Je, Mheshimiwa Harrison Mwakyembe Alipewa Sumu?

Hivi karibuni, Mh. Harrison Mwakyembe alipelekwa kutibiwa nje ya nchi kutokana na ugonjwa wa ajabu aliyopata. Watu wengi walisema kuwa huenda aliwekewa sumu shauri ya maoni yake makali dhidi ya serikali hasa kuhusu mafisadi. Kuna mdau SM ameleta maoni yake.


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Mh. Harrison Mwakyembe

 NIMESADIKI NA NIMEAMINI MH.DR.MWAKYEMBE ALIWEKEWA SUMU

Ndugu zangu waTz leo hii nimeamini ndugu yetu na mTz mwenzetu Dr. H.Mwakyembe aliwekewa sumu, kutokana na sababu zifuatazo kwa upeo wangu ila simlazimishi mtu yeyote akubaliane na sababu zangu:
A: Mh.Samwel Sitta somo yangu amekuwa akitumia vyombo mbalimbali vya habari km Tv na magazeti kutoa shutuma hizo akiamini ni ukweli bila hata serikali kumunyoshea kidole au kumchukulia hatua yyte huku ikitambua hawa wote ni viongozi waandamizi wa serikali tena katika ngazi za juu za kitaifa, hata leo vyombo vya habari vimemonesha mh.Sitta akisema katika mhadhara wa wakristo mjin Dar, na kwa kujiamini kabisa akitaka mamlaka husika zitoe ripoti ya uchunguzi km  Dr. Mwakyembe hakulishwa sum wamprove wrong.

B: Mh. Samwel Sitta ni rafiki wa karibu sana wa Dr. H. Mwakwembe, hivyo inawezekana kabisa Mwakwembe anamtumia Samwel Sitta na amemwambia ukweli wa tatizo lake ndiyo maana Sitta haogopi kulisemea swala la Mwakwembe kulishwa sumu tena mbele yake yeye Mwakyembe leo alipokuwa anatoa ushuhuda  katika kanisa la ufufuo jijin DSM na Mwakyembe hajakataa kumkanusha Samwel Sitta

C: Dr. Mwakyembe leo amesema katika ushuhuda wake kanisani anatarajia kutembelea makanisa yote nchini ili awaambie wananchi wa kikristo kuwa nguvu za shetani( pengine waliomwekea sumu) zimeshindwa na anazikemea kwa jina Mungu aliye hai, hii inathibitisha kuwa ugojnwa wake haukuwa kwa sabb ya makusudi ya Mungu bali wanadamu mafisadi

D: Leo waheshimiwa kadhaa walikuwa pamoja na Dr. H.Mwakyembe pale kanisani alipomaliza kotoa ushuhuda (testimony) nao wakaanza kusema hawatarudi nyuma katika kutetea wananchi wao waTZ lakini pia hawatakoma kupambana na mafisadi wanaohujumu nchi yetu na rasilimali zake, mh Annakilango Malecela alikuwepo na alisema pamoja na mh.Lembeli

Kwa sababu hizo nimeamini Dr. Hallison Mwakyembe aliwekewa sumu, na ndio chanzo cha matatizo yanayomkabili kamanda wetu mpambanaji, LAKINI kwa nini yeye anatoa habari kwa njia ya mzunguko( indirect) sana? Anyway tuzidi kumwombea naona leo walau ameanza ku-recover taratibu.

Naomba kuwasilisha wadau:

Umuhimu wa Shanga - Wakubwa Tu

Nilivyogundua umuhimu wa Ushanga

Imeandikwa na Dada Chiku

Haya Akina Dada,

Somo leo ni USHANGA. Kwanza Ushanga ni nini? Kwa kimombo, ni beads. Ukipita mitaa Kariakoo, utakuta kila rangi na design zinauzwa na akina mama wa kiMasai (Wanafanya Consultation pia). Zile ndogondogo kabisa siyo hizo kubwa za kuvaa kwenye nywele. Ni pambo muhimu mno kwenye mwili wa mwanamke. Hata kwa watoto wadogo, aliyevaa shanga, unajua ni msichana huyo.

