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A government that ticks, and a ticking bomb
2006-04-02 08:00:30
By Wilson Kaigarula
The Kikwete government is both ticking and is literally a ticking bomb. Like a well-functioning clock, the government is ticking by way of functioning in a manner that, by and large, satisfies the people and fills them with optimism that the future is bright.
It is also a ticking bomb, though, because it is exploding bit by bit, blowing away the expectations of public servants who under-perform, business practitioners who short-circuit tax obligations, criminals who kill and maim in quest of ill-gotten wealth , as well as whoever else is engaged in activities inimical to public interest.
This is a conclusion one can fairly draw from the outcome of a post-mortem of the performance of the government in its first 100 days since it was formed as the culmination of general elections held in mid-December last year.
Thursday was the one hundredth day, and, in its wake, a trigger of opinions friendly, cautious and even hostile was set off, as Tanzanians and people beyond the Land of Kilimanjaro assessed how well or badly President Jakaya and his team faired.
Overall, the assessment, which is on-going as the 100 days euphoria hasn’t died off completely yet, is positive.
Many Government-allied and Opposition-associated politicians interviewed by media outlets in Dar es Salaam and upcountry have ticked off the JK government as a satisfactorily performing outfit.
So have a cross-section of academicians, business community practitioners, human rights activists, and wananchi, who constitute the bulk of the electorate that endorsed Kikwete by an overwhelming 80 per cent majority into power, under the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ticket.
Interviewees have said that the government has lived up to the Ari Mpya, Nguvu Mpya, Kasi Mpya election slogan what has been elevated to an operational motto.
They point out that renewed vigour and spirit, plus faster speed, which embody that motto, have been truly injected onto the society.
Evidence lies in a few crucial examples: remodeling the police force, alongside dismantling networks of criminals; tackling drought-induced food shortage decisively; closing the Kunduchi quarry in Dar es Salaam to stem alarming environmental degradation; and addressing the issue of sub-standard storeyed buildings.
The President’s approach, administrative as well as personal, have been deeply touching, earning him the distinction of being a people’s leader in the mould of fatherhood.
Most notable of all, so far, was the formation of a commission to probe the deaths of four civilians by police in January, consequent upon which the suspected culprits are facing murder charges in court.
Praiseworthy, too, has been visits to ministries and on-the-spot tours to problem areas, such as markets where food prices had sky-rocketed and a section of the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro highway where a bridge had been washed away by torrential rains and a temporary one installed.
One hundred days is a relatively short period over which to judge a government that has an initial five-year ruling mandate.
But political scientists say it is a long enough period to give the people an indication of where a new leader is leading the country, based on the manifesto that propelled him to power via votes.
The people bank on President Kikwete’s emphatic declaration that he won’t brook lame excuses from leaders, and public servants at large, for poor service delivery or outright inefficiency.
This translates into readiness to fire or shunt aside whoever doesn’t cope with the challenges of the Mpya motto.
It is a declaration that is fuelled by the fire-spitting Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa, who demands the highest possible levels of dedication and performance.
But there-in, somehow, lies one of the criticisms against the government: That it is a two-man (Kikwete-Lowassa) show.
Critics want to see ministers and other functionaries keep pace with the motto. Kenya is set to introduce ministerial performance contracts.
Perhaps a leaf could be borrowed from the neighbour’s initiative, some suggest.
On ministerial performance however, some assessors point out that the President and Prime Minister, as leading policy drivers and thus articulators, are necessarily more pronounced, while ministers are supposed to be more of actors than ’’talkers’’.
Speedy review of suspect contracts under the privatisation sector has been sought, as has revolutionising the agricultural sector, so that the much-orchestrated slogan of the sector being the backbone of the country’s economy becomes concretely meaningful.
The Kikwete government, being led by mortals and neither saints nor angels, cannot be perfect, full-scale, and has not claimed so, even remotely.
Blunders, shortcomings, slipperiness and other negatives here and there are thus common. But while criticisms are valid, the operative word is ’’constructive’’ ; that they should be sensible, well-intentioned and can be embraced as inputs for streamlining the governance machinery.
Sadly, some utterances related to the 100 days of the fourth-phase government are utterly senseless.
One Opposition leader, for instance, shamelessly claims that there is nothing new in JK’s administration, and another one implies that the media is over-publicising the new president as it allegedly did the founder, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
Viewed from another angle, however, it could be that those politicians have elected to become cynical as a by-product of being professional presidential goal losers.
They rubbish whatever achievements are recorded by the successive holders of the position they wish they held, but in a manner that renders their sentiments more of jokes than anything substantive.
Jokes evoke laughter, and laughter, as a popular Readers Digest magazine column suggests, is the best medicine. Perhaps.
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