I am sure we have all noted that the general trend in public discourse leans towards the yearning for transformation. Even here in this blog, you see this feeling that Tanzania is at a turning point in its life as a nation. Its citizens, young and old, want things to improve. There is a feeling that we are punching below our weight. And, you note that people want things to be different. There are certainly encouraging signs of progress, but there are also fears, and some have been expressed in this blog, that the gravity of old habits, mediocrity and corruption will forestall the social and economic transformation of Tanzania, robbing the nation of a historic opportunity to emerge with a new national self identity and as a competent, self-reliant and prosperous country.
But, now: what triggers this transformation? This is the crux of the matter. But, certainly, wrong assumptions and wrong conception of our main problems lead to wrong debates about what needs to be done and eventually wrong prescriptions. For one, viewing transformation of our nation in the prism of economic growth has led us to focus on wrong approaches – basically a mechanical process of fiddling with inputs and stimulants to the sectors of the economy and the juggling and the restructuring of our institutions. We have to start with our psyche and our attitudes as a people. I know this may sound like Oprah-talk but…
The Process of Transformation
The transformation of our nation as a whole requires change among the individuals and institutions that compose it. Among the core principles required for change are:
1. Fostering a national sense of purpose:
Tanzanians must be inspired by a galvanizing vision of what Tanzania can be and of how they can make it so. The political leadership and the “civil society” and also the family at home can effectively communicate that ‘we can be better than we are’. Political leadership and others in positions of influence, like the clergy, must inspire Tanzanians to see greatness in themselves, indeed to ignite a desire to become great. The vision of purpose must be driven deep into their hearts to inspire ordinary Tanzanians to do extraordinary things. This sense of purpose is essential because no one will die for a strategy, but people will make heroic sacrifices for a noble cause. Special appeals should be made to the youth, who are the next generation of leaders and to women, who are the first educators of the nation.
2. Building trust and confidence in leadership, institutions and the people themselves:
The political leadership should demonstrate repeatedly with strong evidence, that change is possible and that it can occur in many areas of national life. People must see that they themselves can be engaged in important programs of change, and that Tanzanians can increasingly trust their countrymen to meet the challenges of change. (The massive expansion of secondary education over the last four years is an excellent example – the government promised schools… the people delivered them by volunteering to build them). Transparency about the challenges the nation faces and the action underway to meet them is essential to building public confidence, as people trust most what they understand.
The trust and confidence that Tanzanians have in their leaders at the moment is very low. Apart from the President, only very few political leaders enjoy the trust and confidence of the masses. The government must be seen as competent and caring. The role of government, indeed the raison d'être of political leadership, should be beyond service delivery (as conceived in all these plans and programs like MKUKUTA). Building roads, providing water, electricity, etc. are things to be celebrated but cannot be the only litmus test for good governance and government effectiveness. Government is best when Tanzanians are best; Government delivers when Tanzanians deliver. Tanzania is at its best as a government and as a people when there is partnership and cooperation, not when government just delivers services to its people. In this way, there needs to be a change in how people understand themselves and their contributions to Tanzania’s future, and a new national self concept must emerge to effectively turn the corner for a new democracy in Tanzania. This is critical because we have to avoid being crippled by dependency-syndrome – that all the problems – including the piling of trash in our backyard - and all the solutions – including taking care of trash from our backyard - are the responsibility of others. It is amazing these days that almost everyone you hear is complaining, some about things they can take care. This is not a good sign.
4. Demanding integrity:
It is important that Tanzanians understand that social and economic transformation is founded on unified action, fairness, transparency and accountability. For a plan of change to work, people must be compelled to make new and different decisions to comply with higher standards. Transparency creates public accountability that drives change. People must consider this not just in terms of elected officials, but within their communities, among friends and family, and in all aspects of daily life.
The situation as it is now, where 78 percent of Tanzanians do not trust each other, cannot be helpful. We must value honesty, reason, rationality, thrift, hardwork, and a sense of fairness. We must hold ourselves to high standards before pointing fingers to our public officials.