Sasa mimi nilijfanya nime’zungu’tika, na kuaacha kuzivaa. Hasa baada ya ushanga niliyovaa kukatika na kumwagika nikiwa kwenye daladala. Uhusiano na boy-friend wangu ilikuwa kwenye Plateau…..yaani flet. Huyo boy-friend mimi nilimpenda sana. Nikaenda kwa Aunti wangu Temeke na kumwelezea shida yangu na kumwaomba Ushauri.

Aunti akanipeleka chumbani kwake. Akaniambia nivue nguo. Nilisita kwanza, lakini alisisitiza nivue. Nikavua. Akatazama mwili wangu, akasema, kweli mwili wako bado nyororo, lakini umekosa kitu kimoja muhimu….USHANGA!

Nilipigwa Butwaa… Ushanga! Aunti alisema, ndio umekosa Ushanga. Alienda akafungua sanduku yake, akanipa enye rangi ya light blue, njano, na red. Nikazivaa kiunoni Aunti akaanza kutabasamu, akaniambia, haya vaa sasa na nenda kwa boyfriend wako. Uone kama mambo ni tofauti.

Nilienda nyumbani, niloga na kuvaa nguo ya Outing. Nikapanda daladala na kwenda mjini. Nilikutana na boyfiriend wangu Posta Mpya …tukaelekea kwenye disko. Tulikuwa tunacheza madensi, halafu blues, ya Boyz to Men ikaanza kupigwa. Wenye disko walipunguza taa. Mimi na boyfriend wangu tukakumbatiana na kuanza kucheza Blues. Miili yetu iligusana na akaana kunipapasa taratibu kufuatana na beats za muziki. Nilifurahi sana. Akateremsha mikono yake kwenye kiuno changu. Alivyogusa ile shanga aliyonipa Aunti akawa kama mwili wake imekufa ganzi. Alisisimuka we! Akanishika kwa nguvu, niligundua kuwa mboo yake ile kuwa ATTENTION!

Akaniuliza taratibu na kipole , "Chiku mpenzi, umevaa nini?"
"Nikamjibu kwa aibu , " Nimevaa Ushanga mpenzi".
Akasema, " Mimi najua kuwa ni ushanga ila tangu tuwe marafiki hujazivaa"
"Kweli, mpenzi. Aunti amenipa leo"
"Huyo aunti wako mjanja, anajua mambo"

Wimbo ulivyoisha tukaondoka kwenda nyumbani kwake. Siku hiyo sex ikawa nzuri kuliko siku zote ambazo nilikuwa naye. Alikuwa na furaha mno. Kesho yake kazini kwake, akawa anatabasamu mpaka wenzake wakamwuliza ‘Vipi’. Na mimi nilipanda daladala kwenda Kariakoo, nilinunua shanga nyingi za kila rangi. Baada ya hapo nilienda duka na kumnunulia Aunti Zawadi ya Khanga kama shukrani.

Niliporudi Temeke kwa Aunti, alipoona natabasamu tu alijua mambo ni OKAY!

Akina Dada, ni muhimu sana kuvaa ushanga. Ni njia moja ya kumtia ashki mpenzio.

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* Nimerudia hii posti baada ya kupata maombi kutoka kwa wasomojai kadhaa. Posti ya awali ilikuwa 7/15/09.

Statement from Save Lamu Organisation

STATEMENT FROM SAVE LAMU ORGANISATION
Friday, January 27, 2012

Today the Minister of Lands, Orengo and yesterday the PS of Transport, Dr. Cyrus Njiru downplayed the plight of the people of Lamu over the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor. They keep ignoring that Lamu people are not only demanding land rights and are not against the lamu port but asking for transparency, information, consultation, and mitigation for the whole LAPSSET project. And still keep using the old constitution to violate the land rights of the people of Lamu.

Yesterdays comments by Mr. Orengo that the Lamu people are squatters on GOK land so the port must go on since they are squatters on GOK land were therefore very arrogant.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrIwY3eLKkg&list=UUekTpzKodObpOcmvVCFUvTw&index=7&feature=plpp_video. The new constitution clearly states that there is no government land but only Public land. In article 62(2) it says:

"Public land shall vest in and be held by a county government in trust for the people resident in the county, and shall be administered on their behalf by the National Land Commission..."

