Politics


You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

 They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it, Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist. “My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat. I told him mine with a precautious smile. “Where are you from?” he asked. “Zambia.” “Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.” “Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.” “But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.” My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S. “I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.” “Are you still with the IMF?” I asked. “I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.” “No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …” He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.” Quett Masire’s name popped up.“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.” The smile vanished from my face. “I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what   the difference between you and me?” “There’s no difference.” “Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.” I gladly nodded. “And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.” For a moment I was wordless. “Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”I was thinking. He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.” “That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested. He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?” I held my breath.
“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.” He looked me in the eye. “And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!” I was deflated.
“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”
He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”
He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”
At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand. “I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.” He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”
Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.
Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.
But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.
I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.
“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here) Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.
A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History.



Hatari ya Marekani kuachiwa ijifarague barani Afrika…

WAPISHI walio kwenye jiko kuu la Washington kunakopikwa sera za ‘ubeberu mamboleo’, sera zenye lengo la kulidhibiti bara la Afrika, ghafla wamegundua jambo moja.  Wamegundua kwamba kuna mengi ya kuwafanya waliangalie kwa jicho jipya bara zima la Afrika.
Wapishi hao wa sera wamepiga bongo na wametambua kwamba si jambo la murua kwao kuendelea kuliangalia bara la Afrika kwa mapuuza kama ‘mtoto wa kambo’ wa sera za nje za Marekani.
Hadi miaka ya hivi karibuni, na hasa baada ya kumalizika kwa ‘vita baridi’ kati ya madola ya Magharibi na yale ya Mashariki yaliyokuwa yakiongozwa na Muungano wa Sovieti, mambo yaliyokuwa yakiwashughulisha sana watungaji wa sera za nje za Marekani kuhusu Afrika yalikuwa ni masuala yanayohusika na misaada ya kibinadamu.
Hata biashara na Afrika au uwekezaji wa rasilimali za Marekani barani humo haukupewa kipaumbele.  Badala yake, ukame, janga la njaa na mlipuko wa ukimwi yalikuwa ndiyo miongoni mwa masuala makuu ya barani Afrika yaliowashughulisha wakubwa wa dunia hii jijini Washington.
Mambo lakini yalibadilika ilipoingia miaka ya 2000.  Hapo ndipo Marekani ilipotanabahi kwamba lazima ijiingize vingine barani Afrika na iliangalie bara hilo  kwa jicho jipya.  Sababu ni maliasili, hasa kwa upande wa nishati na hususan mafuta.
