Call for Papers: Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union At 50

Kuvua Magamba na Magwanda ya Upebari

MAPAMBANO HALISI NI KUVUA MAGAMBA NA MAGWANDA YA UBEPARI

Sabatho Nyamsenda

Taifa linapoparaganyika na nchi inapopitia katika kipindi kigumu, watu huibuka na majibu ya aina mbalimbali. Siku hizi kila jambo ni la kuombewa. Uchumi ukidorora, amani ikitoweka, watu waking’olewa kucha, ujambazi (uliohalalishwa na ulioharamishwa) ukiongezeka, utasikia wito ukitolewa kuwa tunahitaji kuliombea taifa letu. Na wengine wanaenda mbali na kusema katiba imtaje Mungu ili taifa letu lipone na lineemeke, ili tuwe kama Marekani. Ubeberu na uporaji wa taifa hilo katili, lililojengwa kwa kuua wenyeji wa nchi hiyo (Native Americans), linalotajirika kwa kupora, kwa kuvamia na kuua unaitwa neema ya Mungu! Hata mambo ambayo utatuzi wake ni wa kisayansi, na ambayo Muumba alitukabidhi mamlaka kamili ya kuyatatua, tunayaweka kwenye maombi.

Miongoni mwa watu wanaoamini tiba za kisayansi badala ya maombi ni Mwalimu Azaveli Lwaitama. Lwaitama ni msomi wa umma. Sio umma wa wawekezaji na vijibwa vyao, bali umma wa wanyonge wanaoporwa na kunyanyaswa na mfumo dhalimu wa ubeberu. Yeye alishaukataa ukahaba wa kitaaluma (academic prostitution), ambao humfanya msomi auze maarifa yake sokoni na kusaidia kuwarudisha watu wake utumwani. Yeye ni mpambanaji, akipambana na wanyonge, ili kuibomoa mifumo kandamizi na ya kinyonyaji.

Mapambano ya Mwl. Lwaitama yamelenga kumng’oa wakala nambari wani wa ubeberu nchini (CCM na serikali zake). Na njia rahisi ya kufanya hivyo ni kuunga mkono harakati za chama pendwa, na kuwaaminisha wanyonge juu ya ujio wa masiha, atakayewarejesha katika nchi ya ahadi, ile iliyokuwa inajengwa na Mwl. Nyerere. Hivyo Lwaitama ni kati ya marafiki wa karibu wa Chadema na masiha wa uchaguzi wa 2010 kupitia Chama hicho, Dk. Wilbrod Slaa.

Hivyo jabali hili la mapambano nalo hujikuta likiimba, ukivua gamba tu kisha ukavaa gwanda mambo yote shwari. Lakini gamba la CCM liko nje nje. Ngome yake inazidi kubomoka, sio kutokana na jitihada za wapinzani, bali ni kutokana na chama chenyewe kusaliti itikadi yake. CCM inastahili adhabu hiyo – ya kung’oka madarakani na hata kusambaratika kabisa. Yumkini ‘adui’ mkubwa ni yule ‘aliyeficha gamba katika gwanda’.

Nimetaja ‘adui’ na hapa ningependa kuibua mjadala. Mwalimu wangu huyu anafahamu vema kabisa kuwa adui wa wanyonge ni mfumo kandamizi na nyonyaji wa ubepari, ambao kwa sasa umechukua sura ya uliberali mamboleo. Watapambana vipi naye? Kwa itikadi ipi? Nani wa kuongoza mapambano hayo? Mapambano yachukue sura gani? Kwa tathmini fupi, kama tutajifunza kutokana na historia ya bara letu, hususan kuhusu vyama vya siasa, enjioo, chaguzi na uibukaji wa masiha, vyote hivi vimekuwa vikitumika kuustawisha mfumo wa ubepari na kutoa matumaini bandia kwa wanyonge.

Wafaidika wakubwa kwa hapa nchini ni kijitabaka chetu cha vibwanyenye uchwara. Na kama ilivyo sifa yetu ya kitabaka, tuna uwezo wa kuvaa sura mbili kwa wakati mmoja: sura ya wanyonge (ili tuwape matumaini hewa) na sura ya mabepari (ambalo ndio tamanio letu kuu, ili tuishi maisha ya raha na starehe). Mambo yakitubana sana huwa tunawatelekeza wanyonge na kuhama upande. Na baadae tuonapo fursa ya kutupandisha ngazi ipo kwao tunarudi na kuwalisha matumaini bandia. Kwa vyovyote vile, tuhamapo upande nafasi yetu ya uwakala wa ubepari hubaki pale pale. Ndio maana hatuna nia thabiti ya kujiunga na wanyonge na kupambana nao kwa dhati ili kuleta ukombozi wa kweli.

