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Govt leaders, the ball is now in your court
2006-03-15 13:03:25
By Editor
Presdent Jakaya Kikwete appears to have quashed any lingering doubts among government leaders and Tanzanians in general, who still thought that his Phase IV’s government’s ’New zeal, new vigour and new speed’ operating slogan, is a big joke. It isn’t a joke or any slapstick humour at all.
Addressing ministers and other senior government leaders gathered at Ngurdoto, near Arusha on Monday, Kikwete said leaders who were indecisive, who cannot implement government’s policies without supervision did not deserve front seats in his bandwagon that is determined to pull the common man out of poverty.
The President also left no doubt in the minds of his top lieutenants that the time for dilly-dallying, complacency, unaccountability and other unprofessional work ethics was over and in its place should be the time for addressing the people’s expectations, which obliges elected leaders to serve the country altruistically.
In short, President Kikwete’s speech signals a very drastic change, or rather a ’revolution’ in the way government leaders are to go about performing their duties from now on.
Very few would disagree that with the exception of a few committed government leaders, the majority of them have just been having it just too good. And this has been going on for a very long time.
The adverse effects of this state of affairs are everywhere to see – plummeting standards in social service delivery, deepening poverty among the people, the chaotic state in the education, health and agricultural sectors, poor environmental management that has had a devastating effect to the climate etc.
One has to go to rural areas to see that the government never existed at all.
Agricultural activity, if it functions at all, resembles that practised at the time of independence.
For example, no one had ever solved the livestock sector ’teaser’ whereby for 45 years after uhuru, livestock owners still keep huge herds of cattle that roam about the countryside devastating the environment, whilst not providing any material benefit to the herders themselves.
As already aforesaid, this type of inertia has been left to develop to dangerous levels — to the point that some leaders considered themselves demi-Gods than leaders, and acquired an attitude of arrogance towards the wananchi because nobody at the top ever stepped forward to reprimand them.
They seemed to be travelling in splendour in a sort of gravy train to some outer world.
President Kikwete has vowed to place a big full stop to all this. As he said, the wananchi have put a great faith upon Phase IV administration, and so failing them should not be a term that is to be found in his government’s vocabulary.
He said they (leaders) must listen to the wananchi and provide lasting solutions to the immense problems facing them and that can only be achieved through commitment and preparedness.
With this call to the leaders, we can only add by asking them to respond both positively and dedicatively, through actions, not words.
It’s the only way that the wananchi’s expectations in them could be turn into fruition. There is no other way.
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