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Isles teaser: Is JK also missing the core issue? (I)
2006-04-09 09:09:45
By Hilal K. Sued
The Zanzibar teaser has been boggling the minds of Tanzanians since the word GO, which roughly translates as since the Revolution 42 long years ago.
Later, when it was evident that it needed solving, the brokers were reluctant, and those who stepped forward to do it, were always missing the point, either through sheer ignorance – by not knowing how to go about it – or deliberately – by sidestepping the core issue.
The underlying reason for this latter group is the fear that the solution would drastically change the status quo and consign the islands into uncharted waters – meaning delivering them to their political adversaries – you know who. And that’s where the teaser lies.
In the circumstances, the obtaining apprehension has given room for politicians and other stakeholders to portray the crisis in ways that are designed to frustrate solutions, however committed the brokers may seem to be.
For example, JK now says that the crisis is being exacerbated because officials from both sides of the Union are not meeting frequent enough to iron out the Zanzibar-Mainland differences, and directed them to meet at least thrice a year even if to just say ”hello” to each other.
I sincerely hope that he was not referring to the core issue, but only the ’’Union’’ issue, specifically the Mainland-Isles differences, which, admittedly, continue to be manufactured every day – with the latest one being the disputed applicability in the Isles of the law on Human Rights and Good Governance – a Union law. However, these inter-Union squabbles are only part of the core problem.
And talking about the issue of the disputed application in Zanzibar of the aforementioned law, that in itself is a clear symptom of what ails the Zanzibar authorities – their fear to open themselves up for scrutiny on the alleged human rights violations in the period before, during and after the elections last year.
In effect, the law seeks to ward off future incidents such as those of January 26 and 27 of 2001, which saw the Union government, (and not the Zanzibar Government) being tasked at international forums to respond to Tanzania’s poor human rights record.
At the end of the day, it is the Union government that has to bear the brunt of the accusations, even including, in the case of the January 2001 incidents, in creating, for the first time in its history, refugees who fled to a neighbouring country, running away from state persecution at home – Tanzania, not Pemba or Unguja.
Last week JK visited the island of Pemba as part of his ongoing tour of the regions to say hello to the citizens and to thank them for having elected him.
However, in the case of Pemba, could it be accurate to say he went there to thank them for rejecting him?
For the two regions of Pemba were the only ones among the Union’s 26 regions whose majority gave him an emphatic ’’NO’’ vote on the ballot last year.
On a serious note perhaps, the main reason for the Pemba visit was to test the political waters, to extend an olive branch and see how he was being viewed by the Pembans following his statement, immediately after being sworn in to the presidency, that he would earnestly do his best to solve the political crisis in the Isles.
He therefore wanted to feel how that pledge had sank in the minds of the Island’s population, where in the last election, his ruling party, CCM, drew blank – without a single legislator both in the Isles House of Representatives and the Union Parliament.
Needless to say, the other reason for his visit is that Pemba is part of the Union and he is the Union President, hence he has the prerogative to visit it any time he wished.
However, visiting Pemba by the Union Head of State is not a tricky undertaking, but what he says whilst there is. It would perhaps be accurate to say that his speech there was read between the lines and assimilated by the Pembans accordingly.
To start with, there is no doubt that JK understands the Isles crisis well enough, including its terrible nature.
However, his speech at Gombani Stadium forces me into some hesitation, and I hold an inkling that he would go through the same Byzantine route as his predecessor(s) to arrive at nought.
He said, for example that it’s time the Pembans moved on, forget about the election (as that is now history), smile and concentrate on their Island’s development.
The usual stuff that has been heard two times before. He also warned them that they were carrying partisan politics too far, the practice that has brought much disharmony in the island and is set to instil even more division among them if they don’t abandon the practice.
He cited for example that members of the two parties in the island (i.e. CUF and CCM) hardly cooperate on anything, including burials, transport and other social functions. If it is a way to kickstart a peace process, then I’m gobsmacked.
The Pemban political divide’s line-up he was talking about pits about 85 percent CUF and about 15 percent CCM in terms of supporters.
No doubt he appeared concerned with the rights of the minority that he sees are being threatened by the majority for what he sees to be no apparent reason.
