Photo Credit:24Tanzania.com
In one of his most popular songs, All Of Me, the American artist, John Legend sings; “My head is under water, but I am breathing fine”.
I was listening to that song during one of my usual morning commute to work few days ago when that piece of lyrics caught my attention in a different way. I thought for a while on how one could be under water and be breathing fine! I concluded; yes it is possible with oxygen tank on your back, mask on your face etc. But even then it depends on how long you stay down there. Planning to stay forever can be catastrophic.
For whatever reasons [and you can call me crazy if you like], I found myself comparing that part of John Legend’s song with current political situation in Tanzania. It’s election year and therefore you’d expect to have people with the mentality of why make little problems when you can create a holocaust. However, the heat seems to be turned on pretty early. Let me explain;
When Tanzania reluctantly agreed to allow multi-party democracy in early 1992 [Reluctantly because according to Justice Nyalali commission report Tanzanians had said no to multi-party], the political landscape had changed and the pressure of conformity had won. The donors wanted us to have multi-party democracy. We ran out of choices. The floodgates of different political think tanks emerged. It was the only solid reality and direction in a shifting world. It was the new beginning.
By then I was a young boy still in school but I could feel the change in the air. A few crocuses of hope poked through the surface. For the first time; people started poking the policies of the ruling party as “failed”. Democracy, as it turns out, could be mean. It comes with the sense of not respecting authorities so much. That’s when you realize that freedom of speech is sweeter than honey when you are used to it. Otherwise it becomes like a rough, schoolyard element of justice. For those who had called out louder for the new political system, it was a sweet victory.
As you can imagine, CCM welcomed the new political system with a plastic smile. The kind of smile you receive from a customer service representative who has been trained to smile no matter how he/she feels. Of course you can tell the difference. It was a familiar arena but everything seemed different. They knew they could catch it, or kill it and pin it down, but then it wasn’t a butterfly anymore. It was game time and only the best would survive.
The change wasn’t easy. It took time for anyone to truly understand what we were doing. It was almost chaos when the word “opposition” started penetrating our minds. What are they opposing? Do we mean Ujamaa na Kujitegemea policies were done? A fundamental appreciation of new reality was hard to swallow. By then, Mwalimu Nyerere had retired which was another leadership gap of it’s own magnitude. The hawk had taken the chicks and left the hen wondering what had just happened. Tides had changed a bit too fast.
Twenty-three years later, we can all agree that a lot of things have changed. On the national stage, there is some level of balance and checks. Yes, some level. Also there is some improvement in levels of accountability.
We can’t dismiss all efforts done by the opposition parties, for example, to bring to light some of the corruption scandals that have engulfed our nation for years. Words like EPA, Escrow, rogue mineral contracts, uneven distribution of national wealth, sold giraffes, plots of lands etc come in my mind when I think of just the past 10 years. We know that most of those scandals would have remained under the carpets had it not been for multi-party and oppositions. The CCM’s government can no longer pull the wool over Tanzanians’ eyes easily. Check that.
But when we look at the big picture, the “hopes” that wananchi had come to expect from the opposition has fallen short. I am talking about people who have voted opposition in the past elections. The country is still in darkness. Finger pointing games haven’t changed much. Some of critical common man’s challenges that could be solved through leadership and not necessarily resources have remained the same or even worse in some cases. The concentration turned into winning elections and far from initiating meaningful and progressive changes.
The opposition likes to blame the ruling party. They cry foul play. It’s a legitimate point. But that is something they should have expected all along. No one likes to give up power easily. One has to learn how to fight instead of becoming a whiner. CCM would never want to go down. You can’t tell me that no one in opposition knows that. The problem, however, seems to be from simple reality that Mwananchi is so busy trying to make ends meet to the point that whenever they fight (CCM Vs Opposition) he doesn’t even witness. Therefore when they rush to him for ruling, he knows nothing. The best he can afford is to say may be it was a tie. He collects from both sides and life goes on.
Recent developments from the opposition camps have kept painting a bad picture. Are they united? Do they adhere to democratic principles within their own parties? How are party leadership elections handled? Are they held according to their constitution? If they are so divided among them, what does that tell us? Democracy? Someone could argue that they have lost the train of thought or lost in thought.
During the new constitution debate, for example, they shouldn’t have thrown tantrums. They did. Where are we today? See, you can’t fight the system by running out of it. They should have stayed and kept turning the heat from within. They chose an easier path. Walk the walk but never talk the talk!
All that leaves a bad taste. If they are serious about regime changes, they need to put their act together. So far they have spent most of their time doing a lot of talking and not walking. Where they were expected to grab opportunities and reshape the confidence of the people, their priorities have been different. Their inspirational impact has not been consistency. It comes and goes.
CCM on the other hand, is no longer the party it used to be. It’s wearing out at an unbelievable speed. They seem to no longer be able to adhere to their deep traditions. For example, it’s no longer unusual for the grand party cadres to air their disagreements in public and through media instead of private meetings behind closed doors as it used to be. Maintenance of secrecy is no longer a creed. Everything is out there.
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