1. Why the Mikocheni Report?
Well, the short answer is that I live in Mikocheni and I report from there. I ‘lifted’ the idea from one of my favorite food blogs, The Japanese Food Report. It has a nice ring to it.
The long answer is that I wanted a blog title that would give a sense of place, and the title evokes not just Dar es Salaam, but a particular neighborhood and lifestyle. Mikocheni has always been a great place, with a wonderful sense of residential calm and neighborliness. It has also got the best mix of people of all shades, religions, income levels, citizenship status and lifestyle in Dar. In my expert opinion, you don’t find that kind of delicious diversity in many ‘hoods. I hope I can always afford to live here, but Dar’s real estate prices are completely insane and getting worse with time.
Also, Mikocheni is a choice neighborhood for ambitious, entrepreneurial, upwardly mobile hard-working Bongolanders and I wanted the blog to reflect some of that sensibility. When I surveyed English-language blogs about Tanzania, I found a lot of tourism/hospitality stuff, development and charity blogs, travel blogs and resident expatriate blogs. None of these were giving me what I wanted, or presenting the Tanzania I enjoy and grapple with everyday.
I didn’t like the vacuum this left in Tanzania’s online presence. Bongo isn’t exotic or poor in my eyes: it is home, and it is full of stories that should be told, especially from a middle class perspective. I know that Bourgeoisie is a dirty word, especially in our post-socialist country! But I want The Mikocheni Report to expose a very small corner of this thoroughly modern, innovative, young and dynamic side of Tanzania.
2. How did you develop your writing skills?
By reading. It started with school- kids know from the minute they are born what they like and don’t like. I loved language and anything expressive, and I hated maths and anything prescriptive. That hasn’t changed by the way. I’ll read just about anything: Word is Life and without it’s force of expression and thought and creation I would probably wither and die. So I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen and put together a sentence. With a compulsion like that, I have had plenty of time to learn, and learn, and learn. Still learning!
3. As one of the very few female political analysts, what are your views on the usage of media in Tanzania?
Dude, where to begin? First let me speak to the gender issue: part of the Mikocheni Report mission is to spread the gospel of feminism. In truth, it would be nice to write about politics from another ideological perspective. But. There are some rather serious challenges that come with being a woman in our society, and they get in the way of my pursuit of happiness, which makes me cranky. I am compelled to defend my freedoms and engage with politics as a female citizen, and kick some patriarchal behind as often as I can manage it. I really wish there were more female (and male feminist) political analysts writing for public consumption, but I am optimistic that our numbers — and our diversity — will increase.
Before I got a job as a media analyst, I used to believe wholeheartedly in the press. I believed what I read in the ‘serious’ papers, I believed the news I saw on TV, I really thought that journalists were modern-day crusaders in the fight for truth and justice. What can I say, I was pretty naive.
These days, I keep it simple by having a suspicious nature: what’s the medium, who is the owner, who is producing news, who are they being paid by, what’s their agenda, what’s their gender, what are their politics, what are they trying to sell and who are they trying to sell it to. All media project the values and concerns of the media owner/operator: a rich, old, male media owner with political interests will be tempted to feature himself in the nightly news program on a frequent basis. A young, driven, female magazine owner might strive to produce a lifestyle magazine that projects her philosophies while a lifetime professional public broadcaster will try to use his experience to change the national TV and Radio stations from party mouth-pieces into functioning public-interest stations. As consumers, we select what works for us and ignore what doesn’t when we are presented with choices.
One thing I will say is that liberalizing the media back in the early 90’s was one of the best things we ever did, even if the government was pretty much coerced into it by structural adjustment programs. As a blogger, I love the freedom of information and expression that we enjoy as Tanzanians and I know that it will only increase with time.
4. Why on earth did you decide to take Sheikh Yahya’s ‘job’ (see her Election predictions!) ?
A number of reasons. First and foremost, because it is fun to speculate on election results. I am a gambler at heart and I would totally lay money on the election results, but I don’t see the point of actually risking my money by gambling. So I get my kicks safely by speculating.
Secondly, why not tease The Establishment a little bit? Political analysis should be fun from time to time, and I need something to keep me entertained since our Grand Old Party has refused to take on the opposition in public debates. Goliath is scared of David!
Thirdly, it is hard for me to resist poking a bit of fun at the Sheikh while I am at it. Every country has a colorful character who “sees into the future” and ours should certainly be celebrated and enjoyed.
And finally: why not?