5. Boosting public morale through communication:
Everywhere, for people to be inspired to do greater things, they must feel optimistic about the future. Are we optimistic as a nation at the moment? I think the media has created a sense of pessimism among Tanzanians such that the public morale is low. Under these circumstances, greater effort is required to make people believe again in the future of their country. Nyerere succeeded in this area: we were doing terribly economically but people were hopeful and they followed Nyerere despite ambiguity.
Political leadership must be visible, passionate, and articulate in speaking for a plan for change, conveying the vision of the nation, explaining the challenges Tanzania faces and indicating where change will come and how people will effect it. The plan for change must have a face and a heart. People of every background must be able to see themselves in the process of change and must feel themselves to be in intimate partnership with this process.
Finally, let me just say: the nation is as strong as the character of its people.
Why are English majors disappearing?
5 months ago
22 comments:
January, I like your post! The approach of personal transformation (renewed mindset) is the idea of the future for ensuring a prosperous Tanzania. I am more interested in the social psychology of colonialism; in particular, how an individual Tanzanian defines the self or develops the self as a result of series of interactions with in-school education system in the country and abroad. Related to this idea is the formation of colonial mentality, how this mentality is perpetuated on over time, how mental liberation can be attained. The characteristics of the colonial mentality include, but not limited to, rigidity of thinking; the inability to construct original ideas, models or theories to develop one’s own culture; the unbridled tendency to accept anything Euro-America and reject those that are non Euro-America; the behaviour of looking up to Euro-America for solution to our problems; plundering the treasury of one’s country and putting the booty in Euro-American banks; and the thoughts of transforming one’s country into a model of Euro-America.
It may surprise the reader to learn that before the advent of Western colonialism Tanzania had its own array of intellectuals – philosophers, linguists, sociologists, medical doctors, counselors, storytellers, poets, agriculturalists, teachers, politicians. These indigenous intellectuals, whom the colonial master despised and indoctrinated their Tanzanian students to despise, made invaluable contributions to their societies. The time is long overdue for Tanzanian intellectuals to construct their own worldview and models to analyze their societies, instead of being copy-cats, and willing tools for Western neo-colonial propaganda and cultural hegemony. Western colonialism has bequeathed to the Tanzanian intellectual a mental legacy that that is antithetical to our progress. This colonial structure was once maintained through a variety of direct political, economic and social structures established in the colonies directly by Europeans. Now the presence of the colonial master is not needed at all in Tanzania, for the Western educated Tanzanians are the social engineers indirectly charged with the maintenance of the colonial structures through our educational institutions, orthodox churches and government organizations.
Carter Woodson is right in his assertion that Western education system enslaves rather than liberates Africans mentally, making it hard for them to apply their minds to develop their societies. Woodson also states that Western educated Africans lack self-confidence when interacting with Euro-American Whites. This is so because the Western educated Africans have failed to develop or enhance their own cultural institutions and have internalized the belief that their cultures are inferior compared to that of Euro-American. In their interaction with Euro-Americans, thus, most African intellectuals have nothing valuable to be proud of except take a docile posture.
When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You don’t have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You need not send him to the back door; he will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.(Carter Woodson, Miseducation of the Negro)
....."For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
I dont think we are lacking a progressive plan, and intellectuals who can formulate that, this can be proved on MKUKUTA plan and many other like it, but whats lacking is an execution of those programmes/plans.
I believe the only way forward as you mentioned on your first point fostering a national sense of purpose(on a foot note, have you ever heard of Malaysia VISION 2020), if we start instigating those beliefs on people through our political platforms, on which we are very good at(why not transforming that energy), then we are assured of seeing people believing on whats on the paper. In other words the government and political leaders need to go onslaught on what we envisioned as a country, through public awareness and due actions, which in my mind both should be executed parallel. We cannot be doing the talking while we are flawed in our actions.
I believe, we will see a public mass start engaging and understand their priorities as individuals and their importance(sense of pride) on contribution to the society, but right now, we are just a bunch of the REAL TIGERs ON FAKE ASS HABITAT, we are depressed nation and we are made to believe that, what we need is a process of MIND DETOXICATION, I tell you what, it is very hard slow process but doable.
By Mchangiaji
January,
This is touchy and revolutionary piece. The world and civilizations have ever since time in memorial transformed by those who 'does ordinary things in an extra ordinary way'. This piece is a reflection of that.
I subscribe to the ideas, particularly the moral and leadership vacuum that we experience and lack of shared consensus of what Christopher Clapham, author of 'Africa and International System' named as "Idea of the State'.
This remains a challenge to the leadership of today and the youth to redefine assumptions, paradigms and theories underpinning our current choices, decisions and course of actions.
The questions remains, who to initiate? when to start?
I believe there are plenty in all circles who believes in the ideas you shared in this piece. However, they have stucked somewhere! Perhaps it is important to understand why they/we fail to rise up to the challenge. On his opinion, Paul Coulier, the author of 'The Bottom Billion' commented that "Politics is full of idiosyncrasies, and from time to time reform -minded ministers come topower.But it is very difficult for them to implement change because they inherit a civil service that is an obstacle rather than an instrument". How valid is this statement? Perhaps, you are a person in a better position to comment on this.
mzalendo
A key part to transform a nation is to transform her leadership. Obviously "job approval" numbers for most of our leaders are extremely low at this time and to large extent it is accounted to cynicism among wananchi. Folks stop caring about their country simply because the leaders they elected do not share their feelings--contradicting to the very basic idea of democracy that a constituent shall elect a representative that shares their common interest and principle.
I THINK if we truly want to transform our nation, regular Tanzanians have to be super,heavily involved. We shall spell out change to them and ask them to essentially demand it through obviously our democratic process. If common people get inspired enough, I have a feeling that theres nothing they can't do.
I have said this before, we are one leader away from accomplishing this!
In order to transform our nation, we have to change the way people think; we have to alter the way people think of their nati,their role and place in society. I concur on this point whole heartedly. This task will require changes in our national self-identity.
We are living in extraordinary time; a watershed period in the growth of our nation. We have an opportunity now, while the nation is still young, to reshape our national consciousness. This has to start with the individual; an appeal to the men and women, boys and girls, to embark on a transformative journey of rebuilding our nation.
January, I would like to add "pride" to item number 1. Fostering a national sense of purpose and pride. Taking pride in one's nation is essential in building the confidence and commitment that is necessary for revolutionary change. A proud people will do extraordinary things for their nation. Off course, we have to avoid false sense of pride here.
Trust is fundamental in building a healthy nation. We have to find ways to rebuild trust. Our leaders have failed us time after time; one has to earn the people's trust. People have to play their part in building trust amongst themselves.
Finally, I would like to add item number 6. Something like "Nurturing Creativity." I trully believe that Tanzania has some very creative people. It is they we must ultimately hand over the future of our nation to. Where we see talent, we must take active steps to encourage it, promote it, and put it to use.
We have to revamp our educational system so that we create an atmosphere ripe for critical thinking and creativity. I concur with Maiki, that the colonial mentality/woship of Eurocentric worldview often presents obstacles in our path to prosperity. There is no need to reinvent the wheel; we can learn from them when it is to our advantage; but ultimately we must look inward to foster lasting prosperity. Our system of education emphasizes memorization and not original thought; we learn to imitate, memorize and regurgitate. It is no surprise we become a nation of imitators.
We will never build our own machines, cars, computers, if we do not change our educational system.
I beg the discussion panel to allow me to digress for just a minute...
Every significant action occurs, directly or indirectly, in a context of relationship with others. And relationships usually imply obligations; that is, restrictions on our behavior, demands to do something or to avoid doing it. The most obvious kind of obligation is a formal agreement. Whenever a person enters into a contract-for example, to sell something or to perform a service-we consider that person ethically (as well as legally) bound to live up to his/her agreement. Obligations of citizenship in a democracy demand concern for the conduct of government and responsible participation in the electoral processes and nation building.
It should be noted that there can be no obligation to do something morally wrong. In other words, if one person promises another to tell a lie, steal or give inappropriate assistance of any form, the promise is not binding. What do we do in situations where there is more than a single obligation? How can we reconcile conflicting obligations as we seek to transform our nation?
Good debate, so far everybody is talking about transformation of Tanzania society into integrated one. However, no one has mentioned how are we going to transform such a society?