Since we have no County government yet and their is no National Land commission, they think the land is theirs automatically yet the constitution is very clear that the County government is holding it in trust for US not the GOK. Why can't they wait till we have our county government is in place to start the project? Why an't they rush to create the National Land Comission Bill before tehy carry out the port?? Because they want to steal while they still can just like Kilindini... WAKE UP TO THE REALITY PEOPLE!!

So people of Pwani, people of Kenya, I ask you to wake up to their clear arrogance. They want to marginalize the people of Lamu the same way the people of Mombasa were with the Kilindini port. The same way they took Masaai land and converted it into national parks without benefit-sharing. Today, the Kilindini port is closed and run down after all of them pocketed their own money. And the people of Mombasa... not even a house or title to show for it. The Masaai the same. When will the people of Pwani and Kenya as a whole join forces against this clear oppression? Tumechoka! Nimechoka! The new constitution is very clear. It must be followed!! No excuses. No ifs. No buts!

February 8th, 2012 is the court date for the port case in Malindi ...http://www.savelamu.org/press-release-lamu-residents-file-legal-petition-on-the-multi-billion-lamu-port-project/.... I say my dear friends, we should show them that while the people of Lamu may be weak, the people of Pwani are a force to reckon with and the people of Kenya are a BIGGER force to reckon with!!

No more corruption, no more oppression... a port but with information, consultation, and mitigation!!

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   ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - A Sudanese official says Sudan will immediately release loaded oil tankers it has detained in its port and wants to end a dispute over payments for oil with its neighbor South Sudan.
   Landlocked South Sudan began halting oil production last week after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million worth of the south's oil and detaining the oil vessels in Port Sudan.
   Sayed al-Khatib, spokesman of Sudan's negotiation team, says Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir decided Saturday to "release the vessels detained in Port Sudan as soon as possible".
   Al-Khatib also says Bashir is ready to sign an agreement with South Sudan's president Salva Kiir "by the end of today".

Ikulu Yatoa Tamko Kuhusu Ndege ya Rais

Kwa kweli ninapenda jinsi Ikulu inayojitahidi kutoa Press Release siku hizi. Enzi za Mwalimu mtu angepelekwa huko 'MAHALA' na kuminywa mapumbu ili ashike adabu kumsema Rais.

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 *TAARIFA KWA VYOMBO VYA HABARI*

Gazeti laTanzania Daima la leo, Jumatano, Januari 25, 2012, kwenye ukurasa wake wakwanza limechapisha habari yenye kichwa cha habari, *“Ndege ya  JK utata: Iko nje kwa miezi miwili. Serikali yakwama kuilipia.”

Miongoni mwa yaliyoandikwa kwenye habari hiyo ni pamoja na “Ukata unaiokabili Serikali umesababisha kukwama kuilipia ndege hiyo maalum ya Rais…Ndege ya Rais mahususi kwa ajili ya safari za namna hiyo imezuiliwa njebaada ya  Serikali kukwama kulipia gharama za matengenezo yake…Kutokuwepo kwa ndege
kumesababisha Rais Kikwete na ujumbe wake wa watu 14, ulioondoka nchini jana kwenda Davous, nchini Sweden kuhudhuria mkutano wa  dunia wa uchumi, kuondoka na ndege ya Shirika la Ndege la Qatal”.

Limeendelea Gazeti hili la Tanzania Daima kudai kuwa kwa sababu ya kutokuwepo kwa ndege hiyo ya Rais gharama za safari hiyo ya Rais zimeongezeka na ziara hiyo ya Raisya siku nne kuhudhuria mkutano huo
itagharimu kiasi cha shilingi milioni 300. Aidha,Gazeti hili linadai  kuwa mkutano huo hauna tija kwa taifa, kwamba Rais Kikwete amehudhuria mikutano hiyo mara nyingi lakini hakuna faida iliyopatikana kwa taifa.

Kwa hakika, maandishi na kauli hizi za ovyo na zisizokuwa za kweli za Gazeti  la Tanzania Daima zinalenga kuupotosha umma wa Tanzania bila sababu za msingi na hivyo kuusababishia umma chuki isiyokuwa na msingi kwa Rais.

