Tanzania: I want my president to come back and fix things

"Mr President, come back from Oman immediately and fix things at home" - says Elsie Eyakuze

Tanzania: I want my president to come back and fix things (opinion)

The East African (Kenya), by Elsie Eyakuze* -October 29, 2012

Dar es Salam (Tanzania) - The US Presidential Elections are around the corner and sure: the American President is a “big deal.” Given the reach of the States in its self-appointed role as the decidedly selective and bellicose “defender” of the world’s freedoms, it should create a mechanism through which the rest of us get to vote too.

I can’t be alone in hoping that Barack Obama keeps the Republicans at bay for another term. Besides, he’s the one American President I have come closest to having an inkling of interest in and extremely mild respect for. His strut is so grounded that I occasionally get a slight twinge of President-envy. I wish Jay Kay would take notes, cancel a few hundred overseas trips and stick around to flex that authority muscle of his. It is looking decidedly underdeveloped. We’re going through some interesting times. On the one hand there are the daily dramas of CCM’s Women and Youth wing elections replete with screaming matches, tantrums and accusations of vile corruption. On the other hand, there’s all kinds of sinister weirdness going on around viz a viz the burning of churches and the general welfare of religious leaders of both the Muslim and Christian faiths. We are getting anxious. It has always been the President’s job to calm our fears by assuring us that whatever is giving us nightmares will have to go through him first to get us. And by convincing us that he’s a formidable defender of the Republic. When the threat is identifiably external we have no problems rising to the occasion. But that is what the armed forces are for. They have already earned our confidence that should any problem arise, they’ll lace up their combat boots right quick and proceed to plant them firmly in the face of whoever made us cry in the playground. This leaves the President free to focus on the area in which we actually crave his attention: internal peace, stability and welfare. We’ve been spoiled by decades of highly interactive exchanges with our leaders, we expect them to listen to our troubles and mediate all domestic altercations without showing favouritism. When disasters happen, His Excellency has to come kiss the ouchies away and make it all better. When the economy is ailing we expect him to find a way to put enough food on the table to feed a growing nation. A large part of a Tanzanian President’s job is to be Mom. Which is why President Mkapa got away with being so tetchy in his addresses when that time of the month, I mean budget, exacerbated his ill humour. We knew he was lecturing us because he wanted the best for us. Nyerere was lovingly authoritarian- everything would go well as long as we remembered our manners and our obedience training. Let’s just say that Jay Kay’ mothering tactics are full of good intention but ever so slightly negligent. He’s always out and about kicking up his pretty ankle boots. Like, all the time. We could stand to have him home more. And when he’s home, he could perhaps get in touch with his mean side. There are a lot of us getting up to no good these days, but I bet that if he gave us all a good talking to we might improve our collective sense of direction. And I can’t be the only one who thinks that there a number of kleptocrats who deserve a good, strong, pitiless public spanking. To be fair, Jay Kay’s cheerfully permissive nature has brought about some advantageous changes in the same way as Mwinyi’s did. Under this administration Tanzania has not only found its voices, it has opened its mouth real wide and spoken. The media industry is thriving for better or worse as well as enterprise and a whole bunch of other things. Kikwete’s ability to share power has given some effective public servants an opportunity to do good work and I am comforted by the fact that Jay Kay devolves most of the heavy lifting to his grimly dependable Prime Minister. Still, I want my President to come and fix things. Head of State is a real job, not just an opportunity to go dress shopping on the public account. The symbolic powers of leadership cannot be under-estimated, especially not in times of uncertainty, which he should know from studying Obama. We didn’t vote Jay Kay in so he could ignore pressing matters. So wherever he is this week, he had better come back with some courage in tow. If we could just grow up a little and devolve more power, more agency and more responsibility to the local government level and to ourselves as citizens, this Republic might just be able to give President Mom a break. Until then, he’d best come earn his pay by rectifying the household’s problems or there won’t be a happy home to come to. * Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report. * Source: Africa News Update