Mchangiji,
YES, we're lacking of progresive plan. MKUKUTA was a failure from the first day when was architect. MKUKUTA is another version of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is an idea from Dr Sachs( A Westerner who believe can solve our problem). We can't develop our society by using this big plan from Internation organization. Because Tanzania is not the same as Kenya or Uganda, so we need our own version of economic development plan.
I ask this question everytime when i had opportunity to share idea with my fellow Tanzania citizen. How can You, I and January find the way forward?
Tanzania is not facing only leadership deficiency. We're facing skyrocket HIV/AIDS victims, the number of the people who are living below 500TSh a day is still increasing, our education system is broken and no one seems to care about, our values are in limbo. HOW CAN WE TACKLE ALL THIS PROBLEMS?
It's time for all of us to start giving back to our community. Ask your self when was a last time you voluntereed on your community? When was the last time you visited your primary school or secondary school and inspire those young kids?
Should we blame JK and Sitta even for things which are within our hand to reach? Do we need a leadership to inspire us to give back to our community? "when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves". Can we change our self? I believe changes start from bottom up, and not top bottom.
I am planning to hold YOUTH FOR CHANGE BOOT CAMP in Dar sometime next year. I hope we will start to build a new Tanzania from house to house, block to block, street to street, city to city and finaly the whole Tanzania.
One thing to keep in mind is that, our nation's problems are ours, individually. If it doesn't affect us directly, in one way or another it's affecting our brothers, sisters, some members of our families, neighbours and it will mold and re-shape us in its own unique way. Having that in mind, might help to put in consideration and work hard on the will, course and impacts of transformation that can be useful in re-shaping our social and economic systems in fundamentally positive ways.
January,
You mentioned that Tanzania is at a turning point and that people want things to be different, but, I think that's generalization. I don't think we're ready for change. I think most people just go with the crowd and don't really mean what they say. There's something called hypocrisy...Most people have the false claim to, and pretend to have admirable beliefs or feelings while in reality they embrace the vices that so easily permeate our society. The,"Do as I say, not as I do."
Do I need a mind-set transformation? may be, but that's just my opinion.
On the other hand I'm 100% on your side about special appeals for youth and women as they're vital part in development of our nation.
Talking about Oprah...in one of her articles entitled, "what we love about January" (mh!, what a coincidence?) she spoke about how we struggle to have a fresh start at the beginning of the year when we come up with 'better' resolutions with unsuccessful results. We get pumped up and make all kinds of plans to be 'good' but we fail to deliver. There's change we want but somehow we can't make it happen.
In the article(jan, 2009) which came from the workshop led by psychologists R. Kegan and L. Lahey from Havard Graduate School of Education, the writer reported that, "Our flat-out failure to bring about the change we desire is not for lack of good intentions, or willpower.. or to think it's our lazyness or weakness.. but those change-resistant behaviors have a very good reason for being and it's just a tip of the iceberg. And until you can get below the waterline, you can't see why this behavior is brilliant"
"If you're ripe for a new beginning but aren't sure how to make change stick...If a little inspiration could help you roll up your sleeves, let go of the past and get on with a new day..Yes you can"!(Barack Obama)
PS. Guys, it's okay to watch Oprah, It won't change your "manhood"
Kaka,
Ar u sure u are serving this Presidency? If yes how come this message is not seen up there? Or is it there is language problem between the Leader and the people?
About integrity, its time to have a gut to go further than just professional and institutional level. We need to start with personal integrity....the most challenging but important of all.
I like thrift idea, we do not need the likes of Warren Buffet and Germans, Scandinavians, Chinese to teach us the power of thriftville. Our people miseries, even if we see them inside our full AC/Tinted shangingis, can stand to be the best teacher.
Being a thrift Leader/Government/ Society does not mean populism but rather a strategic choice for donor dependent country like ours
Salam
Omar Ilyas
Spot on January,Spot on!!!
folks,watch this space............
Change is coming to Tanzania.
Mwamvita Makamba
As Thueni said, I also believe that the missing link is leadership - Other things follow ! No country has ever developed without strong, visionary, committed leadership. The main problem is not mental liberation but rather governance liberation !How do u tell a hungry person to change his mentality when he/she can't even eat or feed their families !! Without good governance, other things are just ideas which are not new!
