old is gold?

The ‘enzi za Mwalimu’ factor

In human conflict when one part is loosing men more than they can recruit into the ranks, they usually increase the conscription age.

Men as old and in their fifties are pressed into armed service. It is called dad’s army. There is an emergency on and you need every hand to help.

It seems the ruling CCM is crisis and they have recruited a dad’s army to help out. Five veteran CCM leaders, headed by former CCM chairman for Dodoma, Mzee Pancras Ndejembi on Sunday strongly reprimanded CCM dogodogos to stop even thinking of challenging the Prez, Jack Mrisho for the re-election of the presidency come 2010.

According to this dad’s army everything is squeaky clean within the CCM. The wazee also told the young guys (dogodogo) to stop pointing fingers and recoil from the stink within the CCM. In short the dogodogo should wear smiles while facing the stench. In the days of dad’s army ‘enzi za Mwalimu’ everything was okay. Dad’s army also roundly condemned rebuke fellow party members for attacking scandal-plagued politicians.

Quite. But dad’s army should know that in the days of Mwalimu, party members did not steal public monies like there is no tomorrow as it is now.

And, worse, there seems to be no punishment, but a tarting up of the whole farce! You just cannot spray perfume on rot. The stench of rot will always seep through.

In our cultures younger Africans usually don’t speak back to the older members of society, however much they have goofed. But now it seems the younger members have decided not to take such blamed sitting down. One of the dogodogos in the CCM, Fred Pendanzoe has decided to break the law of ‘omerta’ – the mafia’s law of silence.

The Kishapu legislator has what most people want to hear. He has called for the purging of the ruling party and cadres implicated in various recent corruption scandals, as part of a wider crackdown on high-level graft in the country.

I doubt if the dad’s army will find those words very romantic and sexy. The veteran leaders have waved warning fingers on ruling party MPs who have developed tendency to publicly speak out against prominent CCM public leaders facing serious sleaze allegations.

"My fellow countrymen, I urge you to unite in this fight against corruption. We have nothing to lose, except our poverty," said Mpendazoe.

"Just a few Tanzanians are enjoying the wealth of this nation," he added and in the process divulging a state secret!

He emphasized that CCM leaders plagued by sleaze allegations should be kicked out of the ruling party’s ranks, for the good of the party itself.

Mpendazoe further warned that the government could face a public backlash of unanticipated proportions if political heavyweights behind the infamous Kagoda Agriculture Limited company are allowed to go scot-free for their prominent role in the Bank of Tanzania external payment arrears (EPA) looting scandal.