Ramadhani Kupaza
1 November 2009
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Arusha — Election time like now provides opportunities for members of the public to debate about the role of aspiring political leaders in addressing human needs in a country. Human needs include basic needs of food, water and shelter. Others are safety, security and social needs. The electorate can debate about human needs starting with issues that meet the eye.
For example, the electorate can conduct debates based on the proposition that the government of Tanzania which is now in power addressed effectively the problem of lack of public safety and security soon after it assumed power in 2005. The motion can be enriched by arguing that the government was effective because the president of Tanzania was personally committed to ensure that members of the general public are safe. It suggests that, it is important for the electorate to debate on issues which reveal that aspiring politicians are committed to what they promise to do for development after they are elected to the positions they campaign for.
Another possible basis for a debate is the proposition that residents of Arusha benefited most from the government's safety and security measures. Therefore, the electorate in the municipality can debate to determine what aspiring politicians would do to ensure that safety and security remains a government's priority irrespective of the government of the day.
On the other hand, the electorate can debate for purposes of elections on a motion that the government in power has been successful in exposing some corruption practices compared to similar efforts by the previous government. Meanwhile, the electorate already argues that the government's action against corruption is not beneficial because the action has no direct effect on the needs of the electorate. The government responds by informing the public that the revenue that was recovered during the process of exposing corrupt practices has been deposited in a bank account. In that case, the electorate can stage arguments in order for the politicians to explain why it is more beneficial to deposit the money in a bank rather than to spend it in order to satisfy human needs directly.
There are many issues that can be used as a basis for political debates concerning the education sector. Some of the relevant issues that can be considered during debates in this case include quality of education and examination procedures. Specific topics may be on availability of qualified teachers in view of increasing numbers of students and schools. The electorate can ask politicians questions on issues related to availability of revenue and logistics to pay teachers' salaries on time. In addition, the electorate can initiate debates to commit aspiring political leaders to express their creativity in providing incentives for teachers who are assigned to work in remote areas since the government has failed to provide.
Then, the electorate can demand for political forums to debate on the issue of continuing education through high school and college after which the debate on employment and unemployment becomes important particularly among youths. For instance, the electorate can ask aspiring politicians how they would help to nurture and develop youths' talents. In particular, voters can ask how the politicians would support say, Justin Mungure and Bernard Kiwia of Arusha to enhance their technologies to generate renewable energy. Mungure uses wind, human waste and water from streams while Kiwia uses bicycle power to generate energy for domestic uses for communities.
In addition, the electorate can initiate debates related to issues on agriculture. Those who do not support the national "Agriculture First" theme can speak out during the campaigns. Aspiring politicians would be expected to respond to clarify the essence of the theme.
In particular, the government's focus is to encourage irrigation in order to guarantee crop production. In such case, a possible issue for debate concerns availability of water and appropriate technologies for irrigation at the household level. Or, is government's irrigation plan meant for commercial farmers only? The electorate may ask during campaigns.
Speaking about need for water, the electorate can ask aspiring political leaders to explain how they would provide sanitary water for communities since the current national budget has not included provision of water to members of public as a priority. The voters can reject empty promises that politicians make.
Meanwhile, the electorate can encourage aspiring politicians to address the issue of shelter or rather housing which has become nobody's responsibility in Tanzania. Voters can debate on the need of reviving the defunct Tanzania Housing Bank (THB) or to introduce an alternative scheme that would provide soft loans to enable low income individuals to build and own decent houses. A significant number of people in Arusha live in unfinished or sub-standard houses because of lack of affordable housing loan schemes.
As regards need for social identity, the electorate can ask government to provide platforms that members of public can use to conduct debates in order to ensure that both the public and political leaders express a common understanding of the social identity that represent the country. Such debate is important because the country's social identity is not clear to many after the collapse of the socialism ideology. It is not clear if the society or the government of Tanzania is responsible to support individual efforts in the country overall or whether it is the other way round. For example, are there societies or communities that act as models in Tanzania? The electorate may ask such and more development driven questions during political campaigns.
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