Gerald .M Magembe
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 17, 2013
- 2,496
- 1,796
In Tanzania, there’s a high level of incest between political and business elites. That’s to say that business and political elites are one and the same thing. Egypt is a classical case where the military, which rules the state, owns the largest share of the economy – either directly, or through oligarchs. In Tanzania, the picture isn’t more nuanced. In fact, you really can’t make real money unless you are connected to the state. That’s why our politicians, or their relatives, are the wealthiest Tanzanians. It’s a symbiotic existence.
Secondly, the professions have been captured by the kleptocracy. Let’s take law, for example, its called “noble profession.” In William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Dick the Butcher said that “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This, he suggested, would’ve made the country better. I obviously wouldn’t go that far, but some lawyers in Tanzania have been the bane of our existence. Many have aided and abetted bad governance. I can think of an attorney general or two who are guilty as charged. Or a number of attorneys who are lawyers for the mob – the mafia – Tanzania’s version of la cosa nostra. These lawyers infest our courts to corrupt a willing judiciary. It’s the mob.
Other professions aren’t immune. Take the financial sector. Here, crooks abound aplenty. How else do you explain the web of fraudulent real estate deals, fake titles, and grabbing of public lands for construction?
The civil service – I wonder whether the term “civil” should be severed from the “service” – is awash with corrupt maggots. That’s why Mama Samia Suluhu’s has her work cut out for her in his current good governance crusade. Most culprits see it more like a putsch. But if Mama Samia succeeds in killing the lords of corruption and impunity – and establishing a system of meritocracy – he may move Tanzania from the banana republic column.Can she destroy the oligarchs and plutocrats? I say possibly – but she can’t blink.
Third, there’s the not too small matter of local oligarchs and elites being servile to international corrupt interests. In the past, American and European multinationals, states, banks, and other commercial interests openly bribed our elites. Often, public officials would sign contracts they didn’t “understand” or hadn’t read. Who bothers to read a contract giving away national treasures when their pockets have been lined with kickbacks? More recently, Chinese interests – public and private – have replaced Europeans and Americans in the orgy of bribery.
Finally, let’s admit that Tanzanias – elites and wananchi, oligarchs and machingas – are our own worst enemies. We behave as though looting is in our blood. We admire the looters. We beg from the looters. We implore the looters to loot even more. Otherwise, how can we explain the use of the Party card every time a looter is fingered for looting? Let’s cut the umbilical cords that connect us to the banana republic.
Secondly, the professions have been captured by the kleptocracy. Let’s take law, for example, its called “noble profession.” In William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Dick the Butcher said that “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This, he suggested, would’ve made the country better. I obviously wouldn’t go that far, but some lawyers in Tanzania have been the bane of our existence. Many have aided and abetted bad governance. I can think of an attorney general or two who are guilty as charged. Or a number of attorneys who are lawyers for the mob – the mafia – Tanzania’s version of la cosa nostra. These lawyers infest our courts to corrupt a willing judiciary. It’s the mob.
Other professions aren’t immune. Take the financial sector. Here, crooks abound aplenty. How else do you explain the web of fraudulent real estate deals, fake titles, and grabbing of public lands for construction?
The civil service – I wonder whether the term “civil” should be severed from the “service” – is awash with corrupt maggots. That’s why Mama Samia Suluhu’s has her work cut out for her in his current good governance crusade. Most culprits see it more like a putsch. But if Mama Samia succeeds in killing the lords of corruption and impunity – and establishing a system of meritocracy – he may move Tanzania from the banana republic column.Can she destroy the oligarchs and plutocrats? I say possibly – but she can’t blink.
Third, there’s the not too small matter of local oligarchs and elites being servile to international corrupt interests. In the past, American and European multinationals, states, banks, and other commercial interests openly bribed our elites. Often, public officials would sign contracts they didn’t “understand” or hadn’t read. Who bothers to read a contract giving away national treasures when their pockets have been lined with kickbacks? More recently, Chinese interests – public and private – have replaced Europeans and Americans in the orgy of bribery.
Finally, let’s admit that Tanzanias – elites and wananchi, oligarchs and machingas – are our own worst enemies. We behave as though looting is in our blood. We admire the looters. We beg from the looters. We implore the looters to loot even more. Otherwise, how can we explain the use of the Party card every time a looter is fingered for looting? Let’s cut the umbilical cords that connect us to the banana republic.
