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Views differ on 2007`s performance
2008-01-01 09:18:18
By Guardian Reporter
The predominant view among a huge proportion of Dar es Salaam residents is that life in the just-ended year 2007 was generally tough and the government achieved little in its plans to live up to popular expectations.
Most of those contacted for comment in a random survey by The Guardian over the last few days, among them ordinary citizens, an academic and a politician, cited corruption and the plunder of natural resources as the most serious major problems the nation had to contend with over the year.
Prof Mwesiga Baregu of the University of Dar es Salaam said he saw little for Tanzanians to be proud of as an achievement.
``Among the things that were especially conspicuous as far as weaknesses, challenges or failures on the part of the government side were corruption, poor administrative procedures and outdated or draconian laws, and the pillaging or misuse of minerals and other natural resources,” he said.
Turning to social services, he said ordinary wananchi faced a very tough life “despite reports issued from time to time by the government that we have been making steady headway as far as national economic growth is concerned”.
“You can observe hikes in the prices of almost everything that has a price tag while very little income is generated by the people and there is an appalling shortage of employment opportunities.
There are just so many serious problems facing the nation that it appears the government is slowly running out of ideas on ways to solve them,” noted the political science guru.
He said there was an urgent need for the government to reassure the people that it really does have the capacity and intention to deliver on its election time promises “as a way of forestalling more problems and retaining public confidence”.
Prof Baregu challenged Tanzanians to make 2008 a year of increased activism during which they will put up a spirited fight for equal treatment and their other rights as enshrined in the country’s Constitutions and other laws”
“People should make keen follow-ups to check whether their leaders behave and perform in accordance with established norms, rules and regulations. They should ensure that leaders serve the people as expected,” he added.
But Tanzania Centre for Democracy Chairman John Cheyo saw things completely differently, observing that 2007 was “a very fruitful and rewarding political year for the Tanzanian people”.
“There are several countries that do not enjoy the kind of peace that we have enjoyed.
Even with the differences in the ideologies that our political parties subscribe to and champion, we still live in peace. At least in that sense, politicians in this country should be commended for maintaining peace,” he pointed out.
However, he admitted that progress on the economic front was not very inspiring “because the country is still too heavily dependent on an agricultural section that is starved of most of the support and attention it badly needs to thrive”.
Cheyo, who is also national chairman of the opposition United Democratic Party and Member of Parliament, said many Tanzanians would look back to 2007 as “a year during which they faced very tough times in terms of inflation going up and sparking off an escalation in prices and charges for most basic goods”.
Meanwhile, Director of Criminal Investigations Robert Manumba proudly declared that the Police Force had performed generally better in the year than previously.
``We can confidently say that it has been a year of challenges but also relative peace and harmony.
We are expecting to continue collaborating with local communities in stepping up security by ensuring law and order and cutting crime to the barest minimum,`` he explained.
The DCI called on members of the public to continue furnishing the police and other law-enforcement agents with information that could help in reducing crime and arresting criminal elements. He promised all whistle blowers strict confidentiality and befitting recognition for their cooperation.
``We shall insist on community policing in the year that we have just entered because we know it is a strategy that works much better that merely depending on the Police Force.
But we as the police shall also continue dealing with gangsters and all other criminal elements as vigorously as we have always done,`` he added.
A Dar es Salaam resident, Chamba Salum, recommended that the first priority for leaders of all ranks should be to deal with the problems that make life difficult for the majority of the people instead of “always looking after their personal interests first”.
He was especially incensed with the astronomical rises in electricity tariffs and service line connection charges, travel fares and freight charges, fuel and food prices, school fees and prices in respect of basic needs generally.
Another city resident, Rodha Filbert, commended the government “for having moved a step forward in promoting democratic practice by coming to the aid of our fledgling political parties”.
“It is a fact that some parties have used this goodwill gesture to mock the government.
`` Fortunately, the government has moved wisely and demonstrated political maturity because it knows that one of the best ways of enhancing transparency and national peace and stability,” she noted.
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