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We beg to differ, Mr President
2006-11-08 08:53:11
By Editor
Reports coming from Zanzibar reveal that President Amani Abeid Karume is disillusioned by a press report which apparently categorised both him and sections of CCM leadership as ”conservative.”
Addressing a public rally over the weekend, the President of Zanzibar said that the media had ’baptised’ him and his fellow leaders in the ruling party as conservatives. He said that CCM leaders did not deserve that name.
President Karume went further by saying that his children were of the same age as some journalists, that they were more competent and educated in many ways than them ( journalists), only that his children are not journalists. He demanded that journalists must show respect to him and CCM.
It would have been another matter altogether if the Zanzibar President kept this opinion to himself or directly channelled his response to the particular media that categorized him as such.
However, President Karume went out of his way to ridicule and stereotype Tanzanian journalists at a public rally, wishing that they were all as competent as his children!
We do not wish to be embroiled in a debate on what irked the President. What baffles us is how the word ’conservative’ could provoke such a reaction from a top national leader.
The world ”conservative” simply means traditional, conformist, old fashioned etc.
It is clear that this word is not a rude term.
Given the fact that President Karume himself uttered during the rally that ’Zanzibar is an independent country,’ it beats one’s imagination how he could make a blanket judgement on the whole Tanzanian media, which is supposed to enjoy freedom of speech, just because a press report had identified him as a conservative.
In fact, it is hoped that the Zanzibar President is a person who tolerates alternative opinion, even radical views.
It was also wrong for President Karume to boast about the fact that the education level of his children is far above that of most journalists.
Indeed, that should not be surprising because many media personnel are born of the rank and file, and do not have as much access to resources and education opportunities as his children.
Rather than being proud, the President should have been sad about such state of affairs.
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