Innovation, not complaints will take us there
Saumu Jumanne
If there was a gold medal for complaining many Tanzanians from the lowest to
the highest echelons would be potential winners.
Grumbling have become so embed in our national psyche almost becoming a way
of life. In parliament, at public rallies, in the offices, classrooms and
even at pubs, it has become a national pastime, nay….it is a national
occupation, only that I am not sure if there is any income made.
Our hallmark as a people of peace is in danger of being replaced by the tag
the ever-complaining – people. Nothing seems to satisfy us- not the
government, not our jobs or joblessness and not even our religions. Our
leaders are nothing to talk home about, our education, health,
infrastructure systems are all bad… there is nothing we seem to be doing
right.
Men and women of authority including government ministers complain just like
the common citizen instead of proposing solutions. The citizenry has
grumblers per excellent and our leaders so outstanding at making promises
never to be fulfilled but only to satisfy the touchy voices, and win their
votes. Just have a glance at the lead stories of our mainstream press- the
mood is rarely anything else but melancholy and always lacking in offering
hope and inspiration. Newspapers and literature of a particular period is a
mirror of the soul of a people at that time. The reflection you get, you
don’t want to look twice, as it is close to an epitaph.
The hallmark of this new culture, which has been rapidly building up in the
past one decade or so, was captured in the national assembly on April 13th
2011. This was when chaotic grumbling erupted for about ten minutes putting
the nation into a shock as how our lawmakers could stoop so low and engage
in a shouting match, when the case in front of them was so straight forward.
(Read The Citizen, April 14th 2011).
In the sad episode, Speaker Anna Makinda told a Member of Parliament ‘awe na
adabu.’ This translates to the MP should be more disciplined. It was not the
first time for the speaker to use the words while scolding lawmakers in
Bunge.
In my book of things, such language is used to admonish primary and lower
level secondary school students. When we come to ‘A’- level and University
students, or at the work place including Bunge, I don’t expect any
uncultured (bila adabu) man or woman to be a lawmaker, and if that be the
case, fatal consequences must follow. I really do pity the speaker if some
of the people she is leading, she has to treat them like primary school
kids, telling them to be disciplined.
Where did we go wrong? Looking back at beloved father of the nation Mwalimu
J.K Nyerere, his biggest legacy as a leader was his integrity in serving the
people for posterity. Today, it seems like Mwalimu is just some history that
took place far away, a sweet dream that was and the current reality all
damnations. The moment his assertion –public places are ‘holy’ and those who
want leadership must be ‘holy’ – was thrown out of the window, is when we
let the devil in the house. So long as some of our leaders worship their
stomachs and leadership is a shot at personal riches, solving the problems
affecting the masses will always be a pipe dream. As long as such leaders
are there the song of complaints will just go on and on…
If we are to move forward as a country in terms of development we need to
deal with our petulant spirit, that is holding us back, even as we seek
leaders of integrity. President Jakaya Kikwete at the African Investment
Forum recently said, East African countries must be more creative and
innovative in attracting investors. I will add that we need to be more
creative and innovative in looking for solutions on problems that bedevil
us, we need to move past complains and bad leadership to solutions.
*Saumu Jumanne is an Assistant Lecturer Dar es Salaam University College of
Education (DUCE)
Saumu.j@gmail.com