PHOTO: A photograph of President Kikwete and CHADEMA's Chairman Mr. Freeman Mbowe during the Law Day Wednesday February 02, it brought alot of contraversy of course
LACK of support from his aides has led to the unsatisfying performance of the Fourth Phase President Jakaya Kikwete according to the recent media survey in Mbeya urban. May 2010
By Elias Mhegera
IN a survey that was sponsored by HakiElimu 30 people forms a cluster sample of the interviewees, from different age groups, social strata and religious inclination.
The survey involved people from the 15 wards of the Mbeya urban constituency. Namely Iyela, Iyunga, Itiji, Forest, Sisimba, Mabatini, Mwanjelwa, Soweto, and Soko Matola.
Other areas that were surveyed are Ilomba, Mwakibete, Mbugani and Mbalizi. The sample of interviewees involved civil servants like teachers, nurses, drivers, secondary school students (A-level) and university students.
According to the survey 60 percent graded President Kikwete’s performance below 50 percent, while 40 percent graded him above 60.
The statistics stands as follows one person graded him with 10-20 percent, four graded him with 21-30 percent, and six graded him 31-40 percent while seven graded him with 41-50 percent.
On the contrary four graded him 51-60 percent, four graded him with 61-70, while three graded him with 71-80 percent and one person graded him with 81-90 percent.
The modal class according to this study was seven people with 41-50 percent. The modal class constitutes 21 percent of the interviewed sample.
As to what the incumbent president will scoop during the forthcoming general elections the results were more or less the same if the national electoral commission was to do justice, and if the competition environment will be fair.
Generally interviewees gave president Kikwete victory at 70 percent. They graded their incumbent Member of Parliament, Benson Mwailugula Mpesya at 40 percent.
There were variations on how they graded their councilors while they graded themselves at 40 percent in terms of the civic awareness.
On what went well with the Fourth Phase Government
Interviews accepted that there are some positive developments in terms of infrastructural development, particularly construction of roads, schools, and modern buildings although at a low speed in comparison to the Third Phase Government.
President Kikwete was lauded due to his good treatment of leaders of opposition political parties and that he has opened a space for vibrant discussions in both the media and informed forums.
He is also lauded for his commitment in sports as reflected by the employment of an international stature Taifa Stars coach Marcio Maximo.
The president was also praised by a segment of women interviewees on the fact he has been in the forefront to ensure that there is gender parity by employing some women in key government positions like judges, ministers, ambassadors etc.
His government’s weaknesses
According to the interviewee sample 60 percent criticizes the president for having made an enormous amount of promises which could not be fulfilled.
He is also criticized by the same percentage for his failure to handle the ruling party in his capacity as chairman leading to factions that eventually paralyzed performance of his government.
The percentage of those who criticized foreign trips by the president stood at 30 percent of the interviewees, while those who criticized him for inaction against those who have been I implicated in grand corruption scandals stood at 60 percent.
What were Mbeya residents expecting from the fourth phase government?
According to the survey the extent of fulfillment was judged according to one’s wellbeing in their activities whether in the public sector or in the private sector.
For instance employees were not satisfied by the government’s promise on improving their life through payment of good salaries that match with their demands. This was repeated by all the civil servants that were interviewed during this survey.
For the entrepreneurs their cry was that the taxi regime is unfriendly and that the road infrastructure did not undergo fundamental changes. They were also expecting president Kikwete to manage well the economy and curb inflation which they say his government did not.
Mbeya residents are unsatisfied due to the fact that they do not realize profits in their businesses to the extent that they can not re-invest whatever they accrue from their businesses.
“We do have Mbeya Cement within our close range but we can not construct new buildings because of high prices of construction materials including cements” complained one entrepreneur.
They also commented that the CCM government failed to implement the poverty reduction strategy (MKUKUTA) and for the Muslims the introduction of the Islamic Kadhi court which was part of the CCM election manifesto during the 2005 general elections.
Factors that might have influenced these results
Mbeya is the fourth city in the country tailing behind Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Tanga. It has almost all the modern city communication infrastructure with reliable television coverage, Mbeya based radio stations and daily delivery newspapers.
The level of civic awareness is comparatively very high although the residents in that area do not realize this. Probably this level of awareness has been contributed by their access to the media.
According to this survey there are five Mbeya based radio three of them run programmes on civic education namely; Bomba FM, Generation FM, and Baraka FM.
Mbeya urban is one of the constituencies which elected a member of parliament from the opposition namely; one Polisya Mwaiseje against the CCM candidate the late Bruno Mpangala.
The city is running a cosmopolitan life style with a big number of visitors from neighboring countries like Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia and the Democratic republic of Congo.
Hence the level of lifestyle reflects that there is a big middle class from the urban elite, employees in the civil service private legal practitioners, bankers, industrial workers and the entrepreneur who have access to information.
There is a growing disappointment from the city residents due to the appointment of the regional commissioner John Mwakipesile who lost to Dr Harrison Mwakyembe in Kyela during the 2005 general elections.
Although the regional commissioner is lauded for his good work but some city residents feel as if he is focused more in recapturing the Kyela seat than working for his region as a whole.
Mbeya residents who constitute a big segment of civil servants admitted that they were irked by President Kiwete’s speech against the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) on May 3 this year.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment