A POLITICAL LESSON FOR AFRICA BY TANZANIA.

The scene is set. Two warriors! One a former Prime Minister, Lowassa. The other, Magufuli, fondly referred to as "The Bulldozer" for his insatiable appetite to tarmac roads across the vast land that is Tanzania. The ruling CCM's favoured son. Both, true believers in their cause, but does not every politician believe that they are the Messenger? The Chosen One? "The people have asked me to run". Very funny in deed if it was not deadly serious. What can the rest of Africa learn from Tanzania? Quite a lot! They hold their general elections with a remarkable level of peace. There may be discord but that is politics for you! They are a calm people. What is it that makes Tanzanians more capable of propagating the cause of democracy by peaceful purvey?. The answer is simple. They are the progenitors of non-tribal politics. They will bicker and blubber about anything and everything . Dire electricity supply, poor roads in Dar es Salaam, the capital etc. The one thing they will not do is slaughter each other. Examined critically, there's a realisation that this is rooted in history. The founding President Dr. Julius Kabarage Nyerere sowed the seeds of unity through Socialism. I am not necessarily advocating for Socialism, it's in the past. What is evident is that in the advent of the political push for independence, Tanzanians under his stewardship did not take up division as a means to an end.(Neither do I mean that other countries took it as a choice). The country has more than 120 tribes compared to a paltry 43 in Kenya and 56 in Uganda. Yet to all intents and purposes, peace has been hard-wired into their system. Most of Sub-Saharan Africa, The North, West and South should endeavour to emulate this wonderful blueprint.(Some notable exclusions are Botswana, Ghana and Mauritius, just to name but a few).Tribalism creates dire consequences. It creates failed or failing societal systems and thereby whole governments. Tribalism propagates distrust, appropriation with intent to deny, poor allocation and mismanagement of resources as well as proffering dockets to incompetent persons. Africa as a continent has been quite lackadaisical when it comes to development. Challenged, definitely not. The challenges fester from within. There's a lack of the necessary goodwill. The people are divided. Part of it might be rooted in the past, but and this is a big but, How come Tanzania does not froth in that sea of depravity? I can understand that colonialism might form part of the basis for the argument. That would only bring the case of divide and rule, which of course I cannot deny. T In a rebuttal of the above, I will state with conviction that, time would and should have been the essence of the healing process from the ills of the past. Africa has had enough time to rise from the burning embers of a past, poor. This cannot form the basis of a tangible reason,it is merely an excuse.The discrepancy which in a way forms a contradiction of sorts, is that the other democracies mentioned above underwent same or similar colonial leadership. Having liberated a people from chains, the continent should have emulated the masters at the genesis of freedom. It's sad and rather unfortunate that tribalism alone forms the basis of poor leadership. It creates cronyism (apart from tribalism there are other factors that can form cronyism and it foments sycophancy). Africa could do well to emulate Tanzania! I would like to take this opportunity to commiserate with Hon. Lowassa but ultimately ululate with the President Hon. Magufuli. May you continue to be that speck that East Africa and the rest of the continent can look upon. May you always be that oasis of peace as a progenitor, in this, a desert of TRIBALISM. As an update to this article, the president fired the head of Muimbili Hospital which is state run and was facing poor management, he cancelled luxury first class travel for government officials and generally hit the ground running. He epitomises what a good leader should be. The writer has decided to make this brief as it's rather painful to continue. WE WAIL FOR AFRICA. THERE IS STILL HOPE. ALL IS NOT LOST. GO MAGUFULI GO, GO TANZANIA GO! GOD BLESS TANZANIA, GOD BLESS AFRICA!