Tanganyika Law Society’s repurposing for prestige

Last Friday saw the historic Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) hold their annual AGM in Arusha and subsequent polls for its officials which culminated with the re-election of a discredited Dr. Edward Hoseah as president. Hoseah is a former anti-corruption chief who left his position under a deep cloud during the Kikwete years.

I struggle to describe my feelings at how the TLS has taken a deplorable turn for the worse. It beats me just how the society membership could swing from being driven in a luxury Bentley i.e. the former madam president, Fatma Karume, to a car of a much lower rung soon after.

I should declare from the outset that I have more than a cursory interest in the affairs of the TLS, given that my late father was a legal man through and through going back to his time as one of the first advocates of independent Tanganyika and later as AG for just over a decade under President Nyerere.

One act that I remember he was proudly involved in as an advocate was adding his name to a petition organised by the TLS defending the citizenship of veteran journalist and advocate, Jenerali Ulimwengu. That was during the high-handed era of the late President Benjamin Mkapa.

The TLS was an organisation worth its salt and it is noteworthy they even had a monthly journal, The Tanzania Lawyer, that the general public had access to. Strangely, the magazine appears to have suffered a natural death and all at a time when the roll of advocates is increasing substantially.

It is the stuff of intellectual laziness to say the least on the part of the ‘learned’ friends.

Turning now to the AGM. It was my actually my forlorn hope that back from last year, following the death of the late President Magufuli, some lawyers would have had the gumption to solemnly remember all the victims of the horrific abuse of power by the past regime.

None other than Fatma Karume has her share of trials and tribulations. It was incumbent upon the fraternity at the very least to have stood up for one of their very own to the hilt. Nevertheless, we live in hope and it is my prayer that someday, however long it takes, a reputable institution will bestow an honour on her and remind us of the passage from the scripture that Martin Luther King Jr. quoted: “Now is the time for justice to roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. Now is the time.”

Such a dream of good tidings in the near future juxtaposed with Hoseah and his ilk in the driving seat sits uneasy though. To get the big picture of what one is up against, Hoseah is on record expressing doubts about the understanding of the ordinary citizenry of basic constitutional affairs.

He would even have the audacity to make reference to neighbouring Kenya and how their 2010 Constitution has not helped them much, going by the minefield that is the political landscape there.

These remarks, by and large, manifestly exhibit the most shallow thinking on Hoseah’s part.

As someone who is at one with the notion of leadership as showing the way, the bare minimum that Hoseah ought to have shown direction on is the never-ending headache of independent candidates in Tanzania. Unless Hoseah doesn’t believe in it at all, his job was made even easier as the CCM proposed constitution of 2014 made provision for it.

As it were, innumerable by-elections at parliamentary and local council level have taken place that have been boycotted by several opposition parties, meaning that CCM candidates have sailed through unopposed.

Is it acceptable then that the voter is denied a basic right to elect a representative of their choice outside the political parties? And what about low voter turnout in the process? This all counts for nothing in Hoseah’s universe.

On the matter of the Kenyan Constitution, I sincerely advise Hoseah during the meetings of the East Africa Law Society, to take time to sit down with the leadership of the Kenya Law Society and find out just how Kenya is a markedly different country to the days of the imperial constitution.

Devolution is just one example where counties that had previously been so marginalised have made development strides.

The LSK through its old luminaries like Gibson Kamau Kuria and Paul Muite are etched in Kenyan legal and political history through their unflinching quest for the Second Liberation.

For Hoseah’s information, the lady running-mate of Raila Odinga, Martha Karua, has a grounding in civil society when at its zenith.

In closing, the TLS ‘learned’ friends have acquitted themselves very poorly on their choice of leaders. Rather than being a salvation for the country after the Magufuli years of riding roughshod, they have decided to cast their lot with reactionary elements who are in it chiefly for prestige.

This repurposing must be quickly nipped in the bud and my suggestion to assuaged TLS members in confronting this dilemma is to pursue vigorously at the very least the revival of their old journal as a means of not only stretching their intellectual bandwidth but separating the wheat from the chaff.