As everyone living in Tanzania now knows, Igunga, the constituency abandoned mid-term by Rostam Aziz, has been a CCM safe seat for the past 17 years, unassailable to politicians of all hues. This changed when Rostam (as he is so casually known) quit in disgust at what he called the ‘gutter politics’ that the nation has stooped to. And indeed, last week Igunga was transformed into a familiar battleground for the sort of chicanery, thuggery and other brands of tomfoolery that have plagued all Tanzanian election campaigns since 1995.
Writing in the Sunday News, Kilasa Mtambalike observed:
‘the way supporters of the three main candidates are fighting tooth and nail makes it seem as though there is so much more at stake here than what we are made to believe. I can’t tell why but I feel like there will be more than the usual finder’s keepers, losers, weepers situation in Igunga’.
The Editorial of The African on Sunday, called the run up to the election, ‘one of arguably the most aggressive, grueling , cut throat, by elections in the country’s history’ [sic]. The Citizen on Sunday also referred in its Editorial to the fact that ‘the process was marred by all sorts of freaks and dirty tactics’. And in his Opinion Column, Henry Muhanika of The Guardian on Sunday opined:
[O]ne of the notable features of the campaign speeches in Igunga is that development issues were conspicuously relegated to the back burner, as focus was on attacking personalities and rival political parties as well as engagement in all sorts of propaganda’.
What few of the leading Sunday English language newspapers were unable to outline (or more likely, ascertain) was what exactly the main parties were promising to do for the people of Igunga in order to win their support. Perhaps the media cannot be blamed for this. During the run up to the election none of the parties or their candidates stood out for their vision, personal commitment or ideological beliefs.
To their credit, The Citizen on Sunday did publish brief (almost miniscule) profiles of the three candidates representing CUF, CCM and CHADEMA, thus shedding some light on the frontrunners. Alas, even an appearance in this leading paper could not imbibe any gravitas on the men who wish to represent Igunga. ‘It is a fact that Igunga needs changes, changes in everything…and I think I am the right person to bring those changes’, said the man from Chadema. The CUF candidate declared that he wanted to ‘ensure that water scarcity in the constituency becomes history’. And in an effort to demonstrate his commitment as a Youth patron in Mwamshimba and Itumba wards, the middle aged CCM candidate reminded readers that, ‘I once contributed 800,000 shs for the drilling of boreholes in Itumbi’.
Reactionaries or progressives?
Whilst many observers and citizens of Tanzania have reconciled themselves to the reality that Demagoguery has replaced Ideology in the national political discourse, one newspaper has been delving deeper into the political beliefs that our leaders seem reluctant to share or unable to clearly articulate. Over the past few weeks, The Guardian on Sunday has cast a somewhat jaundiced eye on the statements and actions of Zitto Kabwe, CHADEMA’s Bright Young Thing. In last weekend’s edition, an article titled “Was it a wrong move for Zitto Kabwe?’ followed up on issues raised in another piece published four weeks ago titled ‘From foes to partners; Tales of Kabwe and African Barrick Gold’.
As well as casting aspersions on Zitto Kabwe’s ethical conduct in regard to his relations with ABG, this past weekend’s article by Bituro Kazeri also outed his political leanings stating that the, ‘Kigoma North MP who has declared himself a socialist, has enough power to threaten the terms of African Barrick Gold, and has so much public support’. Driving the point home, Bituro goes on to state that:
‘[Zitto Kabwe’s] relation with his support built on vilification of African Barrick Group and the mining industry as a whole. The public has been made to believe that the mining industry has no benefit whatsoever to this country. That all people associated to it have either been bribed or are benefiting in one way or another. Before the eye of the public, anybody who speaks positively of multinational companies that invested in the mining sector is seen as a traitor and accomplice to national robbery’.
Newspapers’ identity crisis
On the evidence of this and other pieces that ran in The Guardian on Sunday, one could suggest that this a publication sensitive and supportive to the ideals of free markets and private investment. ‘Dar expels 85 percent foreign hunting firms’, by Jack Mikali carried a lamentable tone, as did ‘CTI lists poor global business ranking causes’ by Edwin Agola. The ideological leanings at the Habari Corporation, publishers of The African, The African on Sunday, Mtanzania and Mtanzania Jumapili, are less apparent.
The joyful and triumphant front page headline from The African on Sunday, ‘Despite Nation’s Power Crisis: Industrial growth rate tops in EA/SADC region’ introduced a story that quoted the Minister responsible for Investment, Mary Nagu, expressing her government’s commitment to improving the business environment. But by page nine, an article by Robert Gordon titled; ‘Tanzania and illusions of Economic Sovereignty’ was evoking the spectre of transnational vampire capitalism in the globalization era whilst suggesting, ever so unsubtly, that Tanzania had a better economic vision and plan under Nyerere. We may put down Habari Corporation’s ideological schizophrenia down to the fact that perhaps having abandoned gutter politics, the owner of this media group has allowed his staffers to go ‘rogue’, but can the same be said of The Sunday News?
There is a widely held assumption that given its ownership, The Sunday News is an unlikely place to find any genuine criticism of the government. But last Sunday, Tony Zakaria’s Firing Line piece, ‘How Bongo budget is being eaten by those with sharp teeth’ ended with a sentence that showed the author is not afraid to bite the hand that feeds it. Even the front page article, ‘It’s D-Day for Igunga’ by Pius Rugonzibwa went out of its way to talk to the Chadema Campaign Manager in Igunga who was positively reported as saying his party campaigns, ‘were very successful’. In this edition at least, The Sunday News demonstrated (although not for the first time) that balanced journalism does exist in the local media.
What do Tanzanians stand for?
It is impossible and even futile to think that any meaningful politics can be conducted in the absence of ideology. The fiftieth anniversary of Independence notwithstanding, much of the Nyerere nostalgia that Tanzania continues to bask in, harks back to a time when the National Vision was inextricably linked to Ujamaa. Ujamaa may not have brought the economic and social development it strived for, but it will always be imbibed with a dignity, commitment and nobility that no one in the current political realm in Tanzania has ever come close to. Perhaps it is time to compel our leaders and media and ourselves to get back to basics and deeply consider what it is we really stand for.