The Way Forward

[MwanaFalsafa1]

While many African countries have now "enjoyed" at least 50 years of independence that independence has proven to only be an independence of the flag but has not resulted in any real independence for African governments to enact policies beneficial to its people rather than use its resources to fuel the economies of more powerful nations. The truth is no independence is complete without economic independence and without it even political independence is threatened.

Maybe an example can best illustrate the position many African governments find themselves in. Imagine being a poor person. Now imagine being dependent on a rich friend to provide you with monetary assistance. Whether you like it or not the friend will have a huge influence on how you conduct your life be it directly or indirectly. it also gives the friend the power to make decisions for you. Will you really have the audacity to call out this friend and risk loosing funding from them?

Now let's take a look at Tanzania's case. Tanzania's budget owes about 40 percent of its fundings from donor countries. How does this help the donors influence our policies? Well the ins and outs of it would involve a lot of explanation which would require a topic of its own. There is a simplier way to exam this influence . If one is an avid reader of Tanzanian newspapers they will not fail to encounter once in a while an ambassador from a donor country trying to dictate demands to the governments or making request which if not met then funding would be pulled. Well this money is called "aid" but apparently these aid does come with strings attached to them.

So it should be clear to anybody that the only way to trully be independent is to get rid of economic dependency. It will take a lot of sacrifice and in the short run the effects of the few extra dollars taken away from our budget would be felt but in the wrong run it means that African governments would be that much closer to economic independence. The question is, do we have any leaders courageous enough to make such a move? I doubt any leader at this point will be willing to make that move especially if one has dwelved deeply into Zimbabwe's economic crisis.

All evidence points out to a very long journey towards full independence. It almost feels like the Israelites wondering through the desert for forty odd years towards a destination which in reality should have taken a couple of months. It is the same in Africa's case. The destination doesn't seem to be so far away but it seems we a wondering hopelessly with no end end in sight. Who is going to be our Moses to lead us through this journey? One who like Moses will be willing to carry the burden and suffer the consequences even knowing that they themselves might possibly not make it to the promise land.

Right now all we have is optimism. Some of us have such high optimis that we look like fools in the eyes of the many who feel that we are where we are destined to be and nothing is going to change unless God Himself decides otherwise. Because in order for the continent to change it is not only the leaders who have to change but also the mentalities of the people has to change. After all aren't our leaders chosen amongst ourselves? It is definitely going to take a lot but as the great Chinese philosopher Confucious once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Isaac Newton once said. "If I have seen further than others, it is upon standing on the shoulders of giant." We have such giants in our history as the Egyptians who build pyramids whose architecture still puzzles the greatest minds of today, we have Timbuktu which was home to one of the earliest universities in civilization where people came from far and wide to learn, we have such modern heroes like Kwame Nkuruma, Nelson Mandela, Samora Machel, J J Rawlings and Julius Nyerere to name but a few. What other giants do we need in order for us to see far?

Great people do not complain about their problems, they find solutions to them. No matter what problems we face they are still our problems and they won't simply go away by ignoring them. No matter how challenging they are it is upon us to either tackle them head on or do what he have been doing for so many years and simply leave the problems for the next generation to worry about. It is important to remember that failure is not in trying but in failing to try. I will end with one of my favorite quotes. "I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulder." For those who believe in a higher being need not ask any further what those words mean and what they ask of us.

 

[Eric Cartman]

Capitalism is the dominating mode of production in our times and even the hardcore sceptics of the mode have somewhat conceded to the ideology (I am thinking of China, Russia and now Cuba) . Its for us Africans to grasp what capitalism really means if we are to participate fully in this 'dog eat dog' world. Instead of us praying and hoping the others would come to their senses and be fair when trading with us, we need to use our wits and play our cards right. If the 'tiger' economies have achieved success, why cant we?

Africans are lazy thinkers by nature ( or may be) and the world today need smart people who are well informed in-order to participate in the global economy without the necessary knowledge and awareness we have no chance at ll. Capitalism is all about being smart and being able to exploit or protect what's yours or else someone is bound to use and abuse you as in the case of our continent.

