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@ MarketingAfrica MAL69 / 25 ISSUE
Marketing Africa
On Democratic Debacle
When the British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, famously quipped that there are lies, damn lies and statistics, he was referring to political behavior but Tanzania has taken his apparent sarcastic quote to a whole new level of official chicanery.
To put our comments in context one has to remember that Tanzania took over the mantle of the regional island of peace and stability after Kenya spectacularly lost its famous epithet of‘ Hakuna Matata’ soon after the disputed 2007 elections.
The fallout caused by the Post Election Violence cast Kenya in the middle of an international spotlight that was a national embarrassment given the carefully curated image that Kenya had presented to the world as a bastion of democracy and a development poster child.
It took the intervention of the international community to broker an awkward ceasefire which gave birth to a mongrel democratic sham that Kenyans with their characteristic and irrepressible humor called the‘ Nusu Mkate’.
There were many theories that were fronted to explain the tinderbox effect that saw Kenyans turn on each other with ferocious bitterness. Top of the list of probable causes was that Kenya was timebomb primed to explode due to underlying tribal animosities.
This theory was given credence by pointing out that Tanzania, the Swahili speaking cohesive neighbor, did not have the tribal curse that lurks buried in the sick minds of Kenyan politicians who then exploit ethnicity every five years for political gain.
So, it was with a sense of disbelieve in the region and in the world at large when this haven of peace exploded into a protest so violent which was met with an equally uncharacteristic vicious reprisal that made the whole scene look rather surreal.
It was as though‘ Maandamano’ was a contagious affliction caught from the unruly neighbor, Kenya, and as was to be expected the Tanzanian leadership lost no time to chastise its citizens warning them that Kenyan‘ Tabias’ would not be tolerated.
It cannot be denied that the Gen-Z exploits of the Kenyan youth who nearly toppled the Kenyan despotic regime may have inspired political activism among the youth in the region and beyond but Tanzania’ s experience is rather a distressing one.
A lady contender to the presidency, who was thrust into top leadership by the tragic death of a sitting president, wanted to win the presidency by election but it was quite apparent that this was going to be a tough trick to pull off.
So, the lady who took office with the unmistakable motherly mien was progressively transformed into a political ogre by a political environment that believed she did not have legitimacy since she did not have a political base nor experience to launch her bid.
Backed into an uncomfortable corner, the lady borrowed from the‘ Dictator’ s Manual 101’ and decided the easiest way to win an