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.

Dude. How do You Mean It?!?!

Teasing politicians is fun. Comedians have always known that politicians are the gift that just keeps on giving. The Fountain of Eternal Material. Besides, it is it's own form of public service because sometimes leaders need a little ego management to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground. Someone has to be the court jester, the griot, the little boy who asked his mother why the Emperor is walking around with his wobbly bits hanging out. We all need that friend who lets the air out of our pomp and circumstance.

But, sometimes, the problem is a little bit bigger. Tanzanians have been spoiled rotten by our Presidents: they have been so far rather accessible people. Mwalimu established a Presidential culture that is wonderfully healthy and very democratic, so we are used to demanding our President's personal time and attention. It gets a little cloying at times, and Jay Kay occasionally forgets himself when kidding around with his adoring public. Still, it is far better than the alternative: being subjected to rulers so closed off, so protected, so far outside our reach that there is little commonality to bond us in the mutual endeavours of nation-building. Since we are a presidential political culture, our other politicians and public servants tend to align their behaviors to the president's. The public performance of humility and accessibility is an important part of our social contract with our leaders.

Joji asked in a previous discussion what intelligence has to do with anything. Well, here's my real opinion: we are all gifted and cursed with a talent. Some of us enter the world through our brains, others do it through music, some through movement, others through their sight. Some do it through their spirituality, some through their infinite curiosity. Some have a lot of talents, some have just the one. But you have to understand the gift to understand the curse that comes with it. Most successful politicians are highly intelligent people. Some of them need help managing their egos. If we don't help them, they can run amok on us and next thing we know we'll have our own version of Jean Bedel Bokassa trying to coronate himself at the National Imperial Stadium of the United Empire of Tanzania and All Her Surrounding Territories.

So, for the most part, our leaders have been pretty well-behaved. However, occasionally we are faced with a real threat. I will never forget the sheer force of Edward Ngoyai Lowassa's resignation speech. Towering rage, bitter humiliation... and the latent threat of resurgence. And now, we have Andrew John Chenge asking for his peers' votes so that he can become Speaker of the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania. Andrew Chenge, Mr. Vijisenti, Mr. Viji-tendencies, is asking his peers to let him head the most important and democratic branch of government? Yeah, I don't think so.

I think someone is having a little trouble recalling the terms of the Tanzanian social contract between the citizenry and the leadership. It looks like that old joke is quite appropriate in your case, Mr. Chenge. Old lawyers never die, they just lose their judgement... It's going to be an interesting session.

*I totally stole the expression in the title from my joyously irrepressible mischief-making grrrl. Name-check. What, what. Sorry, you know it is too good not to appear on the blog ;)

The Morality of Tanzanian Schoolgirls

Just caught a Saturday radio program targeting women. La Dee did mention something interesting: Saturday morning is a strange time to broadcast with women in mind seeing as 99% of us are busy taking care of the chores that couldn't fit in the week, double-and triple-burden lives that we live.

Anyways, today's issue was schoolgirls pregnancies which isn't a topic I can walk past without taking a glance. It was not as encouraging a debate as I had hoped. Aside from the first guest, an NGO activist agitating on behalf of women's education, the discussion revolved around the thorny issue of 'morality.' Not social mores mind you, just the 'morality' or lack thereof of schoolgirls who get pregnant.

I was forced to conclude that Tanzania must be the only country in the world where young women of school-going age manage to self-impregnate, saucy little hermaphrodites that they are. Our solution: kick them out of school. Because pregnant teen mothers with a truncated education is what we need in order to combat poverty.

During the program, they ran the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA) radio ad encouraging women to stand for office and encouraging us to vote for them because They Can. Not to be cynical or anything, but 40+ years of women in politics in Tanzania and we still have shockingly medieval laws on the right to choose, child custody, inheritance, divorce, asset ownership, freedom from sexual violence, sexual harassment, glass ceilings, age of consent... I've run out of breath. And this is with one third of our parliament made up of affirmative action special seats MPs whose only- ONLY- job is to represent the concerns of their gender.

Hm. One strategy might be to vote in opposition candidates in every constituency that puts up a woman and kill three birds with one stone: kick Umoja wa Wanawake Tanzania in their gonads by reducing their elected presence, increasing the number of women voted into office and increasing the opposition's share of government. In the hopes that any woman smart and strong enough to make it into elected office will have the big brass ones she'll need to slay our patriarchal demons.

Maybe then those slutty schoolgirls who regularly experience the miracle of immaculate conception might have a fighting chance.

