AN OPEN LETTER TO TANZANIA

Hamjambo majirani,
Kindly accept my apologies for taking too long to write to you
How is the home to Mwalimu Nyerere doing? Do you still believe in Ujamaa and does the kindness still exist amidst you? How I miss the sweet and smooth Swahili accent and the beautiful Zanzibar beaches, not to forget the epic travels on Dar- Zanzibar bound ferries.

As a friend, I am a sad man, sad because you never learn from past experiences and not concerned at all with your health as nation. I am much aware of different approaches towards the pandemic that each country has at stake, I am however shocked by how your leaders handle it. I am one person who believes that history repeats itself, let me take you back how you’ve always suffered due to ignorance and your leaders’ arrogance when handling matters of national interest.

In 1905, when the Germans invaded your territory with an aim of colonizing you, the then leader, a Kolelo Priest from the larger village of Ngalaba by the name Kinjekitile Ngwale acted swiftly by mobilizing and organizing the people of the Eastern Tanganyika. His initial ideas were so good since his main aim was to unite all the communities to resist and fight the Germans, however, he had one problem, his plans were so backward, in his Jujila (secret whispering campaign) he gave out an idea of sprinkling a concoction of maize floor, millet floor and water from River Rufiji, romanticized as magic water to protect his people. Why was he doing that? Because he believed that the Germans’ presence was the cause of the famine and drought that had hit the Eastern part of Tanganyika, his superstitious beliefs caused the death of so many people in the history of Tanzania (formerly known as Tanganyika). You all relate to this story, don’t you?

A decade ago, between 2010 and 2011, in Samunge village, Loliondo area adjacent to Ngorongoro in Northern part of Tanzania, there emerged a retired Lutheran priest known as Ambilikile Mwasipile, claimed to possess an antidote to every chronic illness, people all over Africa travelled to get the cure (after all everyone wants a good life, no one wants to die). It is alleged that the drug was a non-flavored drink made from the indigenous Mugariga tree and administered at as low as Ksh. 30, thanks to the media coverage that didn’t hide a thing about it. Almost ten years down the line, not even one person who had the antidote survived and Mzee Loliondo’s disappearance is still a mystery.

And now, in 2020, H.E John Pombe Magufuli, the head of state and the incumbent President of Tanzania, from Chato, a Sukuma by tribe and former Chemistry and Mathematics teacher at Sengerema Secondary School in Chato, keeps surprising us every day with his sentiments and approach towards Covid-19. The current news has it that he’s thinking of reopening schools and colleges, in his rightful mind he talks of lemon juice and prayers as cure to the virus. A sad affair. Let’s keep an eye, we’ll soon have another Italy in East Africa.
Regards,
Concerned neighbor.