Vita vinavyoendelea hapa nchini, vya kurushiana mabomu na kung’oana kucha na meno, na kurushiana mipasho majukwaani, ni vita vya mabepari uchwara. Ni vita vya kunyang’anyana fursa za kuwa watumishi wa ubepari. Sio vita vya kugombea nafasi ya kuongoza mapambano ya kuung’oa ubepari. Ukibanwa upande mmoja unahamia upande mwingine. Unaweza kutoka Chadema ukahamia CCM na kupewa Ukuu wa Wilaya, unaweza kuacha ujamaa na kuwa bepari (kama ilivyofanya CCM) ili utajirike, ukiamua utabaki Chadema na kupiga domo ili uwe mbunge, unaweza kutoka serikalini na kuanzisha enjioo, n.k. n.k. Cha msingi ni kwamba, popote utakapokuwa, nafasi yako ya kulamba makombo ya mabeberu itakuwa salama.

Katika yote hayo, wananchi wengi wameendelea kuwa watazamaji na/au mashabiki. Sana sana, wanazidi kukata tamaa na kuamua kutopiga kura. Ndio maana pamoja na mabilioni ya fedha kumwagwa ili kutoa elimu ya uraia, wanaojitokeza kupiga kura wanakuwa ni pungufu ya asilimia hamsini ya wapiga kura wote waliojiandikisha.

Kama vile haitoshi, vyama vyetu vinaanzisha vikundi vya kujilinda. Kujilinda dhidi ya nani? Polisi, mgambo na Green Guards. Je, polisi wanaorusha mabomu na kufyatua risasi ni wa vyeo vipi? Wa vyeo vya chini. Na, mgambo na Green Guards je? Ni watoto wa makapuku, wanaopewa vijisenti kidogo ili wawarushie risasi makapuku wenzao walioenda kupewa matumaini bandia na masiha-sesere. Sasa kila chama kitakuwa na colour guard/brigade yake. Watakaokatana mapanga na kuuana katika mikutano ya hadhara ni watoto wa makabwela ilhali watoto wa mabwana wakubwa wenye vyama wakifurahia viyoyozi katika shule za kimataifa, ndani na nje ya nchi. Wanamlinda nani? Dhidi ya nini? Hata wao hawajui vema ila wameambiwa wa kijani amkate panga wa nyekundu, n.k.

Vita vya kuung’oa mfumo huchukua sura ya mapambano ya kutafuta itikadi sahihi kama ilivyokuwa ndani ya Urusi wakati wa kuung’oa utawala wa Tsar. Lengo si kumng’oa Tsar, alitamka Lenin, bali kuing’oa mifumo yote kandamizi na ya kinyonyaji ambayo ndiyo iliyomstawisha Tsar. Ma-bolsheviki (chama cha Lenin) hawakupikika chungu kimoja na Ma-mensheviki au Ma-Socialist Revolutionaries, japo wote walikuwa na itikadi ya kijamaa. Ushindani wao ulikuwa ni wa kiitikadi na mfumo mbadala unaotaka kujengwa baada ya kungo’ka kwa Tsar.

Lakini nani wa kuyafafanua haya kama si Mwalimu Lwaitama? Nani atakayewakumbusha wanyonge kuwa:

Mapambano yanaendelea,

Mapambano si lelemama,

Ile ngoma ya Pwani,

Iloleta uhuru wa Tanganyika.

Pasi ubepari kungo’ka.

Mapambano ni kuvua gamba,

La ubepari na ubeberu,

Gamba ukishauvua,

Gwanda usiuvalishe,

Ili ngozi yake halisi ijionyeshe.

Mapambano ni ya kitabaka,

Wanyonywao dhidi ya wanyonyao,

Pamwe na vijibwa vyao.