We are all to blame its us who elect useless officials in the first place and we want to blame the western world for the evil deeds any alien given the opportunity would've done the same. The Turkish are now trying to get the piece of that pie Tanzania can give, the Chinese are there, the Indians are there and everybody else would get there if we keep electing the likes of JK (useless), Lowassa's (non patriots) Or the Sophia Simba's (clueless).

But then what do you expect when the society is not worried when the president had candidly said he doesn't know why our country is poor in the first place. No wonder he thinks anybody can be a minister or hold a senior position in the government without having to prove anything to us in terms of his/her ability si ajabu bunge limekuwa uwanja wa mipasho.

Kaazi kweli kweli.

 

[ubun2]

Just wanted to share my thoughts, I apologize in advance if I might have digressed from the content of the topic.
Last night I watched a film on Nelson Mandela. There are many films made on Nelson Mandela but this one was from the point of view of his prison guard and over the years how this one man's entrenched negative perspective of his opinion of Mandela changed due to his meeting the man in person, his talks with the man who was regarded as a "terrorist", ect. There is a scene in the movie where Nelson Mandela in his ever authoritarian voice asks the man about his family, the man says his son wants to go to the university. Nelson Mandela tells the man that he should make sure his son does attend university for in the future this country will need educated men and women. And when the time comes, Nelson Mandela helps the son with his exam questions and the son passes with the highest score.
If one looks at Tanzania over the past thirty years, some of the so called "foreign educated" are actually responsible for creating the atmosphere of rampant corruption, is it not so? Where there is corruption there is greed, and greed has no bottom! Today, wherever I am in Dar es Salaam, I feel sad that there is a whole group of people who have been left out of being educated. Depraved of education. And this did not happen overnight, it took over twenty years for a whole group to be left out. How did this happen? For one, corruption. Like my father used to say, that never forget that at one time the University of Dar es Salaam was the hubbub of intellectuals of the African independence. I say what happened? What happened to that kind of thinking? Is it because of laziness? No, I don't think so, I think twenty years of being depraved of education, of a decent standard of living, of just trying to put food on the table can make one tired of thinking about other issues.
Meanwhile, what happened is there was an emergence of a whole other group of people who got work in the gvt. without the appropriate education, without the professional know-how, without the knowledge but because they knew somebody, or were somebody's relative and so on. In one of the poorest countries in the world, there were expensive cars being driven on the never maintained roads, the tZ gvt. representatives sat in meetings dressed in expensive designer suits, the disparity between the rich and the poor grew to unprecedented unequal in proportion while dubious "contracts" were signed between a few in the gvt. and some so called questionable businessmen. If one tends to take some time and study what happened, actually the hints are all there in front of us, in the media of the early 1990's and till 2005,the print media was very active in their commitment to fight against the evil virus that was eating up the country alive.
And today, who has really benefitted from this evil?
Let me clarify what I exactly mean by being educated. I don't really mean having a university degree, but what I mean is being aware of the wrongs happening in front of one. (Just as what happened to this guard in the film, he was not university educated but when he read Mandela's writings, and he witnessed with his own eyes the unfairness going ons, he became "educated", he discovered inside of him the moral, ethical center of a human being. )
Of being aware that there is a moral and ethical compass that one has to adhere to if we are to create a just and fair society. Of helping each other and not looking down on the less fortunate other because we are all connected as human beings.
Of being aware that true democracy strives for a fair and just society. Of being aware that a sovereign nation is committed to the rule of law and no one, not even the President, if he has broken the law, is above the law. Of being aware that TZ is a country rich in resources but the resources belong to all who are Tanzanians not only to the so called "elite" few. Of being aware of the African culture as democratic in nature and not totalitarian. Like Mwalimu used to say, if one of the village person goes to school he should come back and work for the village and teach the others. If he does not do that, then he is nothing short of a traitor. Of being aware that arrogance, self entitlement, incompetence, nepotism, corruption has no place anywhere and should not be tolerated at all.

In order to find a solution, one has to look for the root of the problem, and then pull the whole root out of the ground.

