We particularly like the fact that you, our very own President, know and hate the ugly reality that this country is poor the way it is because some men and women entrusted with public office so as to manage our collective resources on our behalf are busy enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of us.
Just how can we – or anyone else – dare not love a leader who is determined to stop thieves and lazy fellows who sleep on the very job we pay them to do with our own taxes? I wonder where those pollsters are but I can safely bet that your current popularity rating can be second to none in the world.
Before last year’s polls that brought you to power, we the poor were longing precisely for your kind of leadership – and nothing less. The consensus is now clear: you are exactly what the doctor ordered for our beloved country. As we put it these days, unawanyoosha (that is, you are dealing with them exactly as expected).
It is heartwarming and emotionally fulfilling seeing those previously thought or believed to be untouchable fall like flies sprayed with a repellant causing instant death.
So, while hard work breaks our backs and we end up collecting peanuts, some fellows allocate themselves salaries that cannot fit in their pockets and wallets combined on pay day! And you are going to cut things down to size? You are determined to have your revenge on our tormentors on our behalf.
The feeling is nothing but sweet.
The country went wild with ululations the other day when you told off some elements that attempted to challenge your style of “bursting the boils” in public. Because they celebrate publicly when they get appointed, they must be shown the door publicly when they mess up, you rightly said.
“Hata hao wanaowatetea ni majipu,” (even those defending them are ‘boils’ too – and must go) you declared. At a pub where I was watching the news, debate ensued on whether it was right to name and shame before sacking or suspending those swindling public funds or fail to carry out their duty diligently. We were near unanimous: public business must be transacted in public; no privacy, no rights whatsoever.
But, Sir, after thinking about it selflessly, I realised that ‘they’ are not alone. What about ‘us’? Methinks we are not clean either. Ndiyo mkuu (Indeed, Sir), most of us cheering and ululating to the top of our voices in your support are also majipu.
You are our warrior. You are a fearless commander determined to win the war. Much to our delight, you have repeatedly told a pleasantly puzzled nation that you have nothing to fear because, after all, you have offered yourself as a sacrifice for the sake of this country. I must say we have never been as proud of a leader in our country’s recent history.
But from where I stand, this is not a soccer match where multitudes of fans just chant and dance in support of their team. This is a guerrilla war where the Commander-in-Chief is in the frontline and the enemy has fighters and informers all over the country. The big question is: are we all fighting along with you, Your Excellency?
Someone has whispered to me that we who endlessly ululate and sing praises to the top of our voice in your support can use the same enthusiasm to heckle and curse when things run against our expectations.
We will condemn without knowing that we contributed to the failure – real or presumed – by not playing our part to satisfaction.
Your Excellency, I front this humble opinion because, much like you, I love this country to death. My only fear is that, because we are the majority, even if you succeed in “bursting all the boils” in public offices while leaving us untouched, the country may not achieve the transformation we expect. And guess who we will blame for the failure: yes, you.
Sir, with your permission, I am going to explain why I believe that we your supporters are also majipu that call for major surgery if this war is to be won with dignity. If it pleases you, allow me to narrate first-hand account of events I have witnessed and my own personal experiences.
We glorify thieves: Yes, we glorify thieves and vilify the honest, hard-working men and women of this country – and that makes a bunch of a very big jipu.
For instance, there is this thug in my neighbourhood who works with an agency billed as the government’s major cash cow. Because five vehicles of different makes (one for himself, another for wife, two for children and another for gardener) move in and out of his palatial home every day, he is the model of success.
Alitumia nafasi yake vizuri, people say, to mean he made good use of his position. The guy has an assortment of all manner of property registered in the names of his children and relatives – not to mention tonnes of cash believed to be hidden in the same style.
Some of your gullible supporters I know say he is one of the smartest people – unlike the ‘lazy’, ‘short-sighted’ and ‘stupid’ ones who marked time in government offices until one Dr John Pombe Joseph Magufuli came to power and spoiled everything.
We are thieves, too: I will not bore you with stories you already know, such as how Kariakoo and indeed other central business districts in other cities have become a den of thieves. They sell you a cellular phone but they hand you a piece of soap hidden in cell phone housing. Or you choose and pay for something to wear but they swiftly switch the bag with a lookalike containing rubbish, etc.
This is a true story: When US President Barack Obama visited our country in 2013, I worked as a fixer for one American journalist who landed a few days ahead of Air Force One. This is an excerpt from the email he sent me one day before his flight: …I’m told taxi drivers at Dar Airport are notorious for overcharging unsuspecting foreigners arriving in the country…will you kindly be at the airport by the time of my arrival?
I did just that. The next morning we agreed to meet at the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) offices, where I had arranged an interview with the executive director. But two unforeseen events intervened. One, the American had spent all the Tanzanian money he had that night. Two, I had not advised him on what it would cost in US dollars from Oysterbay (his hotel) to Kijitonyama (the LHRC offices).
So, the cab guy charged him $50 (equivalent to 100,000/-). The fellow literally turned red later that day when I paid just 10,000/- for the same trip. Realising that he was ripped off ten times, he furiously deleted the number of the taxi driver he planned to hire for the entire week he would stay in the country.
Your Excellency, it is not only in the civil/public service that one finds majipu; the ghost have shot deep into the private sector and people’s homes. The only difference is that the public sector was, as many would call it, shamba la bibi (literally, grandma’s garden, where any grandchild has equal right to harvest).
The other day I was having a chat with the CEO of this multinational company operating in the country and I was shocked by his observation. What this foreigner told me without mincing his words made me angry at first, but I calmed down after spending some minutes internalising what he had just said.
“Most of you are thieves. You don’t believe in the possibility of achieving success through hard work. We hire you as a matter of legal requirement, otherwise we would bring in staff from neighbouring countries,” he said.
He added that whereas in Tanzania employees aspire to hit money (kupiga hela), the accepted practice is to earn cool amounts through hard-work.
Functioning institutions: Your Excellency, I will live and die a very happy man if the “bursting of boils” continues even after you retire.
For that to happen, I request that you put in place functioning institutions. For, the existence or lack of the same is about the only reason some families, communities, countries and even continents are prosperous as others languish in abject poverty.
The other day I was reading Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty , a book by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. The authors cite the example of two neighbouring cities with the same name inhabited by people of the same ethnic group but with completely different levels of development.
These are the American city of Nogales (in Arizona) and the Mexican city of Nogales (in Sonora). On the American side, the duo write, average income and life expectancy are high, the incidence of crime and corruption is low, health and roads are good, and elections are democratic.
However, things look the opposite on the other side though the geographic environment is identical. Their conclusion on the differences: it has all to do with the existence – or lack – of functioning institutions.
“The reason that Nogales, Arizona, is much richer than Nogales, Sonora, is simple: it is because of the very different institutions on the two sides of the border, which creates very different incentives for the inhabitants of Nogales, Arizona, versus Nogales, Sonora.”
So, there we are, Your Excellency… I wonder what other people have to say to this, but it is some food for thought…
• Songa wa Songa is a senior journalist with The Guardian. Email: songa.songa@guardian.co.tz
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