By Kalima Nkonde
Tanzanian President John “ Bulldozer,” Pompe Magufuli clocked one year in office on November 5, 2016 and this writer attempts to show the impact that he has made on the Tanzanian society in the twelve months he has been President which has not gone unnoticed in most African countries including Zambia.
The nick name “Bull dozer” comes from his time at the Ministry of Works where he ensured roads and government projects were finished on time and never tolerated indiscipline and mediocre performance. Magufuli has rekindled Tanzanians’ nostalgia for their founding father Mwalimu Nyerere for his leadership ethos of humility, modesty, integrity, personal discipline and public service ethic.
The 57 year old, former Chemistry teacher and University lecturer’s achievements have resulted in the respected and prestigious New African Magazine recently voting him as the “2016 Person of the Year.” for his efforts to root out corruption. Dr. Magufuli is also one of the nominees of the Forbes Magazine prize for “Africa Person of the year” award for boosting the Tanzanian economy. In a recent poll in Tanzania, his approval rating was put at 96%.
The reluctant Presidential candidate
In order to put Dr. Magufuli’s rise to the Presidency in perspective, it is important to give the reader a bit of background about Tanzania’s 2015 elections. The party that led Tanzania to Independence in 1961, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and founded by the late father of the nation, Julius Mwalimu Nyerere was headed for a devastating electoral defeat in 2015 similar to what happened to Zambia’s UNIP of Kenneth Kaunda in 1991.Tanzanians had been fade up with the corruption, inertia, poor government services and so on and so forth and had decided that it was time for change. The CCM brand was damaged badly and the opposition for the first time had united under one candidate and ready to take over the reins of power.
According a SADC diplomat, the elders of CCM including some previous Presidents thought the only way for the Party’s survival was for the immediate rebranding of the Party and decided that the only person who can do that was the young leader with a squeaky clean image and impeccable record of achievements and success in whatever Ministry he had been posted. That person was the Chemical engineer, Dr. John Pompe “Bull Dozer” Magufuli.
The elders of CCM visited Magufuli and tried to persuade him but failed on their first attempt as he warned them that he was not the right person. He argued that they knew what type of person he was and how he operated. He asked them to go back and rethink about their proposal and come back after two weeks. In the meantime, he was also going to think through their proposal. Magufuli, a staunch catholic, who was also a drummer in the church choir, is said to have prayed over the issue and fasted for two weeks.
The Party elders came back after two weeks and Magufuli asked them whether they still wanted him to run as CCM Presidential candidate given his way of operating, they answered in the affirmative and he finally agreed. He went on a campaign trail using his record and not the CCM brand .He promised the electorate to change the country forever and most Tanzanians believed him. He won the Presidency by 58% purely due to his clean image compared to the combined Opposition of 40% whose candidate was former Prime Minister Edward Lowasa , who had defected to the Opposition after failing to be adopted by the ruling party. Lowasa’s past was not so clean.
In his inauguration speech, he vowed to ensure that Tanzanians walked the talk in confronting society’s vices which had encouraged laziness and did not reward hard work and honesty. He vowed to transform Tanzania’s infrastructure by ending Tanzania’s endemic power shortage, improve the railway system, improve the efficiency and utilization of Dar –es- salaam port, industrialize Tanzania through the manufacture of clothes, textiles, edible oils and other agro based industries and ensure manufacturing accounted for 40% of jobs by 2020.
Immediately he took over, Dr. Magufuli’s modus operandi was a hands on management style. One of the tactics he used was undertaking surprise visits to institutions. He thus applied what can be described as “shock therapy” to Tanzanian society which has been immensely successful so far and some of the notable achievements are outlined in this article below.
War on corruption
Magufuli has since taking the reins of power waged a relentless war against corruption which has had a positive impact on Tanzania to an extent that whereas it used to take two weeks to clear a car at Dar es- salaam port, it now takes less than forty eight hours. There are several hundreds senior government officials and private sector individuals who are in prison as he fast tracked corruption trials by setting up a separate special court for corruption suspects from the normal court system to speed up trials.
He has also instilled discipline and accountability in government. The civil servants’ practice of absenteeism and late coming is a thing of the past in Tanzania. Magufuli has fired several senior government officials including a senior railway official, the head of the port authority, the head of the tax authority and the head of the anti corruption body, a hospital head of the main Government hospital after finding patients sleeping on the floor. He has earned a reputation of a no –nonsense man and a man who when he says something, he follows through and does not lie or bluff.
Domestic revenue mobilisation
Tax collection has sky rocketed in Tanzania as the number businesses paying tax has gone up following tax amnesty and ending the ad hoc grants of tax holidays to businesses especially multinationals. There is now widespread compliance to tax laws in Tanzania unlike before.
