TEDxDAR 2011: Evans Rubara

Evans Rubara's presentation is about the social and environmental impact of the mining industry in Tanzania. It's going to get interesting up in here because the large-scale mining debate is a controversial one.

Mining started here in 1898 the the first gold mine opened up in Tanzania, and things have been going interestingly since then. Tanzania opened its doors to large-scale commercial mining relatively late in the game but I can't tell you the date because I was too busy editing my last post to catch the date on the slide.

Some of the issues that are synonymous with large-scale mining in Tanzania include high rates of human rights violations and environmental degradation. The slideshow included pictures of people who have been affected by drinking or bathing in the waters of the Tigithe River in North Mara. They are not pretty. I have been looking at these pictures for years now and to be honest with you the whole situation is one big grey area.

Tanzania is mineral rich, and I imagine that the mining sector is only going to grow. What Evans Rubara's said in conclusion is: whose responsibility is it to make sure that the mining sector is run well. He has a point: it is only the collusion of government and investors that has led to the trouble that the mining sector is having now. If the government chooses to act in favor of the people, there is no reason why Tanzania shouldn't benefit from an exemplary mining sector.

I am not of the opinion that we should leave our natural resources unexploited- we need to use what we have to get where we need to go. The only problem is, and isn't it always, our governance issues and corruption. If teensy little Botswana could cut a good deal with the diamond barons, surely we can handle ourselves better.

The King's Diary: The Importance of Fighting Corruption

Dear Me

I have come to appreciate the importance of anti-corruption work. The other day I used the TKP’s anti-corruption drive to purge from the party my biggest opponents. And last week, our donor friends offered $ 100 million in return for a long overdue anti-corruption report. Making money has never been easier!

The Kingdom has benefitted in many ways from this anti-corruption survey. First, when after many years of haggling the TKP agreed to the survey, we received good marks (i.e. money) from our friends. Then we refused to release the results for 2 years. Our friends got so frustrated that they offered big money if we did. So in a demonstration of sincerity I ordered the release.

After I ordered the release we tried to pull another trick by distinguishing between releasing in principle and when to release but this did not fly. So we published the report on a web link that does not function. But somehow the report did come out.

Not that it matters. There is hardly anything new in it. 86% of households consider the traffic police corrupt. Duuuuh. 73 percent believe that the judiciary is not fair or impartial. Oooooh. That compromising civil servants is an important way to maintain loyalty to the TKP and that this, in turn, keeps the country stable is something that donors fail to grasp. But never mind.

The survey did contain some useful information as well. 57% of households do not dare to report a corrupt act for fear of victimization or because they would not get protection. Good to know the TKPs system of repression remains effective!

As for next steps, with the report in hand I am going to ask the donors to address the corruption as identified. I did the same with the ICF, and received a lot to reduce roadblocks (sic). I am quite convinced that the donors will agree with me that major investments in computers and vehicles as well as elaborate ethics training and salary increases are likely to help bring down corruption. It will cost a fortune, but it’s worth it. Not?

Anti-corruption .... I love it.

... And Other Measures

His Majesty has just asked me to ask you if there are other rankings of performance, other than that mentioned in his last love letter to himself, that you would propose to him. In order to keep track of the performance of the TKP cadres of course. He's in a receptive mood, so make use of the comments section.

The King's Diary: Crusading Against Corruption

And now... a note from His Handsome Highness who I am sure you've been missing as much as I have.

Dear Me:

I’ve had little time to write over the past few weeks: reorganizing the TKP leadership required all my attention. That is behind me now. I believe I have successfully used the fight against corruption to strengthen my grip on the party and to rid the TKP leadership of some of its more problematic members.

Could I use the fight against corruption to consolidate my power over the lower rank and file of the TKP as well? It is an attractive proposition. Could it work? Citizens seem to be getting sick and tired of never ending tales of embezzlement. If I were to be seen as fighting corruption, I could definitely regain some of my popularity. Moreover I could get rid of some lower level administrators who block progress by eating and creating nothing but unhappy citizens.

Corruption by TKP rank and file is perfectly acceptable. It is necessary even to assure their loyalty. But if the TKP is no longer seen as working for the people, its legitimacy is at stake. At present too many officials in the Kingdom appear to believe it is sufficient to be loyal to the TKP and to do nothing more. My friends from the Empire of the East tell me that this is an unsustainable situation that breeds unrest and opposition.

