Two faces of Independence!

Mkandara

JF-Expert Member
Mar 3, 2006
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There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.' -en quote.

Most African brothers thought Independence should furnish us with noble ends rather than means to an end! As to say independence to us is being handed over power and instruments of exploitation to indigenous so that they can forever trample over the masses...

I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through my writings. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask myself: What is real and what is unreal?

After 40+ years of independence, Africa has become worse than ever! Poverty has spread across the board like virus, Africa has produced a generation of selfish, close-minded, unscientific, illogical generation consumed with immoral.

At this point, I can't stop wondering whether we needed to be independent at all! - The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals. To my knowledge all this struggle has been a drama. Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavor. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realizing that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic event. There are many and in different faces. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, and are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, and then it slips through your fingers and is lost.

Do I blame anyone? No! No because most of us have a misconception of Independence. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths and propaganda instead of sift and weigh evidence, discern the true from false, real from unreal, and the facts from fiction…all this before we take correct measures.

A Special message from Mkandara... Quote my word!
 
Mkandara do you remember this?

"So here’s my solution for the African fiasco: a high wall around the whole continent, all the guns and bombs in the world for everyone inside, and at the end, the last one alive should do us all a favor and kill himself".

"Africa has to heal itself. The West can’t help it. Nor should we. The record speaks for itself".
 
You wrote: "After 40+ years of independence, Africa has become worse than ever! Poverty has spread across the board like virus, Africa has produced a generation of selfish, close-minded, unscientific, illogical generation consumed with immoral".

Just to add, besides dying from snake bites, crocodile attacks etc and now we are used to such topics as:

Patashika la kufa kwa mtoto Amana

Ajali mbaya yatokea Dar

Ajali yaua watatu kibaha, abiria saba wajeruhiwa

Abiria akatika vidole katika ajali ya daladala

Can we do something on this?
 
Truth, my dear Mkandara, is objective rather than subjective. It is dangerous, to say the least, to propose that a lie is true. Truth is independent of what we think. It is true that I have a sixteen year old daughter, and this truth is free from any and all opinion.

And now, allow me the pleasure of addressing myself to the more infatuating topic of independence. There has been a deliberate obscuring of the full meaning of the word, from the very beginning. The meaning of the terms independence and self rule has been deliberately stymied. As we speak, we only have a severely restricted form of self rule in Tanzania. Self rule is, at present, allowed and practiced at the national, ward and village levels, but it is completely forbidden at the district and regional levels.

As a matter of practical reality, you cannot have self rule if you cannot elect the leaders who govern you. Tanzanians have district and regional governments but they are forbidden to elect the political heads of those governments. Districts and regions do not have self rule if their inhabitants cannot elect their district and regional commissioners.

So, we have a very incomplete independence in Tanzania. The argument that was employed by Mwalimu when he engineered this state of affairs was that if we allow people to elect their district and regional commissioners, then there will be tribalism. Incidentally, this is the same argument that the British used to delay independence in many African countries. They said that if they allowed us to rule ourselves then there would be tribalism and tribal wars. They masqueraded this lie as truth. They eventually saw the light, but those who took over from them have persisted in preaching the lie. We ought to do something about it.

Augustine Moshi
 
Augustine,
Strange enough brother, those countries which elect their district and regional chiefs - such as Ghana, Nigeria and many west African states real suffered tribalism than ever. And the funny thing is it's brutal than during the Mandingo chiefdom whereby tribalism was accepted..
Where are we heading?
 
The countries you listed suffered tribalism before they elected anyone, before they even gained independence. On the other hand, many countries, including those in the developed world, elect leaders of all levels of government and yet they do not suffer from tribalism. Your logic that electing district and regional commissioners would breed tribalism does not wash.

What makes election of a DC or RC more prone to tribalism than election of an MP? Have you pondered that question?

It could be said that there are tribal stirrings in presidential elections. In fact, I recall well that Mrs. Kikwete tried to appeal to tribal loyalty to get votes in the South. During JK's campaign trips there, she went around clamoring: "Mcheza kwao hutuzwa" It so happens that she comes from there, and she was appealing to her tribe to vote for her husband. But we must not let this lead us to say that we should not elect our presidents!