Hii leo Marekani inanunua mafuta kwa wingi zaidi kutoka nchi za Kiafrika kuliko inavyonunua kutoka Saudi Arabia. Wataalamu wa mafuta wanatueleza kwamba mafuta yanayochimbwa kutoka nchi za Afrika ya Magharibi ni ya aali, ya daraja ya juu kushinda yale ya Saudi Arabia kwa vile kiwango cha salfa cha hayo mafuta kutoka Afrika ni cha chini.
Na tija nyingine inayopata Marekani kwa kununua mafuta kutoka Afrika ni ya gharama ya usafirishaji.  Ni rahisi kusafirisha mafuta kutoka Afrika ya Magharibi hadi mwambao wa mashariki mwa Marekani kwenye vinu vya kusafishia mafuta kuliko kusafirisha mafuta kutoka nchi za Uarabuni.  Ndiyo maana ikawa siku hizi kama asilimia 16 ya mafuta yasiyosafishwa yanayonunuliwa na Marekani yanatoka nchi za Kiafrika.
Mbali na mafuta maliasili nyingine inayotapiwa na Marekani barani Afrika ni madini. Miongoni mwa madini hayo ni almasi, dhahabu, chuma cha pua, shaba, manganizi, aina ya chuma ya kobalti, kromu, ile madini nzito nyeupe ya platinamu na zile ziitwazo metali adimu za ardhini (rare earth metals) kama vile scandium na yttrium. Madini na metali hizo ni muhimu kwa mahitaji ya viwanda vya Marekani na pia kwa kutengenezea zana za mawasiliano na silaha za kileo.
Hivi sasa kuna kinyang`anyiro kikubwa na ushindani kati ya Marekani na China kuhusu hizo maliasili za Afrika na kuna uwezekano wa kuzuka mgogoro au mpambano kati ya nchi hizo kutokana na suala hilo.
Kadhalika, kuna wachambuzi wengi wanaoamini kuwa Marekani imeliunda lile jeshi lake maalumu la Afrika, Africom, kwa dhamiri moja tu. Nayo ni ya kuzivamia na kuzihujumu nchi za Kiafrika ili iweze kuzipora maliasili za bara hilo au kuzipata kwa bei za chini sana.
Marekani yenyewe inakanusha hayo ikisisitiza kwamba lengo la Africom ni kupambana na kuuzima ugaidi. Wengi wanaamini kuwa hicho ni kisingizio tu.
Jeshi la Africom lina makao yake makuu kwenye viunga vya mji wa Stuttgart huko Ujerumani, na lina kituo maalumu  huko Djibouti kiitwacho Kambi ya Lemonier yenye wanajeshi Wakimarekani wapatao 2,000. Amri hutoka Stuttgart.
Kambi ya Lemonier ni moja tu miongoni mwa kambi kadhaa zinazoweza kutumiwa na majeshi ya Marekani barani Afrika.  Kwa mujibu wa mikataba ambayo Marekani imeandikiana na nchi zisizopungua 13 za Kiafrika majeshi ya Marekani yanaruhusiwa yatumie kwa muda kambi za kijeshi zilizo katika nchi hizo inapohitajika.
Kambi nyingine zinazotumiwa na jeshi la Marekani ziko kwenye visiwa vya Shelisheli na kusini mwa Ethiopia mahala panapoitwa Arba Minch.  Huko Arba Minch kuna kituo chenye Vyombo vya Angani Visivyo na Rubani (UAV) vinavyoweza kupachikwa makombora ya aina ya Hellfire pamoja na mabomu yanayoongozwa kwa satalaiti.
Marekani itakataa na Kenya itakanusha lakini inavyoonyesha ni kwamba Somalia imekuwa medani ya mwanzo ya mashambulizi ya Africom barani Afrika kwa kuyatumia majeshi ya Kenya.  Ninayasema haya kwa sababu ya msaada wa kijeshi unaopewa majeshi ya Kenya na Marekani tangu Kenya ilipoanza kuvamia ardhi na anga ya Somalia mnamo tarehe 16 Oktoba.
Miongoni mwa msaada huo ni vile vyombo vya UAV vinavyotumiwa kuyasaidia majeshi ya ardhini ya Kenya.
Vyombo hivyo vilianza kutumiwa kwanza miezi miwili iliyopita wakati wa maandalizi ya mashambulio dhidi ya wanamgambo wa kigaidi wa Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen katika sehemu za kusini mwa Somalia kuelekea mji wa Kismayu.  Mji huo ni muhimu kwa sababu ndio wenye bandari inayotumiwa na al-Shabaab.
La kushangaza ni kwamba hadi leo, miezi miwili baada ya Kenya kujiingiza kijeshi Somalia, mji wa Kismayu bado haukutekwa.  Miji mingine iliyoshambuliwa na vyombo hivyo ni Qoqani na Afmadow.