Free education
Magufuli introduced free education up to secondary school in January,2016 as promised during his election campaign which has been funded from the savings from government waste. Tanzania has seen tremendous improvements in hospitals and schools services. It is a totally different country.
Reduction in Government waste and curtailed foreign trips
Government expenditure and waste has been stemmed with foreign trips curtailed and cleared personally by him. He has led by example by making only three foreign trips – Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya- in twelve months that resulted in practical deals with Uganda and Rwanda changing their original plans of routing their pipeline and railway projects from Kenya through Tanzania respectively.
He instigated an investigation on the government payroll that discovered over 10,000 ghost workers who have since been removed, saving the treasury $2million dollars per month
Aspiring Petty dictator?
He has had his fair share of critics who accuse him of being autocratic but most supporters believe when you have a country which had been rotten to the core as Tanzania was, with corruption and lack of rule of law, you needed a patriotic democratic dictator to clean up the mess and normalize society.
“People believe sincerely that there is a new sheriff in town,” According to former Prime Minister and OAU secretary General, Salim Ahmed Salim. “ But I worry. At some point President Magufuli will have to review his methods. He cannot be a one- man show”.
According to a report by a BBC correspondent, Magafuli has been criticized for his dictatorial tendencies as demonstrated by his introduction of the Cyber law which has resulted in over ten people being charged for insulting the President on social media as well as closing down two radio stations and a newspaper which actions are tantamount to limiting freedom of expression. The US aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation(MCC) cancelled $500 m of funding partly due enforcement of cyber crime law and the limits of freedom of expression.
“ There is no doubt President Magufuli is very popular among many ordinary Tanzanians,’’ Political analyst, Katila is reported to have told the BBC. “ But many are also keen to see him provide civic space for freedom of expression and political gathering and rallies which his government banned a couple of months ago”
The difference between Magufuli and other leaders in Africa is that he leads by example. He means what he says and follows things up and he cannot be lied to. He is a hands on person and does not over delegate. He is a man of action.
In Africa, effective leaders are those who are feared but respected by subordinates and who keep some social distance with subordinates and avoid “ ichibeleshi” (familiarity).They also avoid cosy relationships with business people and never accept gifts from them which may compromise them and lead to State capture.
Conclusion.
There is no doubt that President Magufuli has turned around the Tanzanian economy which has attracted massive foreign investments in the twelve months he has been President. He has changed the culture and mindset of Tanzanians although some of his methods are pretty dictatorial and are intolerant of freedom of expression and alternative voices. He should , however, be commended for the achievements in such a short space of time clearly demonstrating that an individual at the top can make or break the fortunes of a country.
There are so many lessons for our President, Edgar Chagwa Lungu to learn from Magufuli. The major ones in general terms include the need for the implementation of pronouncements, leading by example, avoiding populist decisions and wanting to be liked while doing more harm to the country, instilling discipline in the Party and government, being firm but fair, firing those who err regardless of how close and what their political contribution to you will send a clear message to others to be on their toes and not take one for granted.
As a last word, there are lessons for African Presidents including John Magufuli and our own Zambian President, his Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu to learn from the latest satirical article by a blogger on Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama’s supposedly “ concession speech”.
Here are some of the excerpts of the widely circulated satirical concession speech which some people have erroneously believed to be the actual speech Dramani delivered.
“When those who opposed us cried foul, we retorted, “Hate can’t win.” Tonight, however, I am the first to admit that some hate can win. This election has taught me that the hate of corruption can win. It has taught me that hate of incompetence can win. Our defeat has taught me that hate of impunity can win. I have learnt that the hate of the obscene display of ill-gotten opulence wins. I have learnt that hate of mediocrity and deception definitely wins. And I have learnt that hating evil will forever triumph over the love of evil. That was what happened on Wednesday.
Another important lesson I have learnt from this defeat is that the success or failure of a leader depends on the kind of people he or she surrounds themselves with. While Rawlings appointed the likes of Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas as deputy ministers, I made the mistake of giving that respectable position to the likes of John Oti Bless. I have now realised, rather too late, that if I had kept the likes of Ben Dotsei Malor and Dr. Raymond Atuguba around me, they would have injected some semblance of sanity into the Presidency and given that high office an aura of respectability and decency. The praise-singing sycophants who act on the dictates of their stomachs are only specialized at telling you what you want to hear. Unfortunately, I did not listen to voices of reason.”
The writer is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a financial management expert. He is an independent and non partisan commentator/analyst. He has lived in the diaspora in England, South Africa and Botswana for over 25 years before returning home three years ago.
fantastic!! A lot to learn from our learned colleague.
There is nothing that blind Lungu can learn from anyone, he’s so visionless.
On 14~9~14 PF bandits leader said that “I have no vision” period.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
The presidential petition must be heard without confused PF bandits of visionless Lungu interfering with the judiciary.
