OPINIONBy Peter Saramba
Mwanza — With the fragile situation it is facing, Zanzibar is in dire need of the media to inform and educate the islanders and the world at large in a bid to prevent the archipelago from plunging into yet another bloodshed.
Even politicians, who are attempting to show the world that Zanzibar is under control, know deep down their hearts that all is not well with the Spice Islands.
Tension and sometimes physical violence have been rocking the Isles since the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman, Mr Jecha Salum Jecha, had dubiously annulled last year's General Election results on October 28, 2015, and declared March 20 election rerun date.
The prevailing situation in the Isles calls to mind the turmoil the archipelago went through in 1990s when the multiparty democracy was just reintroduced in Tanzania. Different political ideologies divided kith and kin during former President Salmin Amour Juma's regime when Zanzibaris greeted, shopped and buried each other basing on them.
The hostility mounted in the 2000 General Election after presidential candidate on a Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Amani Abeid Karume was declared winner, defeating his close rival on a Civic United Front (CUF) ticket Seif Sharif Hamad by a small margin.
On January 27, 2001, the tension flared up prompting police officers to open live bullets towards thousands of the CUF supporters protesting against alleged fraud in the election held three months earlier.
Security forces reportedly went on a house-to-house rampage, indiscriminately arresting, beating up, and sexually abusing opposition members.
While the official death rate of 47 people was announced, thousands of Zanzibaris men, women and children fled to Shimoni in Mombasa, Kenya, to seek refuge.
Despite widespread resistance against the March 20 election rerun, authorities in Zanzibar believe once again that with law enforcing organs on their side, they can prevent the tension from flaring up as was the case in 2001.
They forget that former President Karume had to swallow his pride and engage in political dialogue with his archrival Shariff Hamad, leading to the formation of the Zanzibar Government of National Unity (GNU) comprising both CCM and CUF cadres.
With GNU in place, the 2010 General Election was not only held smoothly, but also saw history being written with CUF secretary general Sharif Hamad conceding defeat and hugging Dr Ali Mohamed Shein once he was declared winner by a small margin. The racism ghost was blown away on the GNU wind. Zanzibar has never enjoyed calm since the reintroduction of the multiparty democracy as it did in the past five years when Unguja and Pemba spoke with one voice for the first time.
But the painstaking task of building harmony was rendered useless during the commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution early this year when CCM zealots brandishing banners with racist messages at Aman Stadium assured the world that Zanzibaris are once again at war with each other.
Does Dr Shein and his CCM hardline allies really remember what former President Karume had to go through to restore calm in the Spice Islands after the barrel of the gun failed, one wonders. All in all, Zanzibar does not deserve to slip back to early 1990s. God bless Tanzania!
http://allafrica.com/stories/201603090776.html
No comments :
Post a Comment