Silaha ya mnyonge sio nguvu yake,

Nguvu ni mali ya bepari,

Ainunuayo kwa bei chee au bure,

Na kuiuza aghali atajirike,

Silaha ya wanyonge ni umoja wao,

Umoja wa kitabaka,

Sio ubia na vibaraka.

Vua gamba usivae gwanda,

Gamba ni ubarakala usojificha

Gwanda ni uwakala ulojificha!

New Friends of Africa – Almost Here?

New Friends of Africa – Almost Here?

Chambi Chachage

They come and go. With friends like these, as Oyekan Owomoyela once called them, Africa never lacks new stories about it. After all, old friends and foes of the continent affirmed, sarcastically, that there is always something new coming out of Africa.

This time around a not-so-new friend has blogged a provocative post: New Africa – almost there? The Puzzled Boss Lady, for that is the name of her blog, is described as “Nordic attempts to understand a changing Africa.” Its blogger, Iina Soiri, is the new director of the respected Nordic Africa Institute (NAI).

The blog post opens with exciting news about Soiri’s return to “Arusha after moving out of Tanzania three years ago.” The self-described “modern nomad and Africa expert who during two decades trekked from one coast to the other on the African continent” goes on to tell us, satirically I presume, that after “all, since then there has only been good news from the continent: Africa Rising, African Miracle, New Economic Boom in Africa, Now it is Africa’s Turn, New Africa! And Tanzania has been one of the best performing countries, I hear – it’s all so new, and you will not recognize it anymore!”

Then the satirical plot is lost along the way. For some of us who - three years ago - had been to what Soiri describes as “Kilimandjaro [sic] airport” that “shines clean and calm” with “no chaos, no queues, no hassle” when she arrive, there is nothing new about all this – it is a common experience especially when you arrive with KLM at night. One can even bet that observing that immigration “officers have computers, finger print machines and foreign currency to give” a foreigner “change while paying visa” hardly warrants this surprise: “Great! That’s New Africa for sure, I observe happily.” Here one is also assuming that when our friend arrived in Tanzania a couple of years back to work for the Finnish Embassy in Dar es Salaam, she got her visa at the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Hai and not at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

There follows a barrage of what hardly, or did not, work at all – a hotel “room that does not open with the modern key card”, a wireless connection, a safety deposit. “Better get some service even in this New Africa”, so our friend “think and go downstairs” for at “least the elevator works.” Down there at the counter she encounters “many smart looking ladies” and hence recalls: “Oh, yes, I have heard this; plenty of young educated people in the New Africa. This must be ‘the demographic dividend’, ready for opportunities to change the continent.” Yet nothing really works out in Soiri’s favor, well, except for the “smiling’” ladies charming her “with a patient smile.”

Thereafter comes the story of the worrying fire alarm, unpicked phone calls, locked elevator doors and, once again, “smiling ladies.” We are then told of a “new modern toaster” that burns her bread, of an omelet that never came and about getting “some Kilimandjaro [sic] chai with a shy smile that compensates.” What is more puzzling, particularly for some of us who finds it very easy to access mobile services in Tanzania, is her following account: “We go outside to look for pre-paid sim-card. Those must be plenty available, as mobile technology is ‘connecting people’ in this New Africa. Out of the many colorful shacks we enter the third one before getting lucky – but you normally need to register and wait for three days to make it operational. We do not have three days – but perhaps the ever patient Africans have?” ‘There is no hurry in Africa’ discourse disguised in a question?

Thus comes Soiri’s conclusion after yet another round of old wine in a new bottle: “Finally we get to the Arusha International Conference Centre, where the meeting is just about to begin, but the hall is empty. ‘What else is new in Africa’, I think and turn to the smiling young men, who serve me a cup of nice hot chai. And keep on waiting, we are almost there. This is what I call Good Old Africa, and I like it.” Of course she does.