It’s certain that had the two sides swapped places, he would not have given any concern over the ”infringement” of the rights of the minority.
Did he show any concern about human rights violations the majority are being subjected to at the hands of the minority that wields all power? If he did, he never showed it, and that is my concern on his sincerity in his quest to solve the teaser. He dwelt more about the manifestations of the issue than its root cause.
I therefore assume that JK knows that the Islanders cannot forget the election and move on without having the core issues solved first, even if it is the third time now they are so told to do so.
In 2001, the Union Police Force (now under his jurisdiction) fired at demonstrators in Pemba - killing dozens of them — not because the island’s majority and the minority were not befriending, or smiling at each other, but because of a more underlying issue eating at the Isles’ political and social fabric — the authorities refusing to address the core problem.
We should not forget that it has all along been the practice by officials to present the whole Isles crisis as an issue wholly concerning Pemba and Pembans.
They are fond of prising Pemba off the main Unguja Island and treat it as their main punching bag, singing, in the process, that all the current conflict emanates from there.
They also cite the much talked about rift existing between the people of Pemba and those from Unguja as being another factor contributing to the Isles crisis.
I have never been subjected to such nonsense. Admittedly, the Pemba-Unguja rift exists, but grossly mirepresented, and is always cited to ward off minds from the core issue. Besides who doesn’t know how Pemba’s economy was exploited to the hilt to develop Unguja? Economically and educationally, Pembans are generally advanced than their Unguja counterparts.
For example, the huge presence of Pembans in Unguja, has always been a teaser in itself, in fact a thorn in the flesh of the politicians in power.
Even though they need it because of its economic significance, they are always on alert that if this is left unchecked it can easily take over political power.
That is why tough laws on voters registration centred on residence requirement have been instituted, designed to place hurdles on their registration.
Apart from rigours on registration, the division of constituencies has also been designed to ensure that the gains by other party during elections do not translate into many seats.
I therefore assume that JK know all these machinations, and if he does, he should ensure that he cannot afford to fall into these cheap traps, else he will surely fail in his quest for settlement.
The truth is, the Isles conflict is by far above Pemba, is historical and is even racial in its outlook.
It is a result of scars inflicted during the excesses of post-Revolution era and which repeated administrations refused to admit, let alone heal.
So whenever officials utter ’’Mapinduzi Daima’’ they are no doubt aware that about half of the Isles population undergo a twinge of pain – the loss of their dear ones – relatives who disappeared or got killed in the hands of authorities in their excesses in the aftermath of the Revolution.
At that time, the authorities used to boast that it was necessary to kill these people as they were mere reactionaries.
Can they say that now? The current authorities in Chile are still struggling to heal the wounds that were brought by the Pinochet regime in the 70s. For Zanzibar, it is still not too late.
Zanzibar’s fifth President, Salmin Amour came close to admitting these excesses, but only reached as far as saying they were inflicted by the first two administrations, and not his, hence he could not be held responsible. He said this at a time he saw the Isles’ political reality building up following the ushering in of multiparty democracy.
Many advised him that he should have gone beyond mere admitting, and institute a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal the scars and even compensate the victims whose relatives ’’disappeared’’ during the periods of ’’excesses.’’ He never took heed because he was more concerned with his political survival in the face of the stiff opposition that was building up.
He went along with his ’’cheap’’ confrontational politics that earned him the title of ”Commando.’’ In the plural democracy set up, that alone should have banished him as an earnest stakeholder in the first political Accord brokered by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
However, the long turbulent Zanzibar history can be cut short by only looking at its problems that came up since the (re)introduction of multiparty politics in both parts of the Union in early 90s.
In hindsight, many can now also say that in the Isles, the stage for the current crystallised politics was built in 1977 even though no one knew that at the time, as there was no way of knowing any way.
It was the time when the two political parties that each ruled the two parts of the Union decided to unite to form the monolithic Chama cha Mapinduzi – CCM that in effect turned the whole Union into a de jure single party state. This topic will be discussed in my next presentation.
Email:hilkharb 46@yahoo.com, hilal_sued@hotmail.com.
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