The New Times (Kigali)
NEWS
October 13, 2006
Posted to the web October 13, 2006

By Job Jabiro
Kigali

I never knew time would come when I would compare the Tanzania of revered Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere to the DRC of Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Zabanga. I am afraid if things continue the way they are, I will soon have to.

For some time now, I have been following the postings on a Tanzanian website, www.habaritanzania.com. If any of you, dear readers, have accessed digitalcongo.net, that other website from the DRC, the similarities are striking. First of all, for many years, digitalcongo simply had a xenophobic and jingoistic agenda. So does habaritanzania. In the case of the DRC, whoever was considered a political opponent was tagged with the label of being Rwandese, or in the service of Rwanda. The hate campaign orchestrated in part by this media outlet saw its apogee in the bloodletting of Bukavu in 2004. Predictably, the demon of ethnic sectarianism in the DRC has come back to bite those who let it out of the bottle with a vengeance! Those who called their political opponents foreigners yesterday are themselves tagged with the same label today. And they are crying foul! Were it not so tragic, it would be poetic justice indeed.

Now, Habaritanzania is going the way of digitalcongo. It is filling Nyerere's land with the most xenophobic venom imaginable. Mwalimu must be turning in his grave! I hope the views of this media house are not shared by the authorities of that country but I have not seen any rebuttals so you must understand my concern. Habaritanzania's message is simple. Tanzania is for Tanganyikans. The Union with Zanzibar was a mistake. Kenya should be kicked out of the East African Community, and Burundi and Rwanda should never be admitted to the Community. What a farce! What a sad day for Tanzania!

Let us begin with Tanganyika's union with Zanzibar, perhaps late Mwalimu's most brilliant political masterpiece. Habaritanzania says Zanzibaris simply use the mainland as a Lebensraum for lack of land. That they use it as an overflow valve, a land for excess population. Given their way, Habaritanzania would build an electric fence along the maritime coast and send all Zanzibaris back from whence they came. What about the gas and oil reserves along the Zanzibar coast? The xenophobes couldn't care less. What about the pride we all have of Salim Ahmed Salim, that brilliant Head of the Nyerere Foundation, former Head of the OAU and almost first African UN Secretary General? The Jingoists don't give a damn (forgive the expression!). The Union truly is in trouble, and all Pan Africanists have reason to worry.

Then consider Kenya. Habaritanzania says this country should be kicked out of the East African Community because Kenyans are poorer than Tanzanians, that they have less arable land, and glaring socio- economic inequalities. That the Kenyans simply want to come in and take Tanzanian land. That Tanzanians will soon be forced to produce only two children instead of five so the government can give away land to the other foreign three! Weep the beloved continent. All this could of course be dismissed as the nonsense it is, except that, curiously, Kenyans are now increasingly finding it more difficult to live and work in Tanzania. The non tariff barriers to trade are on the upswing, and there is tension along sections of the Kenya - Tanzania border with Tanzanian papers awash with rumors of Kenyan policemen crossing the common border to harass and kill innocent Tanzanians. Forget the fact that under the EAC Customs Union, some Kenya goods are slapped with an internal tariff whereas Tanzanian goods entering the Kenyan marked are zero rated. As a matter of fact, Egypt, which is not a member of the EAC, offers better trade terms to Kenya than Tanzania, which is a member. The reason, fear of the vibrant Kenyan private sector and her competitive economy.

This brings me to Habaritanzania's aversion to Burundi and Rwanda joining the Community. The reasons are the same, and ridiculous. That the two countries have a high population and will therefore swamp Tanzania. That the colonial history is different, and that the countries have an expansionist foreign policy. Humbug all, but we shall examine the claims. First, I am surprised that Burundi's and Rwanda's population is seen as a hindrance, not an opportunity. Rwandans should be unapologetic about seeing the East African Community as an important market. The Community, when Rwanda and Burundi are admitted, will have a combined population of more than 100 million. What an opportunity to all forward looking leaders and citizens! Mwalimu Nyerere would be ecstatic; Nthelezi Nesaa of Habaritanzania is gloomy at the prospect. If Tanzania is so developed as Nesaa claims, why should the prospect of competition with Rwanda and Burundi on the market be such a nightmare? If they are fearful of competition with Rwanda within the EAC, they must be terrified of the current cutthroat competition within the global market. The problem with Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda is not that they have a large population, but that the population has a very low purchasing power, partly because they are in a peasant economy. Wake up and smell the roses Habaritanzania. It is not the size of the landmass that matters. Development is not in the soil, the trees, the rocks, and the water. It is in the mind. Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Switzerland are cases in point. They consistently outperform Tanzania despite having fewer natural resources, and a very high population density to boot!! Think about this.

As for expansionist foreign policy, this a myth fed to the poor peasants of Ngara. They have been fed a consistent diet of the bogey of a Rwandan and Burundi invasion for so long that the poor people are tetanised with fear. They are afraid Rwandans are coming to rule them as if there is a leadership vacuum in Tanzania. A comparison between the number of times the Tanzania Peoples Defense Forces (TPDF) and the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) have been engaged in foreign expeditions should however put the lie to rest. The TPDF have been involved in almost all the wars of liberation on the Southern Part of our continent. They have removed at least one Head of State, a very nasty one I grant you, by the names of Alhajji Field Marshall Dr Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE. The TPDF have been very interventionist, and rightly so. Theirs is a record to be proud of. I simply wish they had capped this distinguished record by intervening once more to stop the genocide in Rwanda, and working with the RDF and other regional forces to remove another nasty Head of State, Field Marshall Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Zabanga.

Inform the poor people of Kabanga in Ngara my friend. The intervention of Rwanda in the DRC helped neutralize a grave source of instability in the region, the Exfar Interahamwe, and has allowed that great country to have a shot at a democratic dispensation. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere would be ecstatic; Nthelezi Nesaa's Habaritanzania gnashes its collective teeth.

Thousands of poor Rwandans have recently been and continue to be pushed out of Tanzania, many without their belongings, or their savings. Some have lived in that country since the 1920s. I never thought such a day would come. I never imagined Mwalimu's land would one day turn into a hotbed of xenophobia. I never, in my wildest nightmares dreamt that the day would come when tolerance would be replaced with jingoism and expulsion of Africans from African land. I never knew the day would come when we would have a destructive Ivoirite in West Africa, a silly Congolite in the Center, and a worrying Tanzanite in Eastern Africa. But then I never knew many things.

I trust the sentiments of Habaritanzania are minority sentiments. If they are not, be afraid Tanzania, be very afraid.