These sentiments are not so new. They stem from a discourse that is as old as the adage on ‘Out of Africa.’ No wonder some of her readers share them also. “After just returning to TZ – have felt pretty much the same – not that Mozambique was really ahead in all this”, one of them affirms. Probably one of the most articulate supports of this position comes from a member of Wanazuoni: Tanzania’s Intellectuals. He writes:

Possibly I was not wearing my black hat when I read the piece, but I actually wonder whether we all read the same article or not. From the description given, I think I recognise the hotel and can agree with the author's experience. It is a 3 possibly 4 stars hotel and it is to be expected that everything should be working as expected. In my few days stay there Wi-Fi didn't work for a number of days, the technical staffs were not that technical at all, and the technicians who fixed the problem came after three days. All in all, it is not like I need this blogger's experience to be true to substantiate my life's experience in Tanzania. I know that many of us have been desensitized to these issues that we take them for granted (I found my peers in school and university amazingly adjusted to unnecessary difficulties), but for some of us they really get inside our skins: some issues we tolerate, some issues make us smile (no place like home), some issues (say experiences with daladalas) make us enraged with murderous intent, many issues make us want to simply leave the country. But things that we do for love! The rebuttal is needed- probably it is needed to inform me how rosy my life is compared to how I perceive it to be, probably it is needed to make me see that the money I regularly spend to compensate for services whose availability should be taken for granted is money well spent, probably it is needed to make me forget how ruthlessly efficient I find other peoples' 'systems' to be when I meet the other world. I might need a very strong injection of that anesthesia though... (Charles Makakala Jr)

That defense resonates with another recent provocative, albeit convincing, article on A Culture of Low Expectations, By Okey Ndibe. Yet it hardly let Soiri off the hook of Afropessimism. It is not surprising then that she has provoked what Abiola Irele has thus referred as the primary dimension of what is now regarded as Afropessimism: “In its polemical stance, then, African discourse presents itself as a thorough-going deconstruction of the Western image of the Native, the Black, the African.” In Tanzania NAI had been supportive in such deconstruction through the annual Mwalimu Nyerere Intellectual Festival Week during Carin Norberg’s directorship (2006-2012). However, with blog posts like these, this task remains daunting. But maybe it is about time that we abandon this seemingly Sysyphean task of responding to them and just expend our time and energy reconstructing Africa. In any case, as someone who has once failed miserably in an attempt at satire, I can only hope Soiri's attempt was, deep down, simply an irony gone wrong as one of her readers seem to suggest below:

This post is a little bit confusing to me. I can’t quite figure out whether you are using irony to drive the point that all this talk about the rise of Africa is meaningless. But then the “I like it” part betrays it all (Elias Munshya wa Munshya)

Fwd: [TzECA] : Patrick Rweyongoza, Glasgow University Alumni , Mhadhiri wa UDSM Auawa kwa Risasi Jijini Dar es Salaam

Thanks to Mpoki for sharing with us this very sad development.

TzECA and Friends


It is very sad for anyone to loose life and more saddening for such a young person and in the manner reported ! Where one knows the person it gets the message home much deeper. I see he even attended the sessions during Balozi Peter Kallaghe's first visit to Glasgow around March 2011 as per attached photos!

Patrick Rweyongoza, we as a Community and Tanzanians, Glasgow University and no doubt your closer friends and family members will miss you ! What a loss to such a young age ! It is my hope those people who delivered this fatality will face justice, even though we know so well you can never get back to us in the same form and accomplish and fulfill your role that you had here with us ! May your soul rest in peace !

For those closer to the family, please convey our collective Tanzania Community, Friends and Supporters greetings of condolences to Patrick's family and certainly to the University of Glasgow Community for this tragedy as occurred in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.


Regards
Apollo TEMU

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph Paschal MUGASA
Date: Thursday, 8 August 2013
Subject: [TzECA] : Mhadhiri wa UDSM auawa kwa risasi jijini Dar es Salaam
To: Apollo TEMU
Cc: mpoki mwaikokesya, "Tanzania Edinburgh Community Association [TzECA]" <tzeca@yahoogroups.com>


Dear All

I am really saddened and speechless, Pat was like my young bro in my
times in Glasgow. What a loss ? was planning for PhD in Glasgow later
this year. Attached are some of his photos from my bank.

RIP Pat

Joe

On 07/08/2013, Apollo TEMU  wrote:
What a waste ! Very very saddening !

Mpoki - do we have any photos of him by any chance ?

Thanks for alerting us. What a terrible week for our community ! May his
soul rest in peace ! Imagine the pain his family will be going through !

