The public watchdog’s silence on this also leaves much to be desired and confirms the much-protested Gado’s depiction of them through a cartoon. The word of mouth, which of course preceded modern journalism, did its magic and everyone in town got the story.

Then hell broke loose when senior citizens and retirees of the defunct East African Community took on the street yesterday morning to demand for their long outstanding dues. The protest, as the Citizen newspaper had reported, was a series of an escalation of a protracted dispute between the government and the former EAC employees.

To demonstrate their frustration and anger towards the government, the senior citizens blocked the Ali Hassan Mwinyi road leaving hundreds and thousands of Dar residents who were going to their offices standstill.

Back to Mbeya, despite the gruesome pictures the president’s tour had generated, the rumour mill went further to unfold yet another untold story of H.E with his ‘latest catch’! It could be seen as an invasion of privacy but the person in the spotlight is apparently a public figure. In 1999 Chery Blair got pregnant for her third baby. It had never happened in the history of Downing Street. Her pregnancy became news number one. Contrary to the Brits, Bongo journalists have remained tightlipped. The deadly silence from Ikulu spokespersons, left people with no option other than to speculate and recapitulate differently.

Since the Mbeya incident was widely spread and probably saltered too much, the Ikulu spokesperson called an impromptu press conference to nurse the stinking wound. As was expected, he refuted the stoning of the presidential motorcade saying that what had happened was contrary to what was reported. He said speculators got it completely wrong because what had happened was that the wananchi were ‘just excited’ to see their president and that they were all happy. Nothing much!

Unscrupulous gangs

A fortnight ago, however, President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was quoted by a section of the media saying that the unscrupulous gangs who stoned and insulted his reign were lunas and that they did not bother him at all! “I must tell you that they were a bunch of drunkards who had gazzled a lot of chang’aa and therefore didn’t know what they were doing. The incident does not bother me at all. The people of Mbeya did welcome me very well and the visit was successful,” he said.

Surely the Mbeya incident was a rare occurrence in the history of this country. It has gone down to history. It has sent down a red-light signal i.e watch out something big and horrible is in the offing. Political analysts have called for amicable solutions to this illusion. We might have many and varied interpretation of this incident but a bold message was that people are fed up. To me the signal reads danger to the incumbent. It reads, “We the people of the land are tired and angry. We believed in you and you have let us down, you promised us heaven on earth and you have delivered a hand full of dust, your aides have let you down but you have continued to embrace and reward them.”

The Irish singer and resource mobilization for the poor campaigner Bono refer to this kind of politiking as a heinous crime. “It’s a heinous crime to make a promise to the most vulnerable people on earth and break it. That’s just not acceptable,” he said.

The people of the land who had placed enormous faith to the president and his administration have lost faith and thought it was time to break the silence thus the stoning. They had thought the national cake was going to be fairly shared but it was not the case. They have seen life treating them badly since their Messair came into power; basic needs have continued to sour- prices of unga, mboga za majani, bus faires, health services, and education have plumettered beyond reach.

Whilst all this, EPA swindlers are looming large in town. Reports show that only sh 234 have been recovered out of 133 billion. According to media reports this falls short of more than sh 10 billion and the amnesty window is topping the hour.

The notorious Richmond monster is live and kicking! Following its gloomy picture- power rationing-of which the president had reassured investors and the people of the land that the problem was history-two conflicting statement have just emerged.

The minister for Energy and Minerals, William Ngeleja said the government was looking into the possibility of buying off Dowans power plant. And TANESCO Communications Manager, Badra Masoud told the media that her organisation was working out a modality to dismantle and subsequently remove all Dowans turbins from their premises. At the moment, the wananchi wouldn’t wish to know whether the Dowans turbines would be bought by the government or removed by TANESCO. What we want to hear is what happened to the people who were implicated in the scam. As power is eating up- both in terms of cost per unit and regular interruptions-the government could do whatever it could to spare out the bruised wananchi.

People are angry

People are angry and tired and that’s why they have opted for notorious ways of explaining themselves. They know, for instance, at the moment none of the ministers is thinking of solving their many problems. They know that at the moment most of them are preoccupied with their re-elections in 2010. Those who are outside the loop are also busy strategizing best ways to get into the loop after 2010 general elections.

While hassling with the morning queue which has been compounded by dozens of bumps along Morogoro road, all you hear from angry drivers and passengers are “I don’t know what this government is doing” “they said roads are going to be built to easy transport hurdles in the city but in vain”, “they promised to bring rapid transport buses - a far fetched dream”, “they said they will create jobs for the poor but we see only their own benefiting”, “they said they are going to better our lives but we only see theirs doing better and better”, “they said they are going to curb corruption but we see corruption roots going deeper by the day and those involved being protected by state organs”, “they promised a lot but less is being delivered.” The traffic in this road is ‘murder’ and people are complaining bitterly.

Teachers and students have candidly expressed their discontent and disregard to the political establishment. They have both called for the opposition to select best candidates for the presidency. The doctors, nurses and the majority land ‘tillers’ have expressed their dissatisfaction as well in the way issues are being handled! A formidable amount of anger has been gathered and it’s about to explode!

Before we start diverting attention into other confusing issues such as joining the IOC, let us first get solutions to the many gripping problems facing the people of the land. Let us see how best we could utilize the monies that were recovered from EPA to solve teachers’ problems. Let us see how best we could utilize our revenues to improve on infrastructure, education, health systems, agriculture etc.
After three years don’t you think it’s time to walk the talk now and bring into surface the sinking boat?