Thank’s for the information provided in the article……………nomba ka CV mwabika pa last ninshi mulefwaya inchito?
Iam Upnd believe me even my name says it loud. Fellow Upnd our president hh compared to magufuli has no track record that people can refer to as a person who can bring development. Just look at magufili he was once a minister while our hh has never been anything in the party but jumps to president. The only record he has is when he participated in the privatisation and became rich. Now is that the good reason why zambians should vote for.?
Hard-core Upnd supporter. Kiki
A great read.
However this article was written on the BBC and this is a great attempt on impersonation I have had the displeasure of reading without quoting the true source and original writer I can think of.
A great credit for the writer to bring the content to the reader – but a quote on the source of information would have gone a long way rather than an attempt on being fed an explanation of the CV of the author.
Not everything that glitters is gold people.
Thanks
BB2014
Stay away from Lungu and HH they r not right. the best we have had r Sara and Mwanawasa
Why has the USA not curtailed the dishing out of Aid to Zambia as they done in Tanzania because Chagwa Edward has been the number one sniffer of press freedom-could come out number one not only in Africa but globally too looking at the number of opposing news houses he has crapped down-is the USA ambassador to Zambia reporting rightly to Washngton about Zambia’s almost none existence freedom of speech? Chagwa and his pathetic failures team needs to be punished over this buy cutting off Aid, that is the only way they can learn.
You think Edgar lungu can learn anything from that with full bottles of alcohol in his mouth?????
Imwe na imwe ba @KMB – so your measure of honesty is the ability to attract aid? You mean you cannot innovate your own resource management to earn enough to even give aid to actually deserving recipients yourselves? Awe kwena pali fita pa Afrika mwe!
HH can be better than Mangufuli.
Jeez! I wish Magufuli was my president. Not the man we have in Zambia – spending time travelling and drinking for hours on end. Instead of working out solutions to the country’s problems, he asks them to pray for answers, without showing any commitment to solve problems.
Lessons Learnt for our leaders
==============
“The difference between Magufuli and other leaders in Africa is that he leads by example. He means what he says and follows things up and he cannot be lied to. He is a hands on person and does not over delegate. He is a man of action.”
If only they can emulate one of this traits, they can make some difference. Unfortunately, our leaders lack the above highlighted leadership skills. Please, learn from Magufuli. A MUST read article for ECL.
As Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire Mo Ibrahim once stated- the difference between Lilongwe and Zurich is Leadership and Good Governance…Tanzanian President John Magufuli exhibits this quality of strong excellent leadership and has a political will to attain Good Governance. When do a head to head comparison with our Lazy Lungu, our dull President FAILS LAMENTABLY.
“You get take a Donkey to a pond to drink BUT you can not force it to drink”The utterly Lazy Lungu has absolutely zero leadership skills, doesn’t have a road map or vision and hardly understands what Good Governance. Lazy Lungu is idle, indolent, slothful, work-shy, shiftless, loafing, inactive, inert, sluggish, lethargic, languorous, listless, torpid, enervated, slow-moving, slow,…
@1.12 Jay Jay
Fabulous, insightful. Thanks.
Mafuguli is delivering on his campaign promise. Tanzanians are getting what they were hoping for. That is the beauty of democracy. It’s not what you get when you rig an election. In Zambia, the tendency has been to rig elections. It’s the reason we end-up with wrong leaders – those we never voted for and those who cannot deliver.
Correction:
Rather “Mugufuli” and not “Mufuguli.” It’s a tongue twister.
A former Zambian President tried to copy from a former Tanzanian President and the result was a disaster for both countries in the long run. Let Lungu be his own man. Let him fail or succeed on his own terms.
This is a poorly written analysis. Whilst it is true some improvement could have been achieved in the economy, the analysis does not give the statistics to put things context eg it just says, ‘Tax collection has sky rocketed..’ for heaven’s sake give me comparative data for this to be meaningful. On Corruption how many convictions have there been for instance? Weeding out ghost workers would definitely have saved the country money, but simple calculation from the figures given suggests an employee earns $200 per month, in a country where reported average is $50 per month.
Perhaps it’s high time Zambia and other African countries were led by Natural Scientists. These are trained to look at facts in black and white, not ‘Eh, it depends on where you are standing.’ Lawyers are the worst. No two economists can agree. Most social science is a matter of who has the gift of the garb.
Unfortunately Lungu will not learn anything from this. I doubt he’ll even read this. Besides, his models are Museveni and Mugabe. Lungu has no vision for the country, has no clue what he’s doing, and has no interest whatsoever to see Zambia develop. Currently, all he’s interested in is flying around aimlessly at taxpayer’s expense, while his minions loot the national coffers. What a shame.
