| WITH AN EAGLE: When PCCB is overwhelmed by graft | Send to a friend |
| Thursday, 29 July 2010 23:16 |
 By MOBHARE MATINYI, WASHINGTON, DCReports that the anti-graft watchdog, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), is overwhelmed by the game of graft in the ongoing political process are not surprising. The kinds of corruption being reported from the current party primaries are dismal. The list of the alleged evildoers further complicates the matter, as it includes candidates, voters and party officials. Interestingly, everyone expects the PCCB to arrest all the bad guys. But how can this happen if our future MPs are busy bribing their own voters? No wonder some PCCB officials sound unenthusiastic. The PCCB, apart from being underequipped, underfunded, understaffed and undertrained, is also a Tanzanian institution. The PCCB did not come from another planet, it belongs to our same corrupt society. Therefore, we don’t expect wonders. Yes, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) had warned its members, but I doubt if that was enough. The opposition may escape this embarrassment not because they are clean, but because aspirants for political offices don’t regard the opposition as viable political vehicles to wherever they want to get. That is why the opposition is not crowded. On Wednesday, I spoke to a concerned Tanzanian from Dar es Salaam. This is what he told me: “PCCB can’t fight something that is the backbone of our economy.” Then a Tanzanian businessman standing beside him added: “This is a corruption-based economy, you can’t fight it.” I couldn’t disagree with them. This observation reminded me of what a Tanzanian intellectual residing in Moscow suggested after a string of Russian spies were arrested in the United States last month only to be swapped for their fellow Russians from Russia. The Tanzanian noted: “Spying is in the DNA of Russians.” To make the matter more serious, some Tanzanians are now discussing political deals for the 2015 parliamentary elections. Can you imagine that people are now targeting corruption deals at the constituent level five years ahead of time? The above anecdotes brought me to a laughable conclusion that probably corruption is in the DNA of Tanzanians. Why should a voter struggle for a Sh5,000 or Sh10,000 bribe, run all over the place and get into all the cat-and-mouse tricks to dodge an arrest by PCCB? Why? Although one school of thought argues that corruption is not only a way of life in the developing world, but also a necessity for survival, I do not agree that the graft game taking place currently in the CCM primaries is a survival strategy. There is more to it. Where do candidates get the urge to distribute money? How did they get the cash? Why do they want to become leaders by hook or by crook? What are they trying to safeguard by being leaders? Who sent them to bribe fellow Tanzanians? Fine, it might be easier to point the finger at poverty as the main reason behind an unwarranted voters’ demands for bribes. However, the lack of political awareness as well as our culture to ask for anything from supposed fat cats contributes immensely to the malady of corruption. We can’t generalise that every candidate is corrupt or everyone vying for a political position has ill motives, but I bet you in these circumstances the majority are evildoers. Thus, should we expect an impartial parliament? Not on this planet, never! So, once again, graft champions will torment Tanzanian polity for the next half a decade. We may boast about having peaceful elections, something that everyone ought to congratulate us for, but, with this level of corruption, I doubt if the world will respect us. The new Election Financing Act seems to be a useless weapon in the war against corruption. Indeed, no law in any country is effective unless the government and everyone decide to make it effective. It’s sad that after enacting such an important law to govern our political processes our own people and leaders and aspirants have decided to scorn it. Should we believe that political processes in our country can’t be cleansed off corruption? Probably, but I am not buying that idea. We can get rid of this evil. Speaking about the lack of seriousness in our local governments on the 1968 Independence Day, founding President, Julius Nyerere said: “We cannot allow this kind of practice to continue, because the people who suffer are the citizens of Tanzania.” Please allow me to rephrase the warning: We cannot allow this kind of corrupt practice to continue, because the people who suffer most are the poor citizens of Tanzania. Corruption-based elections are not free and fair. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect to get good leaders. My fellow Tanzanians, corruption will consume all of us and finish our country if we won’t get serious about it. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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