THIS SENSELESS VIOLENCE MUST NOT BE CONDONED

Time and again, we have spoken against political violence that takes place in the country now and then. Now what happened during a press conference called by the Civic United Front (CUF) faction allied to secretary general Seif Shariff Hamad on Saturday in Dar es Salaam, is a matter of serious concern.

Violence reared its ugly head again. Chaos broke out and the planned press conference was disrupted by goons allegedly hired by a rival faction within the Opposition party.

Many people, including journalists, were attacked during the ugly incident which left several people injured.

This is just how destructive violence can be and the only people who can stop it from metamorphosing into permanent feature our competitive politics are political leaders.

It doesn’t matter who instigated who and who reacted how; the issue is, as long as this kind of political behaviour goes unchecked, we are headed for serious trouble as a country.

We have to learn lessons from other countries that have seen political violence decimate communities and bring deep rooted divisions.

As a media, we join other voices in advocating peace in this country since we understand the negative consequences of such ugly acts.

Tanzanians should be made to understand that political violence has contributed immensely in making Africa the most conflict-ridden region in the world.

Rwanda for one is a country that has experienced violence of the worst kind with humans killing fellow humans.

Those who survived the genocide in Rwanda will tell you that the core issues behind the senseless killing of close to a million people was more political than ethnicity.

To those bent to violence, we say: remember that Tanzania belongs to us all and so, every Tanzanian is free to move or go anywhere.

We should refrain from allowing senseless acts of violence creep in; we need to ensure Tanzania doesn’t descend into chaos.