Residents of Kilumba ward in Mwanza city are up in arms against the fast tracked of the East African Federation when they were contributing their views on the public meeting held at Kilumba Magomeni stadium last week with the committee soliciting views from wananchi whether the Federation can or cannot be fast tracked.
Most of the wananchi who were given opportunities to expose their views were against the establishment of the federation since they said it was intending to put their country in a loop. They said the federation will pinch employment market to the most of Tanzanians because academically they are very far behind comparing to Kenya and Uganda.
“Kenya enrolls a number of university students per year compared to Tanzania where we don’t have more than 30 universities since we attained independence in 1961”said one of the opponent of the federation. Uniting countries with political differences is like mixing patient with impatient people whereby you will resort having two patient, this means and the one who was fit must be infected added he.
The resident clarified his example that since, the federation seeks to admit Rwanada and Burundi as patients suffering from ethnic conflict for a number of decades will automatically infect peaceful countries like Kenya and Tanzania.
They also feared the intention of Museveni being the first president of Federation will route the countries in conflicts because, he is a man of conflict since, he entered the power to rule Uganda through blood shed. I have heard through different media that Museveni announced to his people in Uganda that he can not drop from power until he be the first East African Federation President” said Juma Ali,Kilumba ward resident. “How sure that he will be the first president? He asked. “He thinks of using forces as his usual”
They added that there is no need of East African Federation because, it will arise land conflicts in Tanzania. “We Tanzanians we don’t own land as in Kenya. So once we are to allow federation means that capitalists of Kenya will siphon our land and we remain land lass and return back in colonial eras” said Ramadan Padali one of Kilumba resident.
There was solely one mwananchi who supported the introduction of the federation however; he spoke nothing because all the multitudes groaned aloud in derision.
At the end the residents asked the committee to tell the president that they have to establish federation in economic only.
The committee currently going around the country soliciting views from wananchi on the first tracking of the much talked about East African Federation, was formed to respond to Tanzania’s insistence that East Africans be asked if they want the Federation fast tracked
or not.
Dr.Charle seeks SAUT Community Call to Arm Women
By Denis Mpagaze
The Deputy Vice Chancellor fro Academic affairs Dr.Igno Charle sought SAUT Community to arm women in different phenomenon because they are endowed with numerous talents for the better of their future.
Dr. said this last week when he was addressing the community to mark international women day held at Malimbe campus in SAUT.He believed that if a man wants to attain sustainable development, a woman must always be behind him. “The late Mwl.JK Nyerere archived the attainment of our independence because Mama Maria was behind him to the extent that he dint lost hope”
Dr.Chale who is also the lecturer in linguistics spoke strongly in support to what the University does to promote female students academically. Last year we recruited 8 female students to be tutorial assistants whereby next year they will be taken for post graduate studies” said he.
He said that the community should not worry about promoting women, because they are diligent and committed people at all sectors. He mention some prominent women who hold a very big position and perform better as, Dr.Asha Rose Migiro, the vice UN general secretary, Getruda Mongera, the president of African parliament, and Zachia Meghji,minister for Finance.
Among others, Dr. mentioned Bib Tit Mohamrd, Pro.Tibaijuka, and Mery Nagu as women who represent essential positions taken by women.
In academic Dr. said women are in front lines to embrace academic for they have registered to higher institution and to the masters’ level. Out of 21 student enrolled in master course at SAUT seven were female” he said. “Why shouldn’t we applaud of them and throw more supports to them?” he asked.
He also congratulated women for raising statistic in university enrollment where last academic year 2005/06, SAUT admitted 34%, in this academic year 2006/07 was 37%. “Am sure in this academic year 2007/2007 we will enroll more that 50%”
However Dr.Charle asked all women to take care of AIDS since it is up on them and they don’t have to expect any promotion this, otherwise the disease will curtail their good thing they are doing.
Women Day is celebrated on 8th March each year with different slogan.
Book review
Am I not a Woman and a Sister?
Author: Sara Salih
Printed by: Clays Ltd, St Ives plc England
Price: USD12.00
Pages: 114
Reviewed by Denis Mpagaze
“Am I not a Woman and a Sister?” is a true story about Mary Prince, a black woman slave. It was published for the first in 1831 and re published edited for the second phase by the author Sara Salih in 2000.In it the author shows how slaves experienced severe torture for a very slight offence they encountered.
Mary was born slave with her parents and when Mrs. William died Mary was sold to other Master in order to raise the money fro the master to marry to a wicked woman. “See I am shrouding my poor children, what a task for a mother” claiming Mary’s mother when she was taking her children to the market. Mary was sold together with her siblings.
The act of selling your own children for the sake of others a sign of how slaves were denied their human rights-right to freedom to own property. This means Mary’s mother hasn’t any decision to her propert-childeren.
Slaves have no right to enjoy the joyfulness rather was supposed to stay under sorrow seized in their hearts. The author shows this after the mother had sold her children as she writes, “when they were sold to the different masters, their mother hugged and kissed them and mourned over them and she then went back home with nothing. ”
When Mary arrived to her new master living in Spanish Point, she found a situation very worse as she said, “I was licked and flogged and pinched in the neck and arms, to strip me naked-to hang me up by the wrists and lay my flesh open with the cow-skin, was an ordinary punishment for even a slight offence”
Further the author shows the world at large how slaves were not entitled to enjoy some human basic needs as those introduced by a humanistic sociologist Abraham Maslow.Among the needs by Maslow, social needs in terms of belongingness-that is every human being has an innate need to affiliate with others in search of affection and love.
Mary was denied to enjoy need as; when she got a husband Mr. Wood her master and his wife were very sad of hearing that marriage to the extent of changing the mood.
“Mrs. Wood was more vexed about may marriage than her husband” said Mary.pg30.
In one way how Mrs. Wood was claiming is among women traits. This shows to the world that some women have jealous to their fellow women.Mrs reached to the point of telling Mary that she would not have nigger men about the yards of premises, or allow a nigger man clothes to be washed in the same tub where hers were washed.
In this era even when a slave got married was obliged to remain slave of her master. Despite her marriage Mary was a slave of Mr. Wood.
Salves were also denied freedom of consciousness and religious as Mary says
I did not ask my owner’s permission from the belief that it would be refused; so that I got no farther instruction at that time from the English Church”
However, Mary struggled to buy her freedom and she attained it.
The author has pictured out how the situation was in 17th Century. Simple language ha been used to the point that whoever reads the book must understand and enjoy it fully.
This book is of great help to all communicators and politicians because it equips readers with various knowledge on how to solve problems. I t resembles John Locke Political Philosophy.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
SOMETHING ABOUT RWANDA GENOCIDE
By Denis Mpagaze, February 21, 2007, Issue No3, St Augustine University of Tanzania
“About forty-eighty methods of torture were used country wide. They ranged from burying people alive in graves they had dug up themselves, to cutting and opening wombs of pregnant mother. People were quartered, impale or roasted to death.
On many occasions, death was the consequence of ablation of organs, such as the heart, from alive people. In some cases, victims had to pay fabulous amounts of money to the killers for a quick death” writes Mohmood Mamdani in his book, “When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Navitism, and the Genocide in Rwanda” (p.6)
Sorrow seized my heart when I was reading this book, to the extent of meeting me in some sort of conversation in my mind as, “if major Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda was a real initiator of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide by downing the Habyarimana’s plane, he deserved and deserves a severe punishment”.
When the French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere accused Kagame of ordering the shooting down of the Habyrimana’s plane on 6th June2004 was supposed to be tried to International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), I thought the lawyer had a wrong choice. According BBC to report 24th November 2006, the judge claims to have proof indicating Rwanda's President Paul Kagame ordered his rebels to shoot down the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.
According to the proof of Paul Mugabe, the ex- member of the RPF High Command Unit, Major General Paul Kagame had personally ordered the shooting down of President Habyarimana's plane with a view to taking control of the country. He was fully aware that the killing of Habyarimana would let loose "a genocide" against Tutsi civilians. RPA forces had been fully deployed in Kigali at the time the ethnic massacres took place and did not act to prevent it from happening.( Global Research, November 23, 2006)
Also the USA lawyer, Paul Erlinder seconded the claim of French judge that there is evidence which supports that Kagame was involved in downing the plane as, he ordered his troops to shoot down the plane when it was coming to land at Kigali Air Port, when he was the leader of National Resistance Army (NRA).Juvenally Habyarimana was killed together with Cyprian Ntaryamira, the then Hutu president of Burundi. The incident was the final spark to a powder keg of ethnic tension dating back to colonial times between the dominated Tutsi minority and the majority Hutus.
Some thing bad Kagame did was to send Claude Dusaidi and Charles Muligande to New York and Washington to stop the UN military intervention which was supposed to be sent and protect the Rwandan people from the genocide. In this regard why shouldn’t Kagame bare a punishment?
This accusation up on Kagame made by foreigners from France and USA , I thought it was a trick of the white to disunity Africans again like how they did during colonial era. Mapunda in his Book “Historia ya Mapambano ya Matanzania,”writes that white people have being using their philosophy of “Watenganishe uweze kuwatawala” Divide them to more easily colonizing them.( pg91).
And there are some Africans who are strongly opposing the report about Kagame accusations, as they claim Kagame to have not involved alone, however with his troops .I am strongly against with these people as, Kingsley Moghalu, a former special counsel of the Tribunal, reached a horrible conclusion in his recent book, "Rwanda's Genocide: the Politics of Global Justice". He claims that if Mr Kagame and the Tutsi rebels he led in April 1994 shot down the President's plane, then they triggered the genocide. Therefore, guilt for the genocide would need to be divided between the Tutsis and Hutus of Rwanda.
What I can say with regard to the conclusion of Moghalu is that, he should have thought whether it was possible for all rebels to have the same inspiration at a time of downing the plane. There might be initiator, and the initiator is the one to start with in providing reword or punishment. Since the initiator was their leader-Kagame, let the court start with him, and then others will fall as, goes an adage, “The best way to eat an elephant in your path is cut him up into little pieces”.
After downing the plane, there followed the coup d’etait where Kagame came on power as a president. From there pogrom if not genocide took position. Since I was touched by these killings I decided to probe and trace the profile of Kagame to prove whether he was real the initiator of the Rwanda suicide.
I came to realize that the being of Kagame was destroyed during 1954-64 Hutu revolution as result he ended with wrong choice. When human intelligent is interrupted, a person is likely to fail to reason, understand and making choice which, will result in objective happiness. After this Hutu revolution, Kagame fled with his parents to Uganda where more Tutsi had run too.
According to American researcher Vehakn N .Dadrian in his research of 20th Century, Germany Colonizers introduced different racial attributes by showing the Tutsi as the overlords, endowed with physically superior traits, and portraying the Hutu as mere peasants.
The situation became worse when the Belgians arrived in early 20th Century introduced an ethnic identity card to more easily distinguish the two. This led to 1959 Hutu Revolution where 1962-64 came the final Institutionalization of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict. The existing arrangement of power relations reversed-the Tutsi minority ceased being the dominant group and the Hutu majority rose to power.
Thereafter Kagame fled to Uganda and after years he joined the Yoweri Kaguta Museven troops of National Resistance Army (NRA) and 1979 joined the forest battle.
After serving to NRA for a while Kagame and his friend Fred Rwigema established the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) supported by the US and Britain. Tutsi refugees in Uganda supported the RPF for the aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their home land. In 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda for the first time. At that time Kagame was in United State of America (USA) for army training. After the death of Fred in the second day of invasion, Kagame became the Army Commander of RPF.
The conflict Hutu-Tutsi led to most of Rwandans to fled from their home to Uganda, Tanzania, Congo,others have gone to abroad and other lost their life. Other lost their lovers.As Immaculee Ilibagiza a victim of 1994 genocide has written a book “Left to Tell” says that her mother, father and two of three brothers were killed in the genocide, as were some 800,000 others.The killings were done by Interahamwe militia.
This violence has gone beyond borders as it is threatening the life of Congoles.As there is a troop in Bukavu that has killed over 160 civilians.For example 2004 they killed and raped dozens of people.In one incident they raped a mother in from of her husband and children wile another soldier raped her three year-old daughter.
No one can say with certainty how many Tutsi were killed between March and Jully 1994 in Rwanda.A section of the army and civilian leadership organized the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsi, even babies. In the process, they killed not only the Hutu political opposition, but also many non political Hutu who should reluctance to perform what was\as touted as a “national” duty ten to 50 thousand were Hutu killed,500,000 and million Tutsi. Tutsi were killing in groups recalling Germany’s Jewish population.
Tutsi women married to Hutu were killed. The administration forced Hutu men killed their Tutsi wives before they go to kill any one else-to prove they were true refuse. He was told he must choose between the wife and himself. He then chose to save his own life.
It is not wise to jump into a situation before thinking about it. Was Kagame a wise or a fool?
“About forty-eighty methods of torture were used country wide. They ranged from burying people alive in graves they had dug up themselves, to cutting and opening wombs of pregnant mother. People were quartered, impale or roasted to death.
On many occasions, death was the consequence of ablation of organs, such as the heart, from alive people. In some cases, victims had to pay fabulous amounts of money to the killers for a quick death” writes Mohmood Mamdani in his book, “When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Navitism, and the Genocide in Rwanda” (p.6)
Sorrow seized my heart when I was reading this book, to the extent of meeting me in some sort of conversation in my mind as, “if major Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda was a real initiator of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide by downing the Habyarimana’s plane, he deserved and deserves a severe punishment”.
When the French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere accused Kagame of ordering the shooting down of the Habyrimana’s plane on 6th June2004 was supposed to be tried to International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), I thought the lawyer had a wrong choice. According BBC to report 24th November 2006, the judge claims to have proof indicating Rwanda's President Paul Kagame ordered his rebels to shoot down the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.
According to the proof of Paul Mugabe, the ex- member of the RPF High Command Unit, Major General Paul Kagame had personally ordered the shooting down of President Habyarimana's plane with a view to taking control of the country. He was fully aware that the killing of Habyarimana would let loose "a genocide" against Tutsi civilians. RPA forces had been fully deployed in Kigali at the time the ethnic massacres took place and did not act to prevent it from happening.( Global Research, November 23, 2006)
Also the USA lawyer, Paul Erlinder seconded the claim of French judge that there is evidence which supports that Kagame was involved in downing the plane as, he ordered his troops to shoot down the plane when it was coming to land at Kigali Air Port, when he was the leader of National Resistance Army (NRA).Juvenally Habyarimana was killed together with Cyprian Ntaryamira, the then Hutu president of Burundi. The incident was the final spark to a powder keg of ethnic tension dating back to colonial times between the dominated Tutsi minority and the majority Hutus.
Some thing bad Kagame did was to send Claude Dusaidi and Charles Muligande to New York and Washington to stop the UN military intervention which was supposed to be sent and protect the Rwandan people from the genocide. In this regard why shouldn’t Kagame bare a punishment?
This accusation up on Kagame made by foreigners from France and USA , I thought it was a trick of the white to disunity Africans again like how they did during colonial era. Mapunda in his Book “Historia ya Mapambano ya Matanzania,”writes that white people have being using their philosophy of “Watenganishe uweze kuwatawala” Divide them to more easily colonizing them.( pg91).
And there are some Africans who are strongly opposing the report about Kagame accusations, as they claim Kagame to have not involved alone, however with his troops .I am strongly against with these people as, Kingsley Moghalu, a former special counsel of the Tribunal, reached a horrible conclusion in his recent book, "Rwanda's Genocide: the Politics of Global Justice". He claims that if Mr Kagame and the Tutsi rebels he led in April 1994 shot down the President's plane, then they triggered the genocide. Therefore, guilt for the genocide would need to be divided between the Tutsis and Hutus of Rwanda.
What I can say with regard to the conclusion of Moghalu is that, he should have thought whether it was possible for all rebels to have the same inspiration at a time of downing the plane. There might be initiator, and the initiator is the one to start with in providing reword or punishment. Since the initiator was their leader-Kagame, let the court start with him, and then others will fall as, goes an adage, “The best way to eat an elephant in your path is cut him up into little pieces”.
After downing the plane, there followed the coup d’etait where Kagame came on power as a president. From there pogrom if not genocide took position. Since I was touched by these killings I decided to probe and trace the profile of Kagame to prove whether he was real the initiator of the Rwanda suicide.
I came to realize that the being of Kagame was destroyed during 1954-64 Hutu revolution as result he ended with wrong choice. When human intelligent is interrupted, a person is likely to fail to reason, understand and making choice which, will result in objective happiness. After this Hutu revolution, Kagame fled with his parents to Uganda where more Tutsi had run too.
According to American researcher Vehakn N .Dadrian in his research of 20th Century, Germany Colonizers introduced different racial attributes by showing the Tutsi as the overlords, endowed with physically superior traits, and portraying the Hutu as mere peasants.
The situation became worse when the Belgians arrived in early 20th Century introduced an ethnic identity card to more easily distinguish the two. This led to 1959 Hutu Revolution where 1962-64 came the final Institutionalization of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict. The existing arrangement of power relations reversed-the Tutsi minority ceased being the dominant group and the Hutu majority rose to power.
Thereafter Kagame fled to Uganda and after years he joined the Yoweri Kaguta Museven troops of National Resistance Army (NRA) and 1979 joined the forest battle.
After serving to NRA for a while Kagame and his friend Fred Rwigema established the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) supported by the US and Britain. Tutsi refugees in Uganda supported the RPF for the aim was to overthrow Habyarimana and secure their right to return to their home land. In 1990, the RPF invaded Rwanda for the first time. At that time Kagame was in United State of America (USA) for army training. After the death of Fred in the second day of invasion, Kagame became the Army Commander of RPF.
The conflict Hutu-Tutsi led to most of Rwandans to fled from their home to Uganda, Tanzania, Congo,others have gone to abroad and other lost their life. Other lost their lovers.As Immaculee Ilibagiza a victim of 1994 genocide has written a book “Left to Tell” says that her mother, father and two of three brothers were killed in the genocide, as were some 800,000 others.The killings were done by Interahamwe militia.
This violence has gone beyond borders as it is threatening the life of Congoles.As there is a troop in Bukavu that has killed over 160 civilians.For example 2004 they killed and raped dozens of people.In one incident they raped a mother in from of her husband and children wile another soldier raped her three year-old daughter.
No one can say with certainty how many Tutsi were killed between March and Jully 1994 in Rwanda.A section of the army and civilian leadership organized the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsi, even babies. In the process, they killed not only the Hutu political opposition, but also many non political Hutu who should reluctance to perform what was\as touted as a “national” duty ten to 50 thousand were Hutu killed,500,000 and million Tutsi. Tutsi were killing in groups recalling Germany’s Jewish population.
Tutsi women married to Hutu were killed. The administration forced Hutu men killed their Tutsi wives before they go to kill any one else-to prove they were true refuse. He was told he must choose between the wife and himself. He then chose to save his own life.
It is not wise to jump into a situation before thinking about it. Was Kagame a wise or a fool?
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