Katika kuuelezea umma ukweli wa safari hiyo ya Mheshimiwa Rais Kikwete tunapenda kutoka ufafanuziufuatao:

Kwanza, kama tulivyoeleza, kwa usahihi, katika taarifa yetu kwa vyombo vya habari jana jioni, Mheshimiwa Rais Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete amekwenda katika mji/kijiji chaDavos, nchini Uswisi kuhudhuria Mkutano wa World Economic; Forum (WEF) unaoanzaleo. Rais Kikwete hakuwenda katika mji wa Davous, nchini Sweden kama linavyosema Gazeti hili.  Aidha, Rais Kikwete na ujumbe  wake umesafiri kwa ndegeya Shirika la Ndege la Qatar na siyo Qatal kama linavyoripoti Tanzania Daima.

Pili,Serikali haijakwama, kwa sababu zozote zile, kulipia matengenezo ya  kawaida (routine maintenance) ya Ndege ya Rais. Hili limefafanuliwa vizuri  na ipasavyo naMtendaji Mkuu wa Wakala wa Ndege za Serikali, Rubani Kennan, Paul Mhaiki jana. Isipokuwa nivyema kuongeza kuwa matengenezo ya ndege  hiyo yalimalizika juzi tu, Jumatatu,Januari 23, mwaka huu, wakati ndege hiyo ilipofanyiwa safari ya majaribio (testflight) kule Savannah, Georgia, Marekani na wala siyo miezi miwili iliyopitakama linavyodai Tanzania
Daima. Hivyo, madai kuwa ndege hiyo imezuiliwa nje kwamiezi miwili sasa kwa sababu ya Serikali kushindwa kulipia gharama zamatengenezo ni porojo tu zisizokuwa na msingi.

 Tatu, nivigumu kujua Gazeti la Tanzania Daima limepata wapi habari  kuwa safari hiyo yasiku nne inagharimu kiasi cha sh. milioni 300. Ukweli ni safari ya MheshimiwaRais Kikwete na ujumbe wake ni ya siku nane, kama  tulivyoeleza jana, ambako atahudhuria mikutano ya WEF na ule wa Wakuu  wa Nchi Wanachama wa Afrika (AU) mjini Addis Ababa, Ethiopia atakapowasili Jumamosi, Januari 28, 2021. Hivyo, si kweli kwa Gazeti hili kudai kuwa nauli tu na matumizi ya safari ya Mheshimiwa Rais ni shilingi milioni 300 kwa siku nne tu.

Nne,  Tanzania Daima  linadai kuwa safari za Mheshimiwa Rais mjini Davos hazina tija na wala faida yoyote. Huu pia ni uongo mwingine wa dhahiri wa Gazeti hili.

Tunapenda kukumbusha faida chache tu zilizotokana moja kwa moja na Mheshimiwa Rais Kikwete kushiriki mikutano ya WEF kama ifuatavyo:

 (a) Moja, ni kubuniwa na kupitishwa kwa Mpango Kabambe wa Uendelezaji Kilimo katika Ukanda wa Kusini mwa Tanzania wa Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) uliozinduliwa wakati wa WEF mwaka jana.

Mpango huu utakaotekelezwa kwa pamoja na sekta binafsi na sekta za umma  kwa  kushirikisha Serikali ya Tanzania, Mashirika ya Kimataifa, Makampuni ya imataifa unalengakuleta faida zifuatazo:

 (i) Uwekezaji wa kiasi cha dola za Marekanibilioni 3.4 katika kilimo cha  Tanzania na kuongeza uzalishaji wa kilimo hichomara tatu katika miaka 20 ijayo.

(ii) Kuchochea uzalishaji mkubwa wa mazao ya chakula na biashara kwenye eneo ya hekta 350,000.

(iii) Kutengeneza kiasi cha ajira 420,000 za kudumu.

(iv) Kuwatoa kwa namna ya kudumu kiasi cha watu milioni mbili katika umasikini.

(v)Kuleta usalama wa kudumu wa chakula kwa kuhakikisha kinapatikana chakula cha kutosha kwa Tanzania na nchi za jirani. 

(vi) Kuboresha miundombinu ya umwagiliaji, barabara, reli, nishati na  bandari katika eneo lote la Mradi wa SAGCOT.

(vii) Kuwahakikishia wakulima masoko ya mazao yao,kuwawezesha kupata dhana za kisasa, na waanzishia
mifumo ya kisasa yaumwagiliaji.