To expect so much from EL, a man who said in front of cameras he had no vision is just too much. Leadership is in most cases gifted to certain people from the moment their born and EL has non of it. Let’s just chat chill and continue on auto pilot. With some lucky, Zambia might get better soon. He has left everything in the hands of our lord and hence we have the creation of a religious ministry.
i describe corruption as the daily dress code for most african leaders,but not magufuli,he is outstanding
What have you got to say about the arrest and incarcerating of the owner of the online news who has been denied bail and access to a lawyer? Besides don’t forget that Tanzanians are very law abiding compared to the “corrupt ” zambians. I overpaid a clearing urgent at Dar. As soon as he discovered my mistake, he contacted me and wired the money to me. It’s easier to run Tanzania than wild zambia.
Indeed its wild Zambia!!, What a country, corruption is in every one’s genes in this rotten country and the cost of doing business is propelled by this. One wonders why Chagwa wants to be in that seat, because the chap looks lost, even his finance minister Mutanti inspires some sort of calmness in the nation when he makes a statement and not ba Chagwa. The man is only fit to be a ward councilor
Magufuli is not as nice as he is made out to be. Even Hitler had millions of Germans willing to die for him. Magufuli is a crypto-dictator who thinks he knows what is good for all Tanzanians. He has muzzled the opposition on the pretext that politicking is only for around election times and not in between. Magufuli started well but will end up badly, like all one-track zealots (Kaunda, Kamuzu, Mugabe, Museveni etc). Magufuli is not a Mandela but an unhinged egoistic zealot.
@Buck Teeth Lungu, actually if you look around at countries that are progressing they hang up their rallies and political gang-ho as soon as elections are over. See whenever Merkel, May, or Obama are launching a policy action they go near where it will be operational (on factory floors, in schools, at construction sites, etc.). Imwe ati Mutendere rally, with cadres pumping fists as they disturb traffic flow when we should be moving forward. So, yes – enforcing a season for politicking is necessary in Afrika. We do not know what is good for us. Incompetence is always blamed on an invisible enemy, much less the opposition…
First time I am agreeing with you. Radio stations have been closed in Tanzania unlike here where GRZ is playing cat and mouse with the press ….ban the Post today and tomorrow it resurrects as the Mast. Let’s just improve our own house instead of admiring other people ‘s houses. We don’t know what’s under their roof.
@4.2 Buck Teeth Lungu
Good medicine is painful at times. Good leaders are not meant to be nice to all people. If you are a good leader, you cut and slice the dead wood and the dry rot; you prune the over-hanging branches. You challenge the status quo. That can be painful.
Ndanje, that is a correct observation. Tanzanians are law abiding citizens compared to Zambia. Transforming Zambia requires different strategies and tactics. The first thing Preident Lungu should do is to ensure he roots out corruption. Come what may, it should be done. It is a very difficult task I may say because he will receive a lot of opposition even from within his party. It is already happening! He will be declared enemy number one by those who thrive on corruption. This I must say!
But Zambia is a Christian Nation?
Sorry, here we don’t learn.
It’s difficult for one to be like another person. But one can try to copy some good actions from another person. We also had one president who had a good record when he was a minister – King Cobra – Man of Action. He made hospitals clean as we can see even today. Rest in Peace.
Very good read indeed, and incredible piece and good lessons if one dare learns them. Lungu needs to be hands on if things are to work, he needs to travel more IN Zambia and not OUSIDE Zambia.
What is the point of making so many trips abroad to bring money that is just being stolen locally or misused due to poor on site supervision. You can to clean the house first. And this is what Tanzania is doing.
In all fairness Kalima Nkonde should seriously be the winner of best columnist on Lusaka Times and not Ba Miyanda , as the voting is suggesting at the moment.
I agree with you. In my opinion Bo Miyanda should be among the Most Disappointing Politician of the Year-list. From being a Republican Vip to being a blogger.
MMD Chief Bootlicker, our colleague Mushota has pointed out that the author plagiarised or copied and pasted this article from the BBC. These are not Kalima Nkonde’s ideas or words but they are stolen words from the BBC – which is the original source that is not acknowledged. How do you then make such a person the winner of best columnist? I am glad that Lusaka Times bloggers voted for the right man this time 🙂
It is unfair to try to make dancing lungu follow what manguluf does.
Lungu and most of PF are fraud convicts or have been accused of theft.
Lungu was actually convicted of stealing his client’s money. So it is not just an accusation, records of that conviction are there for all to see in Zambian courts if not deleted illegally.
One last question from me, how successful is Kalima Nkonde or is it his objective to sell us his CV rather than telling us his perception of Magufuli?
And for once I have read Mushota’s take!
Magufuli iwe. Is this not an exaggeration mwebantu? 12 months you can see change in the economy to write home about?
Can’t compare Mugufuli to Lungu, a Bum who’s in State House to tour, party, get drunk eat + fatten his pot belly & wallet.
NO COMPARISON WHATSOEVER!!
