The hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil MPs

[BAK]

Wednesday June 03, 2009

The hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil MPs

Adam Lusekelo, 3rd June 2009 @ 01:42 ​

Looking at our honourable MPs perform before the cameras in Tanzania’s unbuilt ‘capital’ of Dodoma, you start to wonder. It seems the majority of them have travelled all the way to Dom for a long siesta – and for the money, of course. How come among the 200 plus parliamentarians we have, only a handful – hardly ten per cent – who really come out swinging? Or is it the agents of our country who plan and spray the Bunge buildings in Dodoma substances like chloroform that provoke strategic amnesia amongst our MPs?

They seem to forget that our country is going through economic difficulties. Reports say even our glorious government has been held in a straight jacket. Our MPs, except a few troublemakers, don’t seem to notice anything. As we see it from the sidelines, it seems that for most of our MPs, this s is just an haute couture session -- who dresses better than the other MPs. Maybe we should start a fashion session at the Bunge to find out who is smarter to look at than the rest. Come to think of it, we could borrow a chapter from what the Ugandans have done.

An independent Ugandan think tank has published performance scorecards for every MP in the country. Graded from triple A to F, the reports measure such things as attendance and participation at debates. Naturally, this has been very welcomed by the voters. Opposition MPs scored higher than those from the governing party and men, snored…I mean did better than women. That could easily have been Tanzania. The opposition in Bongo rocked the country to its foundation, whilst most of MPs from the governing party have been playing the ‘hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil’ ploys.

They would say: “Fisadi? Where?” Such a system of monitoring MPs should be adopted in Tanzania yesterday. Frankly, there are some MPs who travel to Dom to collect allowances and maybe enjoy the weekend beer and 'nyama choma'. Of course, the MPs have been distinguishing themselves with demands for more dosh. It is never enough. Okay even if they are terrified of asking questions to their party superiors, how about setting up decent constituency offices? A place where the 'wananchi' could hear news on the radio, read papers -- and even watch TV -- is welcome.

You could suggest something like that, only to hear that a place like Busanda has no electricity. One wonders if the MPs have ever heard about solar-powered radios and TVs. That one can get solar powered electricity, with the right effort, instead of listening to Minister of Energy and Minerals, Bill Ngeleja’s fables about providing electricity to every region where there is a by-election. I know some MPs who have never uttered a word since they entered the parliament. We definitely should start giving them marks for their dismal performances.

alusekelo@gmail.com adamlusekelo.globspot.com