Karl Lyimo
5 May 2008
column
Nairobi — Ufisadi has become a household term in Tanzania, basically describing anything rotten or corrupt in society.
Ordinarily, it covers sleaze, malfeasance, misfeasance, iniquity, debauchery: you name it. Here, we'll stick to ufisadi in government institutions.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND A GOVERNment ministry, department, agency or any other parastatal that is free from the vice. Admittedly, such institutions don't have to be squeaky clean.
But, the kind of rot you find in our public institutions is more often than not the product of calculated acts of commission or omission by officials entrusted with positions of leadership, power and privilege.
In a public rally at the Mwembe Yanga Grounds in Dar es Salaam last year, the opposition named 11 officials allegedly steeped in corruption - two former presidents, a premier, three ministers, two permanent secretaries, two MPs and a central bank governor.
Some vehemently denied the allegations, threatening litigation to clear their names. None has done this so far.
However, in the meantime, prime minister Edward Lowassa and three ministers resigned while President Jakaya Kikwete reconstituted the government!
BEFORE THAT, HE'D SACKED BANK OF Tanzania Governor Daudi Balali over the loss of $132 million at the bank.
On April 12, the Guardian of the UK said former attorney-general Andrew Chenge had "more than $1 million (£507,500)" in offshore accounts.
"Investigators involved in a three-year inquiry after the controversial deal to sell Tanzania a £28 million radar system (in 2002) identified the money in Jersey accounts controlled by ... Chenge," the Guardian said.
We don't know when, where or how all this will end. But corruption is clearly Tanzania's worst enemy today, compounded by a seeming government reluctance to eradicate it.
DAR SAYS IT'S WORKING ON THE MATter with a view to bringing those involved to justice. The international donor/creditor community may choose to believe this.
Ordinary Tanzanians aren't going to believe their government - until they see heads rolling!
Rhetoric is no longer enough. Look at the way the government ignores calls from relatively exemplary past leaders for action.
Tanzania is still fortunate to have the likes of Rashidi Kawawa, Cleopa Msuya and Joseph Butiku from the Nyerere era calling for good governance and clean hands among today's rulers. But I don't see that happening any time soon.
History is replete with examples, from the Holy Roman Empire, and Hitler's thousand-year Reich, to communism in Eastern Europe and today's failed states like Somalia and Zimbabwe - all brought down by rot of one kind or another ...
UFISADI IS AGGRAVATED BY MEGALOMAniac leadership at the individual, party and state levels. Leaders who fail to recognise when they reach their level of incompetence - and quit when the going is still good.
They choose to hang in there by hook or by crook, sacrificing good governance and the rule of law in all its majesty at the altar of power and leadership.
Ufisadi may yet drive Tanzania over the cliff ...
Karl Lyimo is a freelance journalist based in Dar.
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