In the Empire they have perfected an approach that demands loyalty and performance from their cadres. Only those who deliver are allowed to steal. I like their approach but could it work in the Kingdom? Do I know who delivers and who does not?

Maybe I should change the question. Do I need to know? By setting a few strong examples I could change the behavior of many, especially when those who are not mentioned believe they may be next.

The other day, I received a report from the energy and water regulator with information about the performance of urban water utilities. Why not make a start and use this information? I could create a ranking and publish it with great fanfare. I could then promote the managers of utilities that come out on top and fire the ones at the bottom. Or better, I could make sure that the non-performers are accused of corruption! Hmmm … I may be onto something here

Performance ranking of urban water utilities

Ranking (from worst to best)	Urban water utility	Percent of water that was produced for which no revenue was received	Average hour of daily Service(hrs)
20	DAWASCO	56.7	9
19	Kigoma	51.6	7
18	Dodoma	44.3	20
17	Mwanza	44.2	22
16	Lindi	44.0	6
15	Bukoba	43.8	23
14	Iringa	42.0	22
13	Musoma	40.5	22
12	Sumbawanga	40.2	16
11	Songea	39.8	24
10	Shinyanga	36.4	15
9	Babati	35.1	12
8	Singida	34.1	5
7	Moshi	32.5	23
6	Mbeya	30.0	23
5	Mtwara	27.4	10
4	Tabora	26.7	20
3	Arusha	26.3	18
2	Tanga	24.6	24
1	Morogoro	24.1	19

Source: http://www.ewura.go.tz/annualreportswaterreg.html

The King's Diary: Agriculture, First.

Dear Me

Almost two years ago the Agriculture Matters Initiative was launched. It has worked wonders. The Kingdom imported hundreds of tractors and sold them at throw-away prices to those we owe for their support during the elections. We’re inviting plenty of large scale investors to buy big tracts of land (at a reasonable commission of course) and have introduced a fertilizer voucher scheme that generates very smooth pays offs to my people.

The Agriculture Matters Initiative has also helped keep the inquisitive donors at bay. As the Kingdom’s homegrown plan to address poverty, their rhetoric of country ownership leaves the foreigners little choice but to embrace the initiative. Even the smarter foreign sponsors who smell a rat (after all which country asks the business sector to develop its poverty reduction strategy?) prefer to ignore the initiative’s inconsistencies in the interest of good relations.

Now that our self-promoting scheme is bearing ‘results’ and paying my supporters handsomely, complaints crop up. The other day an academic argued that the credit window of the Agriculture Matters Bank is not pro-poor because it only allows loans of at least Kingdom Shillings 100 million, a massive amount. Well, of course, the amount is massive. These loans are meant for my supporters; not for peasants! It was a great move to state that small cultivators should organize themselves into groups to qualify for the loans. They’ll never manage to do that.

While I will deal with the academic who raised the loan issue, the fact that people start to express concern demonstrates the need to be careful. I should avoid that the Agriculture Matters Initiative creates dissent amongst my most loyal power base: smallholder farmers. It seems that the Initiative creates fear of being displaced from agriculture, their livelihood, because of losing their land to land grabbing large-scale investors.

The remarks by the former Secretary General of the United World, who leads another large scale agriculture initiative, were helpful. He stated that “responsible large scale farming systems can play an important role in directly supporting small farmers through technical advice, transfer of new technology and support and access to markets”. Maybe I can tell my supporters to change tack a bit and make sure that in addition to enriching themselves, also peasants benefit. And possibly I can hear more from the former Secretary General when he visits the Kingdom: he really seems to understand our situation.

23 March 2011

* A quick apology: this post is terribly late as I have been lax in my blogging lately. As punishment The King has given me a manual lawn mower and ordered me to clear up the Ikulu grounds. I guess it's better than the dungeons.

I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Company...

Remember when Bill Clinton was in the throes of denying his affair with whatsername, the White House intern? Yeah. Tragic, wasn't it? If Bill had just manned up, the world would have been spared all that tedious American puritanism and barely louche jokes about cigars and stained dresses. Decorum, people, is one part savvy and four parts sheer balls.

So, yesterday Jay Kay denied having any sexual relations with Dowans, or knowing anything at all about anything that might be useful to anyone. In a nutshell he said: "I'm clueless. And, I'm powerless too. So don't bother me."

Dude. Seriously? Or, as we say in Bongoland: Duh?! Aiseee....

