Kweli tunakubali madini yetu yaibiwe na watajirishe wazungu nje ya nchi, huko wananchi wa Tanzania hawafaidiki hata kidogo? Futa leseni zote halafu waingie mikataba mpya ambayo yatajenga nchi na kuinua maisha ya MTanzania. Ona waKenya walivyofanya! Je Tanzania hatuwezi hili?
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Kenyan Government Revokes Mining Licences
The Kenyan government has revoked all prospecting and mining licences granted during the first five months of this year after complaints about the issuing process.
The country's commissioner of mines, Moses Masibo, has been suspended.The Government has also raised royalties on minerals mined within its borders.
Kenya has proven deposits of titanium, gold and coal.
New deposits of minerals such as titanium, copper and niobium have recently been discovered that are thought to be worth billions of dollars.
Mining minister Najib Balala told a news conference the licences in question had been issued in a hurry and without transparency.
"We want to ensure the country gains from the mineral potential," he said.
"Any licence issued between 14 January and 15 May is hereby revoked immediately as we review each case to determine their nature and benefit to the country."
'Shrouded in secrecy'
Earlier this year, the mining secretary promised to review laws regulating the sector, which currently includes more than 300 local and foreign firms either searching for minerals or in small scale production.
BBC World Service's Africa editor, Richard Hamilton, said traditionally Kenya had not had a large mining sector.
But recent discoveries have encouraged a rush by local and international speculators.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000090202&story_title=govt-revokes-mining-licences
Showing posts with label Exploitation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploitation. Show all posts
Monday, August 05, 2013
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Bilionea wa Barrick anapoitumia Tanzania Kujitakasa!
Asante Kaka Johnson kwa kuandika habari hizi. Nimesoma na roho imeniuma kweli. Yaani ni yale mambo aliyokuwa anasema Mwalimu Nyerere. Tunanyonywa na makupe. Unaedelea! Lini tutakata mirija yao na rasilimali zetu zifaidi wananchi wa Tanzania.
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Bilionea wa Barrick anapoitumia Tanzania kujitakasa...!
Na Johnson Mbwambo
Toleo la 238
9 May 2012
WIKI iliyopita Rais Jakaya Kikwete alilifanyia mabadiliko kidogo baraza lake la mawaziri. Wasomaji wangu wengi walinitumia ujumbe wa e-mailna sms wakinishauri, safari hii, niandike kuhusu mabadiliko hayo ya Kikwete, na kueleza iwapo yataleta unafuu wowote kwa Watanzania.
Jibu langu kwao ni kwamba hakuna kipya cha kuandika ambacho hakijaandikwa, hakuna kipya cha kumshauri Rais Kikwete ambacho hajashauriwa na wabunge, wasomi, wachumi na wachambuzi wa masuala mbalimbali ya kisiasa, kiuchumi na kijamii wa hapa nchini.
Binafsi, niandike kumwambia nini kipya Rais Kikwete? Kwamba baraza lake ni kubwa mno sawa na timu tano za soka, na kwamba linateketeza bure tu fedha za walipakodi?
Niandike kumwambia kwamba hapakuwa na haja yoyote kuwa na manaibu mawaziri katika baadhi ya wizara kama vile Wizara Habari, Vijana na Michezo?
Niandike kumwambia kuwa naibu waziri katika wizara kama hiyo hana kazi nyingi za kila siku, na kwamba muda mwingi ataishia kusoma tu magazeti ofisini na kusubiri mialiko ya kuzindua albamu za bongo fleva au kuhudhuria mashindano ya walibwende?
Niandike nini kipya kuhusu mabadiliko hayo madogo ya baraza la mawaziri la Rais Kikwete? Kwamba hawa wapya aliowateua ndo watamaliza ufisadi uliokithiri katika serikali yake? Kwamba impunityimefikia mwisho kwa sababu ya hawa mawaziri wapya aliowateua?
Hapana ndugu zangu. Sina jipya la kumwambia Rais Kikwete. Nilishasema katika safu hii, toleo Na. 237, kwamba “ya Kikwete tumeshayaona, tusibiri ya rais ajaye”.