5. Are you hopeful of the current youth generation to bring about “change” (if needed)?
Nope, I am not hopeful. Hopeful is too passive. I know without a doubt that the current generation of Tanzanians aged about 40 and below have already brought about change. People in their teens and twenties are just getting on the scene and starting up their projects, but I am sure the effects of the youth revolution will accelerate with time once they start tasting success.
The game-changers and innovators have been young people for a long time. Take the media for example: Clouds FM, the BongoFlava industry, the Tanzanian film industry, EATV, most internet companies — these job-creating businesses sprang from the minds and efforts of young entrepreneurs. Young politicians are raising the stakes of the political game. Through the blog I have been lucky enough to meet many amazing people doing amazing things, and I can tell you that the elders are a minority in that group.
Generation Independence’s leaders — Nyerere and his peers — were in their thirties when they got into power. Some people were given foreign missions in their twenties! We should really be used to this by now, it is just a shame that some of our elders in public office are not mature enough to retire when the time comes to hand over their responsibilities. We are the post-Ujamaa generation and our interpretation of ‘kujitegemea’ is going to fuel this country’s growth and development like nothing else can. On that note I want to end with an appeal to my peers, and a non-partisan slogan for October 31st:
It’s YOUR country. Vote like you OWN it.
We thank Elsie for giving us this interesting personal interview!
Visit her blog (mikochenireport.blogspot.com) or contact Elsie on elsieeyakuze (at) gmail (dot) com.
I definitely need to hear more voices representing different perspectives, or just versions of the same perspective. Elsie seems to know what she wants to say and how to say it and that is always a plus to me. The part about bourgeoisie portrays a frankness beyond image conscious political correctness. To me a reasonable middle class is desirable for development. I have made similar sentiments of mine be known unapologetically.It is time to move beyond this utopian “classless society” if the only class in a classless society is that of poor people. So it is refreshing to see this same idea from Elsie.
One thing I like about this place ( vijana.fm) is the fact that it does a nice job of collecting ideas from interesting people, one can’t be easily be disappointed. I will be following “The Mikocheni Report”.
Kiranga, umerudi na “fujo” zako? I will read your piece baada ya kula na kushiba kwanza!
Re: your last point, I think most of the plaudits should go to the people who are more than willing to share their ideas (remember we are still a young blog); for instance, I sent the questions to the lady on Friday, and she got back to me on Saturday!
Unfortunately, we are allowed to ask only five questions. On the other hand, the viewers can ask more questions… the floor is all yours, guys…
Hi Kiranga,
Karibu sana. Look forward to your comments.
e.
Elsie! Thanks for a very honest interview. Just a couple of points:
Mathematics is also a language and very expressive too – think of the beauty of logic, the paschal triangle or the fibonacci sequence and imagine the way they inspired the author of Da Vinci Code let alone the greatest artists accross the ages!
As for this middle class/bourgeoisie thing we indeed need to talk frankly about it – about us if I may say. Who are we? What drives us? Where are we going? Whom are we serving? Of course we are not homogenous and that is very important because it helps us understand why sometimes it is the very middle class that bring down our country when it comes to ‘vijisenti’ and ‘umaarufu’! My latest attempt to address this ‘class’ openly was an article on ‘New African Elites: A Tanzanian Profile‘, I guess you saw it in ‘The Citizen’.
All in all I am really trying to say is that the very questions you pose to journalists above should also be posed to this post-Ujamaa generation of entrepreneurs and innovators which you claim “is going to fuel this country’s growth and development like nothing else can” – which and whose growth/development if I may add?
Chambi! Always good to hear from you. Re Maths: no argument from me there 🙂 Maths is gorgeous and the language of the universe, sadly some of us speak it very poorly.
As for the middle class issue, I have been dying to have a proper argument about this for ages! Thanks for raising it, there is so much to be said. Great article on the African elites. I do have two comments: all the thinkers you refer to belong to the previous generation of intellectuals who were writing about their time. Is there no more contemporary thinking about social class in Tanzania? Also, the dichotomy between elites and marginalized is a severely limited model that is unworthy of such a diverse and dynamic nation-state. It is also why I regard ideological collectivists (marxists, pan-africanists) with as much suspicion as you regard ‘elites.’
Let me come clean: lefty social politics, increasingly conservative fiscal politics. I use the term middle-class to lump together those of us who are self-employed and earning money in the cash economy outside of government employment and above subsistence-farming/dollar-a-day income. And obviously below Azam/Sumaria Group/Mengi style dynastic fortunes. SMEs basically: everyone from the Kariakoo wholesalers to swimming pool designers to pili-pili bottling companies- we consume the goods and pay the taxes that underwrite the government’s recurrent budget as well as keep our little economy ticking. I can assure you, we don’t get nearly as much opportunity to steal public funds as the elites you are concerned with.
