Editorial Cartoon

For the past two weeks Tanzanians have been facing another power rationing, reminding us of the worse situation in 2006 when the country nearly faced total blackout. State-owned company announced a countrywide power rationing exactly six months after the Tanesco MD had sounded the alarm bells on the looming crisis in March, during the debate on whether the nation should acquire Dowans plants or not.

Angered by the tough stance taken by the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals, the outgoing Tanesco Managing Director Dr Idriss Rashidi, said Tanzania has two choices- acquire an emergency power generating plant or face a total blackout in the next 180 days.

On Thursday, Kigoma North MP Zito Kabwe held a press conference whereby apart from urging the government to confiscate controversial Dowans plants, he also defended the earlier move by Tanesco to buy the emergency power generating plants. We all know who is who in the Dowans deal and would like to state clearly that, as a nation, let us not be dragged again into the debate that was ended seven months ago.

With dilapidated infrastructure built mainly during the 1970s, the company’s power supply capacity is estimated at 595 megawatts. This year, the actual demand is 787 megawatts - creating a deficit of 192 megawatts.

The electricity power blues currently tormenting Tanzanians – as well as foreigners caught up in the suffering on account of touring, residing, working and doing business in our country – makes it imperative for us to draw a distinction between politics and politicking as a serious undertaking rather than a mere academic exercise.

Broadly, politics is an agency through which franchised wananchi elect leaders at various levels, who are enjoined to become true servants of the electorate. Politicking, by sharp contrast, is the manipulation of politics as a cover for seeking cheap popularity, and promoting selfish or narrow circle interests.

The power crisis-characterised by punishing rationing of an amenity that is essentially a human right – is mainly the by-products of those who are alternately politicians and perpetrators of politicking; they purport to be driven by public interest considerations, but whose pretensions are betrayed by opportunism centred on cheap party rivalry unconnected to matters of principle, ego-boosting, and score-settling.

The absurdity of over-reliance-actually almost absolute reliance-on hydro-power generated electricity has been noted and cautioned against repeatedly to no avail. It is apparent that some quarters count on divine intervention – through heavy rains to fill dams – as a sure factor.

Yet it isn’t, and is an embarrassment in these times that demand reduced reliance on, or rejection of, nature, spiritualism and superstition and application of scientific and technological methods to both solve current problems and institute contingency measures for addressing probable crises in future.

For the majority in rural Tanzania for whom power supply is a distant dream, the distance is further lengthened and is probably vanishing, and those “blessed” with supply are rendered “power-less” for prolonged hours.

Both categories are deeply hurt, as are industrialists, institutional managers and investors whose operations are suspended and slowed down-the net-effect to the economy being enormous.

There’s also the life-and-death dimension in relation to patients in hospitals where operations are delayed, postponed or put off altogether.

We would like to caution those who want to take the advantage of the current crisis as a justification to revive the controversial Dowans deal. The debate about Dowans was closed in March this year, and what are needed currently are not just temporary measures but a long term solutions to enable the country achieve electricity for the national development.

It’s for this reason, we again, remind our leaders especially politicians that, cheap politicking fuelled mainly by egoism and the quest for cheap popularity won’t solve the current power crisis.