Politics is an art. It is an art which requires tactics, creativity, planning and, sometimes, a little bit of hooks and crowbars! Nice guys never make it in politics. You have got to be tough to make it in that world. Nice guys can be good leaders; but politics is more than just being a good leader. In other words, nice guys can be good leaders but this quality might not be befitting for them as politicians; bad guys on the other hand, can be good politicians, but they might not be good leaders! This leads me to the premise that a proper, full-fledged politician has the combination of both - good leadership and political dexterity. Now, when a good politician becomes a good leader, that's when the balance is struck. We must understand that, even though these two are intertwined, there is a fundamental difference between a leader and a politician. These are the 'nuts and bolts' of politics and our people need to understand them - it is our duty to learn politics as a people and avoid political illiteracy, deception and brain-washing. For, the worst kind of illiteracy in any given society is its political illiteracy.
For the most part, UKAWA as an alliance has had extremely "good leaders" for ages now, the likes of whom being Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, Dr.Wilbrod Slaa, Tundu Lissu, James Francis Mbatia, and Freeman Mbowe. What they have lacked this whole time though is political dexterity. Had politics being all about good leadership, there is no doubt that by now one of these remarkable leaders, and their respective political parties, would have overthrown CCM to take over the presidency! But the good news is that these leaders are now ready. They have now graduated into what I call 'full-fledged politics', which possesses both the good leadership skills and the political dexterity. That "political growth" is what explains the UKAWA alliance formation; that same political growth is what explains why they took a bold decision to accept Lowassa, the former Prime Minister, into UKAWA despite all the controversy; and, it also explains why there is all this political raucous in our country now! Because, in essence, that is what full-fledged politics is all about - that is why we are saying that our 'political scope' has expanded. That is to say that, politically and democratically, we are now maturing as a country. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
So for UKAWA leaders, the decision to get Lowassa involved was necessary in order to strike a balance between good leadership and good politics so that to win the presidency and overthrow CCM's political monopoly which has been rampant over the decades. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. Because, let's be clear, for them, there was absolutely no point of being good leaders if they never made it to the higher leadership echelons!
At this point, I would like to revert back to the beginning of my article and, as I started, remind you that politics is an art. This art has been used effectively in the past by CCM, just so they can 'politically monopolize' rampantly. CCM, under its architect, Nyerere, was very devoted and tactful at this. They even took some of their cadres to Russia, Cuba, Bulgaria and Britain to groom them on how to 'monopolize' as the next generation of leaders, the likes of whom being Jakaya Kikwete. Edward Lowassa was also one of the cadres who, quite frankly, gained a lot of political skills and a hoard of resourceful knowledge through these CCM programs, under their mentor, Mwalimu Nyerere himself. Because of that, CCM has been very successful at keeping their system of the 'looping political monopoly' running. CHADEMA and UKAWA therefore, have a chance of tapping into this hoard of political resources through CCM cadres such as Lowassa, who are currently crossing-over to the 'other side' of the aisle with the propensity of sharing, not only those CCM resources, but also even some of the most classified CCM strategies! That is not to say that CHADEMA is less dexterous in terms of operational tact, no not all, it is just a strategical means of politics.
Modern phiolosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx and Nietzsche, often resorted to metaphors and analogies of games when faced with comparable distinctions. In these metaphors, they spoke of a particular social process namely politics, as a "game", much as one would speak of the game of chess. They were then able to discuss the implicit principles which define, or otherwise, regulate the "moves" in the game as "rules of the game". For me though, as I recap this article, I intend to compare what is happening in our country to the cat-and-mouse chase. This is because, I feel like the current political scenario in our country is too complex to be analogous to the game of chess; rather, it is more like a "cat-and-mouse game" - an English idiom dating back to 1675 which is defined as 'a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes'. In this never-ending chase, the cat is often unable to secure a definitive victory over the mouse which, despite its inability to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. This idiom is derived from the hunting behavior analysis of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with the prey by releasing it after capture, a behavior which is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without jeopardizing the cat. However, in a colloquial usage, this expression has often been generalized to mean simply that the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or stalemate.
