Friday, June 26, 2009


Stealing billions is national security?

I am a mtoto wa KiAfrica. Was raised here and now I hear plenty of shkamos from kids followed by the word ‘Mzee’. That is a sign of respect from the younger guys in society.

This automatically means I have to watch my step as ‘Mzee.’ No necking in bars, no bonking with some chick at the Gymkhana grounds or in the back-seats of cars. No getting sozzled on booze like there is no tomorrow, no childish fights for chicks and no peeing in public. In short, etiquette demands that I respect myself to the nearest decimal. And – no lying. Wazee don’t look pretty when they lie.

Be courteous, respect everybody, and obey the law. Certainly no bullying of the disadvantaged people in society. But when I was growing I was taught not to take any crap from anybody. Because the closer you look at society, the more you realize that there are plenty of hyenas out there dressed up as lambs.

Sober governments, which claim to respect democracy, the rule of law and good governance should also behave like adults. The thing is, do they? Hardly!

The recent events in the Bunge testify to that. The government, through the Speaker of the Bunge, Sam Six have been busy gagging legislators from asking questions on how the tax-payers’ monies have being spent. Or, more likely, mispent. Stolen.

The CCM government has been savaging the Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly, Dr. Wilbrod Slaa after he demanded an explanation as to the controversial payments made by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to a string of dubious gold related companies. Reason? National security.

Said Dr Slaa: “To classify a company like Meremeta as a top secret military project is a deliberate attempt to the Government to mislead the public about this matter. This has nothing to do with national security.” He said.

“The Government should be honest about this thing and publicly disclose where the $155 million paid by the BoT to this company actually went.” He added.

It’s like a Mzee after being caught with his pants down performing lewd acts with someone in a public toilet. You ask him, “Mzee you were caught groaning with someone in the loo. What was happening?”

The Mzee comes out, breathing hard and grunts: “Nothing! And I will not say anything for reasons of national security!”

Others who have heard the grunting from the loo by the Mzee will shake their heads in belief and say: “Kale kazee ni kahuni sana! Kajambazi!”

Dr Slaa has told the House that he would not be silenced even after a government order – which is rightly so. Those MPs are at the Bunge not as beauty contestants. They are there to act on our (wananchi) behalf. Where are the bloody Meremeta billions?

If the money has been chopped, then Tanzanians have the right to know about that. But that is not bloody ‘national security’. It is theft. As Dr Slaa told the Bunge he was querying about grand theft in government, not the TPDF.

So the government would like to make us believe that what befalls the military equals to national security? Who said soldiers can’t be thieves? It’s like the dirty old man caught in the loo saying: “I was grunting in the loo because we were playing marbles!” Utterly laughable. The government is trying to use the ‘national security’ crap to intimidate us!

Even other MPs are fed up with the charade. They have warned against a rising tide of grand corruption in the country, saying efforts to fight the vice so far have been disappointing.

In a rare show of unity, key legislators from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) joined forces with their opposition counterparts in the House to demand much more decisive action from the government in tackling high-level graft.

Mama Anne Kilango Malecela (Same East – CCM) has issued a direct challenge to Premier Mizengo Pinda to give the House a proper briefing on progress made so far in the officially-declared war against grand corruption in the country.

We are ready to listen. But if Mzee (meaning Government) insists that when he was caught moaning with delight with a young chick in a public loo, they were playing marbles, then we will pretend to agree. That being caught grunting in the public loo is a matter of national security? Some utterances by the rulers deserve nothing but contempt and ridicule they deserve.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mwanawani hiyo nondo imetululia kweli kweli, hivi ulikula nini kabla ya kuishusha? Kwa mara ya pini naupigia big up bwana Luse. Good job