By Elias
Mhegera
It is true
that this has been going for quite some time that a receiving country has a
right to approve or reject a diplomat from a sending country at its own
resolve.
But the
recent rejection of a proposed new Germany Ambassador to Tanzania Ms Margit Hellwig-Boette
who had completed her term of service in Kenya could raise some eyebrows in the
diplomatic circle at least here in Tanzania.
This is
because the diplomatic world knows it well that a sudden change of attitude is
always an earlier warning sign, and for that matter, some homework has to be
conducted in order to get explanations on the underlying circumstances which
dictated the Tanzania’s decision.
But analysts
could go an extra-mile and associate this decision with political developments
in this country whereby some countries including Germany have been associated
with the ever growing popularity of the main opposition party Chama cha
Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA).
The diplomat
in case has had a good record of championing for human rights in Kenya as well
as supporting the international initiative through the International Criminal
Court (ICC), concerning the Kenyan 2007
post-election violence which culminated in the loss of hundred lives of
innocent people.
It can tell
that the Dar es Salaam either is not happy with this diplomat on the pretext of
what might befall the Tanzanian mighty politicians if things will not augur
well in regard to the respect of human rights.
To elucidate
this and enlighten readers’ minds is when the Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS)
through its country’s resident director Stefan Reith and another official and
researcher Danja Bergmann published a report of their findings on a startling
security situation in this country in late June 2013.
As it was
anticipated simple minds from some unqualified spin doctors jumped into a
conclusion that the KAS had a religious agenda in that this international
foundation originating from Germany is a wing of the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU), and therefore its alliance with CHADEMA is more of a religious alliance
than a political one.
In an
instance a segment of non-serious observers might be led to believe in this
cheap propaganda, but serious mind will go
an extra mile and discover that not accepting ‘comrade criticism’ from well-wishers
of this country like the KAS will just create a bad omen than bring hope to the
fast waning away peace that this country used to enjoy.
If it is not
for cheap propaganda, the culture of impunity and lawlessness that are finding
a permanent space in Tanzania could eventually lead to more severe shortcomings,
never witnessed within the 50 years plus since the independence of this
country.
A list of
such nasty events is rather long, the bombing of Roman Catholic congregation at
the St. Joseph Olasiti in Arusha on
May 5, 2013, another similar incident in Arusha again during the CHADEMA
meeting on June15, 2013 and yet another bombing in Arusha on April 13, 2014,
the killing of a humble and unarmed journalist DaudMwangosi, the killing of
Catholic priest Fr. EvaristMushi in Zanzibar, to the torching of churches in
Mbagala and Zanzibar.
As if this
is not enough, there is the throwing of acidic materials to foreign volunteers
and even the killing of a Pastor Mathayo Kachila of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God Tanzania
(PAGT) in Buseresere, Chato district, in Geita region
on a simple matter of beheading cows is not good signs of any peaceful country.
These nasty
incidents instead are good indicators of crumbling state machinery. Therefore
it is irrational to condemn whoever strives to improve the situation through
comrade criticism and a friendly advice as the KAS did to Tanzania.
Moreover, it
is not proper to chastise the good relations between KAS and CHADEMA because
German foundations are not new to Tanzania. Spanning from the mid-60s as it has
been with the SPD-FES and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi which started in 1965.
On the other
hand, another foundation the FNS, which is linked to the FDP is a closer
associate of the Civic United Front (CUF), all these shares experiences and
political strategies of survival and tactics in the political game, in so many
ways.
It is sad
indeed to notice that the co-operation between CHADEMA and KAS is seen in the
light of a hidden religious agenda, even more so, that this party is
registering continuous political vibrancy because of this ‘external influence’.
Instead, the
situation should be discussed in the light of a growing failure in
satisfying the disgruntled youngsters
who were promised of a million jobs in the 2005 General Elections by the
incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete, a dream that remain unfulfilled to date
(2013).
Therefore
CCM lost in all the major cities of Tanzania with big concentrations of the
street hawkers ‘machingas’ as it happened in Arusha, Mwanza, Mbeya, Ubungo and
Kawe in Dar es Salaam, to municipal towns like those of Iringa and Shinyanga
not forgetting the tiny island of Ukerewe and this has nothing to do with KAS,
but unemployment and youngsters frustrations in general.
Problems
like unemployment needs a long term plan and they cannot be resolved anyhow
trough Police intimidations, brutality and harassment of journalists who are
seen as agents of the opposition. Neither serious problems of this country can
be resolved by hijacking the constitutional formulation process.
Promoting
religious animosity could serve short term interests, but leave the country
with unhealed wounds for quite a number of years to come. On the opposite, the
KAS stands out to be the giant organization for finding an amicable solution of
religious tensions in Tanzania through sponsoring a number of conferences on
interreligious dialogue.
A number of
publications are available both at the
KAS offices, in Dar es Salaam, at the Inter-Religious Council for Peace Tanzania(IRCPT) offices and to its members partners like the Christian
Council of Tanzania (CCT), Tanzania Episcopal Council (TEC) and the Free
Pentecostal Churches of Tanzania (PCT).
Others are
the Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) and the Hindu Community all these efforts
cannot be undermined. Moreover, publications that have been sponsored by KAS
for O-level on Civics, and A-level secondary schools in General Studies to as
far as Climate Change are indications of a good motives rather than devastative
ones.
Photo
The bombing of Roman Catholic congregation at the
St. Joseph Olasiti in Arusha on May 5, 2013
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