Sure, we understand plausible deniability. Even understand that Jay Kay was probably not directly involved in the cooking of the Richmondowans books. Because that would take foresight, skill and a certain savoir-faire that we can't accuse Jay Kay of possessing following his recent statements. Hell, TIA: we even understand that it's perfectly acceptable for a rich/powerful/politician dude to throw his friends under the bus for expedience. Sure.

But irrefutable PR disasters? That's just not how we want our Presidents to roll. Which is why I gotta ask: where in the world is the Ikulu Director of Communications? If I held that job (CJ Craig, what what!) and my boss was about to put his foot in his mouth and eat it with ketchup, I would engage him in a flying tackle that would knock his presidential ass out long before he could say anything so damaging to the Office of the Presidency. I mean, c'mon! Half a decade of independence, one pan-african hero, a towering (ahem) international political reputation and our President thinks it's a good idea to come across as a developmentally challenged head of state?

...flying tackle for sure. Because no matter how ignorant you are, as a President and (theoretically) a paramount leader of an independent nation, there is one thing you are not allowed to do: cheerfully admit your fricking incompetence to the world. Jeez, Ikulu: can I buy you a clue?

Discipline!

In a recent musing, His Excellently Handsome Highness wondered whether he has been a bit lax in disciplining the cadres of The King's Party. As a follow-up on the issue, the last TMR question was: "Do you think that corrupt public servants can be disciplined, and if they can what would happen?"

The results of the poll are in: 66% of respondents think that a little discipline will bring about socio-economic growth and the remaining 33% believe that discipline in the King's Party will bring about a combination of growth and instability. Hopefully that'll help HEHH make up his mind.

Speaking of serving the public, Bunge Season Premier** is in three days. Freshmen MPs are brushing up on their Parliamentary Canons, Timely Interruptions, Protestations of Unfair Play and The Red Chair I'm So Bored Slump as we speak. Can't wait :)

*Um. Gambling is illegal and I certainly do not encourage such a filthy habit. That said: I'm putting money down on the idea that the first MP to get into a quagmire of a confrontation (unwinnable) with Makinda and/or CCM is going to be Tundu Lissu.

** Politigeek alert: the newly refurbished Bunge website has uploaded the Standing Orders, in addition to the Hansards and other publications. While the search function for MPs isn't working but at least they can be narrowed down by region/constituency/party. Not too shabby.

Poll: Does discipline work?

As a follow-up to the last post, there is a new poll side to help the King make up his mind. Do you think that corrupt public servants can be disciplined, and if they can what would happen? Vote on the right hand side.

The King's Diary: Have I Been Too Soft?

Quick Note: I asked His Excellently Handsome Highness about how he would like to handle questions/discussions. HEHH prefers that all queries and comments be directed to the comments section where he will answer on occasion, and perhaps even deal with weightier issues in other Diary entries. So please feel free to use the comments button.

Dear Me

When I looked out of my bedroom window this morning, I counted 17 ships waiting to dock. The sight spoiled my mood. In January 2009 I ordered the port authorities to find ways to ease the congestion and for a while the situation improved. Now I realize this may not have been the result of their hard work but of the global economic downturn. Either way, the situation is as bad as it used to be.

My orders are being ignored and the more I think about it, the angrier I become. The port authorities are not the only ones to defy my orders. The other day the Prime Minister even felt compelled to reiterate to the regional leaders the need to follow my directives. How insulting. Nobody should have to be reminded to follow my demands!

Have I been too soft? This tradition of impunity may be good for maintaining peace and quiet, the TKP loses legitimacy as a result. I recall a survey from 2008 in which 68% of the respondents state that the government does badly in improving the living standards of the poor and 62% state the government does poorly in creating jobs. 50% even considers I handle the economy badly. Well, the latter may be true. Creating opportunities for my supporters to grow rich is not necessarily good for growth. But maybe the situation got out of hand.

I recall how the representative from the Empire of the East mentioned that in the Empire officials can be corrupt but that they are disciplined if they do not deliver economic growth. So why should I allow my officials to be corrupt AND hinder growth. In the Empire they hang indisciplined people but this is not our custom. Yet stripping officials from their citizenship and confiscating their assets I could do.

Question is, can it be done without harming myself. It would be unwise to go after the former King for instance, because the day I step down I might receive a similar treatment. Nor should I go after those who supported me to become King: they still have the power to push me out. But what if I go after some less influential officials? Like the port people? Hmmmm .... something to consider.