(viii )Kuingizia wakulima mapato ya kiasi cha dola za Marekani bilioni 1.2 kila mwaka. (Kiasi cha dola za Marekani milioni 50  zinaendelea kuingizwa katika mfuko wa uanzishwaji wa Mpango wa SAGCOT utakaotelekezwa kwa kuanzia  katika maeneo ya Sumbawanga (Rukwa), Ihemi na Ludewa (Iringa), Kilombero (Morogoro), Mbarali (Mbeya), na Rufiji (Pwani)

(b)  Pili, ni uwekezaji kabambe wa kiasi cha dolaza Marekani milioni 20 katika mfumo wa upakuaji wa mbolea kwenye Bandari ya Dares Salaam unaofanywa  na  Kampuni ya Yara International, moja ya makampuni makubwa zaida ya uzalishaji wa Kampuni ya Yara International, moja ya makampuni makubwa zaida ya  uzalishaji wa mbolea duniani.

Yara International ni mmoja wa washirika wakubwakatika SAGCOT na uwekezaji wake unalenga kuhakikisha kuwa Tanzania na hatamajirani wanapata mbolea ya  kutosha kwa ajili ya kuimarisha kilimo.

(c) Tatu, mikutano ya WEF ni shughuli moja inayomwezesha Kiongozi wa chikukutana na kufanya mazungumzo na wakubwa wote duniani – wawe wa  siasa,  wabiashara, wa uchumi, wa uwekezaji, wa kijamii – katika jitihada zake zakuitangaza Tanzania kama kituo muhimu cha uwekezaji.

Katika siku tatu zijazo, kwa mfano, Mheshimiwa Kikwete miongoni mwa watu; wengine atakutanana Bwana Bill Gates wa Bill& Bellinda Foundation,  Naibu  Waziri wa Uchumi,Nishati na Kilimo wa Marekani Bwana Robert Hormats, Rais wa Benki ya Dunia Bwana Bob Zoellick, aliyekuwa Waziri Mkuu wa Australia Bwana Kevin Ruud, Mkuu wa Shirika la Misaada ya Maendeleo la Marekani Bwana Raj Shah, Mtendaji Mkuu wa Benki ya ABSA Bi. Maria Ramos, na Waziri Mkuu wa Thailand Bi. Yingluck Shinawatra.

Tunapenda kumalizia kwa kusisitiza, kwa mara nyingine tena, kuwa ni  vyema Gazeti laTanzania Daima lijiridhishe na usahihi na habari zake kabla ya kuzichapishakama inavyoelekeza misingi mikuu ya uandishi wa habari na weledi wa kazi hiyo.Uandishi wa habari za uongo unaleta hofu na kuanzisha  uzushi usiokuwa na sababu zozote miongoni mwa wananchi na hiyo siyo kazi ya uandishi wa habari.

*Imetolewa na*:
*Kurugenzi ya Mawasiliano ya Rais*,
Ikulu, *DAR ES SALAAM*.
25 Januari, 2012

Ziara ya Matonya Ulaya

MATONYA ATUA ATHENS GREECE LEO 25 JAN 2012 SAA 18.30 TAYARI KABISA KUJIANDAA NA TOUR YAKE YA EUROPE AKIANZIA NA MUNICH TAREH.28 JAN. SWISS 04 FEB .HOLLAND 11 FEB. ATAREJEA GREECE 18 FEB, NA KUENDELEA TENA BELGUIM/SWEEDEN/NORWAY NA N.K

Tofauti Kati ya Rais Obama na Mitt Romney

Huyo mgombea uraisi wa Marekani kupitia chama cha Rpeublican, Mitt Romney aliwahi kuwa Gavana wetu hapa Massachusetts. Kila siku alionyesha jinsi alivyotajiri na asiyejua wala kujali maisha ya mtu wa kawaida anayeamka kwenda kazini asubuhi na kurudi nyumbani huko akifikiria atalipaje kodi. Kodi ziliongeka. Kuna siku waandishi wa habari walimwuliza kuhusu bei za vyakula kashindwa kujibu.Watu wengi hawana ottoman wala nafasi ya kuiweka!   Sasa tunasikia kuwa analipa kodi kwa asilimia ya chini kuliko mtu wa kawaida. Mwacha awe mgombea kupitia kiti cha Republican. Hawezi kumshinda Rais Obama!

Wake Up Lazy Africans!

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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