|
Let the Butiama confession be real
2008-03-31 09:59:35
By Rayner Ngonji
The National Executive Committee of the ruling party, CCM was over the weekend holding a two-day session at Butiama village, the birthplace of the Father of the Nation, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in Musoma District, Mara Region.
If my memory is correct, this is the first NEC sitting to be held at a village. Traditionally such sessions are held either in Dar es Salaam or Dodoma, the country`s Capital. Occasionally they are shifted to Zanzibar.
At one time, in the early 1970s there was a system of marking CCM`s preceding political party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) on July 7, every year on rotational basis from one region to the other, though in the process as was the case with Butiama members toured several development projects located in the region.
Indeed, hosting such a big gathering at a village, an honour which even Chamwino State Lodge with its fame and respect has never been accorded, is not something to be ignored just like that.
Surely, there is something weighty that took NEC members there. A lot has been said about moving the meeting from its traditional venues to Butiama.
There are those who say that the exercise has been designed to cleanse the leaders and the party in general of the recent Richmond affair, tied to a fictitious American electricity company and Bank of Tanzania`s External Payments Arrears (EPA) saga involving very senior government officials who virtually all are party members.
Although the Party Secretary General, Yusuf Makamba, has flatly denied the reports, invitation extended to the Governor of Bank of Tanzania, Professor Benno Ndulu, to attend the session amidst a series of unearthed scandals linked to his institution, raises more questions than answers.
The bank is accused of disbursing over 133bn/- to 22 companies some of which are fictitious, in lieu of services that were never rendered.
In recent months there have been a lot of complaints from members of the public over escalating prices of different items including electricity, speculating the government`s commitment and seriousness in relation to its performance.
Life standards of most common Tanzanians continue to deteriorate in spite of many performance irregularities in government circles subsequently threatening public harmony.
What can disrupt harmony is not just the difficult conditions that people face, but the idea that someone is taking them for a ride, which is now the prevailing view in the light of so many scandals in every quarter of government finances and key parastatals.
Urging the ruling party NEC to come out with a proper confession means it should clear the public mind about its image, its actions and what it expects to do in the near future, for, everything people expected has collapsed.
The `better life for all` slogan is dead, not to speak of the `new pace, zeal and vigour.`
The NEC must say where the problem is, whether it is the government or a few leaders, or the policy followed since the Zanzibar Declaration in 1991, and what the ruling party needs to do about it.
It is also important for the party to make it clear whether those mentioned in the scandals surrounding large payments from the Bank of Tanzania acted alone, or were doing so on behalf of the government, and the concerned authorities are too shy to say what the whole thing is about.
Why should clouds be allowed to remain over the issue, which threatens the public peace as people demand that heads roll, and the government just says `the money is coming back`?
One good thing is that the NEC was expected to endorse the Zanzibar peace accord and coalition government, and set out a protocol to implement it, like giving permission for a parliamentary bill to be drawn up, or making constitutional changes if need be.
This might help to improve the public mood somewhat, but the other questions cannot just be brushed under the carpet.
ngonji@guardian.co.tz
|
