I was in Malaysia last week as part of the Mission to learn how Pension funds are invloved in power generation. Malaysia is a country with 26 million people. It has installed capacity of 21,000 MW of electricity. Out of this it uses only 15,000 MW. Tanzania is a country of 42 Million people with installed capacity of 990MW of electricity but able to produce only 600MW. During my stay in Kuala Lumper, the capital of Malaysia i decided to use taxi so that i get information from 'real' people rather than the people i meet in meetings with suits and the likes. One taxi driver of around 25 years of age told me that when he was born he grew up in poverty and that most of the development projects i was seeing now ahve been done within a period of 20 years. He boasts to have been born in poverty and now lives in higher standard of living.
In one of my meetings our delegation met Mukhriz Mahathir, a deputy minister for international trade. He told us that in 1970 56% of Malaysians were living below poverty line and now it is 3% only. Is it miracle? No. Is it rocket science? No. It is about firm leadership. A leadership with vision and able to make decisions.
Tanzania, many people believe, misses this element - LEADERSHIP. Are conditions in Tanzania ripe for a strong leader, a decisive leader? I mean political conditions.
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This is a nice, informative and somehow provoking reality. My take on this, especially your question as to whether conditions are ripe for the ideal leadership in Tanzania, is that, unless we create these conditions ourselves (The few conscious Tanzanians) then it shall not be granted freely. I believe the current leadership would still want to cling to power as much as possible. Its not easy to call for the conditions but its also not impossible, lets keep the ball rolling and i see light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteBut why do we think these conditions are not existing. May be they exist and we just dont see or realize (kwa uvivu wetu). Mwalimu Nyerere was very strong and ethical and built the nation. On economic front, he did not do well. What are the right conditions, may be we go back to basics......?
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ReplyDeleteHi Zitto,
ReplyDeleteHappy to contribute the same. Yesterday I happen to meet a man from Malaysia. He is a PhD student at Leeds University. When he told me he is from Malaysia I was surprised because I have meet lot of students from Malaysia from undergraduates to postgraduates. I asked him how it happens that there are soo many students from Malaysia. He said, there are six hundred students from Malaysia here at Leeds. In UK there are sixteen thousand students and we spend 20% of our annual GDP for higher education that is why our country economic growth is getting faster. So Zitto ??....Tanzania mmhhhh……..?????!!!!
Emmanuel Kwayu
I also think that many people in our country (Tanzania) are more after the name soo called politics "siasa". We don’t take much effort to set our or put in place clear vision of where we want to go or what we real want. And this is the problem of nation as whole as MANY PEOPLE ARE AFTER SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE "MAISHA BWEREREE AMBAYO HAWAJAFANYIA KAZI". It is very rare for many individuals in many households to set their own goals or have purpose in life and this is very bad brother. Living without vision or purpose is very dangerous ma brother it is very easy end anywhere. This is a big problem to our people. Our learned people are also taking our country astray. This is too ridiculous. I hate this..
ReplyDeleteEmmanuel
Hizi tatizo la umeme kwa mtazamo wangu naona ndilo tatizo sugu zaidi,na isitoshe hakuna nchi yoyote duniani inayoweza kuendelea na kufuta umasikini ikiwa miundo mbinu ni duni,nchi yetu miundo mbinu ni duni sana kulinganisha na nchi nyingi duniani,mimi nipo hapa ukraine nilikuwa nikijaribu kuangalia ni kwa vipi ukaine ina watu millioni 46 lakini imejitahidi kwa kiasi kikubwa kufikisha umeme hadi kure vijijini yani kwa kifupi hakuna mtu asiye na umeme hali hii imebadilika kwa kipindi cha miaka kama kumi na tano,kitu kikubwa nachoweza kufikiria ni kwamba watanzania tumekuwa waogoa sana,tunaogopa na ndio maana tunajua kuwa serikali yetu haitutendei inavyopaswa lakini tumekuwa tukiacha kila kitu kama kilivyo.naamini kabisa tunaweza bila kutegemea msaada kufikisha umeme kwa kila familiya Tanzanian..jambo la msingi ni kubadilisha mfumo wa shirika kutoka kwenye mfumo uliopo sasa na kubwa (PUBLIC CORPORATION) umuhimu wake ni nini??inamaana Tanesco Itatoa nafasi kwa watanzania kumiliki hisa na wawekezaji wowote,kumbe basi kutapatikana na fedha nyingi mno ambazo zitatumika kuzalishia umeme,si lazima tuwe tunategemea umeme wa maji ambao inaoneka hata mvua sasa ni za tabu kwa ajili ya watu kukata miti ili kutoa mkaa..ni ni hatima ya hili???kama tutaendelea na hali hii basi itafikia kipindi nchi yetu itaanza kuzaliza hadi chini ya kiwango ambacho inazalisha ifikike kipindi tuanze kulitumia jua letu tulilojaliwa na mwenyezi mungu ipasavyo ili kuzalisha umeme,je ni nchi ngapi za ulaya ambao wanapata jua mara moja kwa mwaka na wamefanikiwa kuzalisha kiwango kikubwa??je hili tutalifanyaje?ni kiasi cha kuandaa mswada juu ya hili japo la kubadilisha mfumo wa TANESCO ili kila mtu apate nafasi ya kununua hiza,halafu watazania wote wakakapa nafasi nafasi ya kuchangia hoja kupitia vyombo vya habari kabla mswada haujaenda bungeni..nadhani tutafanikiwa
ReplyDeleteKASAMALI ANTHONY