested administrators. These zealous guardians of the Nyerere era state could not be bribed, suborned or influenced. They rejected the ancient ties of custom,· connection or family favoured by their opponents. They converted the civil service from a system of indoor relief for the dependants of great men into a professional elite which recruited through open public examination.



It suffice to say that in the developing Europe of the 17th Century had been an age of rule by prerogative, and the 18th Century by patronage, the 19th Century which Nyerere inherited from Britain would become a rule by virtue. Few years after his death, it became fashionable to mock this idealism. But such irreverence flowed from a failure of vision. The Nyerere's administration had created something extremely unusual in the long history of Tanzania's political society: THE IDEA OF AN UNSELFISH PUBLIC DOMAIN ARID AN ALTRUISTIC GOVERNING CLASS.


In almost every area they set in place a new system. They abolished the purchase of commissions in the TPDF, streamlined recruitment in the civil service, rooted out bribery and corruption from the ballot box, and set new standards of public regulation through the factory acts and other public works. A parallel process took place in the private sector. What we saw was the emergence of the great self-regulating professions: medicine, the law, auditors, architects, engineers etc.



It is the central argument of my response to to your thesis Dr Kigwangalla that in recent years the achievements of the Nyerere reformers have been cut through and in some cases destroyed. The stringent and morally onerous of that era dividing lines between public duty and private interest survived and often strengthened deep into the 21st Century.


But they have been deliberately undermined by a new generation of 'modernisers' over the past 20 years. The so-called modernisers always claim to be bringing Tanzanian politics up to date by introducing competence and integrity, for instance by intro ducing market disciplines into the public sector. In practice they often turn out to have achieved the exact OPPOSITE, and to have helped the governance of Tanzania revert in a variety of important ways to something close to the situation described by Prof Ali Mazrui in his series THE AFRICANS, A TRIPLE HERITAGE.


At the start of 21st century Tanzania public life is once again dominated by a tight political elite within CCM which pursues its own sectional interest oblivious to the public good. The rhetoric of public virtue persists - indeed, has rarely been more emphatic -but the old barriers against factionalism, patronage and corruption have been for the most part broken.


Dr Kingwangalla, surely by now you probably know that Tanzania's Political Class (which you are a member) is set apart from the rest of society. You and your political elites have your own manners, morality, habits and specific behavioural codes which place it at a sharp angle to mainstream Society. More striking still, you have your own methods of communication in a sense of ''WAPEMBA HUJUANA KWA VILEMBA'' It is normal that crafts, professions and all other specialised forms of activity should have their own private language.


But you and your associates especially your mates within CCM often to communicate in a peculiar, false and barely comprehensible fashion, full of specialised jargon and phrases that bear an application only within the very restricted medial political caste that governs21st Century Tanzania. Your coded language, which is impenetrable except in a very superficial sense to outsiders, is often intended to mislead.


What your wrote above and what you say when you are in the parliament are 2 different things.

 

[Eric Cartman]

Heshima mbele kiongozi well written.

 

[Chikwa]

You have made your point Mheshimiwa. It is now time to walk the talk.

 

[Mtamile]

Tatizo umeandika kwa lugha ya kikoloni ngoja nikatafute dikishonare

 

[n00b]

A well written piece of which I concur to most; with an exception to 'Sense of duty' which conferring to my scrutiny perceive still lacking in your words of what it entails.

‘Sense of duty' can not only be thoroughly explained by holding education as a sole entity for it to be viable in a person, let alone a leader. It should not only be limited to be as accountable only if a leader is elite (education-wise) for regardless the fact that most leaders are literates, majority are non-elites (education-wise) and that should not be an excuse of the leader in question not to hold and apply a ‘Sense of duty'. Like you said, "A ‘sense of duty' means that we have a motivating awareness of an ethical responsibility to attend to our duty to us ourselves, to others and to the state as appropriately as possible". Thus it should be well understood this is beyond one being educated and its devotion to it.

