OPINION: When did Tanzania become a divided nation, why?
The recent rumours on the health of President John Magufuli have exposed the deep divisions existing in the nation. The rumours laid bare the degree of hatred that some Tanzanians hold against each other.
The fact that some people might rejoice when one falls sick, to the extent of wishing them dead, speaks volumes about the health status of the relationships among leaders and people of this nation.
There are those who think that this state of affairs only started with President Magufuli’s illness rumours. They are wrong. This started several years back.
It showed its ugly face when former Singida East MP Tundu Lissu was fatally shot outside his well-guarded residence in Dodoma. Those who paid enough attention to what people uttered after the assassination attempt would recall how some quarters wished Lissu was killed on the spot.
There are others, until today, who believe that Lissu’s shooting was staged. Some self-styled analysts emerged then and started to show that the incident was not true. Some questioned the positioning of Mr Lissu in the car versus the fatality of his injuries.
Before that, we witnessed some degree of ridicule and mockery in incidents which involved deaths and other kinds of misfortunes befalling fellow Tanzanians.
Therefore, some of us were not bemused with comments issued by some people when rumours about Dr Magufuli’s illness spread. We were not bemused because it was continuation of what we had witnessed earlier.
Unfortunately, these biased comments follow along political affiliations of Tanzanians. When something befalls someone from the ruling party, some of the people from the opposition fail to show compassion and vice versa.
If something is not done to address this situation, Tanzania might be heading into a dangerous zone. There is a need to make people understand that their personal ambitions should not transcend national unity.
Every Tanzanian should be made aware that his or her interests should have a limit especially when it comes to national interests, notably, national unity.
The divisions we are witnessing now might please party zealots but in actual sense they are slowly eating the national fabric. If this is allowed to continue for some time, we will reach a point where people from different political ideologies would not be in talking terms.
If we want to fathom the effects of such a trend, we have a very good example from what happened on the other side of the country.
Not long ago political differences made Zanzibar a very dangerous area. Because of political differences Zanzibaris reached point of not talking to one another. People reached a point of poisoning water wells used by people who support a different political party. They reached a point where people shunned from attending funerals of people from the other side. And yet they called themselves a country.
The problem with this kind of situation that you might think that you are stronger because you belong to a ruling elite but in actual fact you are beaming on foundations which have been weakened.
From this weak foundation vantage, you cannot boast yourself of having a strong country.
Enmity created along such lines only weaken the nation, and leads to hatred among those holding differing political opinions. A nation divided from within can easily fall to external forces.
This is the age in which a nation cannot and should not ignore global trends. No country is self-sufficient.
Besides, aren’t we taught that human life is sacred? How come then some of us reach a point of wishing somebody else dead, or mocking someone who has escaped from attempt on his live and pretend that we are God fearing people?