Niliandika hivyo nikimaanisha kwamba katika miaka mitatu na ushee aliyobakisha Ikulu, hakuna jipya kubwa la kimaendeleo tunaloweza kutarajia kutoka katika serikali yake. Na bado naendelea kuamini hivyo.
Kwa hiyo, ndugu zangu, sitaandika kuhusu mabadiliko hayo ya baraza la mawaziri; bali ninaandika kuhusu tukio jingine linalotuhusu la wiki iliyopita lililotokea huko Toronto, Canada.
Nazungumzia tukio la mkutano mkuu wa mwaka wa wanahisa wa kampuni inayoongoza duniani kwa uchimbaji dhahabu – Barrick. Kampuni hii ndio ambayo pia imetwaa karibu migodi yetu yote mikubwa ya dhahabu nchini.
Mkutano huo uliofanyika Jumatano ya wiki iliyopita ulikuwa wa aina yake kwa sababu, nje ya ukumbi wa mkutano, kulikuwa na mamia ya wanaharakati kutoka sehemu mbalimbali duniani wanaopinga uwekezaji wa kinyonyaji na usio wa kibinadamu wa Barrick.
Mkusanyiko huo mkubwa ulioratibiwa na Occupy Toronto Movement, nje ya ukumbi wa mkutano, ulikuwa na wanaharakati wenye hasira juu ya uwekezaji huo wa kinyonyaji na usio wa kibinadamu wa Barrick sehemu mbalimbali duniani.
Ni kutokana na hali hiyo ilikuwa ni vigumu wanahisa ndani ya mkutano huo kutolijadili suala la kuendelea kuchukiwa kwa Barrick sehemu nyingi duniani inakomiliki migodi ya dhahabu. Baadhi ya wanahisa (akiwemo wa Chile) walichachamaa kweli kweli mkutanoni na kuitaka Barrick ijirekebishe.
Lakini kulikuwa na mtu mmoja ambaye hakuamiani kirahisi kile kilichokuwa kikitokea nje ya ukumbi huo wa mkutano, na huyo si mwingine bali ni mmiliki na mwanzilishi wa kampuni hilo kubwa la dhahabu duniani, Peter Munk (84).
Peter Munk alikuwa akitetemeka kwa hasira, dhahiri akishindwa kuamini kuwa kampuni yake ilikuwa inachukiwa kiasi hicho; licha ya misaada mingi ya ‘huruma’ ambayo imetoa katika nchi ilikowekeza.
Kwa mujibu wa gazeti la Toronto Metro la Canada, Munk alilazimika kutoka na gari lake kupitia mlango wa nyuma ili kuwakwepa wanaharakati hao, lakini alipoona wingi wao kwa mbali, alimlazimisha dereva wake aendeshe hadi kwa wanaharakati hao ili “awapashe” kuhusu ‘huruma’ ya Barrick kwenye nchi zao.
Kwa sababu ya kuhofia usalama wake, dereva alimkatalia na kumpeleka moja kwa moja nyumbani kwake. Hata hivyo, alipofika nyumbani kitu cha kwanza alichokifanya bilionea huyo ni kupiga simu ofisi kwake na kuelekeza atayarishiwe haraka orodha ya misaada ya kijamii ambayo Barrick imetoa katika nchi ambako ina migodi.
Kesho yake mkutanoni, Bilionea Munk aliisoma orodha hiyo kujaribu kuwashawishi wanahisa waamini kuwa Barrick ni kampuni yenye ‘huruma’ kweli kweli.
Miongoni mwa nchi masikini duniani ambazo bilionea Munk alizitaja kuwa Barrick inatoa ‘misaada ya hiari ya huruma’ ni Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Peru na Chile.
“Ningependa nitoke nje nipambane na waandamanaji hawa na kuwaambia ukweli,” alifoka Munk mkutanoni na kuongeza:“Sizungumzii tu kodi tunazolipa katika nchi hizo, sizungumzii tu ajira tulizotengeneza; bali nazungumzia ukweli kuwa kama si sisi, basi, ajira na fursa kwenye maeneo hayo zingekuwa ziro”.