Kwanza ikifikiriwa kwamba vyombo hivyo vya UAV vilikuwa vikifanya doria, vikipeleleza nyendo za wapiganaji wa al-Shabaab na kuyapasha habari majeshi ya Kenya kuhusu nyendo hizo.
Hivi sasa kuna ushahidi kwamba vyombo hivyo havifanyi upelelezi tu bali vimo vitani vikiandaa na kufanya mashambulizi dhidi ya wapiganaji wa ule mtandao wa kigaidi wa al-Shabaab.
Hamna shaka yoyote kwamba hao magaidi wa al-Shabaab wanaifanya serikali ya mpito ya Rais Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed mjini Mogadishu isiweze kuvuta pumzi. Zaidi ya hapo magaidi hao wamekuwa ni adha kwa utulivu wa eneo zima la Pembe ya Afrika na Afrika ya Mashariki  kwa jumla.
Hatuwezi pia kukataa kwamba wanatiwa mori na propaganda za mtandao wa al-Qaeda na kwamba wana funganisho au ushirikiano na makundi mengine ya kigaidi kama vile lile la Boko Haram nchini Nigeria au lile la mtandao wa Al-Qaeda katika Maghreb ya Kiislamu, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Kundi hilo la AQIM lililoasisiwa Algeria likiwa na jina la al-Jamaa’atul Salafiyyatu lil Da’wati wal Qitaal hivi sasa limetanda na kuenea katika sehemu kubwa ya Afrika ya Kaskazini na  ya Magharibi, hasa kwenye nchi zilizopakana na jangwa la Sahara, zikiwemo Algeria, Chad, Libya, Niger, Mali na Mauritania.
Hata hivyo, juu ya yote hayo tuliyoyagusia kuhusu al-Shabaab kuna swali moja ambalo lazima tujiulize.  Nalo ni: kwa kiwango gani kundi hilo la magaidi ni kitisho kwa amani ya Afrika ya Mashariki nzima?
Kweli magaidi hao wanaudhi, kweli wamewateka nyara na kuwaua wazungu wawili watatu (Somalia na Kenya) na kweli wameshambulia na wanaendelea kushambulia hapa na pale (Somalia, Kenya na Uganda) lakini hivi kweli wamekuwa kitisho cha kuhalalisha kujiingiza kijeshi kwa Marekani na Ufaransa katika eneo zima la Afrika ya Mashariki?
Idadi hasa ya wapiganaji wa al-Shabaab haijulikani. Inavyokisiwa ni kwamba kundi hilo lina wapiganaji wasiozidi mia chache tu.
Leo vyombo vya Marekani vya UAV vinatumiwa kushambulia Somalia, hatujui kesho vitatumiwa wapi — Eritrea (inayotuhumiwa kuwasaida al-Shabaab) ama Sudan (mwiba unaoichoma Marekani)?
Hali inazidi kutisha tukiona kuwa vikosi maalumu vya jeshi la  Marekani tayari vimeruhusiwa Uganda eti kwenda kusaidia vita dhidi ya waasi wa Joseph Kony.  Tusisahau tu kwamba kuna mafuta Uganda na tukilikumbuka hilo tusisahau yaliyotendwa na majeshi ya NATO, kwa msaada wa Marekani, nchini Libya, nchi nyingine yenye mafuta.
Vikosi maalumu vya Congo-Kinshasa vimepewa mafunzo na Africom ili viweze kutumika katika maeneo ya misitu iliyobarikiwa kwa madini.
Si hayo tu bali jeshi la Africom limekuwa likitumiwa kwa shughuli za kimaendeleo, kama kwa mfano kuwadunga sindano ng’ombe au kujenga daraja.  Ndiyo maana kumekuwa na tuhuma kwamba Africom limeupa sura ya kijeshi msaada wa kibinadamu unaotolewa na Marekani.
Kuna baadhi ya nchi za Kiafrika zilizoamka baada ya kuiona hatari ya harakati za kijeshi za Marekani barani humo.  Algeria, kwa mfano, wiki iliyopita ilikataa kuziruhusu Marekani na Ufaransa zirushe vyombo vyao vya UAV juu ya maeneo ya jangwani ya kusini mwa Algeria.
Kisingizio kilichotolewa na Marekani na Ufaransa ni kwamba zikitaka kuvirusha vyombo hivyo kwa minajili ya kuzuia silaha kutoka Libya zisipenyezwe kwa magendo kuingia Algeria.
Ndege hizo za doria za Marekani na Ufaransa zimeonekana zikiruka mara kwa mara juu ya maeneo ya mpakani kati ya Libya na Algeria pamoja na Niger na nchi nyingine za Afrika ya Kaskazini. 
Msimamo huo wa juzi wa Algeria ni mfano mwema wa kuigwa na nchi nyingine za Kiafrika zinazokabiliwa na ujanja wa Marekani na washirika wake, ujanja wa kutaka kujifaragua barani Afrika na kuzidhuru nchi zetu.
Chanzo: Habari leo