Regards
Apollo

On Wednesday, 7 August 2013, Mpoki Mwaikokesya
wrote:


Nimesoma taarifa ya kuuawa kwa Patrick Rweyongoza aliyesoma Glasgow
University toka Jamii Forum. Kama taarifa hii ni yakweli basi inasikitisha

http://www.jamiiforums.com/habari-na-hoja-mchanganyiko/500947-mhadhiri-wa-udsm-auawa-kwa-risasi-jijini-dar-es-salaam.html

Cheers,

Postgraduate Research Student, School of Education, University of Glasgow

Soma Kukufikishia Kitabu Kipya cha Mabala Ulipo

Mkahawa wa Vitabu Soma @SomaMkahawani uko mbioni kuanzisha utaratibu wa kumfikishia mteja kitabu anachohitaji pale alipo. Utaratibu huo umepangwa kuzinduliwa rasmi juma lijalo. Maadam Wanazuoni kadhaa wametangaza nia ya kupata kitabu kipya cha Mwanazuoni mwenzetu Richard Mabala kiitwacho Run Free kilichoshinda Tuzo ya BURT ya mwaka huu, Soma Book Cafe itafungua pazia nacho.

Kama unataka kufikishwa kitabu hicho mpaka ulipo (ofisini, chuoni au karibu na mahala hapo), bei yake ni Tsh 10,500. Ila kama utaenda moja kwa moja kukinunua mwenyewe kwenye duka la vitabu Soma (http://www.somabookcafe.com) bei yake itakuwa ni Tsh 10,000.

Kama unataka kufikishiwa kitabu ulipo tafadhali tuma barua pepe yenye anuani yako na namba ya simu kwa: somabookcafe@yahoo.com

Wasalaam,

Timu Ya Vitabu Soma

Rafu Katika Ushindani wa Shule za Biashara Afrika?

Nadhani sasa ule mpango mkakati mzima wa "Africa's Top Business Schools" at http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/top_ten/africas-top-ten-business-schools umeanza kukamilika. Na nadhani pia kama Graduate School of Business- UCT wameanza kuzunguka na zile shule nyingine za biashara sita kati ya saba za kwanza bora zitazunguka tu. Kwa hiyo huyu mwandishi Ms. Sheree Hanna alifanya makusudi kabisa kutokuweka "hyperlink" ya UDBS kwenye ile habari yake. Kwa sababu ukiona kazi za akina Olomi, Urasa, Lutashobya, Matambalya, Winneaster, Chijoriga, Assad na wengine wengi pale www.udbs.udsm.ac.tz utakuwa huna  haja ya kwenda Protea Hotel kuwasikiliza GSB ya UCT. 

Ukisoma vizuri maelezo yaliyotolewa kwenye kila shule ya biashara katika hizi kumi bora, utaona kwamba Ms. Sheree Hanna yupo kimasoko zaidi kuliko ukweli halisi uliopo kwenye zile shule nyingi za biashara za Afrika kusini. Ms. Sheree Hanna alipaswa kusema upimaji wa hizi shule za biashara ulikuwa na lengo gani, na wao wanafanya kama nani, na wanafanya kwa ajili ya nani. Na pia alipaswa kusema kwamba hizi shule zote za biashara zimepimwa katika vigezo vinavyolingana ambavyo ni 1,2,3...x, na utaratibu wa upimaji ulikuwa 1,2,3...y, na matokeo yake shule za biashara kumi bora Afrika tumepata ni hizi hapa  http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/top_ten/africas-top-ten-business-schools 

Nionavyo mimi hivi ilivyo Ms. Sheree Hanna na wenzie katika www.africanbusinessreview.co.za wamelinganisha nyanya na vitunguu katika makala yao hii. Na hawakuzitendea haki shule za biashara ambazo hazipo Afrika ya Kusini.

- Dakta Bukaza Chachage

Re: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wanazuoni/message/19964

Cf. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wanazuoni/message/19769

Podcast: Morten Jerven on "Poor numbers: how we are misled by #African development statistics"

"On 7 May 2013 economic historian Morten Jerven presented his influential recent book PoorNumbers: How We are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to DoAbout it at the Africa Talks of the University of Birmingham. Grounded in new empirical research carried out by Jerven, the book authoritatively questions the validity of the main statistical indicators of the economic performance of African countries. It shows that a lot of what we think we know about African economies is best understood as ‘stories of statistical fiction’. In this podcast, Jerven describes how he reached the conclusions advanced in his book and what these conclusions imply for policy" - http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/africa-hub/videos/morten.aspx