We all know current admministration suffers from SWINE FLU but not sure if Tamiflu would even cure it
unless someone has a different prescription
Iddy,
I applaud your efforts on working with young people. I think it's a smart idea which will help us build a strong and effective nation, for now and generations to come. Young people tend to power a lot of things.
Most in this blog seem to be in one page and have the same idea of prospective changes and the how(s) of manifesting it. The question comes, how should we transfer that idea to our fellow Tanzanians? everybody want change/transformation but, are they ready to make it happen and to actively engage it in our day to day activities? Because, it's one thing to suggest on something and it's a different thing to process and make it happen.
Mike,
As you have mentioned many times, "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is"
With 78% of Tanzanians who don't trust each other(as January has mentioned in the post), this explains our character and our nations's character. What do you think we need to do in order to convince that percentage to turn to a better way of thinking and transform this nation to a prosperous country? How should we pass the contagious optimism and give people confidence to trust one another?
The challenging thing is on hypocrites. It's like a disease which consumes time, money and people's hearts, as a result, we fail to trust each other.
January & company,
After discussing ways and means required for change, how should we convince our fellow Tanzanians to respond to this call of transformation with all their heart, mind and soul? And for that case, we shouldn't just believe in transformation; we should LIVE it.
January,
I have to thank U for Ur nice post, it`s important for the nation to discuss deeply this issue.
I don’t have much to contribute… hope few will be useful.
Back in 1960 to 2000 was one of the remarkable economic growth and transformation in the world, but Tanzania was left behind. There were many factors contributes to this setback one of them is limited structural transformation. National can learn from past experience and apply compatible development models for economic development.
I can also say that, highly need for national change (transformation) starts from individual`s sense of responsibility to the society. I agree with some ideas. Sustainable and real economic change should start from every individual eager to make change personally, family and national as whole.
“Let`s make change now, we can make if wish”
Herman
January,
I have to thank U for Ur nice post, it`s important for the nation to discuss deeply this issue.
I don’t have much to contribute… hope few will be useful.
Back in 1960 to 2000 was one of the remarkable economic growth and transformation in the world, but Tanzania was left behind. There were many factors contributes to this setback one of them is limited structural transformation. National can learn from past experience and apply compatible development models for economic development.
I can also say that, highly need for national change (transformation) starts from individual`s sense of responsibility to the society. I agree with some ideas. Sustainable and real economic change should start from every individual eager to make change personally, family and national as whole.
“Let`s make change now, we can make if wish”
Herman
I mentioned several times that Tanzania is like an HIV/AIDS patient who CD4 is below 200, so the only way to help this patient is multiple interventions. That is what Tanzania of today need, when you have a society which disintegrates in a speed of light from angle to angle then you do have problem.
We all like change; the echoes of change are buzzing across the land of Mount Kilimanjaro to the island of spices. I hear the same story from Zitto Kabwe to Anna Kilango, but the question remain, are we real ready for change? And if yes what kind of change do we want? Or we’re just inside the torpedo of change and since everyone is for change then we’re too?
Tanzania needs a vision and a mission (so far we don’t have the long-term and short-term goal we’re just shooting everything which is moving), to this moment there are 12 million Tanzanian who can’t afford one meal a day. This is a big number, to transform this poverty into integrated society need more that yapi yapi in the Bunge. It needs serious vision and understanding of economic development strategy. Trust me even if World Bank decide to dispatch Bill Clinton to Tanzania to become our president still it won’t be easy to eliminate that number. Let me put it clear, 30% of Tanzanians are in deep poverty. That mean in every 10 people 3 can’t afford one meal a day.
We do have HIV/AIDS problem, however everybody act like we’re just fine. Today there are more than 9% (8.8% in 2003 data by UNAIDS) of Tanzanian who are living with HIV/AIDS, that is more than 3.6 million Tanzania. This number incubate orphanage across Tanzania, and unfortunately statistics doesn’t say anything good for this kids. Remember more than 45% of Tanzanians today are in age of 19 and below.
We either like or not but there is no golden bullet for our problems. We need sit down and become searchers and not planner. First, every one of us need to know that we’re in deep shit (excuse my French), and then find appropriate approach to tackle that problem. Again we can’t eliminate poverty by write books, or arguing in midahalo but we can do it through searching for appropriate approach which will ensemble different strategies. Tanzania WILL NEVER GET BETTER WITH 30% OF HER PEOPLE LIVING IN DEEP POVERTY.