Sidiriki, kwenye safu hii, kuzizungumzia Chile, Papua New Guinea au Peru, lakini kwa hapa kwetu Tanzania, nina hakika kilichosemwa na Munk si ukweli wote kuhusu uwekezaji wa Barrick.
Hiyo inayoitwa na Bilionea Munk kuwa ni ‘misaada ya hiari’ inayothibitisha ‘huruma’ ya Barrick, si chochote wala lolote ikilinganishwa na mapesa wanayoyapata kutoka katika mauzo ya dhahabu za migodi yetu.
‘Misaada ya hisani’ anayoizungumzia Bilionea Munk, ni kama ule wa dola 350,000 zilizotolewa na Kampuni ya Dhahabu ya Barrick Tanzania kwa ajili ya ukarabati wa Sungusungu Hospital kule North Mara. Hapa tunazungumzia ukarabati tu, na si ujenzi wa hospitali.
Hivi kweli ukarabati wa hospitali na zahanati na ujenzi wa madarasa na uchimbaji visima hapa na pale, ndio stahili yetu kwa mamilioni ya dola ambayo Barrick hujipatia kila mwaka kutoka katika dhahabu ya nchi masikini kama yetu?
Katika mkutano huo mkuu wa Barrick huko Toronto, Canada, Bilionea Munk alitamba kuwa mapato ya Barrick kote dunia yaliongezeka kwa asilimia 18 hadi kufikia dola bilioni 3.6.
Lakini hapo hapo ripoti ya African Barrick Gold (ABG) inaonyesha kuwa bajeti iliyopangwa kwa Tanzania kwa ajili ya hiyo inayoitwa ‘misaada ya huruma ya hiari’, ni dola milioni 10 tu! Hivi dola bilioni 3.63 na ‘msaada wa hiari’ wa dola milioni 10 ni wapi kwa wapi?
Hata kama katika nchi zote 10 ambako Barrick ina migodi mikubwa ingetenga dola milioni 50 tu, bado kisingekuwa kiwango cha kuridhisha kiasi cha Munk kukitumia kutamba mkutanoni.
Vyovyote vile; ukweli unabakia uleule, nao ni kwamba Barrick itaendelea kuchukiwa katika nchi masikini kama Tanzania kwa sababu uwekezaji wake umeendelea kuwa wa kinyonyaji na usio na ubinadamu.
Na ninapozungumzia uwekezaji usio wa kibinadamu, nawakumbuka Mama Otaigo wa kijiji cha Weigita na kijana Paul wa kijiji cha Nkerege (nikitaja wachache) kule North Mara ambao miili yao imeharibika vibaya kwa sababu ya kutumia maji ya Mto Tigithe yaliyokuwa na sumu inayotoka kwenye mgodi wa Barrick. Mpaka leo waathirika hao wa unyama huo wa mwaka 2009 hawajalipwa fidia na kampuni hiyo tunayoambiwa na mwasisi wake kuwa ni yenye ‘huruma’ nyingi.
Lakini pia ninapozungumzia uwekezaji huo wa Barrick usio wa kibinadamu, nawakumbuka wale wakazi wa Geita ambao sasa wanaishi kwenye mahema katika kambi iliyopachikwa jina la Dafurbaada ya kuwa wametimuliwa kwenye makazi yao ya asili kumpisha mwekezaji mwenye “huruma” ya kupindukia – Barrick. Katika hili rejea makala ya Raia Mwema ya toleo Na.237 yenye kichwa cha habari: Utajiri wa dhahabu wageuka laana Geita.
Ndugu zangu, Bilionea Munk anaweza kuwa amefanikiwa kuwaghilibu wanahisa wenzake kwenye mkutano huo wa Toronto, Canada, kwamba eti Barrick ni kampuni yenye “huuma” , na kwamba imetoa misaada mingi ya kijamii katika nchi ambako ina migodi; lakini ukweli unabakia pale pale, nao ni kwamba Barrick ni kampuni ya kishetani.
