Weekly Sneak: Shopping for Politicians

That was my title for this week's article: Shopping for Politicians. The East African has a fetish for improving upon the titles I give to my articles, so I though I would pre-empt them this week because I know whatever comes out on Monday will be designed to titillate beyond any charms that the article itself possesses. Sigh.

Moving on. Having been told numerous times never to fall for a politician or a party, and having done so regardless...let's just say I got a little familiar with the idealist-horrified-cynic cycle of political faith. But giving us is for quitters, so rather than wallow, I have found a silvery lining for this particular cloud. Been kicking this idea around for a while that we need to get beyond the party method for organizing political movements. I don't know yet what this beyond will look like, but it will lack the all-or-nothing element that partisanship brings to democracy:

"This is a very real dilemma, the perpetual quest for a political party that is not likely to crush you with disappointment at its folly. Or, failing that, a politician who doesn't make you slightly ashamed to admit their acquaintance in public. Or failing even that, at least a group of people who don't make you want to tear your hair out and wear ashes at the thought of them reaching the top levels of public office. Politicians are such fickle creatures- idealistic and hardworking one moment, stealing public funds and abusing their powers the next. Even grouping them into parties doesn't seem to help much- if anything it is a liability, they do goad each other on so."

Like crabs in a barrel. To illustrate this point, I jumped off with the CUF situation. Naturally, I checked my Facebook account only to find an announcement from one of the CUF worthies that suggests that either the situation is about to escalate in Zanzibar, or it is effectively over for Mr. Hamad (CUF-Wawi) and his supporters. Love it or hate it, politics is never really boring is it?

Anticipation.

Please excuse me: it's been a long time and I am going to expend a lot of hot air in this post. If you want a quick read, the next post is going to be short and sweet.

It's that time of year again. Resolutions are a-knocking. I gave up on detailed resolutions a long time ago since obsessing about my failure to stick to a plan would derail any actual progress made in the resolution area. Besides which, resolutions are a bit like coasters- you only bring them out when there's company in order to appear more "together" than you really are. So these days I give inconclusive answers, sort of meander towards a vague goal or two and hope for the best.

That approach is also a good way to describe Tanzanian governance at present. Inconclusive answers (so, who actually stole the money?), sort of meandering (lack of focus and commitment) towards a vague goal or two (grand ideas "vanquishing poverty", no tangible targets) and hope for the best (because ultimately, accountability is just a four-letter word). Maybe we only bring out development policy to appear more "together" on the world stage than we really are. Heh.

I have been media-fasting since sometime after the elections, and trying to get a more intuitive and experience-driven 'feel' for what this second term of Jay Kay's is going to bring. Well. Remember the power shortage issues The Establishment said it would fix by its' next term? The kind of laissez-faire attitude that led to the Richmond/Dowans shenanigans? Five years down the line and we're back on power rationing through a very hot December. The Cabinet continues to grow at an impressive rate, if not the economy. And The Establishment is using up it's 2010 supply of teargas as it practices oppressive maneuvers against the citizenry. By the way, I hear practice makes perfect. Mwananchi: watch out for an FFU near you lest you want to learn how to leg it from the authorities every time you dare to express a democratic opinion.

I admit, I don't hold out much hope for the second term of Jay Kay's presidency. So far all the signs suggest it's going to be more of the same. I am beginning to suspect that there might not, after all, be any hidden depths to my President's character*. No lurking resolve, no secret masterplan, no overarching vision. And if that's the case, I guess he's just one of our transitional incumbents (we like to flip between active presidents and passive presidents, apparently). More worrying than Jay Kay's excessive need to be liked is the simmering threat of vindictiveness that's coming off the ruling party like a bad stink.

More than one apparatchik has been overheard saying things they really, really shouldn't. Like, constituencies such as mine which voted in an opposition candidate are going to feel the negative effects of that decision. Yeah, CCM: that's one way to endear yourself to a hostile votership. Or that Tanzanians are generally too stupid to know what's good for us because if we did we would vote CCM forever. If you hate fellow Tanzanians, what are you doing in politics? My favorite? That Tanzanians' failure to vote in CCM the way they wanted to be voted in is a sign of ingratitude. Ah, now there's the Party we're familiar with: ever gracious in defeat, the cream of Tanzanian society.

Anywho. The exciting part is that in this coming Term Two of Administration Number Four a number of meaty issues are going to show up in Bunge. The Freedom of Information Bill will likely be snuck in through the back door at some point because The Establishment would like for us not to know what's up (transparency sucks), and the Opposition and Civil Society and the media would like more access. A battle shall ensue.

Second: our Newspaper Act dates back to 1977. A fine year for democracy, that... not! Going to be keeping an eye out for the Media Bill that's sure to show up soon. Also troubling signs in this area: the government is going to try to restrict our constitutionally enshrined right to express ourselves publicly (accountability sucks), the Media Council of Tanzania, Tanzania Media Women's Alliance and various other CSOs are going to kick up a fuss, it's going to be interesting.