I conclude with the question; do you guys think luck of leadership is the main problem in Tanzania today? Or the problem is so complex?
Iddy,
Having great leadership is important. However, I do not think Tanzanians should not wait for a "savior" to come rescue them. We need a new vision for the country. Having a credible person articulating that new vision would be great; but the focus should be on that vision.
I agree with you that we have to address the issue of poverty and HIV/AIDS. Even the question of the spread of HIV has to start with changing people's habits and outlook
Guys,
This is a wonderful debate - the kind that I anticipated.
At least there is concensus that things need to change. I am encouraged that most people point to change in attitude and "personal responsibility" as catalyst or precursor to transformation as a nation. The right attitude will lead to "can do" mentality and a refusal to feel inferior and personal responsibility will enhance the quality of our citizenship including issues of integrity and consideration of community.
Now, how and where do we shape attitudes and entrench in our people the idea of personal responsibility. Where: home and in school. The family is the first unit in which a man or woman first learn what is right and what is wrong, and what to value and what to fear. It is in school where, for the first time, the young meet the state. The state therefore has an important role, through schools, in shaping attitudes and ingraining a sense of community to the youth. Many here, including Azaria and Maiki, have mentioned the role of education in transforming the nation.
Others have put it on the leadership as responsible to help transforming the nation, but Iddy asked a very good question: is leadership enough? This is a valid question. But, there is a saying that the people gets the leader they deserve. Great societies normally produce great leaders. In biblical times, God used to send prophet to lead wayward people. These days, we have to find leaders amongst ourselves. And they certainly do look like us.
So, a way forward is difficult to point to given the complexity of issues we have to contend with. But I do believe that modernity is not simply the imitation of the path that others have taken.
One thing though can guarantee success: raising kids to be honest and fair, to value hard work and service and community and to believe in meritocracy. It has worked for the Americans at least. Theirs is a society fraught with many problems but kids are raised with the values I just mentioned.
To emphasize this, let me finish with one story I heard recently from one friend of mine: he was walking around in Cardiff, UK, and he decided to cross the road to the other side of the street. He did not go to the zebra crossing, he just look right and left, when he did not see any car, he simply crossed the road. An old lady on the other side of street saw him and went up to him and scolded him for "setting a bad example for the kids". This fellow is a Tanzanian and he is a very successful lawyer in Dar es Salaam.
Wananchi,
kuna wanaosema kuwa hatuna DIRA (VISION). Hii sio kweli kwani tangia mwaka 2000 tuliadopt Vision 2020 na baadae mambo mengine kadhaa kaka MKUKUTA na Sera na sheria mbalimbali ambazo zilipaswa kuhakikisha tunafanikisha DIRA hiyo.
Tatizo ni kuwa,
Kwanza upatikanaji wa DIRA hiyo haukuwa wa kuhusisha walengwa (WATANZANIA) kuanzia kuundwa kwake hadi kukubalika kwake kama DIRA ya nchi.
Hili likazaa matatizo mengine lukuki, mfano-
DIRA hiyo kuonekana ni ya WAKUBWA na wenziwao (WAFADHILI) na sio ya watanzania ambao nao ama kwa kupenda ama kwa sababu ya tatizo la kukosa mipango madhubuti ya kuwaelimisha kuhusu DIRA hiyo, wakaamua kuidharau.
Hilo likazaa tatizo lingine ambalo ni uhalali wa DIRA hiyo kwa wanaopaswa kuwa wadau wakuu wa kuifanikisha (WANANCHI na hata WATUMISHI WAO - VIONGOZI WA KISIASA na WATUMISHI WA UMMA).
Vilevile kuna tatizo la kuwa na uongozi ambao hudharau mipango, sera na dira yetu na kuamua kutilia mkazo masuala yenye malengo ya kisiasa zaidi (KURA) kuliko mipango ya muda mrefu tuliyojiwekea. Hapa ndipo utakuta sheria zinazotungwa ili kuonekana zipo lakini hazina makali ya utekelezaji wake, bajeti inayobadili vipaumbele kila kukicha utadhani huwa tunachagua serikali mpya kila mwaka, lakini pia kutokuwa na kutilia mkazo wa UFUATILIAJI na UHAKIKI wa muda mrefu ambao ungekuwa ukihakikisha kuwa hatusahau DIRA yetu pale tunapokuwa tunapanga mipango ya kila mwaka, mwezi na hata siku ya kiserikali na kijamii.