Of course I am not saying your explanation is futile, but I do mean sense of duty implies more than being educated or extremely so. A sense of duty can be better applied to a person/leader that is patriotic and accountable (education is a plus) to all his/her doings with the betterment of our world today and tomorrow.

 

[Pascal Mayalla]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.

Kutokana na hii contrast, kuna uwezekano wa mambo mawili.
1.Dr.Kigwangala halisi ni huyu anaeandika humu,ila akiwa bungeni ndipo anakuwa pretender as if sio Great Thinker ili afananie na wenzie kwenye collective responsibility ya uwingi wa CCM mule bungeni. Huu mimi nauita ni uoga wa kinafiki!.

2.Inawezekana Kigwangala halisi ndio yule wa bungeni na huyu anayekuja humu as great thinker ndie imposter anayefanya kazi ya kuibilizia maandiko ya ma great thinker wa ukweli na kuyabadili kidogo to fit the subject matter na kuyaposti humu as a great thinker.

Ili kumjua who is who na kama huyo ndie yule yule, lazima afike mahali asimame as one kule na huku!.

Haiwezekani mtu mmoja yule yule asimame bungeni aupongeze ule muswada wa marekebisho ya katiba na kuwapobda walioupinga halafu kesho mtu yule yule anakuja humu kumshauri rais asiusaini Kutokana na abcd!.

Kiukweli hoja kama hii ni ya nguvu na yenye mantiki na mashiko, kwa nini akizungumza hakuna mantiki na mashiko kama haya?!.

Pasco.

 

[CORLEON]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.

Kutokana na hii contrast, kuna uwezekano wa mambo mawili.
1.Dr.Kigwangala halisi ni huyu anaeandika humu,ila akiwa bungeni ndipo anakuwa pretender as if sio Great Thinker ili afananie na wenzie kwenye collective responsibility ya uwingi wa CCM mule bungeni. Huu mimi nauita ni uoga wa kinafiki!.

uko sahihi kabisa pasco.......kama mtu kwenye hadhira anayosimamia hayaeleweki basi hata angeandika vizuri haileti maana.....

 

[FJM]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.


Ili kumjua who is who na kama huyo ndie yule yule, lazima afike mahali asimame as one kule na huku!.

.

Pasco,

Tuko pamoja.

 

[n00b]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.

Kutokana na hii contrast, kuna uwezekano wa mambo mawili.
1.Dr.Kigwangala halisi ni huyu anaeandika humu,ila akiwa bungeni ndipo anakuwa pretender as if sio Great Thinker ili afananie na wenzie kwenye collective responsibility ya uwingi wa CCM mule bungeni. Huu mimi nauita ni uoga wa kinafiki!.

2.Inawezekana Kigwangala halisi ndio yule wa bungeni na huyu anayekuja humu as great thinker ndie imposter anayefanya kazi ya kuibilizia maandiko ya ma great thinker wa ukweli na kuyabadili kidogo to fit the subject matter na kuyaposti humu as a great thinker.

Pasco.

Makala za Mkuu Kigwangallah ni ushahidi tosha kuwa viongozi wengi wanajua zuri na baya ila tu huwa wanajitoa ufahamu linapokuja suala linalohusu Chama chao na maslahi yao bila kuangalia na kujali mwananchi na nchi. Kuwaelewa inakuwa ngumu na ni sababu inayoleta maswali kama uliyowakilisha hapa Mkuu Pasco. Haiingii akilini.

Dr. Kigwangallah with all due respect you would fit as a perfect example of a leader who has a sense of duty but does not necessarily apply that sense to action! I read most of your articles, they are of patriotic stance, en-lighting and some even provide solutions of which if applied by most leaders there would be a relieve in so many areas.

Kimsingi zingatia hiyo post ya Mkuu Pasco. Ina mantiki sana.

 

[Companero]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.

Kutokana na hii contrast, kuna uwezekano wa mambo mawili.
1.Dr.Kigwangala halisi ni huyu anaeandika humu,ila akiwa bungeni ndipo anakuwa pretender as if sio Great Thinker ili afananie na wenzie kwenye collective responsibility ya uwingi wa CCM mule bungeni. Huu mimi nauita ni uoga wa kinafiki!.