And last but not least: the Independent Candidate Issue. Chief Justice Ramadhani is no longer on the bench, there's a new sheriff in town. The last "ruling" on the government's appeal against the Supreme Court's previous ruling that... Whatever. Basically the Judiciary folded like a house of cards in a tropical thunderstorm on that issue and reminded us that the executive branch of government is still the only game in town. Next five years, hard to tell. Who knows if Independent Candidates are going to be allowed? Which leaves me wandering the wilderness, spending another year in search of a political party that is not embarrassing to belong to, supporting the tenacious Reverend Mtikila on his quest for legal activism.

The good news is that Zanzibar promises to be a very interesting case study on "shared" power in the region. I wish them the very best, and from the outside anyways it looks like the ingredients for success are there. We'll see, won't we?

*Fine, go ahead and say "I told you so." You know who you are.

Now We're Talking.

Been keeping off the political pipe these past few weeks for a couple of simple reasons: 1) with this stuff it's best to be "first out the gate" by live blogging or live tweeting an actual event for netizens and 2) analysis is overcrowded at this time as we commentators scramble to either gloatingly point out that we were right, or revise our horribly erroneous predictions. Might as well sit back and let the post-election thinking percolate until we're all sipping from the same pot of freshly-brewed spin.

Still, some pretty interesting developments: The cabinet is even more laughably huge than the previous one, which will only make it more ineffective, not less. A meeting with 50 people- tena Tanzanians who must be praised for the ability to have three opinions for every single issue- in attendance? Oh yeah, I want to see that "decision-making" in action. Also, this cabinet's hamstrung in that it comprises a mix of technocrats with demonstrated success and political deadweights to whom favors are evidently owed. Good luck with that, Mzee Pinda.

Meanwhile, on Saturday I watched live on ITV as Hamad and Mbowe chewed the beef* that's been brewing between our two largest and best-organized opposition parties. If nothing else, the debate left no doubt in viewers' minds as to the differences between different political parties. We've gotten used to treating opposition as one big undifferentiated block- hopefully that's going to change as we realize that ideology matters. As do grace in defeat, and a good grasp of the tools of governance, such as the legal system. Si, we wanted competitive multi-party democracy? Heh.

As an aside: this is why I don't do parties. I have a perfectly wonderful MP who is unfortunately for me hauling around the stinky baggage of belonging to a party that is slowly and publicly losing it's sense and it's dignity. I don't think that party politics make sense in this century, and I don't think they make sense in Tanzania. Give us free. Independent Candidates by 2015!

I have said before that it's generally not a good idea to get into a public political argument with Mr. Hamad and sure enough when he lost grip of his temper things got... both erudite, and lively. I do love a serving of drama to go with my politics, and it was amusing to watch grown-ass Tanzanian men get into a shouting match at the Movenpick. The moderator wore the expression of a skinny youth trying to wrestle a deadly python into submission. ITV had to take a loooong commercial break. I wish I had made some popcorn before the show began...

A recent string of interesting articles from Mwananchi suggest that Jay Kay's second term might be more of the same, just as he promised. Lack of focus, messy policies, unwieldy public sector compromised by political shenanigans, self-contradictions galore and politics of performance. Perhaps somewhere in that disaster zone we call government, there is a critical mass of public servants trying to do things right.

My Lady of the Cynical Smiles passed by today and we had a proper-good intergenerational political "discussion" that was thoroughly satisfying to all involved. She did leave me with one final knotty problem though: since the current system (and by implication, her generation of public servants) is rotten, who is going to inherit the structures of power and reform them to work for the good of all Tanzanians? I have a few people in mind. Feel free to throw down some names in the comments section.

*Hehe. These days Bongolanders are quick on the trigger finger with that YouTube! Preserving embarrassing moments for posterity... man, I love this town.

Elections 2010: Zenji

I did the usual survey of political opinions in Zenji while I was there the past week. From the man on the street, it sounds as though the predictions for the coming elections are positive. Taxi Driver Number One told me that Zanzibaris were only waiting for the elections to formalize the coalition government since Maalim Seif is the favorite candidate. Taxi Driver Number Two confirmed this, and the only CCM member I could corner said something along similar lines. Other things that I learned: Zanzibar is interested in renegotiating the terms of the Union in it's favor, consensus politics are preferable to oppositional politics, Eid ul Fitr gets celebrated for four days straight (!), the Zanzibari/Zanzibara distinction is alive and well.

The mood on the island was quite relaxed as far as I could tell, even though there were more campaign posters than there are Zanzibaris. Upon leaving, I got a bit of ribbing about not hanging around to see the vote... but much as I would love to watch Zanzibar ease in a genuine coalition government, elections is no time for a mainlander to be hanging around without a press pass.