Wazanzibari wadai uhalali wa muungano UN

Baadhi ya wazanzibari wakiwa wamekusanyika kwenye ofisi za UN Kinazini kushinikiza Zanzibar kutambuliwa kama taifa huru

Kundi la vijana leo limevamia ofisi ya umoja wa mataifa ziliopo mtaa wa Gulioni mjini hapa wakiutaka umoja wa mataifa kutekeleza madai yao ya kutambuliwa kwa taifa la Zanzibar kuwa dola kamili.Kiongozi wa kundi hilo la vijana wapatao mia moja Rashid Salum Adiy alifanikiwa kuwasilisha nakala ya maombi yao kutoka kwa afisa mtendaji mkuu wa ofisi za umoja wa mataifa ziliopo Zanzibar Soro Karna.

Karna alikiri kupokea barua hiyo ambayo alisema ni nakala inayokwenda kwa katibu mkuu wa umoja wa mataifa bwana Ban Ki Moon.

‘Ni kweli nimepokea barua ambayo ni nakala inayokwenda kwa katibu mkuu wa umoja wa Mataifa ambayo ni madai ya siku nyingi ya kundi hilo linalotaka Zanzibar kuwa taifa huru na kujiondowa katika Muungano wa Tanganyika na Zanzibar’alisema Karna.

Kwa hivyo alisema madai hayo yeye hana uwezo na mamlaka ya kuyatoleya uamuzi kwa sababu barua hiyo imekusudiwa kwa katibu mkuu ambaye ofisi zake zipo umoja wa mataifa New York Marekani.

Kundi hilo limegoma kuondoka katika maeneo ya ofisi za umoja wa mataifa na kusema watakaa hapo hata kwa wiki nzima hadi wapatiwe majibu kamili kuhusu maombi yao.

‘Hatuondoki hapa….tutakaa hapa hadi tupatiwe majibu yetu kutoka kwa katibu mkuu wa umoja wa mataifa’alisema Rashid.

Rashid alisema uamuzi wao huo unatokana na maombi ya siku nyingi kuhusu shauri lao la kutaka Zanzibar kuwa taifa kamili linalojitegemea na kujiondowa katika muungano wa Tanganyika na Zanzibar.

Alisema madai yao hayo sasa wanataka majibu kamili kutoka kwa taasisi hiyo ambayo majukumu yake makubwa ikiwemo kusimamia mataifa mbali mbali wanachama wa umoja huo,baada ya kufunguwa kesi.

Kaimu Kamanda wa polisi mkoa wa mjini magharibi Mkadam Mselem alifika katika eneo hilo na kufanya mazungumzo na afisa mkuu wa ofisi za umoja wa mataifa ziliopo Zanzibar.

‘Tunafanya mazungumzo naye kuweza kujuwa madai hayo na hatua zitakazochukuliwa na vipi kama wanaweza kuwepo hapa ikiwemo usalama wao’alisema Mkadam.

Hata hivyo afisa mkuu wa umoja wa mataifa alipotakiwa kutoa ufafanuzi kuhusu kuwepo kwa vijana hao katika ofisi hizo alisema jengo ziliopo ofisi za umoja huo ni mali ya shirika la taifa la biashara (ZSTC).

‘Hili jengo sio mali ya umoja wa mataifa…..kwa hivyo hao watu hawapo katika mikono salama ya umoja wa mataifa’alisema.

Alisema katika jengo hilo zipo ofisi mbali mbali taasisi za fedha na benki ya Barclays ambapo usalama mkubwa unahitajika.

Karna aliwashauri vijana hao kuondoka na kusubiri shauri lao likipatiwa majibu sahihi kutoka kwa ofisi za umoja wa mataifa ziliopo New York.