Na nijuavyo, kama CCM hakitaondolewa madarakani kwenye uchaguzi wa 2015, Tanzania tutaendelea kunyonywa na Barrick hadi dhahabu katika migodi hiyo zitakapoisha kabisa na wao kuondoka na kutuachia mashimo matupu! Si inasemwa wajinga ndio waliwao?
Tafakari.
Chanzo: Gazeti la RaiaMwema
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Bilionea wa Barrick anapoitumia Tanzania kujitakasa...!
Na Johnson Mbwambo
Toleo la 238
9 May 2012
WIKI iliyopita Rais Jakaya Kikwete alilifanyia mabadiliko kidogo baraza lake la mawaziri. Wasomaji wangu wengi walinitumia ujumbe wa e-mailna sms wakinishauri, safari hii, niandike kuhusu mabadiliko hayo ya Kikwete, na kueleza iwapo yataleta unafuu wowote kwa Watanzania.
Jibu langu kwao ni kwamba hakuna kipya cha kuandika ambacho hakijaandikwa, hakuna kipya cha kumshauri Rais Kikwete ambacho hajashauriwa na wabunge, wasomi, wachumi na wachambuzi wa masuala mbalimbali ya kisiasa, kiuchumi na kijamii wa hapa nchini.
Binafsi, niandike kumwambia nini kipya Rais Kikwete? Kwamba baraza lake ni kubwa mno sawa na timu tano za soka, na kwamba linateketeza bure tu fedha za walipakodi?
Niandike kumwambia kwamba hapakuwa na haja yoyote kuwa na manaibu mawaziri katika baadhi ya wizara kama vile Wizara Habari, Vijana na Michezo?
Niandike kumwambia kuwa naibu waziri katika wizara kama hiyo hana kazi nyingi za kila siku, na kwamba muda mwingi ataishia kusoma tu magazeti ofisini na kusubiri mialiko ya kuzindua albamu za bongo fleva au kuhudhuria mashindano ya walibwende?
Niandike nini kipya kuhusu mabadiliko hayo madogo ya baraza la mawaziri la Rais Kikwete? Kwamba hawa wapya aliowateua ndo watamaliza ufisadi uliokithiri katika serikali yake? Kwamba impunityimefikia mwisho kwa sababu ya hawa mawaziri wapya aliowateua?
Hapana ndugu zangu. Sina jipya la kumwambia Rais Kikwete. Nilishasema katika safu hii, toleo Na. 237, kwamba “ya Kikwete tumeshayaona, tusibiri ya rais ajaye”.
Niliandika hivyo nikimaanisha kwamba katika miaka mitatu na ushee aliyobakisha Ikulu, hakuna jipya kubwa la kimaendeleo tunaloweza kutarajia kutoka katika serikali yake. Na bado naendelea kuamini hivyo.
Kwa hiyo, ndugu zangu, sitaandika kuhusu mabadiliko hayo ya baraza la mawaziri; bali ninaandika kuhusu tukio jingine linalotuhusu la wiki iliyopita lililotokea huko Toronto, Canada.
Nazungumzia tukio la mkutano mkuu wa mwaka wa wanahisa wa kampuni inayoongoza duniani kwa uchimbaji dhahabu – Barrick. Kampuni hii ndio ambayo pia imetwaa karibu migodi yetu yote mikubwa ya dhahabu nchini.
Mkutano huo uliofanyika Jumatano ya wiki iliyopita ulikuwa wa aina yake kwa sababu, nje ya ukumbi wa mkutano, kulikuwa na mamia ya wanaharakati kutoka sehemu mbalimbali duniani wanaopinga uwekezaji wa kinyonyaji na usio wa kibinadamu wa Barrick.
Mkusanyiko huo mkubwa ulioratibiwa na Occupy Toronto Movement, nje ya ukumbi wa mkutano, ulikuwa na wanaharakati wenye hasira juu ya uwekezaji huo wa kinyonyaji na usio wa kibinadamu wa Barrick sehemu mbalimbali duniani.
