Let political saboteurs leave Zanzibar alone!

THE recent acts of arson, bombings and willful damage to property in Zanzibar should set the security organs there on combat attention to stave off any further such happenings.

It needs no belabouring the fact that such acts, which have all the ingredients of political dissent, have shaken the very foundations for peace in the otherwise peaceful islands. Explosions, whatever their origin or cause, are a deadly affair. Innocent lives could be lost in accidental cross-fire situations. Bombs, whatever their form -- factory-made or homemade, are deadly.

This time the perpetrators of such criminal acts have targeted the house of none other than the Zanzibar Commissioner of Police, which was hit by an explosive mid-last month. The point being raised here is that if such political thugs could have the temerity to attack the house of a senior police official, which is supposed to be fortified and well-guarded, what about the houses of civilians?

It is an argument that doesn’t hold much water though as police officers don’t live in isolation – they live in our midst – in the very residential neighbourhoods in which we reside. No concrete evidence has been collected as to the identity of the real instigators and motives behind such dastardly and cowardly acts that have the characteristic of happening in post-election periods.

Yet it is anybody’s guess, based on pure common sense, about the bomb-throwing and other acts of sabotage against both public and private installations. Such acts are surely the work of disgruntled elements in the isles out to settle scores. In Zanzibar politics, it is anybody’s guess.

We would like to believe that the said ‘disgruntled elements’ are acting individually or moved out of personal selfish motive and not institutionally-motivated.

Yet in looking at the bigger picture, even if such acts are the work of individuals, there must be a motive behind it. You don’t go to all the trouble of piecing up explosives for the purpose of causing destruction just for the fun of it!

There must an institutional-backing to motivate such acts. Four people have so far been arrested in Zanzibar in connection with the explosives hurled at the police commissioner’s residence. Authorities in Zanzibar should be on the alert against such acts aimed at disrupting peace.

The elections are over and it is time to settle down to implementing development projects.

/Daily News.