Perceptions of Mbeya's urban residents in politics up to May 2010

Mbeya survey that was sponsored by HakiElimu
May 2010
By Elias Mhegera
1. Introduction

This report is based on findings of a survey that was conducted for five consecutive days from 4th to 8th June. It follows interviews of 30 people within the Mbeya City, from different religious denominations and age groups.

It wanted to know how Mbeya residents feel about their government, their perception in politics, how they rate the performance of the incumbent government for the past five years, and if at all they think that the central government has fulfilled promises that it made during the political campaigns in the last general elections in 2005.

The survey also wanted to know people’s feelings on policies that have been adapted by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, if they worked hand in hand with the election manifesto, in regard to empowering the youths, provision of employment opportunities, and handling of the rural sector and agriculture in general. Moreover the study also wanted to understand if at all people appreciate or for that matter, they are not satisfied that the government has made serious attempts to improve their lives, particularly of workers and peasants who are the majority in this country.

The interviewees had an occasion to identify the main sources of the pitfalls on whatever they had identified as the main sources of problems. The survey also identified available opportunities in Mbeya which could support the government with revenue. These are to do with new investments in the area, or enhancement of the existing ones in the area. Thus the survey also took into consideration availability of natural resources, and whether they have been utilized fully or not.


According to the survey, Mbeya City being one of the four cities in Tanzania; is probably the fourth largest after Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Tanga. To a certain extent the city is still dominated by the government sector if it was to be rated in terms of investments. As such there are few investments from the private sector particularly banks like BOA, CBA, NBC, CRDB, NMB, Barclays, Exim Bank and industries like Mbeya Cement.

The study that was conducted for five days, June 4 to 8, was mainly centred in the city wards. So far the city has 36 wards but the main commercial activities are located in Soko Matola, Mwanjelwa, Soweto, Itiji, Forest, Sisimba, Mabatini, Uyole and Sai. The survey was conducted in a city whose residents can be ranked as one of the most conscietized people although they have not realized that they posses such a unique quality.

2. General observations

Mbeya City-Brief Description

The city has modern facilities like the regional and referral hospital, secondary schools, stadium, internet cafes, modern tourist hotels, and a ready made market for the available consumerist society mainly by a small class of the city based elites.

There is reliable electricity, which to a certain extent has also facilitated in the improvement of other developments like infrastructure and water supply, which is so vital for hospital purposes. All basic resources and social service amenities are concentrated in the city therefore this has contributed largely to the high rural-urban migration, and Mbeya city has not escaped this trend. In Mwanjelwa there are large groups of desperate youths who seem to have been disillusioned by the city life style.

The city has six private radio stations; five of them are most active, namely; Bomba FM, Generation FM, Baraka FM, Mbeya Radio FM, and Sweet FM. In sports the city and the region in general has once hosted teams like Tukuyu Stars, Prisons, Karume Rangers, 44 KJ, and Tiger. These have in a way livened the city due to influxes of sport lovers during the crucial football matches.

Due to a combination of these issues people are generally exposed and sensitive to the happenings in this country. Coincidentally it was in Mwanjelwa suburb of the city where in June 2008 the youths in Mwanjelwa booed the presidential entourage, a sign of dissatisfaction at what the government is delivering to them.

The youngsters showed their dissatisfaction by recalling the state of affairs through their slogans, while they chanted in unison corruption, corruption!, corruption! They intended to show the president that he is not doing enough to curb grand larceny in this country.

This survey detected that these feelings of dissatisfaction are still there. Mbeya residents criticized the government for its failure to construct even a single university or any higher learning institution in the region. Currently there is a single university, Teophilo Kisanji University (TEKU), which has been set up by the Moravian church.

They however generally thanked some private banking institutions which have supported the region’s development efforts by investing in it, leading to a good regional bank sector. They would have expected the government to expand its investment in the mining sector in order to create more employment opportunities locally.

“We do have the Kiwira Coal Mines, and many gold reserves which could improve the living standards of Mbeya residents through commercial activity and employment opportunities,” reported one of the interviewees.



3. Survey findings

According to the survey in which 30 people were interviewed, 60 percent graded President Kikwete’s performance below 50 percent, while 40 percent graded him above 50.

The statistics stand as follows: one person graded him with 10-20 percent, four graded him with 21-30 percent, and six graded him at 31-40 percent, while seven graded him at 41-50 percent.
On the other hand, four graded him at 51-60 percent, four graded him at 61-70, while three graded him at 71-80 percent and one person graded him at 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 garner during the forthcoming general elections, the results were more or less the same if the national electoral commission were to do justice, and if the competition environment were to be fair.

Generally, interviewees gave President Kikwete victory with 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 their civic awareness.

They attributed this grading in the performance of President Kikwete as being a product of lack of support from his aides which has led to the unsatisfying performance of the Fourth Phase Government.

The sample of the interviewees, from different age groups, social strata and religious inclinations, included civil servants like teachers, nurses, drivers, secondary school students (A-level) and university students.

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 for his good treatment of leaders of opposition political parties, and that he has opened a space for vibrant discussion in both the media and informed forums.

He is also lauded for his commitment to sports as reflected by the employment of an international stature Taifa Stars coach, Marcio Maximo who left this country recently after expiration of his contract. The president was also praised by a segment of women interviewees for the fact he has been in the forefront to ensure that there is more gender parity, by employing some women in key government positions as judges, ministers, ambassadors etc.

The main government’s weaknesses
Of the interviewee sample, 60 percent criticize the government in general and President Kikwete in particular for having made an enormous amount of promises which could not be fulfilled.

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 implicated in grand corruption scandals stood at 60 percent.
However interviewees were optimistic that President Kikwete will still win in the forthcoming general elections later this year due to the fact that the general management of elections still favour the ruling party and that the level of civic awareness is still very low.

