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SOURCE: GuardianElection 2005: University students denied their democratic rights
2005-10-26 07:13:45
University students feel that they are not in any way different from the rest of society and are surprised to note that campaign rallies cannot be held at the institution.
One of the major features of any University is that it is a centre of both higher learning and critical thinking.
It is at the University that students are taught independent thinking.
Mwalimu had the view that, 'a University which does not promote thinking is not worth its name.'
The major role of any University in the world is to seek the truth.
In order to be able to fulfill this role the university needs to be free from external pressure, especially from the ruling elites.
The dialectical approach to truth by Karl Marx presupposes that in order to avoid fallacy in the search for the truth the one who forms an opinion in a subject matter must not take interest in it so as to avoid prejudice from distorting the truth.
This was the essence (I think) of the parliament in passing 'The Universities Act 2005' with a clause stipulating that 'The University members are prohibited to engage in Political activities'.
This clause does not however, prevent the University members generally to engage in political activities.
This would be very absurd because as Plato puts it, "a human being is a political animal by nature", therefore forbidding man to engage in political activities is tantamount to making him impotent.
This is because everything man does is in one way or another a political activity.
However, the Universities Act 2005 is still unconstitutional to the extent that it bars an individual from engaging in partisan politics as long as he/she is a University student.
I think the intention of the parliament was to prevent 'The University' as an institution and not members as individuals from engaging in political activities.
It is logical to prevent 'the University' as an institution from engaging in political activities so as to promote objectivity in teaching and learning.
But it is ridiculous to prevent individual members of the University from participating in partisan politics.
This is because University members are members of the society as well, and one does not cease to be a member of the society after joining an academic community!
It is this kind of unconstitutional laws that have always acted as a bottleneck to the development of multiparty democracy in Tanzania.
One cannot imagine that the ongoing political campaign rallies for the forthcoming general election have been forbidden at the University! What is the reason for this?
May be the reason is that the ruling party is afraid of losing the election in the Ubungo Constituency because its candidate Mr. Charles Keenja is not popular at the University of Dar es Salaam as compared to the NCCR-Mageuzi candidate Nderakindo Pertetua Kessy, who is a lecturer in the faculty of science at the University of Dar es Saalaam.
This is true Mr. Keenja is not wanted any more as a member of parliament since he has not talked to students at the Hill for five years leave alone visit them despite the fact that students have been constantly in crisis situations which the government had to address.
This is quite ridiculous. How can the students vote while they have been denied the right to listen to the election manifestos of their would-be leaders?
As a matter of fact, the University I suppose is the most relevant place for political campaigns since it is one of the places where the policies and ideologies of the political parties can be subjected to intellectual criticism.
We need to learn from what is happening in other parts of the globe.
During campaigns in the West, the contestants normally visit Universities and make their campaign speeches.
Surprisingly our leaders fear so much to visit and make speeches at the University!
This act of preventing political campaigns at the University contravenes the Union constitution Article 21 which stipulates that 'each citizen of the United republic is entitled to take part in matters pertaining to the governance of the country, either directly or through representatives freely elected by the people�' If the students are not given an opportunity to listen to the election manifestos of the contestants it means that the students cannot vote.
For how can they vote and why when they do not know what the one they are supposed to vote for is going to do for them!
Nevertheless, of all the parliamentary contestants in Ubungo constituency, Nderakindo Perpetua Kessy has been able to conduct a political rally outside the University of Dar es Salaam at the Rwegarulila Water College's football pitch. Mrs. Kessy is a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam in the Mathematics Department.
She holds a PhD in mathematics (algebra). She is the only competent academic in algebra in East and Central Africa.
She joined the University teaching staff in September 2002.
She has taught in many Universities outside the country, such as Hamilton, Howard and Maryland in USA.
Mwalimu Nderakindo, as most students at UDSM prefer to call her, stands a better chance of winning.
This is because of all the contestants, she is the most educated, she is very close to the down trodden including students. She also participated actively during the recent students' demonstration for their allowances.
Her stand is that she sees no rationale in discontinuing University students in their second or third year of study on academic grounds.
Nderakindo seems to be very much aggrieved by the current academic and administrative situation at the University.
This is because she has been at the University and she once fell victim to the situation; therefore she is determined to deal with this situation.
That is why she thought that the best way is to embark on a practical struggle by contesting to become a member of policy and lawmakers.
The students and her fellow staff members who also admitted that she was a suitable candidate for the Member of Parliament post supported her decision.
Without hypocrisy, of all the Ubungo contestants Nderakaindo deserves to be elected because she knows better the problems of the Ubungo constituency including the University, she is the most educated of all, she is a confident and bold woman who needs to be supported by the society so as to boost the participation of women in decision making, she is the only contestant who is so close to the down-trodden, including the students.
Above all, Nderakindo is an activist and a committed revolutionary.
