Zenj advised to have a baby boom

People of Zenj have been strongly advised to go for each other, like there is no tomorrow, and make babies so that the Isles population can increase to respectable numbers – something like the Mainland population.

The Civic United Front (CUF) legislators in the House of Raps, sorry, House of Reps, have criticized family planning in Zenj in that it controls population growth. Wall-l-lahi tena!

Mr. Haji Faki Shaali (Mkanyageni- CUF) has asked Zanzibari intelligence to conduct covert operation to understand why Zanzibar’s population is actually shrinking.

“I think the study will discover that we have a high influx of foreigners entering Zanzibar everyday.” He suspected that Mainlanders have been sneaking into East Africa’s paradise isles without permission by the UN. There have been persistent rumours that Mainlanders have been settling in the Isles and pretending to be locals there, complete with khanzus and misuris..

To quell this trickery by Mainlanders the legislators asked the Isles’ government to re-introduce the use of passports to Mainlanders who travel to Zanzibar, but not to Zanzibaris who travel to the Mainland.

Mr Shaali’s views were echoed by Mr. Rachid Seif Suleiman (Ziwani-CUF) and Zakia Omar Juma (Special Seats-CUF). They all have strongly advocated that Zanzibaris should stop being lazy and manufacture as many babies as they can. The idea is to have a population equal to the mainland. The United Republic of Tanzania has 44 million people. This includes 2 million from Zenj.

Independent observers feel that if Zanzibaris want to catch up with the Mainland then they have really got hard work to do. They say that the Revolutionary Government is seriously deliberating start a Ministry of baby making.

It might be called the Ministry of Baby Making, Totos, Marine and Culture (UZALISHAJI) A mother of 14 in Zenj has been strongly tipped to get the job. She qualifies.

Meanwhile Tanzanians have been showing mixed reaction to plans to have a baby boom in Zenj. One minister, known to have strong connection to the EPA scandal said that he could not discuss the issue since it had something to do with ‘national security.’

He suggested caution: “I think this is a sensitive issue which could affect national security. I suggest that we have a referendum in Zanzibar to ask if there should be a baby boom or not. Zanzibaris are a sensitive lot. If you ask them wrongly they could accuse that it all has to do with the Union with the Mainland. They could suggest the dissolution of the Union.”

Amid the baby boom talk, the Isles Shadow Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Said Ali Mbarouk has told the House, that this year’s budget does not show seriousness in tackling social and economic problems.

He said that Zenj has failed in its poverty reduction strategic programme (MKUZA) because abject poverty was now even more evident among many Zanzibaris.

You just wonder. If CUF legislators in Zenj want a baby boom, what are the tots going to be fed with? Sand? I think the rest of us in the United Republic of Tanzania should be told.