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Why anti-graft war is now a worthier cause
2008-04-29 10:36:37
By Editor
One thing some Tanzania watchers may have forgotten is that third-phrase president Benjamin William Mkapa assumed power promising heaven as far as the war on corruption in the public service was concerned.
Thus, many of the ills that his era is now being associated with could as well be an offshoot of those very promises and the public perception that few were kept.
Mkapa declared shortly before the presidential tongs were passed on to him in the twilight weeks of 1995 that his first condition in forming the government was to look for competent, corruption-free people outstanding for the high degree of their integrity and an enviable track record in the public service.
He admitted that the public perception was that it had become well-nigh impossible in Tanzania to get anything done without a ``consideration`` to people whose duty it was, in accordance with the law or other official arrangements, to have things done.
In his own words, he stated: “I get complaints that policemen can ask for anything from anybody… That you can`t get medical attention without passing something on to the nurse or to the doctor… You can`t get your file in a government ministry if you are trying to get your land registered or whatever.
There is a file opened there. Suddenly it disappears and it can’t be found again until something is passed on to the registry clerk.``
It all sounded too basic, commonplace and inconsequential to merit serious attention from the government.
Yet, as they say, you only sow the wind at the risk of reaping the whirlwind.
Mkapa appeared so alert to all this that he remarked even that early: ``But on a larger scale, in terms of government contracts , tenders, licensing and so on, there is a feeling that favours are granted, proper criteria are set aside and so on. And this is a really serious disease in our society.``
It was a marvellous diagnosis of a cancer that was slowly but surely eating into the nation’s social, cultural, political and economic fabric.
It was a golden chance the government and wananchi should have seized for guidance in the quest for a sure cure but, too bad, things went awfully haywire and hence the mega-scandals we have been witnessing in recent years inside and outside the public service.
Thus, to go by a literal translation of a popular Kiswahili idiom, the third-phase presidency is being fried in cooking fat it has itself produced and it has only itself to blame for the evils in connection with which it is being grilled.
It has gradually dawned on the citizenry that things have so dramatically changed that the anti-corruption dragnet is no longer intentionally made to catch only small fish while the sharks and whales went scot-free.
It is a well-deserved change able to help make Tanzania a worthier member of the community of states where transparency, equality and justice matter and hold sway. And that is a proud record.
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