My sojourn on the Chalinze to Dar es Salaam road section

Here I was in one of the best hotel lounges in this part of Bongoland. And this was not even in Dar es Salaam nor in Arusha or Mwanza.

This was in Njombe, the head office of the newly established region in the southern highlands. The establishment was the Hillside Hotel located in the middle class suburb of Uzunguni. Anyway this is a story for another day.

Having had a late night engagement I was naturally having a late morning breakfast.

Suddenly, on the big TV screen in front of me there appeared this interesting dancing regime by what appeared to be members of the National Service (JKT) squad.

They were performing a beautiful dance in line with some stunning songs which I came to learn later were ‘Sebene’ numbers. Indeed I loved their moves.

This was a nice and attractive procedure before the major event, which in due course I came to learn was the official laying of the foundation stone of the eight - lane road from Dar es Salaam to Kibaha, some 20 or so kilometers.

This is the main entry vein to Dar es Salaam and its port for several east and central African countries including Malawi, Zambia, DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. It is therefore a vital and strategic link.

Suddenly it struck me that this has also been my biggest predicament when driving into and out of Dar es Salaam.

There was one time when I, as chairman of the cosmopolitan Arusha Wazee Sports Club, which brings together a cocktail of Arusha residents including diplomats, missed our scheduled ferry boat to Zanzibar.

We were going for some sporting events at the invitation members of the House of Representatives.

We were stuck on the Chalinze - Dar es Salaam stretch for four hours, a distance which should normally take an hour or so.

The traffic jam we came across was terrible. My foreign and diplomatic colleagues could not understand this bottleneck. And I was lost for words to explain the situation.

Suddenly, here I was in Njombe watching an event which I felt was very dear to me and many Bongolanders as well as residents of neighbouring countries.

Actually a few weeks ago as I was driving from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam I was forced to skip the Chalinze - Dar es Salaam stretch. I took a detour a few kilometres before Chalinze and drove through Msoga and Msata to Bagamoyo and finally Dar es Salaam, a longer but faster route.

It is my hope that in a year or so from now I will not be forced to do so.

Otherwise Merry Christmas to you all!