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I am fed up with praises, says JK
2006-12-23 08:52:37
By Privatus Lipili, PST, Dodoma
President Jakaya Kikwete has said he is fed up with praise being constantly heaped upon him by the people, because some of them should rather criticize him for social problems which the country is facing.
”I do not like deceptive applauses. Wrong praises will give me huge problems.
They will also endanger the nation,” President Kikwete, who is also the chairman of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi, said yesterday.
Kikwete was speaking during closing ceremony of a two-week course for CCM cadres, which was held at the Holy Cross Hall of the Catholic Cathedral here.
”I hate to be applauded while the country is facing a lot of problems.
”I am not sure whether the public still loves us with all these problems of electricity,” he said.
Kikwete recalled a day when he was still a member of parliament for Chalinze, when a person praised him for things which for he knew the people of Chalinze could not praise him for, as they were facing acute water shortage.
”I gave a lift to one of my voters,” President Kikwete recalled, ”he started praising me, saying that the people loved me so much.
I asked him: ’What do they love me for, with all these water shortage problems? The voter told me: So you are aware that we have a water problem?’ I then realised that all that praise singing was deceptive,” said Kikwete.
Kikwete also said that he had no enemy within the party and neither would he inherit anybody’s enemies during his tenure as the chairman.
”I will instead inherit friends of all the people within the party.
”I do not have enemies; I have only friends in CCM. Inheriting enemies will not help me improve my performance in any way,” he said.
He added: ”I want the party to be open and trustworthy when discussing leadership problems so that the government can correct itself,” he said, adding that the discussions should be genuine.
He warned the members of the ruling party to bring to an end all internal misunderstandings.
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