Peace prevails where rights are observed

By Frederick Fussi

Election fraud, which is as old as democracy itself, comes in many forms and so do efforts to curb them.

Empirical evidence dating back to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King’s era shows that nonviolent resistance is among effective means of rooting out injustice.

Nonviolent techniques applied elsewhere have proved to be an ultimate solution for not only election fraud, but also other belated basic rights where other means have failed.

Police  allegedly hitting an innocent journalist Mwangosi

One local politician concluded recently, albeit not officially, that this country’s cherished ‘peace and tranquility are the fruit of rights’. Wherever basic rights are denied, according to him, peace never prevails.

The existing peace and tranquility in this country reflects how people voted in power were accountable to the electorate and provide basic rights.

The growing nonviolent protests and disregard for law is evidence that leaders infringe on the rights of the people.

Those in power appear arrogant, as they enjoy benefits that come with the posts including lucrative salaries, allowances, gratuity and health insurance.

They forget their obligation to meet demands of other people including civil servants with peanut monthly wages which are not guaranteed.

This was the case during the Tsar Nicholas’ absolute reign in Russia between 1901 and 1951 when the regime denied industrial labourers of their rightful wages.

Workers from different factories in Russia, for instance, enlisted their demands in May 1903 including increased the eight-hour day wage, maternity leave and the freedoms of speech and assembly.

The demands for improved perks among medical doctors and teachers lead analysts to wonder if the government accords due priority to the two professions which directly deal with the human life.

Save for Tanzania where allocations for the sector kept on dwindling year after year, increasing health and education budgets is an obligation elsewhere.

Public declining spending on health and education in recent years has been rapidly declined, according to Policy Forum and Hakielimu.

Funds allocated for the two key sectors had decreased from 20 per cent to 17 per cent of the national Budget during the 2008/09 fiscal year.

Going by the national Budget trend in the last five years, the health and education sectors’ estimates will keep on nose diving each year.

Massive failures in the results of last year’s Form Four national examinations reflect ignored rights of students and teachers. Over 65 per cent of the finalists failed the examinations.

As a song of a renowned artiste Mbaraka Mwenshehe says ‘money is a heart’s lubricant’, a Member of Parliament taking home about Sh2 million a month at the moment should be more satisfied and have a peace mind than a teacher posted in the rural areas.

Field Force Unit ready for anti-riot mission

Although the teachers’ attempt to strike was foiled last year, they somehow managed through their nonviolent approach to express their lack of peace of mind resulting from meagre wages and belated payment of their allowances.

When the government uses what it terms as ‘reasonable power’ to tame nonviolent boycotts and demonstrations against civil servants, it also spoils the morale at workplaces and sets the mood for violence to break out.

The best way for the government to quell nonviolent conflicts involving teachers, health workers and students would be employing diplomacy instead of force.

As long as the rights delayed are the rights denied, the lasting solution for nonviolent conflicts would be meeting the civil servants’ realistic and achievable demands.

This article was also published in the most read news paper in Tanzania, The Citizen on Wednesday  6 March 2013. Click here to view it