2.Inawezekana Kigwangala halisi ndio yule wa bungeni na huyu anayekuja humu as great thinker ndie imposter anayefanya kazi ya kuibilizia maandiko ya ma great thinker wa ukweli na kuyabadili kidogo to fit the subject matter na kuyaposti humu as a great thinker.

Ili kumjua who is who na kama huyo ndie yule yule, lazima afike mahali asimame as one kule na huku!.

Haiwezekani mtu mmoja yule yule asimame bungeni aupongeze ule muswada wa marekebisho ya katiba na kuwapobda walioupinga halafu kesho mtu yule yule anakuja humu kumshauri rais asiusaini Kutokana na abcd!.

Kiukweli hoja kama hii ni ya nguvu na yenye mantiki na mashiko, kwa nini akizungumza hakuna mantiki na mashiko kama haya?!.

Pasco.

Uandishi kivuli? Ghost writing?

 

[magohe]

Why are all fake politicians talking about some shit you never been a part of?

You're trying to mask your face with an intent of pleasing your party chairperson whom you didn't formerly know his stances on this prevailing saga and in the meantime trying to counterfeit people for your irregularities in terms of decision making.

Now you want us to believe in those writing that you have spelt out on senses vs our feature which actually do not count with your courses of action rather than being adopted as a decoy to people who vested their interests on you as an mp.

This is very ridiculous!!

And only fools might support you and become lured with these kinds of silly politics you're trying to impart.

You speak of senses that you do not cast round them.

What pity is it!!

 

[Sandinistas]

Hon. Kigwangala, this is encouraging if only you mean what you have written here. I am sceptical because you are a politician and recent years have become very weary of politicians. At independence, we declared war on three familiar enemies and this war is yet to be won. However, after the elections of 2010 an ugly fourth enemy has become very apparent; political greed. Since then political parties have become vehicles for herding Tanzanians to serve political greed. Most disgusting is to see our representative being used as pawns in the game. They have stopped representing us in parliament; they have chosen to represent themselves, or at best political parties. Shame on them. In short, Dr. Kigwangala, that is how we see you. Admittedly, there are few exceptions among the current MPs. Unfortunately, it had not occurred to me that you are among the few exceptions. Of course I too have my own problem; I have stopped watching live parliamentary sessions on tv for 3 years now. The quality of debate has deteriorated markedly, not to speak of the familiar nonsense which has become a mark of 'maturity' in many of our MPs.

 

[oldisgold]

elites wa tanzania hao.

 

[CRITICAL MIND]

2015 was quite eventful to say the least

 

[The Businessman]

Mimi bado najaribu kumwelewa huu Mkuu Dr Kigwangala. Ukimsoma anavyoandika anaonekana ni great thinker and a philosopher with great mind!. Lakini nikimsikiliza kule mjengoni huu aliyeandika hata ni Kigwangala mwingine ambaye hamwagi nondo kama hizi kule zinakomatter most. Kule Mbona hasemi haya?!.

Kutokana na hii contrast, kuna uwezekano wa mambo mawili.
1.Dr.Kigwangala halisi ni huyu anaeandika humu,ila akiwa bungeni ndipo anakuwa pretender as if sio Great Thinker ili afananie na wenzie kwenye collective responsibility ya uwingi wa CCM mule bungeni. Huu mimi nauita ni uoga wa kinafiki!.

2.Inawezekana Kigwangala halisi ndio yule wa bungeni na huyu anayekuja humu as great thinker ndie imposter anayefanya kazi ya kuibilizia maandiko ya ma great thinker wa ukweli na kuyabadili kidogo to fit the subject matter na kuyaposti humu as a great thinker.

Ili kumjua who is who na kama huyo ndie yule yule, lazima afike mahali asimame as one kule na huku!.


Pasco.

Hii post ina kaukweli fulani.