TIMING
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 12, 2008
- 28,186
- 15,549
Political crisis in Tanzania??
Something like a political crisis is taking place in Tanzania. But don't hold your breath: it is simply a big circus – played by demagogic politicians, gluttonous businessmen and knuckleheaded journalists who are interested in nothing else but more money, more power, more attention and, do not discount it, more mistresses for themselves.
So, a better way to scan the current political landscape and its undercurrents is to get a grip of who these players are, what their motives could be, and the hypocrisy of the whole ongoing theater.
Members of Parliament: (This is an unprincipled mob. Less than a year ago, they booed Zitto for standing up firmly against alleged government mischief; today they pretend to be champions of the common man. Let us go through key players
1. Samuel Sitta – now, this is the epitome of hypocrisy. How can a man, with straight face, pose as a champion of virtues and ethics while his entire life is defined by unremarkable political achievements and countless allegations of abuse of office at TIC, in Bunge office and everywhere? He has screwed up, and inserted himself as the main news item, in every major issue that has come before the Parliament. However, in this ongoing theatre, you have to give him credit for wrestling the Parliament from CCM's control and for using the Speakership to build his own little empire of patronage and clientelism. At the moment, he is one of, if not THE, most powerful men in Tanzania. He coordinates his political mischief with Mr. Reginald Mengi, a tax-evading divorced showman with taste for younger women, to ensure that those scandalized in the Parliament get similar treatment in the media.
2. Harrison Mwakyembe – a frustrated intellectual turned political mercenary. Among the three "Mwas" giants from Mbeya (Mwakyembe, Mwandosya, and Mwakyusa), he is the least accomplished despite his somewhat decent schooling. Eager to play in Serie A like the other Mwas, he is up for sale, and price could be as low as the Deputy Ministerial portfolio. He surprised many who thought highly of him by presenting his Richmond report to the House without the decorum befitting his personage and reputation and by including references to Kubenea incident that did not have anything to do with a power deal he was asked to investigate. However, he is clever enough to know that Tanzanians have such a short attention span and his 15 minutes will be over soon. One thing is clear: he will go down the way of another sensational Mbeya politician, Njelu Kasaka, who shook the nation in the 1990s and got the audacity to run for President in 1995 while his 15 minutes were up.
3. Aloyce Kimaro – it baffles many that this semi-illiterate thug can even be a Member of Parliament. It speaks volume to the desperation of CCM to do anything, including recruiting thugs and former thieves, to win back opposition seats. The biggest comedy in the country at the moment is that this man is mentioned among principled Members of Parliament who can stand up and speak truth to power, including pointing a finger at Mkapa. Well, just few weeks ago he extorted a tender to guide VIPs to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro during the Sullivan Summit by threatening officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that he will blast them in the Parliament. Pure blackmail.
4. John Malecela – a moral guide to what is going on in the Parliament at the moment. The beauty of watching politicians is when the lie to each other. Malecela hates JK to the bone but you wouldn't know seeing the two of them in public. He still believes that Emmanuel Nchimbi killed his son (through voodoo), and, somehow, that facilitated JK's ascendancy to the Presidency. He is a reasonable man and good father but his vengeful and opportunistic wife is steering him out of reason and hastening his path to senility.
5. Wilbrod Slaa – a former man of God who could not keep his celibacy vow, but thinks we are foolish enough to expect him to keep his word as a politician. This is an overeager and noisy politician who is constantly betrayed by his unchecked libido. His life at the moment is consumed by the struggle to take credit for anything and everything about grand corruption, because at some point in his political life he mentioned the phrase "grand corruption". With all that is going on at the moment, his noise has become background noise.
6. Zitto Kabwe – has matured over the past year, perhaps because he is being reasonable enough to hang around with as many people as possible or because he is being open-minded enough to accept token bribes from the CCM establishment. Certainly has a great future in politics.