Madaraka ya kweli mikoani yangekuwa ni madaraka ya watu kuchagua viongozi wao wa mikoa na wilaya. Haya mengine yaliyofanyika ni kiini macho tu. To impose a DDD or an RDD on the people of a district or region does not empower them in any shape or form. It is political deceit of the highest order.

Augustine Moshi
 
Augustine,

I'm not against empowering people to choose their tribal leader as DC or RC. As a fact I strongly oppose the current system and I do believe according to our culture tribal societies and nature - A true democratic representative relies on the ability of tribal representatives to organize and deal with their problems. It has been like that since the beginning of time and might be European were very successful ruling us by adopting that system. We kept our titles as Chiefs and Kings with all respect, yet poor and dependent. That's why we fought to gain our Independence. Independence in a sense that we possess our strong cultural economy and ethnic identity as Tanzanians not by tribes that may separates oneself as a member of certain tribe.

West Africans are the good example of such separation and I wonder where did you got you info that they choose anyone. The fact is one can't hold a seat in Yoruba if he/she belong to the southern tribes.. with sense of societal structure which carries a connotation. Each States is divided into smaller tribal group which form districts, region and so forth. These groups are actively hostile towards one another.. So as a nation this isn't a solution and I don't think of any NATION which had succeeded. You did mention Europeans, well can you point out tribes in Germany, Sweden or France?

Now to use that on the face of Independence isn't fair at all. I know you never approve Nyerere leadership, which is right. You have your reasons and I will respect that, only remember that Mrs. Kikwete - Mcheza kwao Hutunzwa is a dormant form of tribalism. Like sports in Olympic and world cup. Politically it has been used since Mwalimu era for posts other than DC and RC. There is distinction between these two and I believe back then we needed such a system which have resulted in UNITY. Today, as we lost grip by letting foreigners take control of our social and economic activities I fear that tribalism and religion has formed a face and it is very scary!.
 
Moshi,

We have elected governments at the ward level, what good have they done for the electorate? What they do best is sharing tenders for dubious services among themselves and their kin.

Misappropriation of funds in local govts is simply shocking. The demands of the MPs we elected in their first meeting should open our eyes.

It will take more than having elected leaders to cure the ills of Tanzania.
 
Moshi,
In principle, I am not against having an elected leadership. My worry stems from the fact that given the prevailing environment, leaders, in real sense, today can be said to be rare species.

While the act of your ward leader in your parish can be plausible, to me it sounds like the song I hear everyday that the govt can't do everything for you.

I have always believed that govts have some roles they can not evade to fulfill.

While it is true that the unelected DCs and RCs have done nothing for us, it is also sadly true that the genuine damage on our welbeing has been through our elected leaders.

Remember the pleading of Abraham for God to spare Sodom, can't we find ten good men, five ...
 
If the real damage to our well being has been done by our elected leaders, then should we not dispense with all of them, perhaps? Are you in favor of elected presidents and MPs, or would you rather we did not elect anyone at all?

Let me know for sure where you stand on this: are you in favor of electing some of our leaders but not all of them? If so, should we not elect our more immediate leaders (village, ward, district and regional leaders) and leave it to them to impose national leaders on us? Why must we elect the village and ward leaders, skip over the district and regional leaders, then elect the national leaders, and allow one of them to impose his friends as leaders over us?

Augustine Moshi
 
Augustine Moshi,
Now you talking!...It's a catch 22.
I believe Chadema should use your strategy..bring back our traditional leaders. Chiefs - Watemi are the true leaders and trust me nobody will come close, not even CCM under JK.
 
Mkandara,

You must be kidding! the problem is with our leaders and not leadership style, people have to change their attitude towards work and leaders, In Tanzania there is no accountability nor responsibility, thats the problem, for sure if i know that after so many years of leadership if I messed up I am going to end in jail...I definetely wont mess. But as you know this "mwenzetu" and "ndugu yetu" kind of a thing is slowly killing us!!, "got access? use it! style of leadership" is prominent in Tanzania, thats why people are willing to pay "takrima" for the leadeship!

Lets change our attitude, everything will be alright.