 

[MwanaFalsafa1]

Juma Contena,

It has been a while my friend and I have certainly missed your contributions here in JF. I can't forget in 2009 (if you still remember) when we had some debates in here on how Africa can advance and move forward. You are truly one of the few people in here who are willing to engage in serious discussion as opposed to those who have no mind of their own but rather are "bendera fuata upepo" who really don't delve into what the solutions are.

With that person note aside now let me get back to the topic at hand. I agree with you in the sense that developed countries have taken advantage of our naivety. In any business transaction you try to make a deal that is most beneficial to you sometimes even at the expense of the other party. So the blame should go to our deal makers, which are the decision makers in government who have failed to make deals and partnerships that are of benefit to us, examples being Richmond, Dowans, our mines and different telecommunication companies and many more. The blame should also go to the population at large for allowing our representatives to continue making such deals.

Contena, I don't believe that the problem is necessarily not having brilliant enough people who could negotiate on our behalf for better deals. I think the deeper cause of the problem is patriotism or lack of there of. You see all the foreign investors and donor countries have made it in such a way that it is personally more worthwhile for our leaders to make deals that benefit foreigners as opposed to the country at large. How have they done this? Through monetary favors and privileges handed to African leaders who abide by their Western masters. You see they have made it in such a way that:
Bad deals for the country=more personal wealth for those in power, good deals for the country= less personal wealth for those in power
Out of greed our leaders opt for bad deals which means more personal wealth for them and we only have to look at the Lowassa, the Chenges, the Aziz type characters for evidence for this

Those "Tiger" economies you mentioned are there today because their leaders put the well being of their states ahead of anything else. That is why even today if you look at those economies corruption is very minimum. We can also achieve such progress if those who are lucky enough to gain powers put the country ahead of themselves. Sadly they have not put country first and we us a people have allowed them to go about their ways.

So in conclusion my friend, my problem is not with the whole capitalist system. My problem is with those who have been blessed and are privileged to be in positions which enable them to make real changes but they refuse to. There is simply no excuse for us to be in the position we are in when just 50 years ago Indonesia's economy was equal to that of neighboring Kenya but today these two countries might us well be from different planets. What excuse do we have? Do we really have peace in our hearts knowing we can do something but choose to do nothing?

 

[MwanaFalsafa1]

Ubun 2,

What is funny is that most of our leaders today are beneficiaries of the educational system that was present during Mwl. Nyerere's time. Even Kikwete in his first speech to parliament in 2005 said he was a beneficial of the educational system back then. Mind you it is not just Kikwete but many leaders wouldn't be where they were today if it wasn't for the strong education we had back then.

Now days education has become about quantity rather than quality. The government for political reasons wants to build as many schools as they can and produce as many graduate as possible in order to have statistics to boast to the wananchi while not considering the quality of education in schools and the quality of graduates they produce. Just look at our university graduates today. Most do not know how to speak proper English nor their own mother tongue of Swahili (mind you there is a difference between formal language and "maneno ya mitaani"). Look at the so called shule za kata. There are producing secondary school graduates who for all intensive purposes might as well have stopped at standard seven. People have the diplomas (which are merely papers) and lack the skills which should have been equivalent to their education.

We have failed to realize that we can not have a nation where everybody is a university graduates. We must ensure that all stages of our educational system are strong so that people leave with something. Today a university graduate has no difference than a form four leaver. It is this same people that we are injecting into the job market and who will eventually be CEOs of big companies and directors of important and sensitive government institutions.

Regarding your point of our Western educated leaders. The problem with most of them is that they want to copy and paste everything they learned from the West and apply it back home. They are lazy to sit down and actually find tailor made solutions to our own problems. You want an example of this? Look into our terrorism policy and then look at America's Terrorism Act of 2001. It is basically the same but only a few places have been changed. Yote hiyo kwa sababu ya uvivu wa kufikiri.

So our problems are many sometimes I even laugh because it is hard to tell where to start. All in all the undeniable fact is that the root of our problems in our political system and the water fueling that system is us the people who let it happen. We need change.

