It has been said that those that do not want to learn from History are bund to repeat it. To fully understand the present phenomenon of massive embezzlement of public funds, we must be willing to confront all of the contemporary history of our nation.
We love Mwalimu, but we must love Tanzania even more. There were serious and persistent cases of embezzlement of public monies during Mwalimus watch. It was looting that killed off many of the public corporations that Mwalimu erected. As those of us who have been around for a while know, the hotels, regional trading companies, factories and even mining companies that Mwalimu established or seized became nothing more than eating places of Mwalimus elect.
It is a well known secret that when Mwinyi assumed the Presidency he found nothing at all in the treasury. This is a true story. In fact, I personally heard Mwinyi narrate it in Harare, sometime in the early nineties. Now, what do you think, happened to all the money in the treassuty right before Mwalimu exited? Dont tell me that there was no money there because that would be a lie. I was living in Ottawa when Mwalimu visited Canada and the USA to bid farewell to those folks. We reliably learnt then that people in Mwalimus entourage converted more than ninety thousand dollars worth of travelers checks into cash, in one bank alone! I still wonder about how they managed to carry all that stuff home, as it was at that time a felony to be found in the possession of foreign funds.
Stealth of public funds is akin to prostitution; it was there before, it is there now, and it will always be there. What is breaking our hearts is its current extent. We have to arrest the trend, otherwise we will perish in poverty. How could we possibly develop if almost all the wealth we produce is immediately stolen?
Zomba has put out points that seem to affect the loyal feelings of many towards Mwalimu. The truth, I dare say, needs to be told even when it is not so palatable. Let us try to use our minds, and not only our hearts, in understanding all the epochs of our national history.