The Weekly Sneak: Play Well Together

Last Sunday's Citizen had a big front-page spread about the Zitto Kabwe- January Makamba affair. I thought it was wonderful that they have finally been outed as the collaborators that they so frequently are. In actual fact, it's not just the two of them- a number of politicians are guilty of skipping merrily across party lines when the need arises. But that's their business, and there are reasons why they only do this kind of thing behind closed doors. Interestingly enough, the article was very 'neutral' in its tone while managing to sound hopeful that this would all end very badly for all involved. :) Journalists, eh. Don't let the truth get in the way of drama...

So that's the topic for the coming week's East African column: collaboration. It's totally trending right now, and it gets us all away from the craziness of partisan politics. Because democracy doesn't have to be a brawl, every day, does it? Nah.

"Some commentators have raised the concern that this new class of politicians is too high-ended, well beyond the ken of the “average” Tanzanian. That their interests are those of the dreaded bourgeoisie, and as such this unholy alliance of ambitious young men will result in even more kleptocracy and neglect of the poor. A distinct danger, to be sure. However, thanks to our socialist past and humble beginnings, there hasn't been a generation of heirs until rather recently. Just about every one of our grand corrupters and super-kleptocrats has come from modest beginnings. Much as I hate to contradict my fellow armchair socialists, let's just admit that there is no more nobility in poverty than there is in riches- in leadership it all comes down to character."

Oh, I also took the opportunity to poke a little fun at Zitto and at January- the magic twins. Seems every time they cough there is a camera there to record the event for social media dissemination/frontpage news. I feel like I am constantly tripping over their PR. But I also know that all the incessant jostling for public visibility is a very smart part of their clear ambitions to one day hear someone call them "Mr. President." Probably not simultaneously, though... heh. And won't that fight be great to watch?

TEDxDAR: January Makamba

January Makamba (CCM-Bumbuli) is here in his capacity as a civilian, having been strongly warned not to use the stage as a political platform and game enough to try and cope with the high-tech environment while delivering his presentation. Multitasking, eh... :)

So his talk is about the amenities of life. He kicked off the meaty bit of the presentation with a slide that only had one word on it: Sameness. His idea is that although there is a wealth of diversity amongst people, there is a sameness that we should be embracing. I am listening with a skeptical ear until I realize that January is going to talk demographics. The set-up is this: he contrasts Zawadi with Vanessa...

The typical Tanzanian, aka Mtanzania wa Kawaida, he named Zawadi: female, 17, rarely eats meat or fish, walks almost everywhere, no mobile phone, born in a family of seven people, first sex at 17.5 yrs, married at 19, her husband will be 5 yrs older, first child at 19.5, last child at 36 yrs, lives in rural area, works on the farm. How does her life compare with yours? Good question for a TEDxDAR audience.

We are Vanessa, in the top 20% bracket of income earners: assured of university, living in 4 bedroom houses, drinking bottled water, driving to most places, 78% chance of employment, more than one mobile phone/smartphone, first intercourse 18.5, first marriage 23 yrs, finish university at 21, husband 26 yrs, first child at 23 yrs, last child at 32 yrs. Both Zawadi and Vanessa get married pregnant (zawadi 3 months, vanessa 5+). Number of children: more for Zawadi, fewer for Vanessa. However, in terms of power consumption, the pattern falls apart... our energy consumption is erratic, cannot be entirely determined by income bracket. And so on and so forth, January contrasted the top 20% with the remaining 80% to challenge our perceptions and thinking about how our country is structured.

The Question: what would it take for Zawadi to live the same lifestyle as Vanessa? On the consumption side, here are just a few data: by 2050 72% of tanzanians will have water problems... Zawadi's income would need to increase x6. For Zawadi to eat meat we would have to slaughter 7 million cows a year- the current national herd numbers roughly 15 million. Electricity consumption would have to increase x28. The list goes on. But here is something to challenge your thinking: the Hadzabe eat better than the average Tanzanian, and enjoy a better quality of life in many ways. Is it that Zawadi should be aspiring to Vanessa's lifestyle, or should Vanessa and Zawadi maybe learn something from the Hadzabe?

January's presentation used data from the Demographic and Health Survey of 2010. It is available on the NBS website, the report was launched a few months ago and apparently makes for riveting reading.

As a final point, Nadeem asked January: 'What can we, the Vanessas of Tanzania, do to improve the quality of life of all the Zawadis?' I think that the answer depends on a person's politics. In that vein, I am going to try and get a bit of a Twitter argument going with Shurufu kicking around some ideological perspectives. Let's see if that works...

Links in Education, the Arts and Politics

It's time to close some tabs on my overloaded browser. Here are links I've been keeping open for the day I could get back into my blogging chair:

Education: Twaweza have put out a report on the state of education in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It's not pretty by any means across the board, but Tanzania is particularly dismal. I honestly cannot imagine what this means for industry and labor in the coming decade or two. On the other hand, here is an inspiring short video of a talk given Ken Robinson (via La Bomz) about what education could look like if it worked for the student rather than The Man.

Writing: Binyavanga Wainaina is back on the scene! If you have never read him you could start with the Granta article that propelled him onto the international stage, but really "Discovering Home" is a gorgeous piece. I hope he never mellows. And then there's Tolu Ogunlesi who conveniently self-publishes online. He's a fantastic poet. Best of all he's prolific so there is plenty of Original Content backlog to work through.

Politics: Apparently M7 is being a bit cagey about his age. And he got a protest birthday party to celebrate the fact. There is something quite stylish about the way Ugandans go about their protests, I have to say. Over here, rumors of protests against the power rationing have emerged and fizzled out with some regularity- at least we are consistently inconsistent. I did enjoy how January Makamba (CCM-Bumbuli) has taken charge of the Tanesco debate in the past week in the papers via a well-crafted blogpost. Speaking of which, Edward Lowassa is back in the newspapers after condemning Kikwete's government for indecisiveness. I found the positive reactions quite interesting...