OPEN LETTER TO MADAM PRESIDENT
Your excellency, President @SuluhuSamia, I hope this letter reaches you in good health.
I intended to share with you these wise words from Ali Mufuruki, a prominent figure from our country, who, I believe, is now observing from the afterlife with disapproval.
When you took office in 2021, the national debt was 59 trillion.
Within just three years, the national debt now stands at over 90 trillion.
It took us 60 years of independence and five presidents to accumulate a debt of 59 trillion, but you have added over 30 trillion in just three years.
Recently, you borrowed 6.5 trillion from Korea. In the 2024/25 budget, you plan to borrow another 5 trillion. Where are you taking us?
When Job Ndugai said that one day we will be auctioned off due to this borrowing habit, you stripped him of the speaker position.
Instead of devising strategies to achieve economic independence, you are striving to ensure that we continue to be captives of big nations forever and ever.
Mwalimu Nyerere stated in the Arusha Declaration, “true self-governance cannot be achieved if one nation depends on aid and loans from another nation.”
John Perkins in Economic Hitman has clearly explained to us that loans and aid are the methods used by powerful nations to create eternal slaves and expand their empires. Have you ever thought about our sovereignity?
What is referred to as “development project loans” is a web of deceit spun by powerful nations. All the money we borrow goes back to them while we remain burdened with the debt servicing forever.
What do you think the Chinese are seeking when they give you money and request that tenders be awarded to their companies?
Do you think the previous presidents were foolish to set ceilings on borrowing?
Loans are akin to drugs; once you are in, you are in deep trouble.
Today, the Ministry of Finance has set aside 13 trillion to service the national debt, equivalent to over 30% of our budget. This is a disaster, not something to celebrate.
You spend 13 trillion on servicing the national debt while key ministries like the Ministry of Education receive 1.9 trillion.
The Ministry of Agriculture, a vital sector that employs over 60% of our people, receives 1.2 trillion. How can you build a country with sort of economic theory?
We are stuck in the deep quagmire of poverty due to these loans, yet we continue to celebrate them.
Your Finance Minister, Mwigulu Nchemba, who claims to be an “economic expert” has the audacity to stand before the public and arrogantly say, “we are able to borrow, that’s why we borrow; there is no country that does not borrow.”
The minister is playing cheusi-chekundu with foreign loans albeit with demonstrably little knowledge of economic subterfuge.
In other words, we are celebrating being slaves; we are celebrating mortgaging the future of our nation and future generations.
As our very own Professor Issa Shivji has warned us over and over again, the economic sharks are merciless. Once they get you, they devour you right away; and you are increasingly driving the country from their fore teeth to their molars.
I don’t know if you like literature but I will remind you of one.
In Greek mythology, there is an infamous story of the Trojan horse.
According to the legend, after a long and grueling siege of Troy, the Greeks devised a cunning plan to gain entry into the heavily fortified city.
They built a massive wooden horse and left it as a supposed offering for the goddess Athena outside the gates of Troy.
The Greeks then pretended to sail away, leaving behind only the horse and a small group of soldiers led by Odysseus.
The Trojans, believing that the Greeks had given up and left the horse as a peace offering or a symbol of their departure, decided to bring the horse inside the city walls as a sign of victory.
Despite warnings from the Trojan priest Laocoon that the horse might be a trick, the Trojans celebrated their perceived triumph and wheeled the horse into the city as a symbol of their victory.
Under the cover of night, the Greek soldiers hidden inside the hollow belly of the wooden horse emerged and opened the gates of Troy, allowing the Greek army, which had returned under the cover of darkness, to sneak into the city.
The Greeks launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Trojans, who were caught off guard and ultimately defeated.
Madam President, you have opened the country gates to the Trojan loans, history will treat you accordingly.
As you enjoy honorary PhDs and red-carpet receptions, know that you are auctioning your very motherland.
We, the people, will forever protest this economic model with all our mighty. We are not for sale.
Fuming with fury.
