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Let us learn with time,experience
2005-09-25 07:28:39
By Editor
As election day approaches, it is pertinent to remind ourselves that casting ballots, announcing the results, and forming the next (fourth phase) government won’t mark the end of Tanzania’s political world.
True, election time is one of the most exciting and tension-heightened times of any nation, given the drama spinning around ambitions by the government in power to retain that power through its party, particular individuals to secure particular positions, and all manner of strategies, tactics and tricks—fair and foul—to that end.
Yet, there is life beyond an election, as there was before it. So, beyond who and which party won which seat, and how well or badly those in contention faired, we must pick lessons from various aspects of campaigning and electioneering, and apply them as tools for enabling politicians and voters to be better practitioners in similar exercises in future.
In other words, to perfect the democratic system, of which elections are a crucial manifestation.
Intolerance, which in its extreme form breeds hatred and violence, is a trend that must be discouraged and preferably eradicated altogether.
We have noted that some people do not appreciate even the glaringly positive attributes of players in rival parties and their policies.
The least such people should do, however, is to ignore those attributes, or present what they perceive to be better ones to the electorate at legitimate forums like political rallies.
Instead, we have been treated to the primitive spectacle of the people perpetrating things like heckling speakers at rallies, hurling unprintable insults, stoning convoys, and tearing or disfiguring campaign posters.
The message must be consistently driven home, that political rivalry is like sports rivalry and not enmity, It is supposed to be pronounced by two parties and those allied to them, being essentially fired by safeguarding national interests and promoting patriotic ideals, but pursuing ideas, agenda or approaches of how to attain the goals.
A way out should be found for tricky situations associated with incumbency.Does a senior leader like, say, the vice-president, cease to be entitled to security while on a campaign trail because he is then a presidential running mate on the ticket of a given political party?
What should a regional commissioner do or not do, when and how, in order to distinguish oneself as a government official and a party cadre? How precisely can national resources and facilities be differentiated, in order for the government in power not be seen to be taking advantage of incumbency, or as victims of a system that is not so clear-cut on these matters?
Those are just a few of several things on which attention should be addressed in our collective endeavour to perfect the democratic system as we go along.
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