As for whose growth and development we are working for: why our own of course. There’s no reason why as Tanzanians we should live with a Dependency Syndrome. Enlightened self-interest is quite possible, and I think maybe even a desirable philosophy in present-day Tanzania. Our government can’t drop a wad of cash at every doorstep and neither should anyone else. But don’t take my word for it: Rakesh Rajani did a great presentation at TEDxDAR showing that Tanzanians, being smart and creative and motivated people, regularly ignore or disengage from the malfunctioning public sector and come up with great solutions for local problems. I find that kind of Can Do attitude liberated and exciting.
I would like to point out that the fisadis and maarufus you are referring to are overwhelmingly public sector magnates who have been siphoning public monies from the so-called socialist government since before most of young entrepreneurs got their high-school diplomas.
As for studying income- or education-based class in Tanzania, isn’t that the job of our social scientists, especially those that work in our public institutions? It would be good to get a proper nuanced answer to the questions you raised such as ‘who are we,’ and what drives us. Where are the in-depth studies, the longitudinal studies? Who comes up with class designations? The UN? AfroMarxists? The Census Bureau? UDSM’s Sociology department?
As for the last questions: journalists can be held accountable on a professional basis, but on what basis does one (who?) hold an entire generation accountable (for what?). To whose ends? As citizens, we are free agents. Our responsibility is to live within the confines of the law, not to gratify any visionary’s personal ambitions. Everything else is negotiable, which is why we invented democracy 🙂
Elsie I was indeed quoting from the previous generation. But it was just an attempt to pick a baton from them. As far as I know the so-called post-Ujamaa generation is not really interested in analysing ‘class’ in the political economy sense. So maybe that is why some of us have to take the mantle, albeit in a new way, from the Shivjis and Chachages. In fact Shivji makes a very important point somewhere about how the whole neoliberal mantra of poverty and pro-poor has ended up making us forget about the class of workers and peasants because they are all now ‘the poor’ in need of poverty reduction if not alleviation! So, when I was asking you about which and whose growth/development are you talking about I was actually thinking along those lines because we are always told growth is up by a certain percentage of GDP etc. But they hardly juxtapose that with the Gini Coefficient which somehow tells us how the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. Talking of Mathematics and Econometrics, the ‘languages of the universe’!
To cut my rumbling short let me conclude by saying that what I refer to as young Tanzanian elites is this circle of the relatively privileged who are increasingly seeing themselves and are seen by others as the driver of and for change whatever that change is. A very simple way of knowing these birds of the same feather is to check out how they end up flocking together in the same circles. Let me get a bit personal here, I hope the other ‘Vijana’ won’t mind. Is it by accident that I grew up in the same area as Bahati? Or is it a coincident that my mom was a close colleague of Nyabero’s mom Or that both Bahati and Nyabero were my sister’s classmates? Or how did I get to know you Elsie in the first place? That is the class I am talking about – the one that keep reproducing itself here and elsewhere. Its my hope that it will really uplift the nation and our ‘poor’ people rather than uplift itself narrowly and exclusively in the name of individualistic libertarian/liberal democracy and skewed capitalist entrepreneurship/innovation.
All in all the Mjamaa in me would love to see the elites of the world unite and commit what we call ‘class suicide’!
Amen to that Mr Chambi. A lot of us young people think that we are where we are because of hard work only and the people our parents or relatives know have nothing to do with it. The so called middle class we are in is hugely a product of our connections as it is of our hard work. The Tanzanian peasants (most of them) are working sunrise to sunset, hard and back-breaking works everyday, with no vacations and no week-ends and what they get in return….famine, cholera, malnutrition, and the majority of their children are not getting quality education to uplift them from their missery. Don’t get me wrong..we do need a middle class, but one that will not forget the masses.
No one in there right mind is asking for a hand-out government. Not from this omba-omba government anyways.What we need is a government that will develop policies that help the poor in our society.i.e Kilimo Kwanza that will really address the needs of our peasant population….having tractors, bwana shambas and the likes. These political families, and so forth that we are building in the name of a middle class will not in its own right bring development to the country. The haves and have not gap will increase to the point that the poor are ain’t gonna be queit anymore. I guess the Shangingis ”that you earned by your hard work” will be nothing something? right?. We just need a flat playing field where every Tanzanian can reach their god(allah)-given-potentials. Thats all.