“When those who opposed us cried foul, we retorted, “Hate can’t win.” Tonight, however, I am the first to admit that some hate can win. This election has taught me that the hate of corruption can win. It has taught me that hate of incompetence can win. Our defeat has taught me that hate of impunity can win. I have learnt that the hate of the obscene display of ill-gotten opulence wins. I have learnt that hate of mediocrity and deception definitely wins. And I have learnt that hating evil will forever triumph over the love of evil. That was what happened on Wednesday.
Another important lesson I have learnt from this defeat is that the success or failure of a leader depends on the kind of people he or she surrounds themselves with. While Rawlings appointed the likes of Dr. Mohammed Ibn…
Magufuli and Edward are not birds of the same feathers and therefore Edward has nothing to learn from the Bull Dozer. The Bull Dozer has a vision and Edward has openly confessed that he has no Vision. As they say without a Vision people perish and u can see that in Zambia things are fa?ling apart becoz the centre can no longer hold. Illegitimate Edward is doomed to fail.
To comment on Magufuli, I have heard so many positive things about this tough man especially his anti corruption stance. For example I heard that permanent secretaries and other civil servants are no longer the main market for expensive clothes in Tanzania. I laughed at first but later thought about it and realised that this statement is loaded with important messages and lessons.
Coming to Magufuli himself, I note that he is president in a country where people move on after elections. I wondered whether even a Magufuli in Zambia can achive anything where the losers are so bitter that for the next five years they have set about destroying their own country and preventing any development including their own their villages or homes. Yes for the next five years they will sabotage all…
Contd…Yes for the next five years they will sabotage all development efforts so that they have a misguided chance to campaign in 2021. In this article I note that the loser Edward Lowasa has remained a patriotic Tanzanian maybe because he has been prime minister before unlike others on our local scene whose only experience at electoral “victory” was at a chuundu “convention”.
@Terrible! do you see any development in Lungu Iwe c1kala.You are doomed you cadre. Dont blame the opposition they dont have any instrument of power neither do they control any government institution. You have an id1ot in state house who is there to enjoy himself and make himself as rich as he possibly can with his crones. HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, KOLWE IWEE!
Kaputo Davies, you sound like a real lunatic. I wouldn’t want to know you in person ever!
You have a president who is a convicted criminal, what do you expect from him.- STEALING! Lungu has never achieved anything in his life to write home about apart from being a heavy drinker and womaniser in Chawama. He appears humble because he is clueless and does not know what to do. Magufuli has traveled outside his country only 3 times in one year and because of his hard working and track record he has managed to attract big investments in his country. Meanwhile our drunkard was telling us he has cut his salary by half but has tripled his travels outside the country in the name of attracting investment and his fellow thief Kalaba was heard saying, yes Lungu has to travel to attract investment and cadres and praise singers were there cheering. These id!ots have taken Zambians for…
To learn new habits one must first unlearn old habits. Or else the process will be no more than pretense and old habits will keep resurfacing. So emphasis should be placed on unlearning.
A person’s character plays a major role. No where in Magufuli’s profile did you read he had swindled, stolen money, he is a heavy drinker, incompetent and a dishonest person. If he had been guilty of any of that Tanzanians wouldn’t have elected him. Now that’s the difference between Zambia and Tanzania. In Zambia people knew exactly that Lungu is dishonest, a thief, an excessive drinker of beer, a man without a vision, but that’s who they wanted to develop the country. Given Lungu’s characteristics and the shameless people surrounding him purportedly assisting in developing country it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy that Zambia is definitely doomed. But then that’s what the people want.
@Wantanshi, thank you for profiling ECL. Let me hear you do likewise for HH, GBM, Nawakwi, Sinkamba, etc. Then we won’t again fall for partisan sentiments at the ballot. It will be unhelpful to merely stop at Lungu while the rest of the pack seems to posses questionable pasts too.
Our own Chiluba tried gate keeping at a number of Ministries but ran out of steam. Magufuli, however, is carrying out a mandate from the elders and from the population. It is almost as ironic as Duterte’s Philipines where his unorthodox approach to crime is somehow still earning him support. Like Donald Trump in the USA, sometimes you have to listen to the most aggrieved if you are to understand what it means to “walk in someone’s shoes” and “walk the talk” when you bend down to help the weak and downtrodden. Thanks for this enlightening article. I doubt our politicians will want to read it twice though. Too busy debating emoluments and tabernacles.
Mushota : Not all that glitters is gold. Indeed Zambia can glitter if all of refused to bribe a traffic officer, refused to use the back door to get a plot, refused to pay in order to get a contract ….corruption is not a vacuum ..it takes two to tango. How’s a minister become corrupt if we all refuse to pay for favours? A judge will not be corrupt if we all say we shall settle the issue in court. Even the ACC has been infiltrated by us.
