{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Nyerere’s legacy lies in engineering peaceful transfer of power
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http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/Rwanda/Opinion/-/1433246/2984512/-/iklu4sz/-/index.html
Nyerere's legacy lies in engineering peaceful transfer of power
Christopher Kayumba
Posted Friday, December 4 2015 at 20:39
In Summary
- Dr Magufuli is hailed for doing what leaders are normally elected to do: Act in public interest, properly manage the nation's resources, avoid wastage, hold subordinates to account and generally take wise decisions.
The brand new President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr John Pombe Magufuli, is now the most glowingly discussed leader in the region's mainstream as well as social media, barely a month after taking the oath of office.
On social media, he rivals President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi – though the latter gets airtime for clinging to power amid daily deaths of fellow citizens while the former is penned for taking pro-people decisions and thus inspiring many.
Objectively, Dr Magufuli is hailed for doing what leaders are normally elected to do: Act in public interest, properly manage the nation's resources, avoid wastage, hold subordinates to account and generally take wise decisions.
In office for 30 days now, Magufuli has taken a number of decisions — including directing that foreign travels by government officials be reduced to essentials only, channelling Independence Day celebration funds to catering for Aids victims, sacking an official for mismanaging a hospital and scrapping sitting allowances for Members of Parliament.
While some may rightly argue that these are minor symbolic measures and that to curb corruption and end wasteful public expenditure will require overhauling the entire system, we can agree that Magufuli has started on the right footing.
And, of course, there is no guarantee that he will succeed, considering that there are far more entrenched interest groups benefiting from this system.
Whatever the good old Magufuli manages to achieve, the point to be made is that, however one views it, peacefully and democratically changing leaders is, in the long term, good — not only because the procedure demobilises the use of violence to access power but also that it renews the nation by availing it with fresh minds, new ideas and approach to move it forward.
For instance, who would have imagined just a few months ago that Tanzania, and to be specific CCM, would give birth to an inspiring leader determined to fight corruption, considering that most of the news from this quarter concerned corruption scandals and worsening mismanagement?
Be that as it may, however, that isn't my main reason for writing. The point I want to make is that, while many have for a long time argued that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere's legacy lies in imagining and building Tanzanian national identity and with it national unity, I believe his greatest legacy lies in engineering peaceful transfer of power.
Magufuli is the fifth Tanzanian president since Independence in 1961 and the fourth since Nyerere's retirement. Now, many things could be said about the process that brought him to power.
However, something not widely reported were the smiles on former presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Ali Hassan Mwinyi as Jakaya Kikwete exchanged the seat of power with Magufuli. One could easily read the satisfaction on their faces; as if, in unison, saying, "We were right to retire; it's sustainably reassuring."
I consider peaceful transfer of power more notable than engineering national identity, simply because the former is the software of the latter.
Historically, we have heard and seen far more states failing or nearly failing not because they lack common identity but due to failure to resolve the political question — consensually agreeing peaceful and democratic exchange of power from one leader to the next.
Nations never die due to economic or social problems but political ones. No nation can be safe until it institutes the culture of peaceful transfer of power; people are more peaceful in poverty when they know they decide their rulers than rich people with no or little say in their governance.
Transferring political power from one leader to the other without killing each other or severing relations or breaking bones or imprisoning anyone and in a democratic manner is the mark of civilised behaviour; no nation can claim sustainable peace before achieving this.
Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Lamb disputing the results.
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