 

[Ben Saanane]

Capitalism is the dominating mode of production in our times and even the hardcore sceptics of the mode have somewhat conceded to the ideology (I am thinking of China, Russia and now Cuba) . Its for us Africans to grasp what capitalism really means if we are to participate fully in this 'dog eat dog' world. Instead of us praying and hoping the others would come to their senses and be fair when trading with us, we need to use our wits and play our cards right. If the 'tiger' economies have achieved success, why cant we?

Africans are lazy thinkers by nature ( or may be) and the world today need smart people who are well informed in-order to participate in the global economy without the necessary knowledge and awareness we have no chance at ll. Capitalism is all about being smart and being able to exploit or protect what's yours or else someone is bound to use and abuse you as in the case of our continent.

We are all to blame its us who elect useless officials in the first place and we want to blame the western world for the evil deeds any alien given the opportunity would've done the same. The Turkish are now trying to get the piece of that pie Tanzania can give, the Chinese are there, the Indians are there and everybody else would get there if we keep electing the likes of JK (useless), Lowassa's (non patriots) Or the Sophia Simba's (clueless).

But then what do you expect when the society is not worried when the president had candidly said he doesn't know why our country is poor in the first place. No wonder he thinks anybody can be a minister or hold a senior position in the government without having to prove anything to us in terms of his/her ability si ajabu bunge limekuwa uwanja wa mipasho.

Kaazi kweli kweli.

My Ideology is a mix of capitalism,socialism and communism.None of them should be practised to the extreme.
Until recently when the economy of the US,father of capitalism crumbled under extreme patronage of capitalist ideals and the heavy multiplier effects in most economies in western Europe,everyone thought capitalism was the best system.Hata leo US inakaribia kutangazwa Mufilisi kwa sababu GOPs wanashikilia misimamo yao,ikumbukwe hawa Republicans ndiyo conservative kabisa kwenye Ubepari.

However,I would support 45% capitalism coz inspite of everything,people need to know that to reach a certain class,one has to compete.I don't support a classless society,that's my grouch with communism,it leads to laziness which in turn affects both the quantity and quality of production.What belongs everybody belongs to nobody.My grouch with unchecked practice of capitalism is the fact that it leads to corruption,it becoms a dog eat dog affair since everyone wants to make a huge profit at all cost,there has to be some control from the government by way of rules and regulation and also certain aspect of the economy should either be solely government owned or jointly owned with the private sector

This is where I give a 35% support to communism because this prevents total exploitation of the citizenry which is too rife with capitalism.My remaining 30% goes to socialism becoz of its ability to distribute wealth fairly better than the ruthless capitalism and the classless communism.However,socialism also have the attendant problem of communism,lack of competion which leads to reduction in both quality and quantity,the difference is that it's not just at state level like communism.

When it comes to social issue I am more to the right,I believe social change should not be rapid,part of the problem the West is having is as a result of silly views skwed towards the left,issues like legality Same-sex practice,abortion,nudist beaches and other weird social misnormer.

As for funding education,I beliv it is impossible to fund education from primary to tertiary that is not realistic,rather basic education(primary and secondary) should be free or almost free but tertiary can't be free,it should be a combination of student bursaries,scholaships and the likes to deserving students.
Health also should be heavily subsidized but not totally free Because that too is almost impossible.
For system of Government especially as it concerns Tanzania,i strongly believe in a disciplined Federalism tuachane na miko na wilaya. That way there is strong competion to develope without necessarily depending on any region.

 

[ubun2]

