Pondering election results from a quiet and tranquil corner in Dar

If you noticed that your favourite column was missing here last week, blame it on none other than the columnist.

Occasionally – as a ‘Fly on the Wall’ – I hover on the brink… A dangerous dalliance which, on occasion, puts me on a collision course with forces whose word is final. Last Tuesday was one such occasion.

But I digress, here. Suffice it to say that your ‘Fly on the Wall’ has survived – and learnt a thing or two on survival. They say cowards die may times – but live to see yet another day!

Election turbulence

The 2020 General Election brought with it much turbulence, with some ‘winning outright’ or ‘losing credibly…’ Just take your pick.

Anyway, it’s time to move on, as the outright winner in the Clove Islands across the Zanzibar Channel said: “Celebrate with a measure of moderation – and commiserate with the losers.”

I took a little time off to muse over this year’s elections.

Visiting the beautiful Msasani Peninsula in Dar es Salaam, I took the opportunity to pose the question: which sectors are the mainstay of Tanzania’s economy?

Invest heavily

Three respondents seemed to agree that, without a doubt, agriculture, tourism and mining were the correct answer.

However, what they did not seem to agree on was: in which sector should the country focus on and invest most heavily?

You see, many of the East African Community member countries invest heavily in quality education for one and all.

Expenditure on education in Tanzania has grown exponentially, in consequence whereof we have seen nearly 80,000 graduates walking out of the hallowed gates of our universities every year.

Some analysts see this as a sign of success. But then, the question arises: what professional skills are we imparting upon these graduates, these wasomi – literally Kiswahili for the ‘well-read.’

Inspired by lager brands that sell for Sh2000/a half-litre in Kimara – but can only be accessed for Sh8,000/half-litre in the sea-breeze swept Msasani Peninsula pubs – we could not agree on what new approach we should take to defuse the ticking time-bomb that is the annual churning-out of 80,000 jobless varsity grads.

May be it’s the frothy bottled liquids that should be blamed for these musings” – and the consensus that, unless and until we can effectively sort out such crucial issues, the road we must walk shall continue to be a hard road indeed.

But, it seems that solutions to our problems are staring us in the face. We have spent long enough – nearly 60 years of political independence – teaching our children political theories; ancient history; irrelevant geography: where, for instance, to find Alaska on the world map!

What we have not considered is that this knowledge, while important, is not exactly going to assist our subsistence farmers, pastoralists, etc.

We need to substantially turn our efforts to building skills for our youth – and, while we are at it, work on what we have been avoiding all along: drastic behavioural/mind-set change.

We must ask ourselves why we are where we find ourselves today. We are here basically because we have not been giving our youth the right skills to enable them functionally solve our problems and surmount our myriad developmental challenges.

Verbose narrative

Sincere apologies as you read this verbose narrative, an intrusion into your privacy and precious time.

Then there is this watering hole somewhere in Masaki, Dar es Salaam, that is like a ‘mini-United Nations’ in Tanzania – as it is frequented by Latinos, Greeks, Turks, Brits, Indians, Americans, all of whom readily intermingle and interact with Tanzanians.

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Kasera Nick Oyoo is a research and communications consult-ant with Midas Touché East Africa