So, that's what Em Pees get up to.

When I was studying how to exorcise the demon Underdevelopment, I had a veteran of a classmate who (over a pint) told me that two of the most useful assets in the field of development work were a sturdy liver and some conversational skill. I suspect this applies to politics too, at least the way we practice them here. Recently some friends and I found ourselves at a local bar in the company of a real live Em Pee. So we politely allowed Mheshimiwa to buy the refreshments and we got to chatting about stuff, like what his salary breakdown is, his plans for re-election, taxation, the cost of building roads, the work ethic of civil servants, voter registration. You know, a little light conversation.

I have to confess, I really like politicians. Not as much as sociologists, or artists, but I do like them quite well. Living in Dar, the center of the known universe, it always surprises and delights me how easily accessed they are, especially if you know how and where to drink. The only other places with such high concentrations of politicos are Dodoma- our mythical capital city in the middle of the Tanganyikan wilderness- and the National Stadium on Independence Day.

I got to ask our captive Em Pee about the activities that absorb the bulk of a garden-variety parliamentarian's time. Apparently there's a lot of time spent legislatin': roughly seven months out of the year if you attend every bunge session from start to finish including the pre-bunge sessions in Dar. Which, we all know, they don't. Then, there is the 'real work': procuring development for their constituencies. He told me that an MP's job is to compete with other MPs for the scarce resources allocated by the government through determination, networking and lobbying. With some creativity, opportunism and savoir-faire an MP can also access resources that are hidden in the musty financial plans of expiring bi-lateral projects, in the pockets of companies and wealthy individuals, in NGO bank accounts and... well, you get the drift. Somewhere in there they also have to stick in their duties to their party, hang out in their constituency so that voters remember them come voting day, and make time to argue politics with new friends over a whiskey or three.

So, going back to the Uwazi report on MP performance, and the urge to find out how political sausage is made: MP contributions in Bunge does not seem to be a robust measure of their effectiveness. It would be more instructive to follow these guys around for a couple of months- there's only 300 of them. Creating a record of their activities would shed light on what they actually get up to, how they apportion their time, what they prioritize and why, etc. And then, we can have that argument with them about why the hell they are snoozing on the job when it comes to the legislatin' part of business. But at least we'd know a hell of a lot more about what flavor of politics we have going on in Tanzania.

One last thing that I got: the constituency splitting issue is a mess. Between the government's "commitment" to increase the number of women legislators, the concern that MPs shouldn't have to serve constituencies of over 300,000 people and the Parliament that the Chinese built for us which can only accommodate a couple more snoozing bodies, there are 40+ applications for constituency split and six slots available. May the best lobbyists win. Bottoms up!

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.

Is a leader still a good leader if his team is sucktastic?

So long as we are chewing some political fat... Deep in discussion at the dinner table last night about leadership, ideology and politicians, we got to the usual generational impasse. I believe that every individual only gets the one President to love beyond rational thought. My opponent got Nyerere (lucky girl). While I am very fond of the incumbent, it is actually someone else in his government who is the object of my political affections. As we battled back and forth (I called Nyerere a dictator, she scoffed at the impotence of the so-called 'young turks') we hit on that most baffling of arguments: "It is not the President who is ineffectual, he is surrounded by people who let him down." If I had a thousand shillings for every time I heard or read this statement I would be...well, not rich exactly but my entertainment budget would be well padded.

Look. I know that there is a taboo against holding the President accountable for any mistakes, but must we pretend that Tanzanian leaders are exceedingly inept at picking their executive team? The President's executive powers are vast- and apparently in no danger of diminishing anytime soon. He personally appoints ten MPs at his leisure, as well as innumerable Heads of Stuff. Parastatals, government organs, central bank, military generals, regulatory bodies, utility companies, you name it- his almighty finger is in that pie. His word is law, even in times of peace. The Parliament is tame in his mighty grip, he pretty much yeas or neas the head of the judiciary. Checks? Balances? Are you kidding? This is no-nonsense executive superpower at its finest- not quite despotic but certainly close.

And this is the guy who is apparently above reproach because anything can be explained away with the convenient notion that he is 'let down by his team.' I don't think so. Of course the political reality is finely nuanced and full of bizarre compromises, and any president has his work cut out for him if he wants to squeeze good performance out of an institution as big as government. Still, there is something sinister about this habit that prevents us from holding the President responsible for failures of his establishment while celebrating his apparent successes. A bad workman blames his tools.