DailyNews Online Edition

Happy Independence Day dear Tanzania

HAPPY Independence day Tanzania! I’m sure by now we have all watched the national parade where we show the world our fine men and women of the peoples’ defense force.

The men and women of the peoples’ defense force with firm posture, marching displaying their utmost loyal service for our nation. I always feel like such a patriot, watching them and singing along to the national anthem. Mungu Ibariki Tanzania. We are 51 years old.

Would you believe it? Doesn’t it seem like it was only yesterday that the colonialists gave Mzee Nyerere the then, Tanganyika for a Tanganyikan to rule Tanganyika. Then we got married to Zanzibar and voila, Tanzania! I managed to catch the tail end of a television program the other day.

The national broadcaster was showing how many roads have been constructed. It had the word propaganda all over it but I won’t use that word here. The presenter made sure to point out that before these roads were constructed, once remote inaccessible places were now easily accessible.

They even managed to get interview shots of the people of those areas to speak about how forever thankful they are. Splendid. At 51, Tanzania has greatly improved in many sectors including the transport and communication sector. Aside from the extensive roads, we also have a fiber optic system being put in place which will make Tanzania a communication hub. Telecommunication companies have made for cheaper calling rates making it easier for the common mwananchi to communicate throughout the country.

Tanzania is in the process of acquiring a new constitution, calling for all members of society to contribute in building a governing structure for ourselves. Extraordinary. This is a major achievement in its own right. Furthermore, the health sector has seen advancements including a newly launched vaccine for children which was launched earlier this week. This aims at fighting child mortality rates of children under 5 years which is commendable to say the very least.

Happy Independence day Tanzania. The government has tried to go about filling the gap and delivering its promises to the mwanachi, even by a little bit. This year’s theme is Uwajibikaji, Uadilifu and Uzalendo. Which translated are accountability, integrity and patriotism. Mmh, I don’t know about how strong these things are among the people and I can safely say I’m not the only one.

With all these achievements, I can’t help but to feel that we are busy filling water in a bucket which is leaking from big holes. Public opinion for the government is at an all time low mainly due to the state of the economy and corruption. More importantly, no one wants to say how much debt we are in as government borrowing is sky high. What is going on? Who is being accountable?

Who has integrity? But most importantly where is the patriotism? Happy Independence day Tanzania. Primary education was declared to be free and officially it is. However, reports of demand of contributions from schools are on the rise countrywide. Students are being charged contributions for everything except ownership of their own names. But if that was possible, I’m sure some teacher would try pull it off.

Names starting with the first 13 letters of the alphabet would be charged more than the last 13, or something like that. Anyways, parents are being charged contributions including but are not limited to school logo, desks, security guards salary, typing/photocopy of exams, pictures and toilet construction. Security guard salary? Typing and photocopying of exams? Weren’t these in the annual budget for the Ministry of Education?

These students are being charged for desks yet most schools do not have desks..? That leaving the excruciatingly obvious question that begs for an answer; what are they paying for? Who is being accountable? Who has integrity? But most importantly where is the patriotism? And wouldn’t it be great if we could blame all these things on the government? You know, like we always do.

The same way a person throws an empty bottle out of their car then comes to say that the environment is dirty, is the same way, we put our power on someone then demand it. It’s the same as we give up our power and wonder why we are not in control as things fall completely out of control.

At 51, we should be able to pick people with the utmost integrity that we can hold completely accountable. How about we take control and turn things around then at 100, give ourselves a pat on the back for our nation. Happy Independence day Tanzania!

Twitter: @AmbyLusek Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.