Corruption Studies.

So, I was linking from the Beeb in my last post and I noticed another link in the sidebar. It's an interesting to investigate the relationship between voting habits and general malfeasance.

Not to be cynical or anything, but why on earth would general elections directly and permanently affect something as deeply embedded in our social system as corruption? Patronage and "borrowing" public goods is a way of life for us, as burdensome and inescapable as the rules that govern our wedding planning committees and our propensity to garland new graduates in Christmas tinsel. It's not like we can conjure a clean government out of thin air and stick them in the corridors of power (where their morality is likely to decay anyways). Because the new government would be made up of Tanzanians and we like to keep our ethics loose and easy.

I would contend that corruption per se, while immensely annoying, isn't really why most of us are pissed off at the government. The chafe, the burn comes from observing inequality which is aided in no small part by the growth of our economy. Someone somewhere at one time or another told us we are all entitled- entitled!- to "development" and prosperity. Schools, roads, fair wages and straight roads, western medicine, the works. Heh. As Tanzania discovers more and more ways to exploit her natural and human resources, she's also discovering all the classic methods of avoiding redistribution: dodgy contracts, overpaid politicians, a shameful lack of public accountability, obfuscating language, brown-envelope journalism, pyramid schemes, briefcase NGOs, the bottomless pit of donor funds, our predatory Tanzania Revenue Authority...

Man, in the 1980s and early 1990s when no one had anything of course we got along well. Nyerere did get that right as rain: across-the-board poverty makes for excellent social cohesion. No one was going to snitch on the one person in the street who had a TV/VCR because we'd all go there to get news of the world/watch smuggled tapes of The Cosby Show.

These days Tanzanians are learning that it's hard to love thy neighbor when thy neighbor has managed to accumulate enough money to be oppressively rich while you flail around in your maze of economic destitution lamenting every rise in the price of petrol. Does it matter to you if thy neighbor's money was earned legitimately? No, because the socialist hangover means that we don't believe in such a thing as legitimate wealth. Besides, until TV and edutainment came along there was a certain element of invisibility to our inequality. Now we can watch each other and simmer with resentment. And the downside is, that socialist hangover has given us a sense of entitlement that is stupendous in its scope. No one milks a relative/slight acquaintance/complete stranger with less shame than a Tanzanian. Many of us believe that actually working for your money is an oppressively bourgeois capitalist exploitative concept. Squish the rich, let us all languish in egalitarian mediocrity seems to be the underlying philosophy.

Here's a bit of fun. Next time you are sitting next to someone who is frothing at the mouth about corruption, ask them politely when was the last time they bribed a traffic cop/bought goods that "fell off the truck" at Shoprite or Game, got an obscenely lucrative contract or job because their uncle's cousin's sister's best friend was in the selection committee... and watch the diatribe fizzle out. We're all in the mix somehow, complicit to the teeth and guilty as charged. It's a particularly fun game to play with civil servants, by the way :) No one squirms harder than a Tanzanian government employee deflecting insinuations of dirty deeds...

There is an obvious cure for corruption actually. We could all live a little more ethically and stop blaming the nebulous "They" for our troubles. The cumulative effects would probably be quite radical. But thousands of years of religion, philosophy and politics haven't managed to iron out the kinks of human nature and social competition so... maybe science will manage it?Bring on The Matrix!

Protest Vote?

First things first: I am looking for a comprehensive, well-written, credible book on contemporary Tanzanian history (post-independence and as deep into the 21st century as possible) that is preferably Not a biography, autobiography or family history. If you can point me in the direction of one I'll be grateful.

There were a couple of interesting political stories in the news today. First, our Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children has been arrested and questioned by the Prevention for Corruption Bureau on allegations of electoral corruption in the Umoja wa Wanawake (CCM women's wing) polls in Tabora. My favorite part?

"...the suspects were arrested on Tuesday at around 1:55am at a guest house known as Camise situated in Cheyo A area, 100 meters from the regional PCCB office. "

It is good to see CCM women excel in numerous areas of Tanzanian public life, including the all-important practice of corruption. I wonder what the Speaker of the House thinks? Anyways, proponents of the theory that women will make "better" leaders because of gender traits like non-violence, listening skills and the propensity to place communal welfare above individual ambitions.. stop laughing, I'm trying to make a point here... might want to study Umoja wa Wanawake Tanzania.