ECL is unteachable. Miyanda pleaded with him to ‘Read the ammended Bill’ before assenting to it and months after that great advice we have the chaps looking to re-ammend the ammended Bill.
@22 Tomiboi
Akin to teaching an old dog new tricks. It doesn’t work.
General Miyanda’s advice was nonsensical from the standpoint that the Zambian people put up that document. There was no way a courageous leader was going to continue hiding that document – on which so much public funds had been spent — useless as it may be.
Terrible we do not know who is the Winner or Loser of the 11th August 2016 Presidential Election. If Lungu believes he genuinely won the Election then he needs to prove this in a Court of law and for the whole World to see. As soon as Lungu proves this in Court Zambians and the International Community will recognise him as the genuine President of Zambia. Lungu’s current tactic of blocking the Hearing of the Petition confirms that Lungu has something to hide and the perception that Lungu lost the Election and then stole victory from HH will continue to linger on. Until this Petition is heard and determined Lungu will remain an illegitimate President.Period.
Why prove it in a court of law, when a swearing ceremony has already taken place?
You are the guys that are living in denial, and are making HH not to lead a normal life.
MOVE ON!
Magufuli is a Catholic. How about our ECL? Please put me in the know.
It depends which Church he attends on Sunday!!
@Ndanje khakis you are a true Zambian Patriot you can see Ba Upnd insulting the President whereas Magufuli has even introduced a cyber crime law which forbids insulting the President on social media. No two scenarios are the same HH simply has no track record to boast about except for using his wit during Privitisation unlike ECL who served in different Ministries
Ati “Edgar Lungu served in different ministries ” ….and archived what exactly ?
As a track record HH has been a successful business man while lungus only notable archivement is his fraud conviction…
HH has a track record, he is a successful business man and has managed to head a part in opposition for over 10 years, while Lungu is NOT a successful drunkard because he is sick on account of too much jameson and dirty women of Chawama!
Magufuli is a dictator do you want ECL to be one
…yes if it will mean well for the country and help to turn it around…
@26 J ai tombe
I disagree. Magufuli is not a dictator.
I would rather have a president who is a dictator and can achieve economic developments for all than the lazy good for nothing so called Lungu who is a dictator but economically developing his own selfish needs, thanks!
@26.3 MaryGoRound
Tanzanians prefer to refer to Magufuli as a bulldozer. I am comfortable with that tag they have given him. They don’t think he is a dictator. He is a bulldozer. He does what bulldozers to – get things tone. Otherwise, Magufuli is not a dictator.
There’s nothing wrong with a dictator who delivers. Paul Kagame is labelled a dictator but his nation’s citizens are happy with what he is dictating to happen.
@26.4…Meimatungu..
…are u by any chance from Luapula……what Bulldozer to….get things tone….and T is nowhere near D on the key board…flesy fisy…
@26.6 scrutinizerer
Yep!
Wow! It’s easy, if you objectives and goals are to truly serve the people and your country with no selfish motives you can perform wonders like these.
We know Lungu can’t emulate Mugufuli ‘Bulldozer’ but those who aspire to succeed him can take a leaf and learn.
As a side note, can this guy be our president please? Or can Tanzania please colonize us?
@27 Maverick
Very true indeed. It is that easy, and yet not that simple.
Wantanshi has summarized Lungu’s CV correctly. Nothing will come out of a person with such a profile. Lungu will illegally cling on to power,enjoy imbibing alcohol, womanising, stealing money from corrupt deals etc. Zambia is doomed with Lungu at the helm. Time will te?l!
Kitwe magistrate court bailiffs and clerks (Sikasunda and Kabwe) stole my property worth 70,000 Kwacha during Mwanawasa ‘s time but can I say Mwanawasa was corrupt? Not atall …we’re our own enemies. We accept mediocrity. Kitwe council has tried many times to move people from Chisokone so that the market can be worked on but the people have threatened to riot. Who do you blame for the unhygienic conditions at this market?
@Ndanje K
You have raised pertinent points and I believe they deserve serious thoughts. My view is Zambia in its current form seriously lacks leadership. Imagine what would happen if police were deployed at Chisokone to enforce the council mandate to clean up and rebuild. Imagine what would happen if today we had a leader who does not pander to anyone but makes a simple pronouncement to the effect that whoever steals or derails GRZ programs gets arrested and has his case disposed off in 3 weeks time. Imagine. Imagine if we had a leader who would simple direct the police to get on with their work without brazen partiality! Leadership is about engagement and stewardship and as things stand, neither of these 2 things is evident.
This is a nice piece of information. There are several lessons to learn from this gallant man of Tanzania in the name of Magufuli. Saving millions of dollars in unnecessary trips and corruption is not a mean achievement. In comparison, when our own president says he wants to save resources he means making more trips for more money in his pocket. Not even his ministers can take him seriously when he talks about fighting corruption. Magufuli didn’t use corruption to get to power whereas our own, corruption was the stair case to state house. Magufuli makes three foreign trips in 12 months and results are there to show our own makes four trips just in November with no results. I am yearning for a time when God will remember us also with a man of action.