One person said that Kikwete will score 21-30 percent of the votes; three said that he will score 41-50, while nine said that he will score 51-60, six said that he will win by 61-70, nine said that he will win by 71-80, and two indicated that he will win by 81-90 percent.

According to the survey, the extent of fulfillment was judged according to one’s wellbeing in their activity, whether in the public sector or in the private sector.

For instance employees were not satisfied about the government’s promise to improve their life through payment of good salaries that match their demands. This was repeated by all the civil servants that were interviewed during this survey.

For the entrepreneurs, their cry was that the tax regime is unfriendly and that the road infrastructure did not undergo fundamental changes. They were also expecting President Kikwete to manage the economy well and curb inflation, which they say his government did not. Mbeya residents are unsatisfied about the fact that they do not realize profits in their businesses sufficiently to be able to re-invest whatever they gain from their businesses.

“We do have Mbeya Cement within close range but we can not construct new buildings because of high prices of construction materials, including cement”, complained one entrepreneur. They also commented that the CCM government had 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.


4. Factors that might have influenced these results

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 to by their access to the media.

According to this survey, there are five Mbeya-based radios; 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, one Polisya Mwaiseje, against the CCM candidate, the late Bruno Mpangala in 1995.

The city enjoys 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 entrepreneurs who have access to information. There is growing disappointment from the city residents about the appointment of the regional commissioner John Mwakipesile, who lost to Dr Harrison Mwakyembe in Kyela at the 2005 general elections.

Although the regional commissioner is lauded for his good work, some city residents feel as if he is focused more on recapturing the Kyela seat than on working for his region as a whole. Mbeya residents, who include a big segment of civil servants, admit that they were irked by President Kikwete’s speech against the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) on May 3 this year.


5. Summary of issues not covered in the media

Mbeya residents feels the pinch of hard life just like any other cities that have been hard-hit by the global financial crunch in so many ways. For instance, civil servants cannot afford the fast-rocketing prices, which means they have to look for other sources of income in order to support their families. They are quite aware of inflation and unmet workers’ demands.

The recent speech by President Jakaya Kikwete against the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) on May 3, demoralized workers to large extent, the fast growing city of Mbeya, is now becoming the centre of the Southern Highlands, since it caters for other neighboring regions and for non-Tanzanians, who frequently cross Mbeya’s borders on their travels to and from Dar es Salaam.

To a large extent Mbeya residents have a feeling that they have not yet been well accommodated in the governing of their country.
There is a general feeling that the government has not yet expanded its investment in the region, and that the mining sector has not yet been exploited fully in order to create more employment opportunities.

They do have a feeling that projects like the Kiwira Coal Mines, and many gold reserves which could improve the living standards of Mbeya residents through commercial activity and employment opportunities are left unattended by the central government. But most importantly is a hidden fact that Mbeya residents seem likely to pose a stiff challenge and opposition to the incumbent national leader, President Jakaya Kikwete in the forthcoming general elections if their demands are not taken seriously.

6. Conclusion; Summary of the findings

A good number of promises that President Kikwete made were not fulfilled. Civil servants like teachers continued to be neglected as it has been the tradition for quite sometime now. Frequent changes of the syllabus affect the teaching pattern leading to a poor performance generally President Kikwete’s performance’s has not satisfied Mbeya residents.

Also there is a general feeling that youngsters have more civic awareness than their elder counterparts. It entails the civil society to be empowered in order to improve the level of civic awareness. Many interviewees said that they expect that CCM will get the same results as in 2005, simply because the competition ground does not give equal opportunities, the claimed that there is usage of the Police Force in favour of the ruling party, and that the National Electoral Commission is biased as it favours the ruling party.

There were general complains that the tax regime is unfair to workers while the National Insurance which is mandatory has not helped anyhow to resolve their problems when it comes into getting medical services, many youngsters are still in the streets a sign that all is not going well in the lives. There is a general acceptance that the media has been so helpful in revealing corruption scandals.


7. Recommendations

The central government should establish more higher learning institutions so as to reduce congestion in Dar es Salaam, where there is a big number of such institutions. Mbeya has a friendly climate for learning purposes security is guaranteed, roads are passable throughout the year, so there’s a need to invite investors.

Mbeya residents are quite aware of higher level politics in this country; they would like to see one of their co-citizens from this region holding the reins of power. They should be motivated if the government aims to realize high level performance. There is a need to establish new government projects that are viable according to the city’s infrastructure and ability. Probably the best entry point is through tertiary education, industries, health, and tourism.

END

List of people interviewed

1. Deusidedit John Lwamlema, (51)
2. Ms Jane Lawa (61).
3. Jestina Nyondo (50)
4. Elizabeth Ismail (18)
5. Thomas Kasombwe (51)
6. Johnson Mwakatobe (40)
7. David Alison (30)
8. Felix Mwakyembe (53)
9. Chuma Amos (44)
10. Moses Ng’wati (32)
11. Ambwene Mwanjwongo( 24)
12. Ismail Ntaala (62)
13. Khalfan Kisegolo (38)
14. Hamad Omari (24)
15. Idrissa Salim (30)
16. Ali Mdachi (64)
17. Badru Khalid (38)
18. Karim Mbonde (43)
19. Abdul Malik (35)
20. Khalfan Juma (40)
21. Hamad Hassan ( 65)
22. Abdallah Salim (46)
23. Miraji Yusufu (40)
24. Hassan Mbarazi (35)
25. Ngovu Bedson (51)
26. Rose Mwakingu (54)
27. John Mwakibete
28. Name: Did not disclose ( 59)
29. Abdul Nchalikwao ( 67) years
30. Name: Adil Mayembo (28)