Taz
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 14, 2012
- 304
- 158
[h=1]Financial Times Tanzania special report: Politics - Young activists bring a belief that things must change (source: Politics: Young activists bring a belief that things must change - FT.com)[/h]
As with everything he does, Zitto Kabwes short-sleeved khaki safari suit is deliberate. Mr Kabwe, who intends to run for president in 2015, has 11 more. This way I can be normal I can mingle with the people easily without them feeling like the Honourable is here, says the countrys shadow finance minister and rising light of the Chadema opposition party.
Tanzanians are no stranger to trademark suits from their political leaders. The Nyerere suit, made famous by Julius Nyerere, the countrys founding father and pan-African liberation leader, was a humble, collarless call to the very socialist action that many argue entrenched Tanzanias inefficiencies..
Mr Kabwe will be 39 when presidential elections are held in 2015 a year too young to contest the post, according to the rules. Willibrod Slaa, his partys leader, may contest again and Chadema will be mounting its contest from far behind.Corruption in Tanzania is like a cultural thing now, socialism is a cause, says Mr Kabwe. People are not creating work but expecting things instead of enlarging the cake, they just take what they can from the cake.
Mr Kabwe is counting on a constitutional review that will not only reduce or abolish the minimum age to contest the presidency from 40, but implement its findings ahead of elections.
CCM [the ruling party] has been running the country for the last 50 years, it is too old and tired the best way for CCM to reform itself is by losing power, says Mr Kabwe. However, Chadema has long been seen as an unruly activist party too disorganised to marshal the rural grassroots networks that repeatedly return CCM to power. Although it increased its popular vote fivefold in the 2010 elections, a sign its grievances are widely held, it would need to nearly double it again to secure victory.
Besides that, Mr Kabwe says his party is so ill-prepared to govern that, were he to win, he would select a multiparty cabinet of all the talents, drawing from both CCM and CUF, another opposition party, whose stronghold in Zanzibar has never made the leap to the mainland.
Despairing columns in local newspapers are scandalised by such Young Turks and the prospect of a generational electoral coup, but the numbers are against them. While CCMs old guard is ageing, 65 per cent of the countrys 46m people is under the age of 24.
My call is for generational change, says Mr Kabwe. Tanzanians are so pro status quo, so you really need very strong voices for it to reform.
Selemani Kinyunyu, a 26-year-old lawyer at the Pan-African Lawyers Union in Arusha, is a case in point.
The country is going through a metamorphosis. The notion that you are nothing without the party, that it is a baba na mama [father and mother] party is going, says Mr Kinyunyu. The country is democratising.
Yet Tanzania is not deviating too far from its old norms. For all the youthful urge to change, Mr Kinyunyu is part of the status quo too. He describes himself as a socialist and eventually wants to work for the government.
Mr Kabwe has nevertheless raised his very strong voice against the status quo several times already to significant effect. His call for a vote of no-confidence in the prime minister after yet another corruption scandal prompted President Jakaya Kikwete to shuffle eight politicians, including the ministers of finance and energy, out of his cabinet in May. Mr Kabwe has exposed state misspending in everything from power generation to privatisations and now wants to go after politicians Swiss bank accounts.
Embracing a youthful population more aware and angry about corruption and bad leadership may prove decisive for Tanzanias political class. Some of the main contenders for the CCM presidential candidacy in 2015, when Mr Kikwete is due to step down, are older than the presidents own 62 years. All of those worked under Mwalimu (teacher in Swahili) the deferential term for Mr Nyerere while Edward Lowassa, 59, the former prime minister, is likely to retain his role as kingmaker.
Its younger members suggest the ruling party, split by divisive chasms, must also take account of changing times. Which is why, at a meeting in February, CCM rising star January Makamba, 38-year-old MP and deputy minister for communications, science and technology, said he wanted the voting age lowered to 16. Its up to CCM to lose this election, he says.
Mr Makamba, who says he will not run on the CCM ticket himself, is among a crop of young politicians promoted to ministerial positions under Mr Kikwete.
This tentative new breed goes far further than 30-something politicians who, like Mr Makamba, embrace Twitter and are friends with MTV presenters. Mr Makamba came second in the popular party vote to elect the 10-member National Executive Council at his party conference and spends his time worrying about how to clean up the public purse without risking a hard-won tradition of stability.
Both he and Mr Kabwe take themselves off (separately) for writing retreats, set themselves annual targets, read voraciously, fight for public accountability and believe in the ability and necessity of their country to change.
With that shift comes tumult. Police have twice this year teargassed gatherings of Chadema supporters agitating for change and against corruption, on one occasion killing a journalist. Photographs of the remains were printed in national newspapers to shocking effect.
This is a country where consensus is valued calm and peace is a big deal. Law enforcement authorities probably need to learn how to deal with this [new] kind of expression, says Mr Makamba.
Whether 2015 delivers a young president or not, Tanzanian politics may be changing for good.
As with everything he does, Zitto Kabwes short-sleeved khaki safari suit is deliberate. Mr Kabwe, who intends to run for president in 2015, has 11 more. This way I can be normal I can mingle with the people easily without them feeling like the Honourable is here, says the countrys shadow finance minister and rising light of the Chadema opposition party.
Tanzanians are no stranger to trademark suits from their political leaders. The Nyerere suit, made famous by Julius Nyerere, the countrys founding father and pan-African liberation leader, was a humble, collarless call to the very socialist action that many argue entrenched Tanzanias inefficiencies..
Mr Kabwe will be 39 when presidential elections are held in 2015 a year too young to contest the post, according to the rules. Willibrod Slaa, his partys leader, may contest again and Chadema will be mounting its contest from far behind.Corruption in Tanzania is like a cultural thing now, socialism is a cause, says Mr Kabwe. People are not creating work but expecting things instead of enlarging the cake, they just take what they can from the cake.
Mr Kabwe is counting on a constitutional review that will not only reduce or abolish the minimum age to contest the presidency from 40, but implement its findings ahead of elections.
CCM [the ruling party] has been running the country for the last 50 years, it is too old and tired the best way for CCM to reform itself is by losing power, says Mr Kabwe. However, Chadema has long been seen as an unruly activist party too disorganised to marshal the rural grassroots networks that repeatedly return CCM to power. Although it increased its popular vote fivefold in the 2010 elections, a sign its grievances are widely held, it would need to nearly double it again to secure victory.
Besides that, Mr Kabwe says his party is so ill-prepared to govern that, were he to win, he would select a multiparty cabinet of all the talents, drawing from both CCM and CUF, another opposition party, whose stronghold in Zanzibar has never made the leap to the mainland.
Despairing columns in local newspapers are scandalised by such Young Turks and the prospect of a generational electoral coup, but the numbers are against them. While CCMs old guard is ageing, 65 per cent of the countrys 46m people is under the age of 24.
My call is for generational change, says Mr Kabwe. Tanzanians are so pro status quo, so you really need very strong voices for it to reform.
Selemani Kinyunyu, a 26-year-old lawyer at the Pan-African Lawyers Union in Arusha, is a case in point.
The country is going through a metamorphosis. The notion that you are nothing without the party, that it is a baba na mama [father and mother] party is going, says Mr Kinyunyu. The country is democratising.
Yet Tanzania is not deviating too far from its old norms. For all the youthful urge to change, Mr Kinyunyu is part of the status quo too. He describes himself as a socialist and eventually wants to work for the government.
Mr Kabwe has nevertheless raised his very strong voice against the status quo several times already to significant effect. His call for a vote of no-confidence in the prime minister after yet another corruption scandal prompted President Jakaya Kikwete to shuffle eight politicians, including the ministers of finance and energy, out of his cabinet in May. Mr Kabwe has exposed state misspending in everything from power generation to privatisations and now wants to go after politicians Swiss bank accounts.
Embracing a youthful population more aware and angry about corruption and bad leadership may prove decisive for Tanzanias political class. Some of the main contenders for the CCM presidential candidacy in 2015, when Mr Kikwete is due to step down, are older than the presidents own 62 years. All of those worked under Mwalimu (teacher in Swahili) the deferential term for Mr Nyerere while Edward Lowassa, 59, the former prime minister, is likely to retain his role as kingmaker.
Its younger members suggest the ruling party, split by divisive chasms, must also take account of changing times. Which is why, at a meeting in February, CCM rising star January Makamba, 38-year-old MP and deputy minister for communications, science and technology, said he wanted the voting age lowered to 16. Its up to CCM to lose this election, he says.
Mr Makamba, who says he will not run on the CCM ticket himself, is among a crop of young politicians promoted to ministerial positions under Mr Kikwete.
This tentative new breed goes far further than 30-something politicians who, like Mr Makamba, embrace Twitter and are friends with MTV presenters. Mr Makamba came second in the popular party vote to elect the 10-member National Executive Council at his party conference and spends his time worrying about how to clean up the public purse without risking a hard-won tradition of stability.
Both he and Mr Kabwe take themselves off (separately) for writing retreats, set themselves annual targets, read voraciously, fight for public accountability and believe in the ability and necessity of their country to change.
With that shift comes tumult. Police have twice this year teargassed gatherings of Chadema supporters agitating for change and against corruption, on one occasion killing a journalist. Photographs of the remains were printed in national newspapers to shocking effect.
This is a country where consensus is valued calm and peace is a big deal. Law enforcement authorities probably need to learn how to deal with this [new] kind of expression, says Mr Makamba.
Whether 2015 delivers a young president or not, Tanzanian politics may be changing for good.