Ni kutokana na hali hiyo ilikuwa ni vigumu wanahisa ndani ya mkutano huo kutolijadili suala la kuendelea kuchukiwa kwa Barrick sehemu nyingi duniani inakomiliki migodi ya dhahabu. Baadhi ya wanahisa (akiwemo wa Chile) walichachamaa kweli kweli mkutanoni na kuitaka Barrick ijirekebishe.
Lakini kulikuwa na mtu mmoja ambaye hakuamiani kirahisi kile kilichokuwa kikitokea nje ya ukumbi huo wa mkutano, na huyo si mwingine bali ni mmiliki na mwanzilishi wa kampuni hilo kubwa la dhahabu duniani, Peter Munk (84).
Peter Munk alikuwa akitetemeka kwa hasira, dhahiri akishindwa kuamini kuwa kampuni yake ilikuwa inachukiwa kiasi hicho; licha ya misaada mingi ya ‘huruma’ ambayo imetoa katika nchi ilikowekeza.
Kwa mujibu wa gazeti la Toronto Metro la Canada, Munk alilazimika kutoka na gari lake kupitia mlango wa nyuma ili kuwakwepa wanaharakati hao, lakini alipoona wingi wao kwa mbali, alimlazimisha dereva wake aendeshe hadi kwa wanaharakati hao ili “awapashe” kuhusu ‘huruma’ ya Barrick kwenye nchi zao.
Kwa sababu ya kuhofia usalama wake, dereva alimkatalia na kumpeleka moja kwa moja nyumbani kwake. Hata hivyo, alipofika nyumbani kitu cha kwanza alichokifanya bilionea huyo ni kupiga simu ofisi kwake na kuelekeza atayarishiwe haraka orodha ya misaada ya kijamii ambayo Barrick imetoa katika nchi ambako ina migodi.
Kesho yake mkutanoni, Bilionea Munk aliisoma orodha hiyo kujaribu kuwashawishi wanahisa waamini kuwa Barrick ni kampuni yenye ‘huruma’ kweli kweli.
Miongoni mwa nchi masikini duniani ambazo bilionea Munk alizitaja kuwa Barrick inatoa ‘misaada ya hiari ya huruma’ ni Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Peru na Chile.
“Ningependa nitoke nje nipambane na waandamanaji hawa na kuwaambia ukweli,” alifoka Munk mkutanoni na kuongeza:“Sizungumzii tu kodi tunazolipa katika nchi hizo, sizungumzii tu ajira tulizotengeneza; bali nazungumzia ukweli kuwa kama si sisi, basi, ajira na fursa kwenye maeneo hayo zingekuwa ziro”.
Sidiriki, kwenye safu hii, kuzizungumzia Chile, Papua New Guinea au Peru, lakini kwa hapa kwetu Tanzania, nina hakika kilichosemwa na Munk si ukweli wote kuhusu uwekezaji wa Barrick.
Hiyo inayoitwa na Bilionea Munk kuwa ni ‘misaada ya hiari’ inayothibitisha ‘huruma’ ya Barrick, si chochote wala lolote ikilinganishwa na mapesa wanayoyapata kutoka katika mauzo ya dhahabu za migodi yetu.
‘Misaada ya hisani’ anayoizungumzia Bilionea Munk, ni kama ule wa dola 350,000 zilizotolewa na Kampuni ya Dhahabu ya Barrick Tanzania kwa ajili ya ukarabati wa Sungusungu Hospital kule North Mara. Hapa tunazungumzia ukarabati tu, na si ujenzi wa hospitali.
Hivi kweli ukarabati wa hospitali na zahanati na ujenzi wa madarasa na uchimbaji visima hapa na pale, ndio stahili yetu kwa mamilioni ya dola ambayo Barrick hujipatia kila mwaka kutoka katika dhahabu ya nchi masikini kama yetu?
Katika mkutano huo mkuu wa Barrick huko Toronto, Canada, Bilionea Munk alitamba kuwa mapato ya Barrick kote dunia yaliongezeka kwa asilimia 18 hadi kufikia dola bilioni 3.6.
