An interesting exchange has been developing in this blog over this issue of Tanzanians and Kenyans, even as yet another controversy (over the Sunday Nation cartoon that portrayed the Tanzanian press as worshipping the President instead of reporting objectively) brews.
This heated discussion has culminated in a thinly veiled threat against this blogger today. Use the link below to get to the page and see for yourself.
Read comment number 12 for yourself. Read 13 also.
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Well chris, having read a number of your comments on this blog, it somehow seemsyou have issues with Tanzanians, especially our president. In most of your posts you have been commenting on Kikwetes political and economic policies, policies that you seem to think are hostile to kenya and kenyans.
ReplyDeleteYou have also portrayed, in one of your posts, that kenyans are quote more superior in education than tanzanians, i think that this is because more kenyans speak english than tanzanias. I also read a post that suggests that investors are quote fleeing tanzania because the government is forcing them to hire locals who are quote incompetant, i presume that it is kenyas who are being denied work permits, and that because of this investors are running up extra costs. I can list so many accusations, that you have posted on your blog, that you claim come from credible sources.
I really dont care whether your sources are credible or not,but it seems to me that you have issues to deal with. one thing about kikwete you should realise is that the man is a nationalist. You do know he is the most popular elected leader probably in africa, that doesnt mean that he is out there to quote promote popularist policies, what he is doing, ebing a charismatic leader, is to try to first bring prosperity to his people, so that like kenya and uganda, they too can own their economies, and can feel proud to be tanzanians.
The issue about workers mainly concerns people who do the jobs that ordinary tanzanians can do, sweeping , cleading , housekeeping , making tea, do you need to speak english to do that? And by the way we have a very competant labor force, an example are the banks such as the postal bank, crdb, and other local instituitons and companies that are run by locals and are performing well, including the mining companies and others. We do need experts that are not readily avaible in the country and every investor has to provide proof that such experts are not available in the market before they can hire one , and besides investors are allowed to bring in a specified amount of workers from the countries of origin, people who they are aquainted with, so credible as your information is , it is wrong.
By the way inorder to develop it is not like we need the kenyan labor force to assist us simply because we cannot speak english, since when was english the key to compentancy? I do acknowledge that many kenyans have studied abroad and many are exposed to the fierce world of competiviness, but tanaznians ahve proven time and time again, that we are just as competant, an exapmle is the plenty of tanznanias working in international instituitons and in countries like botswana, south africa, zimbabwe and namibia who were entirly educated in tanzania, i remember in the 80s many tanznians went to zimababwe to assist the country when it had just gained independance and they contriubuted tremendously to their economy.
The purpose of foreing investment is that the receipient country benefits as well as the investor, do you expect that we tanzanians allow investors to come in and not create employment? instead hire kenyans and other foreigners because we cant speak english? Will that be accepted in Kenya? Mining contracts were reviewed by the current government because it was found that we were not getting enoguh from the resources, the companies didnt run away, they agreed their was a problem and decided to solve it, that is the way we do things in tz we negotiate peacefully and find solutions.
What the current government has realised is that we are not yet ready for the common market and federation and that such issues that involve the people need not be rushed, you say that kenya and uganda are ready to join even tommorrow? i really dont know where you get that information from, i recently read about a conflict between the two about mukwano products entering kenya. Federation and the opening of borders is not something to rush into especially with the ongoing crime wave in all states, tribal conflicts and cattle rustlings, there is an issue of nomadic herding and its destruction to the environment, tanzania is paying a huge price for that. We should learn from communities such as the Eu, how integration is implemented step by step, we have had the eac before and we messed up we dont want that again, we arent dragging our feet, we are being cautious which is what any responsible government would be especially when it comes to sensitive issues, Kenya is already eastafricas largest economy with a superior labor force that knows how to speak english, i wonder why it hurts you so much that incompetant tanzanians who speak broken english are dragging their feet to open their borders with you.
By the way we are proud of swahili, we proud to speak it, it gives us a sense of identity. I know pllenty of kenyans who cant speak fluent english even though english is their first language, and i know plenty of tanzanians who speak better and fluent english more than their swahili. So mr chris, i suggest you really change you preception of tanzania and check with your sources properly before jumping to conclusions.