{UAH} Mr.Buwembo:to know who’s the rich boy in EA High? Just follow the girls - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

Good stuff, Mr.Buwembo Joachim, 

Its such a good article to read........it has got everything. Thank you. The dance flow thingy reminds me of my time at Kibuli S.S and the vocational times( holidays) i used to have at Kangulumira, Bugerere. I don't think I had any luck with the girls at my secondary school, and as such, dance floors were never a thing for me. I was more of a spectator when it came to "slows" Or stuff like that. I was basically allergic to any woman's hands or lips on me in public in high school. I tried to play a 'Tanzanian'(I.e. come and ask me if you can) but it didn't get me any far, you know!

But I remember one time I was around in senior 2 and was having my " hols" at Kangulumira. Then my mates suggested that we go for a disco in town after distributing our farm milk, and I hesitantly accepted. On reaching there, there was this beautiful girl on the floor and i was amazed with the way she danced! She kept vigorously shaking her bum and breasts only regardless of the tunes being played. Her body was like a "Tsunami" in specifically those two parts. Forget about Besigye's prophecies for a second,  this was a real 'Tsunami' on the dance floor or rather on a human body.

Up to now, I cannot understand why anybody would choose to dance like that .........with the same style for consistently 3 hours. At one point, the breasts seemed to be 'shooting' all these bullets in my direction but i later realised that all the guys I was with were probably thinking the same. She wasn't bothered about any of us gazing at her. Her face looked purposeful and a bit sweaty at times and she could have done better with a handkerchief , but she wasn't bothered.

I tell you what! I later bravely approached her while outside to say hello and we have remained friends up to now. Yes, just friends! But your Tanzania story has probably made some powerful people to think twice before they go ahead to sign certain regional agreements while excluding TZ.  Tanzania was/ is a big player in the East African community and shouldn't be ignored at al. Unfortunately, some of the problems that led to the fall of the EAC in the 1970s are still in existence. May be Tanzania is looking at the whole issue as a gamble, a reason why there are suspicious of their partners?

Kagame and Kikwete have recently shaken hands and we hope that things will get better before they become ugly again. Nevertheless, the general feeling among the Tanzanians I interact with is that the East African federation is just a worthless dream to pursue at the moment. They look at Ugandans as "bayaye" and they now reasonably hate Rwandese ( for good and bad reasons). May be we need to change the  ladies on the dance floor again to make things better!

Byebyo munange!

Abbey

Sent from my iPad

On 14 Sep 2013, at 06:12, Ocen Nekyon <ocennekyon@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Tanzania+the+rich+boy+in+EA+High/-/434750/1992214/-/6xy282/-/index.html

Want to know who's the rich boy in EA High? Just follow the girls - Comment

A departing German ambassador in Dar es Salaam a few years back amazed his audience at a farewell party by saying that, after three years in the country, he still had no clue about what makes Tanzania tick. An awesome confession from a diplomat, considering that in reality, diplomacy is legalised espionage.

A diplomat is an authorised spy who enters a country, presents his credentials to the head of state, then goes on a shopping spree for information from civil servants, security officers, politicians and if his host is developed, from scientists as well. It seems the German was so tight-fisted his shopping basked remained empty.

But even without shopping for information, understanding Tanzania is not difficult. The East African leaders — except Burundi — have understood Tanzania quite well, which is why they are alternately cajoling and bullying the biggest East African Community partner into action.

Tanzania is big, rich and in no hurry to jump onto the dance floor like its hungry neighbours. If you remember those high school dances, the ordinary boys would "spot" the girl they wanted to dance with and dart across the floor to their target to ask for the honour even before the record started playing.

Sometimes two or three boys would charge at the same girl. But the confident boys — star sportsmen or those from fabulously rich families — did not have to scramble. They would sit back and wait for the girls to ask them for a dance.

Tanzania is the rich boy of the East African High School, as it were. Its territory is larger than all the other four partners put together, leaving enough room to fit in another Rwanda and Burundi.

It shares a border with each of the other four members, plus four more other countries — Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and DR Congo. The country has a long coastline and with Zanzibar as part of it, its territorial waters are too vast to fathom. Bluntly put, Tanzania does not need its neighbours all that badly and is suspicious of our motives.

Tanzania's stupendous natural resources are being coveted by the United States, China, South Africa and Europe as well as its poor EAC neighbours. The rich boy can sit back and wait for the girls to ask him for a dance.

The natural gas deposits being developed in the south of the country are more than enough to supply all Tanzania's energy needs for the foreseeable future. Its gold, tanzanite, diamonds, name it, can make any trade partner it accepts rich.

The Serengeti's tourism potential has everybody with money ogling, from oil sheiks to American millionaires. The endless agricultural land, with many rivers and underground water just a couple of metres below the surface, has India, China and Turkey salivating.

Not many countries in the world boast of bordering eight neighbours plus a 1,500-kilometre coastline. If you don't come to the dance floor, we shall dance alone, the poor neighbours are saying. But the rich boy can hardly hear them, with the richer women from across the seas shouting in his ears inviting him to dance with them.

He gives a tolerant smile to the poor neighbours, but is in no hurry to fall into the arms of the rich women from overseas either. He continues weighing his options…

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International fellow for development journalism. E-mail: buwembo@gmail.com

Want to know who's the rich boy in EA High? Just follow the girls - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Tanzania+the+rich+boy+in+EA+High/-/434750/1992214/-/6xy282/-/index.html