I was happy when I heard one of the world changers is visiting Tanzania for the first time. I was excited and I wanted to see what he has in store for us; Tanzanians and our country. But the preparations for President Obama’s visit to Tanzania by the government have left me shocked and confused. I am so flabbergasted by the pressure this visit puts on the government and average citizens of Tanzania.
It is a disgrace to presidents of other countries, who we welcome to Tanzania following regular protocol of state visits. But our leaders are not at ease when Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America, makes his way to our beautiful country. A lot of things are being done because Obama is coming to Tanzania and not for the good of the people.
Roads are maintained, streets are cleaned, and to make matters worse, one of the roads that had the best name in the city – “Ocean Road” – has been renamed to “Obama Road.” Why would we as a country do this? What are we benefiting from this? Ocean Road was a name given to a road that is by the ocean and it is famous for the Ocean Road Cancer Institute. The government has the responsibility to be transparent to us – the citizens of Tanzania – on what’s going on. The government does not own the country, the citizens do, and the government is the tool on which citizens depend for empowerment. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
I woke up the other day, Saturday, and found billboards saying “Karibu Tanzania President Barack Obama” erected on some of our main roads. This broke my heart and I thought of the millions of children who are living in extreme poverty; they can’t even afford a meal a day and here we are abusing money. Hospitals need more resources and a lot of money has been spent only to entertain his visit. Bill Cosby once said: “The key to failure is trying to please everyone.”
I can understand the vast security preparations for him, but should we only clean up when we have a high profile guest? I understand that he comes to visit our country and maybe he has good things in store, but our reaction to his visit is absurd. What message are we sending to our fellow African states, and most importantly, to the world? What message are we passing along to the young generation, the leaders in the making?
What if we kept our roads maintained, always? What if we had a strategy to make sure streets are clean and to emphasize on cleanliness, always? What if we would have been doing all this and not only when “Obama” is visiting Tanzania?
I think it is time for our world leaders to start coming unannounced to the country they want to visit. This would save the resources that would be used for the visit. The country would always be cleaning the streets, maintaining the roads, etc. because they wouldn’t know when ‘someone’ will come.
It is time to change for good. The leaders of Tanzania should embrace positive change that will benefit the low-income citizens. The leaders were chosen to represent the citizens and not to serve their personal interest.
Being among the least developing countries is enough to make us use the little money we have wisely and for things that can bring positive change to a country.
Mahatma Gandhi said: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Tanzanians, it is time to speak out and rise up. Instead of complaining on the streets, in family gatherings and at friends’ night-outs, we have to take the stand and say a bold “no” to things that we think are not for our country’s benefit. Silence will not protect our resources and will not make our leaders accountable. We have to change our mind-set and realize that you can do anything and the power is in your hands to change the world. But in order to change the world, you have to be able to change yourself. Silence on things that matter and affect our lives directly is a crime against humanity. Let us speak out and learn to say NO.