7. Rostam Aziz – the prince of high finance is fighting for his political life and credibility as an honest businessman. Knives are thrown from every side and some are drawing blood. Although even his opponents would acknowledge his sharp mind and deep pockets, this time the lions are hungry and the den is shrinking. Mr.. Aziz has dealt with and has compromised almost every conceivable creature who matters in the political scene in the land, including his current nemeses. And that is his edge. He bankrolled Sitta's election to the Assembly and oversaw his triumph as Speaker against the genial old Pius Msekwa but now Sitta has made him enemy number one and he has made Sitta enemy number one. Politics!
8. Anne Kilango Malecela – a noisy heckler who cannot get over the fact she is not the First Lady. A tough and fearless woman whose vengeful inclination is either very suited or totally not suited for her new role as top disciplinarian in the parliament. But we like her.
9. Mizengo Pinda – a gentleman par excellence. It remains to be seen whether one can still be successful as a PM without behaving like Nikita Khrushchev.
10.Stanley Kevela Yono – a small time crook who, despite his years of thievery and wrecking our perfectly-parked cars in Dar city centre, has the audacity to stand up and profess anger against fellow thieves.
11. Raphael Chegeni – "please JK, I don't want much, I just want to be Deputy Minister. You see, I withdrew my private motion on Twin Towers after Chenge had resigned because I saw an opportunity there. I am better than Ngeleja and Masha is overrated"
12.Mark Mwandosya – "I told you, I could have done a better job"
13.Benard Membe – "I am telling you, I will do a better job. Condi Rice is my friend"
14.Edward Lowassa – "Damn, I was doing a better job – when the man was traveling"
15.Jackson Makwetta – "What year is this? Can I still be the PM"
16.Abdallah Kigoda – "Do you have a lighter?"
OTHER PLAYERS IN POLITICS, BUSINESS AND MEDIA
1. Reginald Mengi – feted by Mwinyi, snubbed by Mkapa, he is now preoccupied with blackmailing JK for a chair in his kitchen cabinet. Narcissistic to the core, he plays Kingmaker, taking the responsibility for the misfortunes of the recently fallen politicians and basking in the public undressing of Mkapa, which he is engineering using his media. Mr. Mengi holds court at his house to plot the unfolding of political events like an old Spartan general. Why? To prove masculinity and enhance an appearance that he is bigger, more important and richer than he actually is.
2. Freeman Mbowe – failed in school, failed in business, failed in politics, and all this after being born in the royal family, the House of Mbowe. And he still has the audacity to vie for Presidency. In the current political state of play, he is irrelevant, and, as a HIPC (Heavily Indebted Party Chairman), he is finished as a politician.
3. Saed Kubenea – Stan Katabalo imposter, only without the education, the sophistication, the principles and steely determination for which Katabalo is remembered for. A little Kingmaker in the making, if only he would be aware that he needs to stop being a pawn in the great political game. He gets direct congratulatory calls from Sumaye, Magufuli, Butiku, Warioba and others whenever his paper comes out. He is welcome at Salim A. Salim house. This is such an awesome achievement for a person who is half-schooled and who has never read any major literary work of non-fiction (and who might not get this joke). That our politicians would embrace Kubenea, who still milks the "acid incident", speaks of the level of their desperation to smear each other (in the name of "saving the country").
4. Issa Shivji – he gets a mention for nostalgic and sentimental reasons. In this post-ideology messy situation, the aging ideologue has become irrelevant as an intellectual and pundit except when Absalom Kibanda and Sakina Dattoo want to fill up columns. Prof., the workers of the world have figured out that the Juche Idea is a sham, and they have now resorted to radical evangelicism and Rwakatare's "prosperity gospel" to see the end of the tunnel.
5. Augustine Mrema – the man needs help.
6. Yussuph Makamba – clueless old man who is warming the SG seat for somebody else.
7. Absalom Kibanda – The editor of Tanzania Daima is really an attack pitbull that Freeman Mbowe unleashes once in a while. (Deodatus Balile is a pitbull for Rostam Aziz). The problem with Kibanda is the "Mbeya problem". He hasn't gotten over the fact that Mwandosya lost to JK fairly and squarely in 2005.
8. Tundu Lissu – a thuggish lawyer who is making a lot of noise against multinationals but is currently awash with [consulting] cash from multinationals.
such an ectopic post from a prodigal son!!!!!