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Time to turn demolition obsession into construction craze
2006-10-16 10:00:33
By Hilal K. Sued
I had developed some irresistible craving this week to write on two incidents that have been brought up to public knowledge, courtesy of the print media, both of which stand to consign officialdom reeling if some good explaining will not be forthcoming.
I abandoned the attempt because both are still developing. However I will make some brief comments on them before I pass on to my topic for this week.
One is the John Magufuli issue - which, in any version is already a scandal - a sweet one I would add - because the man was always seen to be championing himself as a ’Mr Clean,’ within the establishment, a very rare species in the establishment.
This make believe deluded many, with some even going as far as suggesting -- before last year’s elections -- that he would have made a perfect Prime Minister.
The current disclosures in the Kiswahili weekly were so earth-shattering, the details so stark and exhaustive that the only option for him is to accept accountability and resign in dignity - which, unfortunately, also happens to be a rare quality in the same establishment.
Hasn’t JK any plans in his shelves to enforce this noble quality among his top lieutenants?
So Magufuli’s silence shows that he might be banking on the customary treatment - that the authorities above him will not move a finger against him.
And that could be due to two main reasons - one is that the need to show unity and oneness in the government has to override all other considerations, and the second is that ten months is just too a short a time for JK to be told that his choice of top lieutenants was greatly flawed. He wouldn’t want that.
So if a customary civil suit against the ”whistle blower” will not be forthcoming any time soon, then the matter will be buried in the ensuing veil of silence and the man will get away with it.
They always do, and this has become an annoying routine, coming up so certainly as the next sunrise.
If one Prof Juma had got away with in his military \”plane trip\” affair, why not John in his ”house” affair?
The second incident the Richmond company issue - also fast developing into a scandal, but which has callously been ripped open by newspapers before the architects, if any, were able to keep ahead of the string of discomforting disclosures. It has all the characteristics of a smoking gun.
In fact, the cat jumped out of the bag before it was delivered, and as the week came to a close all those in authority involved in the deal and who were supposed to say something decided to maintain tight lips.
Surely some explanation is needed on why the government entered into a multimillion dollar contract for the supply and installation of generators with what is suspected to be a brief-case firm and in a project that is currently a matter of life or death for the nation.
Dr Msabaha\’s assertion that he fears some libel suit against him if he commented anything on the issue had all the label of apprenticeship ever to come from a senior cabinet minister.
However, even though the government has not dished out any money, this scandal might be a little bit serious because early this month JK himself had placed the firm on tenterhooks as being one among those lined up to ward off total power blackout in the country before the end of December.
It\’s perhaps significant to also note that the assurance from Head of State came amidst newspaper reports, though in hush tones, on the misgivings over the firm’s competence, as information extracted from its official website suggests that it could be a bogus one.
Therefore in the best case scenario, an acceptable explanation could be that JK had been misled by his lieutenants.
But that could provoke a debate, if it hasn’t already, that he has been surrounded by phoney officials who place own interests above those of the nation.
This again may bring up the question of JK\’s good judgment in the choice of top lieutenants.
Tanzanians are waiting to see what the exit strategy by the officialdom will be in this arguably tough one.
Now to my topic this week: As the dust from arguably the greatest eviction operation of petty traders in the country\’s history is settling, it’s time to take stock - as well as to know what must now follow or be done.
But first of all, the authorities must be commended for the operation that went on rather smoothly, defying expectations held by many.
However, I would say this was greatly achieved through much pre-operation preparation that included relentless campaigning and announcements through PAS to the petty traders to abandon their former premises.
In addition, virtually the entire mainstream media, both print and electronic, as well as leaders of main opposition parties were in support of the operation.
Officials had feared that the latter would have attempted to capitalise on the machinga plight.
There were of course some excesses, the unfortunate human trait that turns a perfectly good idea into some frenzy.
That is of course human nature - but I would say that in this country, this kind of passion manifests itself more on demolition than in construction.
A man on the kijiko (bulldozer) always finds it pleasurable operating it, that he cannot even allow a few minutes for one to remove his goods. But then, one may argue, they were given six months to move out.
All that is beside the point, however. Granted that the eviction campaign has removed from Dar streets the sellers\’ eyesore, it has exposed another eyesore -- the eerie surroundings left behind, with the infrastructure screaming for urgent rehabilitation.
In some of the streets, the repairs are over 30 years behind schedule, as testified by the traces of asphalt. However that involves construction, a largely alien craze for our urban authorities.
They fancy demolition due to the minimal cost involved.
Now that the machinga have submissively moved out of the areas proscribed by the government, rather than sit back, the three municipal authorities should reciprocate in kind by starting major repairs to its roads.
By doing this they could also be solving the problem of unemployment of the youth many of who must have been adversely affected by the eviction campaign.
In fact it’s time the three councils started showing their taxpayers what it can do for them, in physical terms, rather than continue with the current arrangement whereby the bulk of their revenues sink into salaries and other emoluments for the staff, with the rest carted away by fraudsters.
In purely economic terms, the shifting of the sellers from one area of the city to another does not stand to contribute much to the national economy, as the aim was only to keep the city’s environment clean.
After all, as already stated, these are mere sellers of merchandise made by foreigners.
Didn’t anyone consider the need of transforming some of these youth - making the bulk of the nation’s workforce into producers?
I believe it’s high time the government changed its poverty eradication strategy - from demolition to construction and from selling to producing. There is no other shortcut.
There could be signs for that, if there is any sincerity from the man who said it. Last week, Edo, the Premier proscribed ”X” markings on houses said to be lined up for demolition, saying that the marks put families on the state of anxiety - especially if the actual demolition is very far off.
I have not been able to figure out why the houses must be so marked anyway while individual letters of intent to owners thereof could do as well, as it used to be in the past.
I believe the trend has something to do with corruption.
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