Friends of Bernard Membe at the University of Dar-Es-Salaam still believe they have got their man who is heading nowhere but to the state house in replacement of JK….comes 2015.
This can only narrate why the UDASSA was so eager and willing to invite Membe as their chief guest at Nkrumah Hall today marking our 51[SUP]st[/SUP] Independence anniversary! I can find no other persuasive reason to exculpate UDASSA from this political prank.
From my contextualizing of Membe's forgettable speech, I gleaned an intense desire to inaugurate his presidential bid as an UDSM alumnus, a man of immense intellectual prowess, ready and willing to lead the nation from the front. But is he ready? I am keenly aware of his burning ambition to be our fifth president but is he ready and/ or will he ever be?
This pithy deposition intends to show that Bernard Membe is an overambitious politician who has no political skills to change the socio-economic course this nation has been taking to abyss, and lead us to the Promised Land.
I have jotted down ten points to dissect a man behind the mirror:-
1) A case of limited brainpower?
Generally speaking, he lacks intellectual ability; and, will this dot.com generation really find him a sure bet to their economic plight? I have my doubts………you should have yours, too.
2) A n escapologist to theories?
He spent too much soliloquizing on his defaulted memory of academic theories that was too detached to the subject at hand…………………and I keep wondering is this man really sane or suffering from "Romnesia"?..................It is defined as convenient amnesia……………
3) Too defensive of ccm long tales of lost opportunities?
Defending ccm makes sense since he is in the high table dining with "who is who" in this nation but Membe needs an incisive mind to plead with his audience to overlook ccm massive economic mismanagement and advance a case for an inexorable patience and an enduring faith in what is festering rot in this nation where millions are going days without their daily bread……….while we know they deserve better given a multitude of resources this nation boast of!
4) Claiming too much know-how?
Speaking in broken English and sounding like a Kenyan "Sheng" has its place but for a truly reliable leader Membe has to choose one language which his audience will be comfortable with and Membe was echoing something like …………… Kiswahili is "okay" but English is "baba yao"…………..And his whole speech was prepared beforehand and Membe struggled to find rhythmic relevance in such an impassioned crowd whose themes were: never backward but forward ever………Be proud of Kiswahili Membe, if you want to be taken serious with Kiswahili proficient voters………
5) Too idealistic?
We all have theories that have stuck into our memories like leech nibbling our tender skin but do we need to remind our audience that we went to schools when schools were really schools particular in this era where community colleges are churning out semi-illiterate graduates?
It is of profound importance to mention that, Membe considers Bw. "Bomobomoa" Magufuli as a threat to his political ambition. Do you know why I have reached to this conclusion? Magufuli is always reminding us, he was a good student of Chemistry judging from a number of theoretical postulations he love to showboat before us……………..and of recent memory, two days ago Magufuli in his an unequivocal campaign for Raila presidential bid……………theories of Chemistry came very handy, though I doubted he was effective given of the stature of their irrelevance…………..my take Membe is only mimicking Bw. "Bomoabomoa."
And nothing more…….copycats rarely ascend to Ikulu and Membe ought to begin being himself…………..telling us what he will do different from JK and why did he not do it while still part of JK power hegemony for ten years come 2015, will definitely help his presidential bid.
6) What about intellectual arrogance?
That intellectual smugness seems to ooze out of Membe unapologetically as if it is part of the curriculum vita he needs to bag a presidential job. It is time I wake him out of that delusional slumber: We elect presidents to lead and not to showcasing their intellectual prowess in irrelevant matters.
7) A "D" graded student of post-independence African history?
When Membe cited TZ as the only nation in post-independence Africa that was spared of coup-d'état, I kept wondering was he a little tipsy or it is just an illustration of poor attention to African history? Whatever the case Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia just around our border have fared just like us and the lack of military coups in post-independent Africa is not a confinement of TZ as Membe would like us to believe. Where Membe generated the audacity to challenge his audience to name just one country in post-independent Africa devoid of military putsches……..I find his vigorous demeanor part of a major problem: Not assessing his intellectual strength and that will trouble if not capsize Membe's campaign to state house.
8) Lacks persuasive power despite vehement intonations?
Where Membe regards his vehement deliveries as strength, I view them as a source of his internal weaknesses. Where vehemence is detached from reality is a sign of self-doubt papered over with intimidation tactics that his victims will be overwhelmed with his emotional synergies and fail to search out his misleading statements………well, Membe can fool all of us for sometime but the challenge he has is to fool all of us all the time, and time seems to be running out of him.
9) Low likeability constraints?
Without brainpower, without persuasive skills and over-dependent on emotional energies to win the state house even his coterie of plaudits led by Mama JK; entirely on tribal arithmetics, will find the going very testy come 2015…………………It is very difficult to sell the Membe presidential candidature even within ccm rank and file……………Huyu Mheshimiwa hauziki hata kidogo.
10) Is there a place for an oversize ego in a presidential race?
With all of JK's weaknesses but he can convince many that he is humble although those few who had the privilege to encounter the innermost character in JK will argue he is haughty and unforgiving……….where inner traits matter but when they are negative and open for discussion it spells nothing but trouble for Membe. If there is anything Membe can learn and internalize from JK is a genial smile, and at least a false humility facial outlook………………if he can not muster a genuine one. We love a boss who sounds like a servant while we know he is not…………despite oozing out with tons of hypocrisy.
A change of demeanor and attitude will do Membe a great deal……………..and pretending he is omniscient above all will with obvious certitude yank away many potential a vote………………….
Will I ever vote for Membe? Knowing three years are ahead of us, I can safely confess it is too far ahead to commit myself either way but so far I am really not impressed with his attempts..