|
What next if Zanzibaris vote against `Muafaka`?
2008-04-24 10:13:34
By Walusanga Ndaki
If a referendum is to be conducted in Zanzibar on the political accord (muafaka) reached between the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) which aims at restoring durable harmony in the Isles, and most of the people reject it, what will come next? Staff writer Walusanga Ndaki writes on a possible scenario:
Will that be high time for Zanzibaris to be told that since they rejected the proposals then they have to succumb and persevere to the obtaining animosities amongst themselves till when the sun decided to rise from the West?
In other words, since what is decided by the majority - consciously or unconsciously carries the day, does it mean that rejection of the accord by Zanzibaris in a referendum would have blessed the guys and ladies who had forwarded the subject to them?
These are among the many questions most level-headed people have been asking themselves.
They are questions whose answers are virtually ready at hand by leaders of CCM, who recently squeezed in the issue of a referendum for Zanzibaris as regards the `muafaka` deliberations.
For well-intentioned people, who have watched the developments in Zanzibar wishing to see its people live in harmony, what was expected to provide a solution long waited for decades on the issue, now seems to be headed for the unknown.
At the centre of this simple but highly blown up issue, lie people who have been deliberately capitalizing on the historical and political factors which existed a hell of years ago on the islands of Unguja and Pemba.
Such selfish manoeuvres have all along been nursed and headed by politicians for nothing but their own political interests.
By the way, how come that people who wield political power in Zanzibar coupled with the ordinary citizens roaming the dusty pathways of the clove islands - all or most of them still young and having not witnessed the highly trumpeted animosities which are claimed to have existed - can be so wild as to carry on and act on the said ``material rumours`` which they never saw in practice or participated in?
The current hostilities which continue haunting Zanzibaris, despite the two islands having united with Tanganyika, where Tanzanians from Pemba and Unguja continue to be at loggerheads, amount to nothing but conspiracies by a few selfish elements, particularly those in power and other people who are capable of having their remarks heard by other Zanzibaris.
Such abhorrent notions which are a reality, have been silently publicized but openly implemented, all in a move to ensure that people from Pemba do not surface on the local political forum and ultimately achieve political power.
On the other hand, politicians in Zanzibar have been behaving with a heavy hand against the people of Pemba as they know that their ``big brothers`` on the Mainland do not dispute the silent move to pin down the said people considered to be outcasts.
But, on a note of frankness, the two parties\' top leadership should exercise political tolerance in looking for a lasting solution to the current political squabbles in Zanzibar.
Both CCM and CUF leaders have shown ample wisdom in taking part in three accords - the first in 1999, followed by another in 2001 and the current one - all of which have not shown and produced the results a waited by millions of poor Tanzanians who would heavily benefit from the advent of harmony in the islands and render matters good enough for them to hawk or sell their fish, ``vitumbua`` and tend to their agricultural plots in an atmosphere of fraternity.
But such a situation has been hard to come by as it has always been frustrated by powerful people, who refuse to recognize the simplest truth of ensuring peace reigns high in Zanzibar.
But despite the existing gloomy and stalemated situation on the subject, which politicians of the land have shown reluctance to solve, the onus of the current deteriorating situation lies with the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, who, immediately on advent to power, expressed seriousness in solving it for good.
So, if he still harbours the same intention, he should not let such a simple issue play in the hands of a few egoists - politicians in Zanzibar and on the Mainland who do not reckon with permanent national interests.
Indeed, being the leader of a country of about 40 million people, he should prevail over anybody including his political comrades to make sure he writes history by being the first President of the Union to settle this subject in favour of his people, particularly the poor people in Zanzibar, who are too busy fending for their daily survival to care about politics!
If at all, CCM and CUF had been deliberating on the instruments of harmony through the consent of the people, what makes it necessary to take the same subject to the people for a referendum?
And, as initially asked, how about if the people go along and vote against the said ``Muafaka``? Does it mean that the two parties would again go back to the negotiating tables and restart the unending political abracadabras which have for about 10 years baffled and confused Tanzanians?
To cut a long story short, those in power - the decision-makers of the land - have to have both pity and shame towards other Tanzanians, who are also capable of pointing at both serious leaders and those engaged in political deception.
The Pemba-Unguja animosities would have ended ``a million years`` ago if our politicians had known that the people sweeping the dirty streets of our towns and cities, and those tilling their tomato plots in the jungles of this huge land, were also wise enough to understand what was good and what was bad for the country.
If nobody among our decision-makers wants to solve this issue now, it should be known to everybody that some wise gentlemen and ladies within or outside this country, are going to solve it for us and leave us not only shocked, but also humiliated!
|