Mwanafalsa1,
Change is inevitable!! But the change should introduce a whole new and different way, not just be disguised with new buzz words under the old system, have to be very careful about that. Reform is inevitable!! In order to move forward, yes, Change is needed!! I concur with you about the western educated individuals who just copy and paste from what they have "learned" in the west. The challenge is to be a critical thinker and apply the best of both-the west and the African in the mix. Because like it or not, we live in a very small world now-its like a global village.
What leaves me outraged is the fact that NOT one, not one of any of the TZ. GVT. officials implicated in the dubious contracts have been held accountable. AND some of those implicated got their education from IVY league universities. AND yet, instead of using that what they had learned and applied it to better their country, they focused on applying it to fill their own pockets and create some sort of an entire network of the "elitist, entitled few". (Another thing is that in the west in these types of higher education institutions, the so called theories on development in Africa, discussed in the classrooms are so out of touch with what is really taking place in the continent.)
Tanzania is a sovereign nation, and as with any sovereign nation, it has to adhere to the rule of law. Unfortunately, with the going ons in the past twenty or so years in the country, it seems like a lawless country with goonlike governance in place. In order to move forward, there really needs to be some sort of justice in Tanzania concerning the "Villian of Corruption". Corrupted TZ. gvt. officials cannot just walk free without answering to the public that elected them. In this, one cannot just blame the west, its also the leaders who must take the responsibility for taking the bribe! For creating in their own country a gangster like vibe, for turning a lovely country into some sort of gangster's paradise by looting their own people. I ask you, where is the love for the country for these people? If the leader of the country truly loved his country, would he not be able to stand up and say enough is enough! and have the culprits brought to justice??
Another thing that saddens me is that recently in Dar es Salaam there has been a lot of building taking place. But these buildings have no design aesthetics to them, they all look the same. Meanwhile, the roads are just as they always have been-never maintained. How come there is no vision as to how the city should look?
However, the whole world today is at a place in history where there is some sort of reformation taking place at all levels. Even in the States today, people are calling their congressmen/woman to let their voices be heard. They are becoming more proactive than ever before in what their government is doing. People have become aware of the self serving nature of capitalism, and want a true democracy. I am not all together against capitalism, I am for a capitalism that can work and benefit all, not just a few. Because a free enterprise system really is built not only on competition but also on ideas. And Ideas are the new commodity now.

Sry for the rambling.

 

[HT]

My Ideology is a mix of capitalism,socialism and communism.None of them should be practised to the extreme.

Ben,
I'm interested to know which part of those ideology you hold to. Anyway, what about their foundational doctrines? You abide to them too?

 

[Eric Cartman]

Contena, I don't believe that the problem is necessarily not having brilliant enough people who could negotiate on our behalf for better deals. I think the deeper cause of the problem is patriotism or lack of there of. You see all the foreign investors and donor countries have made it in such a way that it is personally more worthwhile for our leaders to make deals that benefit foreigners as opposed to the country at large. How have they done this?

Through monetary favors and privileges handed to African leaders who abide by their Western masters. You see they have made it in such a way that:
Bad deals for the country=more personal wealth for those in power, good deals for the country= less personal wealth for those in power
Out of greed our leaders opt for bad deals which means more personal wealth for them and we only have to look at the Lowassa, the Chenges, the Aziz type characters for evidence for this

Those "Tiger" economies you mentioned are there today because their leaders put the well being of their states ahead of anything else. That is why even today if you look at those economies corruption is very minimum. We can also achieve such progress if those who are lucky enough to gain powers put the country ahead of themselves. Sadly they have not put country first and we us a people have allowed them to go about their ways.

So in conclusion my friend, my problem is not with the whole capitalist system. My problem is with those who have been blessed and are privileged to be in positions which enable them to make real changes but they refuse to. There is simply no excuse for us to be in the position we are in when just 50 years ago Indonesia's economy was equal to that of neighboring Kenya but today these two countries might us well be from different planets. What excuse do we have? Do we really have peace in our hearts knowing we can do something but choose to do nothing?

Thank you bro for the shout we're still here and I am still in the forum just about every hour. I have learned a lot in this forum about Tanzania and it's people in general; from the clever, to the patriots and finally the blind supporters of our political life. My conclusion is that it is a long battle as there are so many problems in our political system and we tend to loose the focus on which battle needs come first. It seems our focus is manipulated on what is the latest scandal and that is that.

Having said that we need to wake up as a nation find the underlying causes of our problems and fight them, people need to understand what are the strength of these thieves, what does CCM have that allows them to hold, play, use and abuse us as they want; what permits corruption in our society, what allows useless politicians entering our parliament, why are the laws not working in short we need to find a mechanism that promotes good governance or else its all a fantasy.

At times we seem to think our leaders are the most corrupted and greedy individuals in the entire world, that is a far cry from the truth as most men are greedy given the same opportunity; a recent example is from the News International scandal 'Rupert Murdoch' has proven that even the most trusted system can be penetrated and corrupted at the highest level.