@Songo
Unfortunately Zambia doesn’t show any sign that it’s a normal society. In a normal society people would never have even considered a character like Lungu to be a candidate for president. Despite all the glaring deficiencies and self-confession that he doesn’t have a vision, yet people elected him. He is now in state house with nothing to show for it.
@30.1 Wantanshi
I concur.
In one of the interviews before even Sata died lungu was asked if he had any ambitions of becoming president one day and he laughed it off saying he had never entertained such thoughts ever. People in PF who knew the weaknesses of Lungu are the ones who pushed hard that he (Lungu) becomes president after the death of Sata because they knew there would be no control (discipline) in terms of the use of Government money and these are the same people who today have become very rich and of course Lungu has also taken his share of the loot. So this talk of fighting corruption by Lungu is actually teasing poor citizens. Lungu is a convicted thief, a womaniser and a careless drunkard but this is the man people who believe in tribe wanted to be in state house. Indeed Zambia is not a normal society.
We miss Mwalimu the unifier. The man who didn’t know tribalism. The man who believed in African pride. The man who believed development would come from African thinking African self belief not carbon copying the West
@31 Boycott Horseshoe restaurant
What a cardinal observation. There is no tribalism in Tanzania. The seed Mwalimu sowed did germinate and is now bearing fruit. Our Kenneth Kaunda, on the other hand, pursued a policy of divide and rule for such a long time that, to this day, Zambia is still a divided nation – divided along tribal lines. Jomo Kenyatta did the same in Kenya; and to this day, Kenya is still divided along tribal lines. Besides Mwalimu, the other exception in Africa was Kwame Nkrumah. He left behind a Ghana that is devoid of tribalism.
Kaunda did try his best. Just look at his cabinets. Those who took over were the tribalists
@31.2 Wogona
When you say: “Kaunda did try his best. Just look at his cabinets…” you are referring to Kaunda’s policy of “tribal balancing.” Please note that Kaunda pursued that policy for a purpose – to preserve his own political career. Sadly, the trees that he planted, did not create a natural forest. Despite his long tenure that afforded him the opportunity to preside over his political creation for nearly three decades, it crumbled to pieces the moment he left office.
Had he allowed to be challenged by the likes of Simon Kapwepwe and Nalumino Mundia, etc., the country would have developed its democratic legs early enough; and learn to stand on two or three such legs. Any country purporting to be a democracy, but has no democratic legs, is like a soccer league with only…
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@31.2 Wogona
>>> Any country purporting to be a democracy, but has no democratic legs, is like a soccer league with only one team – its not a league. And because we have no democratic legs to stand on, we have devised artificial ones along tribal lines. That is a recipe for tribalism.
Wantanshi has summarized Lungu’s CV correctly. Nothing will come out of a person with such a profile. Lungu will illegally cling on to power,enjoy imbibing alcohol, womanising, stealing money from corrupt deals etc. Zambia is doomed with Lungu at the helm. Time will te?l!
Lets Hunt for a President in 2021 please Zambians, learns to use heads. Lungu and including those in the main opposition have dirt hands they all stink corruption, how then can they fight corruption and endevour to do that which is honest to serve an average Zambian? Please lets begin a HUNT for a PRESIDENT FOR 2021 a person with clean record whose hand can not be twisted away from the desire to serve the poor and bring meaningful development unlike those serving the corrupt RB because he helped them win the elections and now they are appeasing him forgetting an average Zambian that voted for them. We need a DONALD TRUMP WITH RADICAL REFORMS THAT PUT THE PLIGHT OF ITS PEOPLE FIRST.
Clean hands? One Gen. Godfrey Miyanda.
You may have a mentor but cannot be the mentor himself no matter what. Those calling others by adjectives shall one day, and I repeat one day Pay for their sins. I have said time and again that words despite being free to site can be expensive if a wrong combination is applied.
does it mean there is nothing to write home about chagwa…??the author lives in Zambia but he chooses to stretch his neck and set his eyes and ears on Tanzania….. tabulating achievements and some negatives for the neighbour……its high time he relaxed his neck and give us a shot on our very own….
ya this lungu should vist all the dept and not to leave thing as the r now gone from bad to worest look at lands dept the immgrastion dept full of coppersition and there is a lot lung cant fix any of this never it is gone bad to worest
jay naik, Which school did you attend? Just wondering really.
Umwana ashenda stash a … We are not yet done with global coverage. Learning can come later but is not important to us as at now. See you in 2021!
