n00b
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 10, 2008
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A few weeks ago, one of the local English dailies, The Citizen, carried a story quoting some foreign organization as saying that Tanzania was one of the few African countries that had done well in good governance!
Now what is this animal called good governance the insistence of which is harped on, almost on a daily basis, by what have come to be referred to as Development Partners?
Good governance is about the processes for making and implementing decisions. Its not about making correct decisions, but about the best possible processes for making those decisions. Some of the important principles of good governance are accountability, participation and transparency.
For those who have been following closely daily happenings in our local media, they may have come across a story that links a former cabinet minister to raping of a 16 year girl and infecting her with virus which eventually cause HIV aids.
Some of the local papers actually went farther to carry SMS messages from the former cabinet minister admonishing the hapless girl that whatever she did against him would come to a naught because he was untouchable!
And as a mark of the awe with which security organs dared not to touch him, his sons were heavily involved in drug trafficking, but he claimed that they were left (by the authority) scot-free!
Now what was very disheartening about this macabre story is that when members of the media asked the Dar es Salaam Zonal Police Commander, Suleiman Kova, what action the police planned to take against the former cabinet minister, Kova said nothing as what was going on between the man and the girl was a private matter!
It was therefore not surprising that when Commander Kova made the outrageous statement, the TAMWA (Tanzania Women Media Workers) Chairperson, Valerie Msoka, condemned the authorities for their failure to commit the alleged rapist to the court of law.
However, the twists and turns over the untouchable former cabinet minister did not end there.
Later the former cabinet minister flew out of the country, having been allowed to do so by the powers that be!
And the public was later told by the media that the man had been send abroad for some important business!
To date, nothing has been done by the authority over the matter and the former cabinet minister and University of Dar es Salaam don is a free as molecule in the air!
Many political analysts believe that the polices failure to arrest the man is due to the fact that he is not only a member of parliament, but more importantly, he is coming from the ruling party, CCM.
According to the Tanzanias Penal Code, rape carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Of course, this is not the first time that a ruling party bigwig has been left scot-free.
Barely a few months ago, a member of parliament from Chadema party accused a very senior official of the ruling party of being directly involved in export of elephant tusks but to date no steps have been taken against the official despite his (the ruling party official) own admission that although the company that had transported the elephant tusks to China was his, but he personally he had nothing to do with the elephant tusks haul!
Another member of parliament from the ruling party in one of the three districts in Dar es Salaam has repeatedly been accused by some of the ruling partys MPs of being linked to drug trafficking, again no steps have been taken by the authority against the man.
And many analysts strongly attribute the authorities inaction to the fact that the alleged drug peddler is a member of the ruling party.
Many people however, wonder what would have happened had the foregoing been members of an opposition party!
But as the country slowly inches towards the 2015 general election, many observers are of the views that unless the government does something about its wayward leaders, it may pay heavily in the forthcoming general election!
Source: Tanzania: Govt should deal with wayward leaders without fear or favour! | Fikra Pevu | Kisima cha busara!