Therefore for us to say our leaders are too greedy, selfish and all the labels we can give them wont solve the problem. Even changing them doesn't guarantee us things will come apart, we need to stop daydreaming as these leaders are a product of the system that allows them to do what they do at ease. This is where I see the need of the new constitution first than anything else if we get the system right (one that works) everything else will follow and we can make people accountable. But we cant keep on talking about how NEC rigged the last election today and tomorrow jump into how 'Sophia Simba' is clueless.

The leaders and those who are educated need to understand they are the people in the forefront of this battle, an average 'Joe' knows he is struggling in life but he still sees CCM as his party (may be through partisan alignment and this is all he knows), he doesn't know how election are rigged, he doesn't know what are his entitlement in the society; not because he is stupid but the system made him somewhat ignorant and his reasoning is somewhat pathetic. Those are not to blame its for the people who are in the know to fight the system and the mechanism that allows nepotism, corruption and rest of the evils. But blaming on the leaders alone wont solve our problem most of us given the opportunity would have done less different as the temptation is there when we sleep, wake, go out and just about everywhere we go, we need to sort our rotten system first before we start on ambitious talks.

 

[Ben Saanane]

Ben,
I'm interested to know which part of those ideology you hold to. Anyway, what about their foundational doctrines? You abide to them too?

HossannaTech,

The political-economical Ideologies interwoven in order to cherish a sustainable development
There are no pure systems of governance, Democracy and Socialism are part of the same branch of governance and the only thing separating them this day and age is by degree. I dont want the government to have a stake in everything, but not outright ownership if it is decided by a democratically elected government? or Not? Most people will say not which is fine by me.

I don't think that the government needs to be involved in every aspect of life and business. Fascism and socialism bear resemblances as well. Socialism is turned into a form of authoritarian fascism if a Comrade like Chavez decides to start nationalising businesses left and right indefinitely. There is nothing socialist about that, that is just fascism for the sake of expanding The power of the state regardless of the people's wishes.

Third, i haven't seen or heard yet any Tanzania politician really reflects my views; but seeing as Tanzania is still in the nascent state of nation building(for 50 freaking years ) this doesn't bother me. I really can't look at Tanzanian leaders through ideological lenses, I will like them all the same if they actually do their job. There is nothing ideological about that for now.

 

[Eric Cartman]

My Ideology is a mix of capitalism,socialism and communism.None of them should be practised to the extreme.
Until recently when the economy of the US,father of capitalism crumbled under extreme patronage of capitalist ideals and the heavy multiplier effects in most economies in western Europe,everyone thought capitalism was the best system.Hata leo US inakaribia kutangazwa Mufilisi kwa sababu GOPs wanashikilia misimamo yao,ikumbukwe hawa Republicans ndiyo conservative kabisa kwenye Ubepari.

Kaka in today's world there is no pure capitalism anywhere in the world most economies are of mixing what works best for you. This is why you see Europeans politics tend to be repetitive of what others say and imitate in their policies depending on the spectrum of that party. But when you come to the global stage, things change for good or worse depending on your knowledge of the market and the desperation you have. If you're going to make around the world trips asking people to come and rip you apart, people are going to do just that and give you sh*t contracts.

We need to weigh our decisions on what are our first priorities economically and make decisions based on that. The five years plan highlited most of them but then try asking CCM what percentage of the plan will be completed coming the next budget I doubt if they will have an answer for you.

 

[MwanaFalsafa1]

Juma,

The new constitution is one we need badly. I believe a constitution is the foundation of any political system it it should reflect the societies values, traditions, ambitions and goals. We should ask ourselves what do we want from our constitution. The problem is however, who is charged with writing this new constitution? The same parliament which benefits from the current status quo? The same parliament which says "ndiyooo" and "kwa asilimia mia kwa mia" to anything the government says? Will we really get a constitution that benefits all or that will benefit the ruling elites only?

So while we demand for a new constitution we have to keep an eye open on how we are going to go about it. I think the whole process will be manipulated that we might even end up with a constitution far worse than the one we have now. So what do we do to ensure that we get a constitution that represents the general will of the people? What is the general will of the people?