Onesmo Mushi.
Your excellency, President @SuluhuSamia, I hope this letter reaches you in good health.
I intended to share with you these wise words from Ali Mufuruki, a prominent figure from our country, who, I believe, is now observing from the afterlife with disapproval.
When you took office in 2021, the national debt was 59 trillion.
Within just three years, the national debt now stands at over 90 trillion.
It took us 60 years of independence and five presidents to accumulate a debt of 59 trillion, but you have added over 30 trillion in just three years.
Recently, you borrowed 6.5 trillion from Korea. In the 2024/25 budget, you plan to borrow another 5 trillion. Where are you taking us?
When Job Ndugai said that one day we will be auctioned off due to this borrowing habit, you stripped him of the speaker position.
Instead of devising strategies to achieve economic independence, you are striving to ensure that we continue to be captives of big nations forever and ever.
Mwalimu Nyerere stated in the Arusha Declaration, “true self-governance cannot be achieved if one nation depends on aid and loans from another nation.”
John Perkins in Economic Hitman has clearly explained to us that loans and aid are the methods used by powerful nations to create eternal slaves and expand their empires. Have you ever thought about our sovereignity?
What is referred to as “development project loans” is a web of deceit spun by powerful nations. All the money we borrow goes back to them while we remain burdened with the debt servicing forever.
What do you think the Chinese are seeking when they give you money and request that tenders be awarded to their companies?
Do you think the previous presidents were foolish to set ceilings on borrowing?
Loans are akin to drugs; once you are in, you are in deep trouble.
Today, the Ministry of Finance has set aside 13 trillion to service the national debt, equivalent to over 30% of our budget. This is a disaster, not something to celebrate.
You spend 13 trillion on servicing the national debt while key ministries like the Ministry of Education receive 1.9 trillion.
The Ministry of Agriculture, a vital sector that employs over 60% of our people, receives 1.2 trillion. How can you build a country with sort of economic theory?
We are stuck in the deep quagmire of poverty due to these loans, yet we continue to celebrate them.
Your Finance Minister, Mwigulu Nchemba, who claims to be an “economic expert” has the audacity to stand before the public and arrogantly say, “we are able to borrow, that’s why we borrow; there is no country that does not borrow.”
The minister is playing cheusi-chekundu with foreign loans albeit with demonstrably little knowledge of economic subterfuge.
In other words, we are celebrating being slaves; we are celebrating mortgaging the future of our nation and future generations.
As our very own Professor Issa Shivji has warned us over and over again, the economic sharks are merciless. Once they get you, they devour you right away; and you are increasingly driving the country from their fore teeth to their molars.
I don’t know if you like literature but I will remind you of one.
In Greek mythology, there is an infamous story of the Trojan horse.
According to the legend, after a long and grueling siege of Troy, the Greeks devised a cunning plan to gain entry into the heavily fortified city.
They built a massive wooden horse and left it as a supposed offering for the goddess Athena outside the gates of Troy.
The Greeks then pretended to sail away, leaving behind only the horse and a small group of soldiers led by Odysseus.
The Trojans, believing that the Greeks had given up and left the horse as a peace offering or a symbol of their departure, decided to bring the horse inside the city walls as a sign of victory.
Despite warnings from the Trojan priest Laocoon that the horse might be a trick, the Trojans celebrated their perceived triumph and wheeled the horse into the city as a symbol of their victory.
Under the cover of night, the Greek soldiers hidden inside the hollow belly of the wooden horse emerged and opened the gates of Troy, allowing the Greek army, which had returned under the cover of darkness, to sneak into the city.
The Greeks launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Trojans, who were caught off guard and ultimately defeated.
Madam President, you have opened the country gates to the Trojan loans, history will treat you accordingly.
As you enjoy honorary PhDs and red-carpet receptions, know that you are auctioning your very motherland.
We, the people, will forever protest this economic model with all our mighty. We are not for sale.
Fuming with fury.
Onesmo Mushi.