Lakini hapo hapo ripoti ya African Barrick Gold (ABG) inaonyesha kuwa bajeti iliyopangwa kwa Tanzania kwa ajili ya hiyo inayoitwa ‘misaada ya huruma ya hiari’, ni dola milioni 10 tu! Hivi dola bilioni 3.63 na ‘msaada wa hiari’ wa dola milioni 10 ni wapi kwa wapi?
Hata kama katika nchi zote 10 ambako Barrick ina migodi mikubwa ingetenga dola milioni 50 tu, bado kisingekuwa kiwango cha kuridhisha kiasi cha Munk kukitumia kutamba mkutanoni.
Vyovyote vile; ukweli unabakia uleule, nao ni kwamba Barrick itaendelea kuchukiwa katika nchi masikini kama Tanzania kwa sababu uwekezaji wake umeendelea kuwa wa kinyonyaji na usio na ubinadamu.
Na ninapozungumzia uwekezaji usio wa kibinadamu, nawakumbuka Mama Otaigo wa kijiji cha Weigita na kijana Paul wa kijiji cha Nkerege (nikitaja wachache) kule North Mara ambao miili yao imeharibika vibaya kwa sababu ya kutumia maji ya Mto Tigithe yaliyokuwa na sumu inayotoka kwenye mgodi wa Barrick. Mpaka leo waathirika hao wa unyama huo wa mwaka 2009 hawajalipwa fidia na kampuni hiyo tunayoambiwa na mwasisi wake kuwa ni yenye ‘huruma’ nyingi.
Lakini pia ninapozungumzia uwekezaji huo wa Barrick usio wa kibinadamu, nawakumbuka wale wakazi wa Geita ambao sasa wanaishi kwenye mahema katika kambi iliyopachikwa jina la Dafurbaada ya kuwa wametimuliwa kwenye makazi yao ya asili kumpisha mwekezaji mwenye “huruma” ya kupindukia – Barrick. Katika hili rejea makala ya Raia Mwema ya toleo Na.237 yenye kichwa cha habari: Utajiri wa dhahabu wageuka laana Geita.
Ndugu zangu, Bilionea Munk anaweza kuwa amefanikiwa kuwaghilibu wanahisa wenzake kwenye mkutano huo wa Toronto, Canada, kwamba eti Barrick ni kampuni yenye “huuma” , na kwamba imetoa misaada mingi ya kijamii katika nchi ambako ina migodi; lakini ukweli unabakia pale pale, nao ni kwamba Barrick ni kampuni ya kishetani.
Na nijuavyo, kama CCM hakitaondolewa madarakani kwenye uchaguzi wa 2015, Tanzania tutaendelea kunyonywa na Barrick hadi dhahabu katika migodi hiyo zitakapoisha kabisa na wao kuondoka na kutuachia mashimo matupu! Si inasemwa wajinga ndio waliwao?
Tafakari.
Chanzo: Gazeti la RaiaMwema
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wake Up Lazy Africans!
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| Walevi wakinya pombe bila kujali kuwa kuna mafuriko! (Picha kwa hisani ya Michuzi Blog) |
Nimepata kwa email: Ni Maoni ya MZambia
Zambia Insights
Friday, 13 January 2012
By Field Ruwe
They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished.
In this demes...ne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.
“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come.
When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.
“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.
I told him mine with a precautious smile.“
Where are you from?” he asked.
“Zambia.”
“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”
“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”
“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.”
My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.
“I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked.
“Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”
“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.
“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”
“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”
He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”
Quett Masire’s name popped up.“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”
At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.
“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down. From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.“That’s white man’s country,” he said.
“We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”
I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”
He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.
”The smile vanished from my face.
“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”
“There’s no difference.”
“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.”
I gladly nodded.
“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.” (Hii ni Kweli Afrika Kote Jamani!!!!)
For a moment I was wordless.\
“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”
I was thinking. He continued.
“Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.
He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”
I held my breath.“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”
He looked me in the eye.“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure.
You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”
I was deflated.“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure.
Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned.
“As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”He tempered his voice.
“Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something.
“Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies.
I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.
Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.
But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.
I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here) Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters.
Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior. A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country.
Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.
Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History
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