Columnist Alloyce Komba was poignant about Hon. Lawrence Masha in his article in Mwanahalisi of 22nd -28th July 2009. Masha unfit to be a Minister of Home Affairs read the title of Bwana Kombas Kiswahili missive. This article has jogged my memory on Mr. Masha. I do not know Hon. Lawrence Masha from a close range. In fact the first time I heard of him was in 2005, during the national elections. He was somewhere in Mwanza campaigning for the parliamentary seat of Nyamagana constituency and during the peak of the campaigns, Hon. Masha rhetorically challenged the electorate to give him the votes because he was already a rich man! He sang his own praises to the effect that he had already made enough faranga (money) and that he was just seeking to be a parliamentarian just to serve his people and this nation as a whole because he was already a contented and accomplished man. You cannot serve two masters; Money and the People, he reasoned! I was impressed with this kind of bluntness and honesty. Very impressed to be precise!
In Lawrence Masha, I saw a new breed of a young Tanzanian politician capable of leading this county into a new direction for the better. Here was a young politician coming out without any blinking and ooh-haaing declaring to the public that he is not going into politics for money but only for service deliverance. That he is just answering the call from the Almighty God because he has been duly anointed to serve Caesar and his subjects so help me God. Good stuff. I had no qualms whatsoever to believe in what I was hearing and was full of great expectations from this son of the soil.
Indeed Bwana Masha made it to parliament and President Kikwete did not let him down. From relative obscurity, Lawrence Masha made it to Mr. Kikwetes inaugural cabinet line up. He was given a docket at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to deputize the scapegoated (Bangusilo) Hon. Ali Msabaha. Not a mean feat for a rookie politician. Again I was elated!
When the infamous Richmond power generation sourcing started going haywire, Hon. Masha and his superior were shuffled and he landed a job at the Ministry of Home Affairs as second in command after Hon.Joseph Mungai. Subsequent investigation into the Richmond blunders by the Mwakyembe Committee saw Mr. Masha come out unscathed while his former boss or rather bosses went shamelessly packing. To me, this was a vindication that this man was a very diligent and meticulous individual. In an ensuing reshuffle Bwana Masha not only ate it big time by being promoted to Cabinet level but was tasked with one of the most intractable and sensitive government departments, namely the Ministry of Home Affairs in charge of Immigration and Public Security. Voila! My wish had been fulfilled. Now it was the right time and place for this rising star to do his things (kufanya vitu vake) as the Kiswahili slang would put it. I saw this as a good opportunity for Minister Masha to consolidate and build his political carrier for the future.
However, going by what is happening I now realize that mine was just a wishful thinking after all. I want to be candid with Hon. Masha. His first test came when Mr. Mengi provoked him and the Minister fell for this ploy hook, line and sinker! Hon.Mashas knee-jerk reaction was very disappointing to say the least. Mr. Mengi had accused Minister Masha of trying to use under some hand methods to bankrupt his (Mengis) IPP Empire. At the very most I expected Hon. Masha to blush off this accusation with the contempt it deserved but instead Bwana Masha came charging like a wounded bull and issued ultimatums to the IPP media mogul! Mr. Mengi outwitted Masha by calling the bluff and the minister could not rise to the occasion. He lost face!
As they say, misfortunes do not come in singles. Hon. Masha was caught with his pants down when he tried to interfere in the tendering process of the National Identity Cards (NICs) procurement. He is accused of using his office to try to return, through the back door, one of the contenders who had been sidelined by the Tender Committee (under his Ministry) responsible for the NICs. Public outcry ensued and Bwana Mashas handling of the situation came very short of my expectations.
Firstly, his media strategy was at its worst through combative posturing while oscillating between one explanation in the morning only to contravene the same in the evening. When cornered about his itinerary during his official visit to Switzerland, Hon. Marsha was a bit cagey and by the time he came live on TBC1 (morning program) to put his side of the story into perspective, it was very late in the day to make an impact on the public. The negative impression this saga had created had become too entrenched in the public mind and could not be erased by a mere thirty minutes stint at the national television. For this gaffe alone, I gave him poor marks on the strategists scoreboard.
Secondly, persistent press reports that Hon. Masha is on a collision course with a fat cat at State House regarding the NICs project, somehow leaves an egg in the face of the eccentric politician. The minister has also dismally and abysmally failed to shake off the notion that he was not above board when he dealt with the NIC Tender Committee hence the recent cropping up of the issue during the ongoing parliament session in Dodoma.
As Alloyce Komba narrates, a casual question regarding the NICs project from Ms. Anna Komu, a legislator from Chadema, was enough to leave Hon. Masha red faced! Instead of being cool headed in answering the question the minister threw a tantrum in Parliament by going into irrelevancies which has nothing to do with the current NICs project and alluding to the notion that such queries tantamount to personal witch hunting! I was shocked and awed at this un-ministerial-like etiquette and I am afraid with such portrayal this Minister may have sung his political swan song. My unsolicited advice to Hon. Masha is that if he cant stand the heat let him get out of the kitchen.
