{UAH} WHERE IS BARIGYE WHEN ONE NEEDS ONE? Geez !!!!!!

THE recent controversy, which has all the ingredients of a soap opera or a third class comedy and which in latest scene has unfairly put the First Lady Salma Kikwete at the 'thick of things' in the series of acts of provocation by the powers-that-be in Rwanda cannot pass without comment.

It would seem that the authorities in Kigali are afraid of their own shadow and that all these statements or false allegations against Tanzania, totally misplaced, out of tune and unfortunate as they are, aim at lending credence to utopia.

We wouldn't like to be deeply drawn into such an abstract matter that is of no political value to us much as our north-western neighbours, fellow East African Community (EAC) partner and fellow signatory to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Rwanda, have chosen to make it an issue.

The statement posted in the social media, which by implication means that President Jakaya Kikwete is a brother-in-law to the former Rwandan Head of State, the late Juvenal Habyarimana, as Mama Salma is a cousin of Mama Salma, does not make good sense and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

True records show that the First Lady hails from Lindi Region. That is the truth and the only truth as Tanzanians know it. There are no clues, whatsoever, that link Mama Salma with the Hutu, which is the majority tribe in Rwanda and Burundi. President Habyarimana, who was killed when his official plane was shot at near Kigali as he was returning from a reconciliatory meeting in Dar es Salaam in 1993, was a Hutu.

The government, through the Tanzania Information Services, has responded quite well and wisely to the unfounded claims, trashing them as a total lie aimed at tarnishing the image of President Jakaya Kikwete.

It is very unfortunate that the administration in Kigali has decided to misinterpret and blow out of proportion the plea given in very good faith by President Kikwete to Rwanda and the FLDR rebels in hiding in the DRC to sit together and amicably settle their conflict.

What is wrong with that for asking out loud? Tanzania has always been a firm believer in good neighbourliness, regional cooperation, positive and constructive dialogue and non-alignment as tools to maintain peace among nations. We are resolute in such belief to this day.

Tanzania

 

           Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
           Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"