My first solution to this was create a temporary Constitutional Parliament. A gathering of men from all walks of life who will be tasked to draw up a new constitution. This special parliament would contain politicians, intellectuals, average Joes, Christians and Muslims, men and women, Tanganyikas and Zanzibaris, in short a dissection of the Tanzanian society. The selection of this people can be controlled to be as random as possible to insure fairness and equality.

 

[MwanaFalsafa1]

Ben,

I personally love Social Democracy as it is practiced in Scandinavian countries. What intrigues me about the system is the balance of capitalism and welfare programs provided to the most disadvantaged of the societies. There businessmen and political leaders sit down to try ad come up with compromises.

I know in Tanzania we can not copy and paste Social Democracy as it is in these countries. I believe that in order for political systems to work they need to reflect the people of the society or else it will fail. I believe we can create a form of social democracy that works for us, that caters to business interests and also looks after its people.

A Tanzania for all of us is possible. We have enough division among nations of the world for us to create divisions among ourselves.

 

[HT]

HossannaTech,

The political-economical Ideologies interwoven in order to cherish a sustainable development
There are no pure systems of governance, Democracy and Socialism are part of the same branch of governance and the only thing separating them this day and age is by degree. I dont want the government to have a stake in everything, but not outright ownership if it is decided by a democratically elected government? or Not? Most people will say not which is fine by me.

I don't think that the government needs to be involved in every aspect of life and business. Fascism and socialism bear resemblances as well. Socialism is turned into a form of authoritarian fascism if a Comrade like Chavez decides to start nationalising businesses left and right indefinitely. There is nothing socialist about that, that is just fascism for the sake of expanding The power of the state regardless of the people's wishes.

Third, i haven't seen or heard yet any Tanzania politician really reflects my views; but seeing as Tanzania is still in the nascent state of nation building(for 50 freaking years ) this doesn't bother me. I really can't look at Tanzanian leaders through ideological lenses, I will like them all the same if they actually do their job. There is nothing ideological about that for now.

I would not take anything from Communism. There is at least some Good stuffs in Socialism and Capitalism. Anyway what about true Kingdom? I think it is the best because only one person is responsible for whole country. If there is problem he is one to answer. Anyway, Tanzania, president have almost king's power but have presidential responsibility...very bad!

I would say, important and security sensitive organizations be owned by state and/or with Tanzanians as shareholders and other thing given to investors, giving priority to citizens!

 

[mambomengi]

We can say and debate more on this and no any policy/decision maker is willing to take even a piece of these good plans. However, if we can stand united to introduce harsh laws in our constitution or other forms of the legal system, we sure will see significant developments. This country needs a public office antigraft law similar to one in effect in China-Simply HANG To Death any public officer who is corrupt. It is a difficult and harsh law which may affect all of us, but I am ready to be killed if I taint the public office.

 

[Ben Saanane]

Mambomengi,

We lack political will......i usually prefer radical movement to laisez-fair-democratization of state machinery! Tuwe watu wa action,it pays!

 

[Mdondoaji]

As much I prefer capitalism more than socialism I believe Tanzania will be better off in any of the socio economic ideology as long as we have establish a political system that is stable and secure.

Whatever economic policy that we may decide adopt has to start at the lower ground (political system). Tanzania is in a dilema of political stagnation and lack of will to move forward. Hence, whichever path we decide to take is leading us to a blind alley and huge fall. What I will prefer first is an appropiate constitution that establish right and responsibilities of all citizen in the country. US, Scandavian, UK , have suceeded to adopt these economic ideologies after they manage to put into perspective a strong political structure. Otherwise, nothing will change in Tanzania.

 

[Topical]

It is not the idealogy which fails us as a Nation, rather the people (management)

If we are to move foward, we have to invest on management of resources (best)

Having said that, we must consider the "effect of World Economic Order"

New world economic order runs the nations arround the world whether they like it or not..

nations are runned and controlled by Banks (IMF< WB and corporations)

We need smart managers to play it safe or find the alternative economic idealogy which is unlikely to succeed