The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Eugene Jasson and Deogratias Kishombo
28 November 2007
opinion
Dar es Salaam — For a long time now we have been in a slumber and we need to be awakened before it is too late.
People are being brainwashed by politicians to believe that Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. May be this is part of a hidden agenda!
After intense observation we have came to realise that so-called Tanzania's poverty is neither a phenomenon nor a noumenon but rather the people's strategy to attain what they need.
Should we define poverty on the basis of basic needs, that is the lack of basic needs, or as a shortage of money and resources for propelling economic advancement? Or is it just a situation in which one is weak economically and politically?
Ironically, we are told by the politicians that we are poor economically, socially and even culturally.
It seems we worship so-called aid or assistance from our ex-colonial masters. Most of our leaders believe that without foreign capitalist nations, we can not step forward on our own.
It is obvious that poverty has its own roots. Tanzanian's poverty has its roots too. Our ex-colonial masters and the political system (leaders) in this country are the snags of development and must be the first to blame. For our leaders to raise glasses and cheer with the former colonialists in cocktails, hoping that these former colonialists would stop the poverty in Africa it is a dream and myopia!
But should we agree that we are poor and therefore wait for those from the West to help us, or rather conduct our own research and find out why we are poor so that we can redress the situation?
It is a fact that many Tanzanians live in abject poverty, that they fail to afford 'panadol,'to take a child to school, live with inaccessibility to clean water, have poor shelters, poor clothing and insufficient food.
But Tanzania as a country is not poor since it has a lot of resources compared to the rest of the world, but it lacks the political 'think tank'and action .
We say 'think tank'in the sense that we need leaders who can read history -ours and that of the world -and predict the future, of what needs to be done for the betterment of this country.
The negative impact of indoctrinating the youth with this kind of belief (that we are poor) by the politicians has created a habit of intellectual laziness. This outlook is not only seen in private activity but also in public duties or offices.
It is surprising to find that even some of our leaders are part of that situation.
For the sake of example, let us take one event which happened recently in Iringa region. We know that many people didn't notice it but it was reported by an official of the regional office, that some activities were suspended and others postponed at the office in order to pave the way for preparations of receiving the president's son.
While we are not sure how much the tour boosted the welfare of Iringa's residents, we equally believe that it cost the region some money.
It also does not make sense for our leaders to go around the world begging for money and other types of assistance while the country has a lot of resources.
There is evidence that in Tanzania there is poor distribution of the national income and faulty utilization of our domestic resources. While a few work all night long, most Tanzanians remain idle and spend most of their time resting instead of engaging in productive activity.
If one goes to a village and asks the villagers as to when they last saw their member of Parliament, he will be astonished to hear that he/she was seen during the campaign period.
Worse, the preparation of the national budget does not involve people at the grassroots, as the process always involves government officials and a few individuals from the private sector.
Such omission deepens the level of poverty in the country as the budget fails to benefit the majority, the needy.
It is high time our leaders started to change; we are not that poor but we misdirect resources to cater for the interests of the few. From these few instances, one can remember the words of Oriale Nyarwatha, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi that,"unless African leaders start thinking, development will remain a reality yet be reached."
Eugene Jasson is a third year student at the Apostles of Jesus Institute of Philosophy in Nairobi.
Deogratias Kishombo is a graduate of the Institute of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Dar es Salaam.
The writers were o-level classmates at Maruku secondary school, Bukoba -Kagera
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