Tatizo lingine ni kuwa kutokana na ukweli kuwa mfumo wetu wa kiserikali bado una mapungufu makubwa ya kiasasi basi pale inapotokea kuwa UONGOZI wa nchi unaelemewa na jitihada za kusawazisha mambo (political management) kuanzia uchaguliwapo hadi unapoondoka kama ilivyo sasa, imekuwa rahisi sana kwa UANASIASA kuchukua usukani wa maamuzi ya kiutendaji na kuacha MALENGO ya muda mrefu tuliyojiwekea (waliyojiwekea) yakitiwa kapuni..
Kwa kifupi kama nchi tunayo DIRA, labda tujiulize kama tunayo DIRA ya kiuongozi na kama ipo ni IPI na je inaendana vipi na DIRA YA 2020?
Kwa heshima na taadhima nawakilisha
Omar Ilyas
Game theory,
do you have the prescription? It is easy to identify problems. What is your solution?
Iddy,
I did not have a chance to fully address your question about HIV and poverty. I am convinced that the spread of HIV and poverty are interconnected. I would also add alcohol and drugs to this equation as one of the catalysts. There is a powerful current of hopelesness that has swept our people. This current, or perhaps, a hurricane, has taken a major toll on the psyche of our people, and hence, our nation. Many turn to alcohol, drugs, religious fundamentalism, etc to find refuge. I had a friend who slept with a girl he had heard was HIV positive; in fact, I warned him in advance. Yet he still did it. It was clear to me that this guy was suicidal. Many of our people are suicidal; they have lost all hope. How can you transform a nation that is made up of people who have lost hope? I believe the solution has to come out of this very hopelesness.
To combat the spread of HIV, we have to start by transforming the way people see themselves and their plight. We need to ask difficult questions. Why do you drink everyday? Why are you married and have 4 different girlfriends? Why do you steal? Is such a person capable of trusting his/her neighbor? Is it possible for you to be a productive citizen if you get drunk 4 days a week and sleep with 2 other women besides your wife? What is it about our people that has led to this conundrum?
Eradication of poverty is key to reducing the spread of HIV. How do we end poverty is the million dollar question. I believe education is the key to solving this problem. We also have to take a closer look at what we have. What resources do we have? Manpower? How can we maximize the use of our natural resouces? How can we incease government revenue? How can we significantly improve the quality of education. I want to see standard 7 students repairing computers one day. It will happen.
We need to change the way we think if we are to get out of this mess. Having a credible group of leaders who have thought carefully about the problems and have come up with good plan to tackle them is key. We all have to make concerted effort to get the message out. If you want change, you have to take the first step to make that change a reality. What are you going to do?
We are the hope we have been waiting for. Change is already here; it is within us. All we have to do is open our eyes and embrace it. Touch one heart, that heart will touch another. Let us move one step at a time, and together, we'll transform our nation.
Omari,
Asante kwa mchango wako, labda nianze kwa kusema kwamba kuna tofauti ya mipango (Plan) and Dira (Vision). Tulichonacho sisi ni mipango na sio dira, dira ni kitu ambacho kinawezekanika, mipango inaweza kuwezekana au kushindika. MKUKUTA sio dira ni mpango. Kusema kwamba tutakata umasikini kwa asilimia 50% kwa miaka 5 huo ni mpango, ambao walio panga walijua utashindwa.
Mfumo tulionao sasa ni masikitiko matupu. Chakusikitisha vijana ambao ndio taifa la kesho hawana tofauti na wazee wao ambao walikuwa taifa la jana.
Nchi ambayo wananchi hawana imani baina yao wenyewe, hiyo nchi ni sawa na mfu.
Thank you for you article, I have used your writing on my Facebook page on Transformation for my readers and contextulized it to suit me audience. These are powerful thoughts. Africa need to take heed to this message
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