Dr. Wilbrod Slaa, who was asked by Chadema to run as its presidential candidate, has received heroic support from his constituency. I wish them luck. I was debating his chances of winning this morning with a civil society friend and realized that I am likely to vote conservatively in the presidential race. Much as I admire the good doctor, and suspect that he will be a fiercely focused policy-maker, what's the point? A non-CCM president would be hamstrung in the current environment where the GoP is indistinguishable from government. However my friend did suggest that if nothing else, voting for Dr. Slaa would do two important things: let the government know how many people think he's a better choice than the incumbent, and deprive the incumbent of that vote.

The first point is dubious: being a brilliant mind and a focused, committed opposition member doesn't translate to being an effective president since effectiveness requires the cooperation of your government. The second point, that of the protest vote, is reasonable though risky- look what happened in 1995 when we nearly voted in (or did vote in, depending on who you ask) one Augustine Mrema. I have yet to meet anyone who isn't relieved that things didn't pan out for him and for Tanzania...

The biggest disappointment with multi-party politics has been our lackadaisical approach to institution-building. This is hardly astrophysics: if just one party had started out in 1995 with a canny vision to be implemented over the course of a decade or two, maybe CCM would actually be facing a credible threat. Instead here we are today still under the unbroken thumb of the Establishment. Under these circumstances it is difficult to take the opposition seriously. We need independent candidates to challenge the status quo.

Le sigh. I suppose the fact that there might be an alternative presidential candidate worth considering is a tentative step along our road to competitive democracy...

Final Terms: "We need to keep loving one another."

First of all, my heartfelt condolences to those who lost friends and family in Kampala bomb attacks that took place during the World Cup Finals this past Sunday. This is the third big terrorist attack on a major East African city, after the 1998 bombings. Yesterday's Citizen had this to report on Museveni's first public reaction :

'Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush the militant Somali group al Shabaab group, which has claimed responsibility for last Sunday's twin bomb attacks, which killed 74 people in Kampala. "We are going to go on the offensive and go for all who did this in al areas, starting here." [...] President Museveni also appealed to Ugandans not to target the Somali community in the country, saying they had nothing to do with last Sunday's bombings. 'Some people may interpret the tragic events on Sunday, but Somalis living here are part of the system.'

We do need to keep loving one another, as Jay Kay said to parliament yesterday. Some things only get better with translation.

World Cup post-mortem? Not so much. Spain won. Okay. Africa... well, South Africa really... proved to the World what We (They) are Capable Of. I was impressed- I honestly thought there would be some trouble with crime but it was not so. I don't know what the SA authorities did but it worked! Zuma was on the tube yesterday talking to some talking head somewhere overseas and he hinted at the Olympics as the next South African target. High Five.

The election season has finally kicked off. Jay Kay has selected his running mate, Mohamed Gharib Bilal, an (old) soft-spoken scientist-turned politician and one-time Chief Minister of Zanzibar. Meanwhile, the other (old) soft-spoken scientist turned politician, Dr. Shein, is CCM's candidate for the Zanzibar Presidency, running against CUF's (old) candidate Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad. It's a gerontocratic Vice-Presidential-Chief-Ministerial Merry-Go-Round. No sign of Chadema presidential aspirations. The others? UDP, DP, TLP, NCCR-Mageuzi? Meh. Let's not even raise the specter of CCJ. This is going to be an one-horse race.

Of course, the real game is in the parliamentary and council elections. Jay Kay's address to the outgoing parliamentarians was... well, interesting. My Lady of the Crooked Smiles thinks he's shown signs of personal growth over the past five years. Teachers, eh. To me, it sounded like a bit of a cop-oyt. It's going to be very interesting to watch a couple of promising young(er) politicians handle their first time running, as well as keep an eye out for major upsets as greyheads get pushed out- hopefully- by some serious competition :) Will the coming Bunge contain more thinkers and doers and fewer sluggish, corrupt, entitled, ancient, ineffective, apathetic money-sinks? Hope so.

The Best Housekeeper in The World, meanwhile, is keeping me appraised of the shenanigans that local government is indulging in on the streets. She was barred from a 'rally' meeting the other day because the candidate was CCM and she isn't a card carrying member. Her neighbors who were card-carrying members attended the meeting and got 5000 TShs for their trouble- roughly three dollars. Le sigh. None of the opposition parties have resources to compete with such flagrant 'grassroots mobilization.'