I dont know what Waziri Masha was up to when he left his plumy legal practice to venture into the uncharted political world. To be a politician entails being a man (or woman) and half, to be able to withstand the rigors of the public office. Like Bwana Komba, I have a feeling that Mr. Masha does not measure up to the task given to him by the President at his current fort. Perhaps Bwana Masha should contemplate on cutting his losses and run before the eclipse catches up with his political career sine die. What a shame!
By Byase Luteke
byasel@hotmail.com
In Lawrence Masha, I saw a new breed of a young Tanzanian politician capable of leading this county into a new direction for the better. Here was a young politician coming out without any blinking and ooh-haaing declaring to the public that he is not going into politics for money but only for service deliverance. That he is just answering the call from the Almighty God because he has been duly anointed to serve Caesar and his subjects so help me God. Good stuff. I had no qualms whatsoever to believe in what I was hearing and was full of great expectations from this son of the soil.
Indeed Bwana Masha made it to parliament and President Kikwete did not let him down. From relative obscurity, Lawrence Masha made it to Mr. Kikwetes inaugural cabinet line up. He was given a docket at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to deputize the scapegoated (Bangusilo) Hon. Ali Msabaha. Not a mean feat for a rookie politician. Again I was elated!
When the infamous Richmond power generation sourcing started going haywire, Hon. Masha and his superior were shuffled and he landed a job at the Ministry of Home Affairs as second in command after Hon.Joseph Mungai. Subsequent investigation into the Richmond blunders by the Mwakyembe Committee saw Mr. Masha come out unscathed while his former boss or rather bosses went shamelessly packing. To me, this was a vindication that this man was a very diligent and meticulous individual. In an ensuing reshuffle Bwana Masha not only ate it big time by being promoted to Cabinet level but was tasked with one of the most intractable and sensitive government departments, namely the Ministry of Home Affairs in charge of Immigration and Public Security. Voila! My wish had been fulfilled. Now it was the right time and place for this rising star to do his things (kufanya vitu vake) as the Kiswahili slang would put it. I saw this as a good opportunity for Minister Masha to consolidate and build his political carrier for the future.
However, going by what is happening I now realize that mine was just a wishful thinking after all. I want to be candid with Hon. Masha. His first test came when Mr. Mengi provoked him and the Minister fell for this ploy hook, line and sinker! Hon.Mashas knee-jerk reaction was very disappointing to say the least. Mr. Mengi had accused Minister Masha of trying to use under some hand methods to bankrupt his (Mengis) IPP Empire. At the very most I expected Hon. Masha to blush off this accusation with the contempt it deserved but instead Bwana Masha came charging like a wounded bull and issued ultimatums to the IPP media mogul! Mr. Mengi outwitted Masha by calling the bluff and the minister could not rise to the occasion. He lost face!
As they say, misfortunes do not come in singles. Hon. Masha was caught with his pants down when he tried to interfere in the tendering process of the National Identity Cards (NICs) procurement. He is accused of using his office to try to return, through the back door, one of the contenders who had been sidelined by the Tender Committee (under his Ministry) responsible for the NICs. Public outcry ensued and Bwana Mashas handling of the situation came very short of my expectations.
Firstly, his media strategy was at its worst through combative posturing while oscillating between one explanation in the morning only to contravene the same in the evening. When cornered about his itinerary during his official visit to Switzerland, Hon. Marsha was a bit cagey and by the time he came live on TBC1 (morning program) to put his side of the story into perspective, it was very late in the day to make an impact on the public. The negative impression this saga had created had become too entrenched in the public mind and could not be erased by a mere thirty minutes stint at the national television. For this gaffe alone, I gave him poor marks on the strategists scoreboard.
Secondly, persistent press reports that Hon. Masha is on a collision course with a fat cat at State House regarding the NICs project, somehow leaves an egg in the face of the eccentric politician. The minister has also dismally and abysmally failed to shake off the notion that he was not above board when he dealt with the NIC Tender Committee hence the recent cropping up of the issue during the ongoing parliament session in Dodoma.
As Alloyce Komba narrates, a casual question regarding the NICs project from Ms. Anna Komu, a legislator from Chadema, was enough to leave Hon. Masha red faced! Instead of being cool headed in answering the question the minister threw a tantrum in Parliament by going into irrelevancies which has nothing to do with the current NICs project and alluding to the notion that such queries tantamount to personal witch hunting! I was shocked and awed at this un-ministerial-like etiquette and I am afraid with such portrayal this Minister may have sung his political swan song. My unsolicited advice to Hon. Masha is that if he cant stand the heat let him get out of the kitchen.
I dont know what Waziri Masha was up to when he left his plumy legal practice to venture into the uncharted political world. To be a politician entails being a man (or woman) and half, to be able to withstand the rigors of the public office. Like Bwana Komba, I have a feeling that Mr. Masha does not measure up to the task given to him by the President at his current fort. Perhaps Bwana Masha should contemplate on cutting his losses and run before the eclipse catches up with his political career sine die. What a shame!
By Byase Luteke
byasel@hotmail.com