Back in Dar, I got The Question from the two drivers I regularly work with and one electrician: what's going on in Zenji? In the discussions, seems like everyone is interested and invested in the outcome of this election, and the overall message is quite clear- party politics are all well and good, but this time around people are voting for individuals. Evidently, the High Court needs to get on the independent candidate wagon already...

Independent Candidates: the disappointment.

I have sung Chief Justice Ramadhani's praises elsewhere in the blog. And I have talked about the independent candidate issue. I admit, I did not expect that the collision of the two would prove so disappointing.

I don't happen to believe in a structuralist view of the world: rules are there to serve us, not the other way around. We engineer our social systems, and therefore must always question the basics: who are the rule-makers and in whose favor are they rigging the game? So while there are probably legally defensible reasons for the Chief Justice and his learned friends to throw the problem back to the toothless parliament, in truth their decision was a weaseling of the highest order. It has the paw prints of The Establishment all over it.

Having wasted our collective time, these people are going to leave it to the next parliament to address the issue. Which we all know they will not do in time for the next general election. And so the patriarchy wins again. Oh, my kingdom for an activist Judiciary!

Independent candidates again, and a free earworm.

I have been finding the political news a bit snoozy these past few weeks, just can't bring myself to care much about Mpendazoe's defection to CCJ. Can't bring myself to take CCJ seriously, for that matter. The closer we get to elections, the more confused and impotent the opposition becomes- an amazing feat of sprinting towards the bottom before the race has even begun.

This week, however, has been pleasant: first we got a minor update on the impenetrable Zanzibar situation. I don't know how Zanzibar manages to be so byzantine, but they are going to put together a Government of National Unity soon without any of us political outsiders ever getting the real story. While I wish them the best, I am itching with curiosity about the whole thing: what does it mean for CCM? Who will be the next President? What did Karume and Hamad say to each other behind closed doors? The last time two Tanzanian leaders (one of them a Karume) whispered and shook hands in secret we ended up in a Union, referendum be damned. So yeah, I am a little intrigued.

Another issue close to my heart got an airing: the question of independent candidates. We all know that it is The Establishment's Banana Republic behavior that is holding everything up, but I have faith in Chief Justice Ramadhani and his crew and I don't expect them to drop the ball on this one.

Speaking about the health of our democracy, apparently the idea of following Em Pees around and asking them intrusive questions is not a bad one. Pity these kindsa studies are so costly. As Abba said: Aaaaaah, aaaaaaah! All the things I could do! If I had a little money!... (enjoy the earworm).

Independent candidates and other excitingly murky political developments

Some days, it all comes together beautifully. I have been procrastinating about doing some research on MP performance in Bunge when I stumbled across this article. Apparently Twaweza has been there and done that. When I get my hands on the actual report, I plan to mine for information about the female MPs and the young MPs because I am sure there is something exciting going on there.

Another process I have been keeping half an eye on is the Independent Candidate issue and today's main story in the Daily News was wonderful in that regard. As the story goes, our constitution makes allowances for independent candidates to stand for election...which was conveniently irrelevant until we actually went multi-party in 1992. I remember my mother describing her voting experience during those days- apparently there would only be the CCM candidate on the ballot. What an embarrassment of choices. Do you vote yea? Do you vote nea? I can't believe anyone bothered getting out of bed to do this.

Anyways, recently the Reverend Christopher Mtikila- a politician after my own heart who specializes in activism using the court room as his battleground- petitioned the government to allow private candidates in 2005. The High Court saw nothing unconstitutional in his petition, and in May of 2006 'gave the AG between the date of delivery of the judgement and the next general elections to put in place a legislative mechanism that would allow private candidates to participate in elections alongside those representing political parties.' The government, naturally, appealed.

February 2010: the government has just remembered it hasn't taken care of the independent candidate problem and there are only ten months and maybe four Bunge sessions left to push through antagonistic legislation. So the Deputy Attorney General shows up in front of seven justices of the High Court to fix the matter by claiming that the government's appeal against the High Court's decision is 'a stay of execution upon the decision sought to be appealed against'. Mr. Masaju was met with this gem:

"We wish to refresh the memories of the learned Deputy Attorney General and his team that an appeal does not operate as an automatic stay [...] as it is at the moment and onward to the General Elections in October is what the High Court has decided, that is, independent candidates are allowed."

Apparently not all our public servants are comatose at the wheel, and I intend to savor this moment in our political development because some other issues are defying my comprehension: the legalities of the proposed coalition government in Zanzibar. Does anyone out there have a clue to spare? I can't tell what my fellow citizens are thinking or intending, exactly, over there on the island and I have a horrible suspicion that they don't know either. Also, Freeman Mbowe's newspaper has been saying some strange things about it and it is giving me a headache.