Chanzo: Zanzinews


Wazanzibari wana hofu na Muungano wa papa kummeza dagaa
Na Ahmed Rajab

SHEREHE ya hivi majuzi ya kuapishwa Rais wa Zanzibar, Ali Mohamed Shein, kuwa waziri asiye na wizara maalum katika Serikali ya Muungano imewashangaza na kuwaudhi watu wengi huko Zanzibar.Wanavyohisi ni kwamba Rais wao hatambuliwi kuwa ni Rais huko Bara kwa vile huko anakuwa waziri tu na pingine anakuwa chini ya amri na uongozi wa Waziri Mkuu wa Jamhuri ya Muungano kama ilivyo ada ya mawaziri wote wa Serikali ya Muungano wa Tanzania.
Kadhia hiyo inatukumbusha yaliyojiri miaka mitatu iliyopita pale Wazanzibari waliposhtushwa kusikia kwamba nchi yao ya Zanzibar si nchi. Na tafsiri waliokuja nayo ni kwamba kama Zanzibar si nchi basi labda ni mkoa tu wa Tanzania.
Bila ya shaka hisia hizo zimezuka kwa sababu ya yale mageuzi makubwa na ya kimsingi yaliyofanywa kwenye Hati ya Muungano, mageuzi ambayo kwa kweli yanakwenda kinyume na Hati hiyo kwa vile haikutoa nafasi ya kufanywa mageuzi yoyote yale seuze kuongezwa kwa Mambo ya Muungano kutoka idadi ya 11 na kufikia jumla ya sasa ya Mambo 22. Wala Hati ya Muungano haikuupa upande mmoja wa Muungano haki ya kujiongezea tu kiholela Mambo ya Muungano.
Kwa mujibu wa Hati ya Muungano, ikiwa Rais wa Muungano anatoka upande mmoja wa Muungano, tuseme Tanganyika, basi Makamu wa Kwanza wa Rais atoke upande wa pili, yaani Zanzibar. Ndipo Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere akawa Rais wa Muungano na Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume akawa Makamu wa Kwanza wa Rais.
Hali hiyo iliendelea hata wakati Aboud Jumbe alipokuwa Rais wa Zanzibar. Mambo yalibadilika baadaye pale serikali ya Muungano ilipoamua kuishusha hadhi ya Rais wa Zanzibar na kumfanya awe waziri asiye na wizara maalum katika Baraza la Mawaziri la Muungano. Huo ulikuwa uamuzi wa kusudi.
Nini athari ya badiliko hilo? Badiliko hilo la Hati ya Muungano limeifanya Zanzibar iwe ni kama jimbo la uchaguzi la Tanzania na limeishusha hadhi ya Zanzibar ya kuwa mshiriki sawa wa Tanganyika katika Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania ambako mawaziri huwa ni wabunge waliochaguliwa katika majimbo yao ya uchaguzi.
Hivyo, kwa hali ilivyo mawaziri hao wanakuwa na hadhi sawa na Rais wa Zanzibar katika baraza la mawaziri la Tanzania. Na bila ya shaka katika Muungano, Waziri Mkuu anakuwa na hadhi ya juu kuipita ile ya Rais wa Zanzibar.
Tukio hilo limewatia uchungu Wazanzibari. Wao wanahisi kwamba Rais wao amedhalilishwa kwa makusudi na hadhi ya nchi yao imeshushwa, pia kwa kusudi.
Hatua hiyo ya kumfanya Rais wa Zanzibar awe waziri wa Muungano ni ya kuchekesha. Ni kama, kwa mfano kumuapisha Rais wa Ufaransa kuwa Kamishina katika Muungano wa Ulaya na hivyo kuwa chini ya Rais wa Kamisheni ya Ulaya.
Tukio hilo la kumuapisha Rais wa Zanzibar awe waziri katika baraza la mawaziri la Muungano linakwenda sawa na ile sera ya kuipunguzia Zanzibar mamlaka yake na mtindo wa kuyahamishia Bara mamlaka au madaraka hayo.
Kama nilivyokwishaonyesha, wakati Hati ya Muungano ya mwaka 1964 ilikuwa na Mambo 11 ya Muungano, hii leo kuna Mambo 22 ya Muungano. Hayo 11 yaliongezwa yalihaulisha dhamana mahsusi na mamlaka ya utawala kutoka Zanzibar kupelekwa kwenye Serikali ya Muungano.
Si hayo tu, lakini kila moja ya hayo Mambo 11 ya ziada liliongezwa bila ya kufanywa mashauriano ya maana au makubaliano ya hiyari baina ya Serikali ya Zanzibar na ile ya Muungano.
Na wala wakuu wanaohusika hawakukaa na kufikiria kwamba Bunge la Jamhuri ya Muungano halijawahi kuwa na mamlaka ya kisheria yanayohitajika ili paweze kufanywa mabadiliko aina hiyo.
Tukiiangalia katiba ya sasa ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania tunaona kwamba Muungano hauwezi kukana kwamba ingawa ni Muungano wa nchi mbili, lakini si Muungano wa pande zilizo na usawa. Ni Muungano wa papa kummeza dagaa.
Katika Muungano huu Tanganyika imekuwa ikitumia nguvu zake kwa Zanzibar huku ikijifanya kuwa inafanya hivyo kwa kutumia mamlaka ya kisheria. Kusema kweli wakuu wa Tanganyika wamekuwa wakifanya ujanja wa kuhakikisha kwamba Zanzibar inapoteza nguvu zake zote za utawala.
Badala ya Zanzibar kuzihodhi nguvu hizo hivi sasa zimenyakuliwa na Serikali ya Muungano kwa kisingizio kwamba hayo yamefanyika kisheria.
Hilo ni moja miongoni mwa mambo kadhaa yanayowafanya Wazanzibari wajione kwamba wanaonewa na waupinge Muungano wa Tanganyika na Zanzibar. Imefika hadi kwamba hii leo pakipigwa kura ya maoni ya kuulizwa watu kama wanautaka ama hawautaki Muungano basi kwa hisia zilizopo Zanzibar si hasha kwamba asilimia isiyopungua 85 ya Wazanzibari watapiga kura kuukataa.
Ni jambo la kusikitisha kwamba tunalijadili suala hili katika wakati ambapo kumeanza mchakato wa kutunga katiba mpya ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania.
Inasikitisha kwamba Serikali za Zanzibar tangu mwaka 1964 pamoja na viongozi Wakizanzibari walioiwakilisha Zanzibar katika taasisi mbalimbali za Muungano waliridhia bila ya kulalamika pale maslahi ya nchi yao na ya watu wao yalipoingizwa hatarini.
Inasikitisha pia kwamba miaka yote hiyo Wazanzibari walikuwa wamegawanyika kichama. Tafauti hizo za kisiasa zilichangia kuiua nchi na watani wao na kuufanya uchumi wake ukwame. Hali hiyo imeyafanya maisha ya wengi wa wananchi wake yazidi kuwa magumu na ufukara uzidi kutanuka.
Kwa bahati nzuri hivi sasa Wazanzibari wana fursa wasiowahi kuwa nayo ya kufanya mageuzi ya kimsingi yatayowezesha papatikane mfumo mpya wa mahusiano baina ya Tanganyika na Zanzibar.
Ni jambo la kutia moyo kwamba hii leo Wazanzibari wameungana na wako imara na wanauona huo umoja wao kuwa ni silaha muhimu ya kujipatia muradi wao.
Wenyewe wanasema kwamba mradi huo ni wa kuwa na Zanzibar waitakayo yenye kufuata misingi ya kidemokrasi na utawala bora na ambapo wananchi wake wote watanufaika kiuchumi.
Hivi sasa wengi wao wanateseka kwa mfumko wa bei na mapato, bei za kuruka za vyakula na ukosefu wa huduma za kuridhisha za afya na elimu.
Yapo masuala mingine yenye kuwashughulisha zaidi Wazanzibari. Masuala yenyewe ni muhimu kwa hali za maisha za Wazanzibari wote.
Moja ya masuala hayo ni lile la mafuta na gesi asilia. Suala hilo limezusha mabishano na mgogoro kati ya pande mbili za Muungano na hadi leo halijapatiwa bado ufumbuzi.
Suala hilo limekwamisha mengi kwani Serikali ya Muungano haiwezi kuanza kuyachimba hayo mafuta yaliyopo katika eneo la Zanzibar bila ya ridhaa ya Serikali ya Zanzibar.
Na makampuni ya kimataifa nayo hayawezi kuisaidia Zanzibar katika shughuli za uchimbaji mafuta bila ya ridhaa ya Serikali ya Muungano.
Hali iko hivi kwa sababu ijapokuwa suala la mafuta na gesi asili limeondoshwa kwenye dhamana ya Serikali ya Muungano, bado suala hilo ni la Muungano.
Wazanzibari wanauliza hivi: ikiwa kweli Rais wa Muungano na serikali yake wana hamu ya kutaka Zanzibar iendelee kiuchumi na kijamii, basi nini kinachowazuia wasiwasilishe Muswada kwenye Bunge la Muungano ambao utaondoa Mafuta na Gesi Asilia kutoka orodha ya Mambo ya Muungano?
Wazanzibari wanaamini kwamba ikiwa hatua hiyo itachukuliwa, basi Serikali ya Zanzibar itakuwa na uwezo wa kusimamia uchimbaji wa hizo maliasili kwa manufaa ya Wazanzibari wote na hivyo kuziinua hali zao za kimaisha.
CHANZO: RAIA MWEMA…


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