Indeed, the political power struggle in Tanzania is currently analogous to the cat-and-mouse chase scenario above, which, as elucidated, is a 17th century English satirical idiom. And this artistic metaphor perfectly befits my opening statement that 'politics is an art'. To that end, I am not going to reveal who I think is the "mouse" or "cat" in this political storm. I will leave you to it, with this metaphor in mind, so that you can determine the ongoing Tanzanian political raucous for yourself based on what you can see and hear, and subsequently make an informed decision before you vote. Because, at the end of the day, that is the beauty of democracy after all.
God bless Tanzania, God bless Africa.
For the most part, UKAWA as an alliance has had extremely "good leaders" for ages now, the likes of whom being Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, Dr.Wilbrod Slaa, Tundu Lissu, James Francis Mbatia, and Freeman Mbowe. What they have lacked this whole time though is political dexterity. Had politics being all about good leadership, there is no doubt that by now one of these remarkable leaders, and their respective political parties, would have overthrown CCM to take over the presidency! But the good news is that these leaders are now ready. They have now graduated into what I call 'full-fledged politics', which possesses both the good leadership skills and the political dexterity. That "political growth" is what explains the UKAWA alliance formation; that same political growth is what explains why they took a bold decision to accept Lowassa, the former Prime Minister, into UKAWA despite all the controversy; and, it also explains why there is all this political raucous in our country now! Because, in essence, that is what full-fledged politics is all about - that is why we are saying that our 'political scope' has expanded. That is to say that, politically and democratically, we are now maturing as a country. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
So for UKAWA leaders, the decision to get Lowassa involved was necessary in order to strike a balance between good leadership and good politics so that to win the presidency and overthrow CCM's political monopoly which has been rampant over the decades. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. Because, let's be clear, for them, there was absolutely no point of being good leaders if they never made it to the higher leadership echelons!
At this point, I would like to revert back to the beginning of my article and, as I started, remind you that politics is an art. This art has been used effectively in the past by CCM, just so they can 'politically monopolize' rampantly. CCM, under its architect, Nyerere, was very devoted and tactful at this. They even took some of their cadres to Russia, Cuba, Bulgaria and Britain to groom them on how to 'monopolize' as the next generation of leaders, the likes of whom being Jakaya Kikwete. Edward Lowassa was also one of the cadres who, quite frankly, gained a lot of political skills and a hoard of resourceful knowledge through these CCM programs, under their mentor, Mwalimu Nyerere himself. Because of that, CCM has been very successful at keeping their system of the 'looping political monopoly' running. CHADEMA and UKAWA therefore, have a chance of tapping into this hoard of political resources through CCM cadres such as Lowassa, who are currently crossing-over to the 'other side' of the aisle with the propensity of sharing, not only those CCM resources, but also even some of the most classified CCM strategies! That is not to say that CHADEMA is less dexterous in terms of operational tact, no not all, it is just a strategical means of politics.
Modern phiolosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx and Nietzsche, often resorted to metaphors and analogies of games when faced with comparable distinctions. In these metaphors, they spoke of a particular social process namely politics, as a "game", much as one would speak of the game of chess. They were then able to discuss the implicit principles which define, or otherwise, regulate the "moves" in the game as "rules of the game". For me though, as I recap this article, I intend to compare what is happening in our country to the cat-and-mouse chase. This is because, I feel like the current political scenario in our country is too complex to be analogous to the game of chess; rather, it is more like a "cat-and-mouse game" - an English idiom dating back to 1675 which is defined as 'a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes'. In this never-ending chase, the cat is often unable to secure a definitive victory over the mouse which, despite its inability to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. This idiom is derived from the hunting behavior analysis of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with the prey by releasing it after capture, a behavior which is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without jeopardizing the cat. However, in a colloquial usage, this expression has often been generalized to mean simply that the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or stalemate.
Indeed, the political power struggle in Tanzania is currently analogous to the cat-and-mouse chase scenario above, which, as elucidated, is a 17th century English satirical idiom. And this artistic metaphor perfectly befits my opening statement that 'politics is an art'. To that end, I am not going to reveal who I think is the "mouse" or "cat" in this political storm. I will leave you to it, with this metaphor in mind, so that you can determine the ongoing Tanzanian political raucous for yourself based on what you can see and hear, and subsequently make an informed decision before you vote. Because, at the end of the day, that is the beauty of democracy after all.
God bless Tanzania, God bless Africa.
