By Godwin Semunyu
Tanzania is entering eight weeks ofintensepolitical campaigns towards the October 28th General election. This is the timethat politics become themost dominantsubject. From thecorporateoffices to worshiping housesto the Bars, no one is spared of the political heat. Friends turn to nemesis; couples argue over a candidate.
The youthslose their minds. The law-enforcers are on high time alert, the anti-Corruption fellas know no nights of sleep.Jenerali Ulimwengu, one of myall-time favorite authors, calls thisperiod;“Poll madness”.Indeed, it is.
Withdays and nights ofpolitical drivenmedia coverage,long hours of campaign rallies, andimpulsivegenerosityfrom the fellas you hardly know,brace yourself for a long bumpy ride.
Get ready for “perfect strangers” who will take the Santa role offering “gifts” of t-shirts, khanga, caps, and badges. Contrary to the real Santa though, these particular gifts will becarrying one dominant message;“Vote for me”. Some will promiseyou a supersonic trip tothe land of milk andhoney.
“You deserve to live like Kings and Queens” they will tell you, “Vote for me and progress” they willswiftly remind you.No stone will beleftunturned.You have heard of these same stories beforeand told yourself never againyou will fall into the trap. But they will come again and you will listen.
With their brilliance oratory prowess,persuasion, and sudden generositywillmake you doubt yourself for doubting them. Not long ago, one popularpolitician promised to bring about rainmakingtechnology, to help out during the drought seasons.In vain. Such is life!
However, after all the dust has finally settled and thelast cowishome safe, threethings will abound; A cheerful winner, a soreloser, and You.As a schoolboy inMorogoro, I had my first stint ofthe wrath ofa political campaigngone bad.Somehow,I ended up in bandwagon of pushing around town the vehicle carrying an opposition candidate.
The men in uniforms were not particularly pleased. The attempts to stop us fell intodeaf ears.We were to hyped to care. Well, a lot happened that evening. Luckily, I left unscathed. However, not many people got lucky.The paniccaused by the unleashed tear-gas bombs led toa stampede,and as a result, many wereinjuredwhile a handful ended up with permanent disabilities. Meanwhile, the candidate had mysteriously vanished from the scene.
That's another story altogether. Fast forward, hehas since joined thesame party that he "hated" so much. The party that he persuaded people to risk it all, to oust. Africahas experienced enough Post electionmayhem;it has become a norm. While it is true that some of the confusions are sectorial.
A fair share is also caused by sore losing politicians. From Zimbabwe (2008), Nigeria (2007), Lesotho (2007), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2006), Togo (2005), and Guinea Bissau (2008), It has been detailed that more than half of all elections in Africa experience some form of violence or intimidationeither before or after election day.
In East Africa,neighboring country of Kenya went into turmoilin 2007 and 2017 over disputed election results. Zanzibar was intounrestafter-2005 election.Earlierthis year, Malawi narrowly dodged a bullet, thanks to a candidElectoral Courtthatwas honest enough to call a spade a spadeby overturning the grieved election results.
Thescars that are brought byall this madnesstrickles-downtoindividuals and households. The politician you idolize,to the extent of despising your next-door neighbors,will soon be gone. But the next-doorneighbor will remain yournext-doorneighbor.
It will be the same next-doorhouse that your kids gotoplay.Let’s practice modesty. We don’t have to getphysical or lose empathy just to provea point."Argue, don't shout" Mwalimu Nyerere once said.Let’sagree to disagree. As the great Chinua Achebe once said “He who holds his brother down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.”If you believe that being an opposing follower is a sin, at least keep it to yourself.
Similarly, ifyou think supporting the ruling party is a sin, don’t rub it ontheir faces. It is important to remember that after October 28th, there will still be life to be lived.Let your votebe louder than your disruptive online comments and hate speeches.The Internet never forgets! Let your vote do the talking.
For comments: gsemunyu@epicpr.co.tz
Mafunzo ya Ufugaji Bora na Matibabu, Jiunge sasa kwa KUBOFYA HAPA
Post a Comment