Step down Mubarak

Egypt's president Mubarak should step down because people are tired of him

By Elias Mhegera
AFRICAN countries including Tanzania should learn from events in North Africa and the Middle East calling for major political reforms including resignation of their leaders.

In Egypt pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei, better known in the West as the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, joined the street protests.

In Friday last week the riot police had an up hill task to contain the biggest protests in three decades in Cairo. El-Baradei is considered a contender to unseat longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The turbulent situation in the Middle East is expected to have severe social consequences not only within those countries but also throughout the continent.

For instance within a very short time after the unrest situation occurred the prices of oil peaked up. No matter what happens in the Middle East, but all countries must study the situation carefully before deciding what to partake as a remedial to the problem.

There are indications that the youths are the most desperate in Tanzania. Local governments threaten to push the problem even higher after tough scuffles against the street hawkers the “machinga.”

The immediate solution therefore is not imposing curfew against them but find how they can be introduced to a series of shock absorbers. Let this be the task of experts and informed analysts not solely politicians.

States, including Tanzania must identify places where to get money without raising taxes directly. Banks and government leaders must negotiate on how to facilitate soft loans.

While all major psychologically important measures must be taken in order to calm down the militant youths.

Other long term measures to be considered are housing, jobs, and how the Government can overcome an enormous deficit without inflicting pain to the citizenry, this is by balancing income proportional between locals and investors.

There is a need to give more confidence to the desperate youths that the nation is still undergoing certain processes that will empower them in order to avoid them slipping back into frustrations.

The confidence should be justified by actions and not mere words. This must include whatever has been discussed in many forums including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

School leavers and fresh university graduates must be taken into consideration. And if possible the Government should inject funds to the National Service camps in order to improve production attract the youths there and reduce the “politics of stomachs”.


But even more important is the fact that there is a need to focus in production that is geared towards attracting major global markets in Asian countries, the U.S. and probably Europe.

All nations should remain reserved but must take special lessons from the Middle East unrest in order to take precautions once similar situations befall them.
mhegeraelias@yahoo.com Tel: 0754-826272
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