Lungu is Lungu and Magufuli is Magufuli. If Zambians want a Magufuli type of a leader, then they should vote for a Magufuli. You cannot vote for a Lungu and expect a Magufuli. A Toyota is a Toyota, a Mazda is a Mazda – the two are not interchangeable’. If you are buying a car, you have to decide on the make you want. Don’t buy a Landrover and expect it to suddenly transform itself into a Landcruiser. Lungu will always function as Lungu. That’s what we wanted and that’s what we are getting.
…if i buy a brand new sedan Toyota 1600cc and at the same time buy a sedan Mazda 1600cc for my brother…i would expect the performance of the two cars to be more less the same….if my brother and i start off (in our separate cars from the same town at the same time) for the village to see our sick dying mother ….and the ideal time for the journey is 3hrs….if i arrive in Three and half hrs and my brother arrives in Six and half hrs because he had to make a stop over to eat mangoes…stop at some watering holes for some Jemason…why should the difference in arrival time be blamed on our different type of cars….it requires seriousness and being a responsible person bearing in mind why he has embarked on that journey…..
Mugufuli is a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, & Edward Chakolwa is a Skoda 1976 Communist East German model.
Thats how huge the Gulf is between Bulldozer & Chakolwa, as comparing Toyota’s & Mazda’s would be a equal like comparing Mugufuli & the Namibian leader.
@38.1 scrutinizerer
Car manufacturers compete on the basis that their cars differ, one one from the other, depending on what features one is looking for. Two cars travelling at the same speed – one may, at that speed, be burning more fuel than the other, one may feel better balanced at that speed while the other may start to vibrate and warble, one may respond to emergency breaking better than the other, one may have better resell value than the other etc.
@38.1 scrutinizerer
What is true of cars, is true of leaders – they are not created equal.
If we voted for a Mr. Nice man, then a Mr. Nice man is what we are getting. Tanzanians knew that they were not voting for a Mr. Nice man. They wanted Mr. Magufuli because they knew that it would take a man of his caliber to get things done. Never mind Magufuli’s rough edges, if any. He is getting the job done. And that’s what Tanzanians wanted. It’s what they want; and they are happy. We, on this side of Mafinga mountains seem the more frustrated with our Mr. Nice man who is failing to get things done. It’s a done deal. We got what we wanted.
Yup with the help of a corrupt electoral officials. Zambia need real cleaning of its corruption. It is bad. I don’t trust HH either, but Lungu, Banda, Nevers all those corrupt recycled politicians Kaya mwandi, they are filthy corrupt people. Zambia needs a young energic, yet disciplined person to fix all the mess that Mwanawasa had been fixing since Chiluba’s corruption activities. Lungu is lousy and corrupt himself. He is weak and think cozzying up with Museveni and Mugabe is the way to go. Young Zambian men need to rise up and quit being used. They should demand jobs not being cadres and then once the election is over they are dumped.
Lungu is on the plane as we speak for a working State Visit, whatever that is.
….kikikikiki….im told they are actually discussing and arguing on board(in the air) with Harry Kalaba which country they must visit first….. they are heading north…im sure when they hit Sudan’s airspace the pilot will be told to go to Madagascar first…..
At least Mugabe is honest about his.travel. He has taken SIX MILLION DOLLARS for.his month long annual holiday in Asia, no bull.sh!t and lies about “working visits” to cover up his looting of the Nation!
This is indeed a working President. This position should be about taking ACTION that impacts positively on people’s lives.Not in this country where it is all about glamour, undertaking luxurious foreign trips and walking on red carpets.
How can you fight corruption when each time a Kambwili is charged with corruption “divisions ” surface in the party? I urge Lungu if he’s truthful to root out all corrupt leaders and have them prosecuted. He’s protected by the ZAMBIAN people therefore tu Kambwili should not scare him.
How can Lungu deal with Kambwili when he knows he was the first to steal the elections? Keep dreaming and good luck to you while you wait for Kambwili’s prosecution.
As Bemba’s say Isabi ukubola lyambila kumutwe.
This government will only continue stealing until we remain with nothing.
Cry my beloved country.
Zambia voted and majority wanted PF. Lungu is there now.
Yes it is possible to have free education in Africa. Ghana offers FREE primary and secondary education. Now Tanzania has followed Ghanaian example.
Those are great lesson for a truly normal human being,but doubt if our Leader can learn from those lessons because is surrounded by a Bach of slow learners and him selfish is a bit of I don’t care type
To cap it all do your part so that you can criticise with a clean conscious. Avoid dealing those agents at RATSA and the full procedure. Once you do this the officers will realize that they are dealing with serious minded citizens. Am giving these examples because this is what has destroyed our country. People fail to complete tax returns because of the frustration they face at ZRA. Employees at ZRA have created a situation which forces people to resort to bribery if they are to be served. Let’s fight it by saying no to bribery!!??
interesting comments to read.
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