FD
 
Mkandara,

You must be kidding! the problem is with our leaders and not leadership style, people have to change their attitude towards work and leaders, In Tanzania there is no accountability nor responsibility, thats the problem, for sure if i know that after so many years of leadership if I messed up I am going to end in jail...I definetely wont mess. But as you know this "mwenzetu" and "ndugu yetu" kind of a thing is slowly killing us!!, "got access? use it! style of leadership" is prominent in Tanzania, thats why people are willing to pay "takrima" for the leadeship!

Lets change our attitude, everything will be alright.

FD

I couldn't agree with you more
 
Mkandara,

You must be kidding! the problem is with our leaders and not leadership style, people have to change their attitude towards work and leaders, In Tanzania there is no accountability nor responsibility, thats the problem, for sure if i know that after so many years of leadership if I messed up I am going to end in jail...I definetely wont mess. But as you know this "mwenzetu" and "ndugu yetu" kind of a thing is slowly killing us!!, "got access? use it! style of leadership" is prominent in Tanzania, thats why people are willing to pay "takrima" for the leadeship!

Lets change our attitude, everything will be alright.

FD
Damn this topic was a one of kind..When was it? 2006, 9 years today and things haven't changed a thing. WE want Accountability and Responsibility, yeta decision by itself changes nothing. After a decision is made, we still faces the problem of implementation. Now here is my question - How to get things done in a timely and effective manner?.

Where do we start? strange thing you might think is - It Start with us all! but funny is, In Tanzania we don't have such as thing as US. The word Us scare people, It stands for UJAMAA kinda a thing! believe me or not, it is false among the truth! Remember what I said about real Truth? that real truth never be found in dramatic event. That truth challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, and are blind to each other!. well this is the truth that is false "Kila mtu anabeba Msalaba wake" - and we got Used to it" Might not always be ideal, but this is who we are, and we doing it every day. Ain't that the truth?

On the other hand, we have people who wonna be leaders, leaders to lead who? if the term Us scare everyone then who they want to lead though!. Here we will find the term "WE" standing for US, it's US against THEM, a division within. Now, the WE leaders wonna lead certain group of people, be it Religious, Tribal, Racial or even Gender politically. Today we find leaders who stand for who THEY are rather than who WE are, and the rest piles behind.

Approaching elections it's all drama in full swing and we kinda accept the fact that this time We're getting true leadership. Mind you my brothers and sisters, True leadership is sometimes hard to distinguish from falseleadership, which is merely a form of pretending. There are people out there who wish to appear to be leaders, but aren't actually. They posture as if theyare setting direction and inspiring others. Yet often they aremerely pretending. Leaders are to be leaders..You may wonder why I do say so..The fact is just here for you if you can stomach.

What is leadership?
It is a process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others.Leaders set a direction for the rest of us; they help us see whatlies ahead; they help us visualize what we might achieve; they encourage us and inspire us.

Yap, that is leadership and are very few of us who can qualify into THAT..And don't say who cares, it matters who is in office, Without true and genuine leadership we will quickly degenerates deep into argument and conflict because we see things in different ways and lean toward different solutions.

They say Nyerere was a dictator, but I will say - Yes he was but a true leader 'cause true Leadership is hard to find. A true leader helps to point us in the same direction and harness our efforts jointly. True Leadership has the ability to get other people to do something significant that they might not otherwise do. It's energizing people toward a goal. and from that, will say again Nyerere was the only true leader we had. Hope and only I can Hope that in the future if not this election we may find another true Leadership.

So we participate in a democtratic We realize that it matters who isin office, so as we participate in a contest, an election to choosethe best candidate. Each one of us must recognize the importance of change and leadership when wevote for our political leaders. We do realize that absence of leadership is equally dramatic in its effects. True or false we have ourselves to blame.

Mkandara
 
Another 9 years has passed by, !9 in total of confusion and drama in Two faces of Independence. And the beat goes on..

It seems you are yearning for a good conversation. You won't get one now. The election has eclipsed everything. In addition, the democratization of the internet has changed the landscapes of internet public forums.

Ten years ago, only a fraction of the Tanzanian population had internet access. However, things have changed since then. Today, anybody with a smart phone can access the information super highway.
 
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