HERE WE GO!
Editor
Daily News; Tuesday, November 27, 2007 @00:01
OPPOSITION parties have been making inappropriate comments on the 11-member non-partisan committee appointed by President Kikwete two weeks ago to review the procedures of contracting investors in the mining sector.
"Inappropriate comments"? I mean like stupid, insulting, not according to what is proper? How did the editor determine that certain comments are "inappropriate"? comparing it to what? Of course, they give us a clue what kind of comments are "inappropriate" and shouldn't be raised against the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
The presidents move, promised before the CCM National Congress in Dodoma and delivered on just ten days later, won deserved public acclaim from all right thinking quarters.
The First Fallacy:
"Right thinking quarters"? So those people who dared to question the decision and the composition of this Presidential Committee do not belong to these "right-thinking quarters". Is question a presidential decision or act makes one to be in the "wrong thinking" quarter? The President could have said what he said anywhere and people were still free to accept it, question it, and even reject it. It is this sense of superiority and entitlement that the Daily News is promulgating. If you agree with the President then you are among the "right thinking" people.
The team led by seasoned lawyer, Judge Mark Bomani, has a clear mandate to thoroughly examine the models used to draw mining contracts gauging them against local and international parallels and recommend changes to maximize gain for the national economy and the people.
Really? So the new mandate of this "team" is to "examine" and to "recommend"? Where did they (the Daily News) get this inside info on the "mandate"? Because we are told that the Committee is still waiting to sit with the President so that he could tell them what really he wants them to do. In the opening statement they added another mandate which is "to review contracting procedures" in the mining industry in the country. The problem is that we have already had had other committees before this one which seems to have had the same kind of mandate. Do we really think that the recommendation that would be proposed by this new committee will be that different from the recommendations proposed by these other committees?
Most people who gave the creation of this committee "deserved public acclaim" did that thinking that the new committee would review not just the "procedures of contracting" but also the contracts themselves. Unfortunately, as some of us had suspected on the onset (which now have been confirmed) this committee will NOT review Buzwagi and other contracts. If we were to believe Chiligati and Makalla, the committee was not created for that reason. So, the so-called "public acclaim" was in principle based on wrong assumptions.
But, in typical fashion, the opposition parties put the inclusion of Chadema MP Kabwe Zitto in the team above all else and have been making strange noises about it.
I really don't know which is typical and which is fashion in this matter. Zitto Kabwe the fiery MP from Kigoma North was suspended from attending the parliament because the majority in the August House (CCM MPs) decided that the young MP did indeed lie to the House. It was due to this fact (pseudo fact) the House rejected his motion to establish a Parliamentary Select Committee to review all mining contracts and establish with authority if there was any law broken or any improper activities.
So, when the President of the Republic picks up the same MP to include in his "committee" each one of us have to wonder; does this have anything to do with Zitto's stance in the parliament? We all had to ask if this committee is what Hon. Zitto demanded and was willing to be suspended from the House? Others and myself concluded rather authoritatively that Zitto's inclusion was a political maneuver by the President and had nothing to do with what Zitto demanded in the Bunge.
Zittos appointment to the committee was reportedly an agenda for a Chadema central committee meeting last weekend, which endorsed it. Absolutely senseless, we think.
Sense and sensibility? Chadema as a political party had every right to question the action of its members especially when it comes to the relation between that member and the ruling party. It is sad that the CCM apparatus (like the Daily News) have convinced themselves that they are the only one who can use "vikao vya chama" to resolve issues. If Chadema had not called for the special CC meeting it would have been very good for the Government and its ruling Party. CCM and its surrogates banked on the internal conflict that would have possibly sambaratisha Chadema. They would have had a field day if after the meeting Wangwe and Zitto started to squabble and argue publicly. They were in for a treat. After the meeting Chadema came out united in vision and mission. So, talk about "senseless".
Zitto is, indeed, a Chadema member, but like UDP Chairman John Cheyo, they have been included in the team in their individual capacities and not as direct representatives of Chadema and UDP.
Really? Are they suggesting (even remotely) that if Zitto was a mere farmer somewhere in Kigoma and Cheyo a simple trader in Bariadi that the two would have been considered to be in the same team by a presidential appointment? There is no way that Zitto was included in this committee apart from him being a member of Chadema and who championed the revisiting of the mining contracts; no way.
The President probably expects their contribution to the deliberations of the committee to reflect the view of the opposition camp, but that is far from saying they are envoys of their respective parties.
Let imagine for a second that the statement about is true. Does it mean all the members of the committee were selected purely on the individual capacities? If that is the case why include somebody from the AG's office, why someone from the Stock Exchange? Etc. unless the President wanted the concerns and interests of those offices to be represented. It is for this reason that the opposition was included so that their concerns and interest were to be represented.
Chadema could be excused if it stopped at glorifying Zitto. However, a statement by its Chairman, Freeman Mbowe, went on to demand nullification of the appointment of three committee members for reasons best known to the opposition party.
The same can be said about Daily News; stop glorifying the President! I mean we know why you do it; as a matter of fact we expect you to glorify the president because that is what you believe your mission is; to defend the president no matter what. It is sad a newspaper like "Daily News" does not know why these members shouldn't be in this committee. I mean they should have tried even a little bit to tell us why a friend of Karamagi and an employee of one of his firms should be included; Daily News should have tried to tell us why Mama Kejo should be in there etc. I mean just try.
Such naked insubordination to the President is unwarranted, to say the least.
This really ticked me off! Insubordination? Hivi hawa Daily News wanajua kuwa Tanzania siyo ufalme? Tanzania is not a Kingdom and the citizens are not subjects of His Majesty Jakaya Kikwete I. The only people that are his subordinates are the one who work for him, or who by virtue of their constitutional position are required to work under him or at his pleasure. The idea that all Tanzanians are somehow subordinates of the President is a stupid idea, irrational, unfounded and should be rejected by all people who cherish and hold to our hearts our republican form of government.
Opposition politicians have evidently been idling since they lost the general elections heavily but they surely could not have lost their heads as well.
The problem is that the ruling party politicians won the general election heavily but since then they lost their heads like chickens; now they are chacharikaring trying to find them! Meanwhile, the opposition parties, which lost the election, have now found their heads and masterfully are chachafyaring the ruling party!
The time lost in gossip and meddling in other peoples affairs could be gainfully used to organize party machinery and grow membership in preparation for the next election, which is not that far off.
Other people's affairs? This is the closest thing they (Daily News) have came to admitting the truth. It is not the affairs of the nation that CCM and its cadres are interested in, but the affairs of a group of crooked politicians and the people who are intoxicated by the trappings of power and mighty! These are the people who abuse public offices and trust in the name of "national interests"; they are the people who think they are the gift of God to Tanzania and without them Tanzania would not survive.
I have very bad news to them and to those who write their "daily news"; we Tanzanians at home and abroad, those who are near and those who are afar, will continue without ceasing to challenge your ways, we will expose you of what you really are, and take you to task whenever it suits us. We will not sleep or slumber nor will we turn our heads away in fear. We will continue to haunt you when you walk and when you sleep! Until you know and accept that ALL TANZANIANS are inherently equal and recognise that CHEO ni Dhamana! until you understand that your days of kutuburuza are now and forever gone! Until you too bow humbly to the principles of equal justice, equal opportunity, rule of law, transparency, responsibility and accountability and other similar democratic values. Until you understand that, we will continue to be your worst nightmares!