A senior lecturer with the Institute of Journalism and Mass Communication (IJMC) of the University of Dar es Salaam has said Tanzanians’ present involvement in corruption is such that it requires urgent action if the nation was to be saved from sinking into a quagmire.
Mr Ayub Rioba was speaking, as one of the panelists, before the official launch of the Non State Actors Charter on the Tanzania We Want Before and After the General Elections held at a colourful function held on September 21st this year (2010) at the Blue Pearl Hotel at the Ubungo Plaza on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
He said unless something was urgently done to rid the nation of the country’s stinking corruption, the nation was headed for nothing, but a fall.
He said: “We are living in a country of labels. You really don’t know who is telling the truth, let alone, what is the truth. We are in a country of names and labels giving”.
The outspoken lecturer-cum-journalist said there were no longer role models around to speak of adding that hypocrisy had not only been institutionalized, but had been transformed into a profession.
He said when one expressed his or her views in newspaper columns some people who had assumed for themselves the ‘responsibility of controlling other people’s opinion’ would phone such a writer and say: ‘we know where you stand, we will deal with you sooner than later’.
Mr Rioba said the country had been turned into an eating place for the few leaving the majority of Tanzanians wallowing in abject poverty.
What was more, he said, it was no longer clear what philosophy the country was pursuing, noting that one thing was however, clear, the country had long abandoned the Ujamaa policy.
Returning to the theme of writing, he said he said he had never abused the government or anybody in the government.
“What I have simply been doing is describe things as they are. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet some people would not like even this descriptions to be penned down,” he said.
He said there was a need to look afresh at the country’s leadership which he said left a lot to be desired.
“Are we preparing our leaders?” he asked adding: “To my knowledge, what I see around is hypocrisy…I no longer see love and solidarity between and among leaders and the people at large they are supposed to be leading,” he said.
He said a glance at what was going on in the country gave a very fearful picture.
“Take the kind of vehicles our leaders are driven around…they don’t reflect the existing reality,” he said.
What was interesting, he said, was to see a Tanzanian government leader or politician going to open a 20m/- toilet being driven in a brand new vehicle which was over 150m/-!
“Tribalism was another menace which had started creeping back, slowly but steadily, and so was regionalism and religious bigotry,” he said.
Mr Rioba warned that unless something fast was done to reverse such dangerous trends the nation could sooner than later end up in tragedy.
He said the most serious disease that had engulfed the nation revolved around leaders’ failure/refusal to think creatively.
He said our leaders had stopped to think creatively for the benefit of the nation.
Mr Rioba send the audience into laughter when he said when the colonialists left Malaysia, the Malay who had been used to seeing everything being done for them were very disappointed.
However, they later decided to to tax their brains. “The outcome of that change of mindset has in a couple of years seen the transformation of Malaysia into a completely different country,” he said.
He said like the Malaysians, it was time Tanzanians taxed their brains in order to extricate their nation out of its present abject poverty.
By Attilio Tagalile
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