Posted Saturday, January 4 2014
at 12:42
This year dawns with many
people unsure of how it may end and how they may fare, either as individuals or
as members of recognisable groups. There are just too many questions left
unanswered from last year and the years before it for anyone to claim they have
peered into the crystal ball.
This may not amount to anything
to write home about, for who has ever been able to foretell — Nostradamus apart
— what the future holds? Of course, people will surmise, guesstimate, postulate
and conjecture. All these suppose incomplete, or absent, scientific givens for
divining the future.
Yet we can all be certain,
almost, that if it rises it shall set, and if it’s born it shall die. That the
river will not flow uphill, and that if the village dogs start crowing and the
cats take to barking, there is something very seriously wrong.
For the time being, however, we
do not have to deal with the more surreal and the outlandish because we have
enough material to play with that is more mundane than that, more down to
earth.
Take the proposed new
constitution, for instance. No magical realism there. The chair of the
constitutional review commission, Joseph Warioba, said the other day that the
proposed three-tier government came from the views collected during the public
hearing conducted by his team; he and his commission were not inventing
anything new.
Still, certain people in his
own party incline to the view that notwithstanding the views expressed by the
public, Warioba should have been able to craft a proposal that rejected the
idea of three governments within the Union.
I have failed to make head or
tail of the arguments advanced by ruling party in this area, and I admit
bafflement.
So, when the constituent
assembly is convened, I expect the ruling party, which will be in a sizeable
majority, to shoot this proposal down. If this happens, it will open up a new
Pandora’s Box that may lead to an impasse and a possible constitutional crisis.
President Jakaya Kikwete said the other day — and it’s the law —
that if there is no agreement on a new constitution, the 1977 Constitution will
remain in force. That is to say, after all the expense in money, time and
emotions, the nation will be told, very simply, hey, guys, too bad it didn’t
work, so we go back to our old ways... until the next time!
Of course, there are better
ways to provoke the ire of the populace, but this one could be a true shocker.
Even a lame-duck presidency should shudder to think of such an eventuality,
which would make people feel they have been had.
Lame duck, did I say? Next
year, we have presidential elections and the current incumbent is literally
accounted for; he cannot run, and this has meant that his wannabe successors
have been jostling across the land, preening themselves and doing a very poor
job of masking their presidential ambitions.
And all along, they have been exhibiting the very bankruptcy of
the political system that allows their mediocrity to even be considered for
high office, let alone the highest office in the land.
They started in churches and mosques, where they have been doing
their best to bribe God with contributions to this or that charitable cause.
But I suspect the Great Wizard has not been listening, or if he has, he is not
impressed.
For, it seems to me that our
next chief will be determined by boda-boda riders, who seem to have become a
popular constituency with these “:presidentials,” who tell the ill-disciplined
bikers that they will be a priority in the coming administration.
In all this, Kikwete looks
pretty much a spectator, the quintessential lame duck whose mantle his
squabbling juniors would happily tear from his back were the rules to be more
relaxed than they already are. Which means, in turn, that when it comes to
finally determining the country’s constitution, the duck could be even lamer.
That’s only from my crystal
ball, so kindly ignore it, and have a Happy New Year!
Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema
newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: ulimwengu@jenerali.com
2 comments:
When I came to know Jenerali Ulimwengu, I thought he is a bright and focused guy, sorry to say, I have come to realize it is quite an opposite.
The guy is too emotional, while in the current world we need to be driven by evidence.
Nilishangaa sana jinsi alivyokuwa anaendesha kipindi chake cha Jenerali on Monday (Jan 6 2014), na lugha aliyokuwa anaitumia, na wajumbe wa tume aliokuwanao, nao walikuwa not focused. It is pity!
How I wish you also knew the extent of your own delusion. For you you are brighter when you only say nicer things about Kikwete........idiot!!
Post a Comment