RCs’ relevance queried as Kikwete swears in 20

By Sylivester Ernest, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. As President Jakaya Kiwete swears in 20 regional commissioners today, a cross-section of people have questioned the relevance of this category of governors.In a survey by The Citizen yesterday following the naming of new regional leaders, some interviewees said there had been regions that at times went without RCs for long periods without experiencing any adverse consequences.
President Jakaya Kikwete on Wednesday named the list of regional commissioners, bringing in 15 new faces, most of whom had been district commissioners. There were also four new names in the list.
People who spoke to this paper yesterday gave diverse views, with many querying the relevance of having the RC’s post, the way they are appointed and the calibre of the appointees.  They said it was about time criteria were set to clearly show who qualifies to be an RC.  They said that short of that, the appointing authority would always be seen as simply filling the positions as a matter of political patronage.
Those who associate the appointments with political patronage said the reasoning behind RC appointments is meant to enable the executive to have the right people to effectively implement government policies. This, they said, might be viewed as corruption if incompetent persons are  “given” the positions simply as reward for their loyalty.

Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament Freeman Mbowe reiterated Chadema’s stance that the post of RC should be scraped because “it served no purpose”. “I have said it and I repeat, the RC’s position is useless, the RCs slots are simply there for the President to dish them out as rewards to his friends,” he insisted during a telephone interview yesterday.

He said it was even fanatical for the President to appoint a serving MP as a regional commissioner.
“These people will be in Parliament sometimes for up to three months during the budget sessions… how are they going to serve their regions?” he questioned.

A tutor in the Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages at the University of Dar es Salaam, Mr Paschal Mdukula, described the post as irrelevant much as it is recognised by the Constitution. “It is just as well that we are currently debating the need for a new constitution now… these are things that need to be looked at.,” asked Mr Mdukula.
The scholar said that since some regions stayed for months without the RCs and no damages were recorded, it meant the positions were redundant.

With the name of an MP appearing in the list of the new RCs, commentators, apart from questioning the logic behind the appointment, said it was a wasted opportunity and a disregard for other people since the country has a number of new blood who could work in that position as the MPs continued with their job as MPs, period.

Commenting on the issue, the Civic United Front (CUF) deputy secretary general (Mainland), Mr Julius Mtatiro, blamed it all on the “overwhelming powers vested to the President”.

“It is very unfortunate…this country is being run in a very strange way. Most of the appointees are his (the President’s) friends… read the names, all of them are those who assisted him to get into power,” Mr Mtatiro told The Citizen form Igunga where he is leading his party’s campaign in the forthcoming Parliamentary by-election.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children Ms Diana Maembe praised the new appointments but urged that there should have been more effort to attain a more equitable gender representation. “Only 28.5 per cent of persons in high level decision-making bodies are women; this is not good enough as we are fighting for 50/50 by 2025,” said Ms Maembe.

But the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) secretary general, Mr Wilson Mukama, countered those who were dismissing the RC’s position as irrelevant, terming their perception as “myopic.” “Let these guys understand…the Roman Catholic Church is what it is today because of its articulated system. The top is in Vatican but everything is going well in a coordinated way,” said Mr Mukama.

From a territorial point of view, the ruling party’s boss said, the country was too big to ignore the importance of having a coordinated unit.“Tanzania is as big as Kenya, Uganda and Malawi combined… since this country is run by a political administration, you need to have several political leaders down there. Having the RCs is one of such as necessities,” he said.

He dismissed the charge that those appointed were offered the jobs as rewards, arguing that all the appointees were hardworking people.“Take an example of Mwantumu Mahiza (the new Coast RC), she did a wonderful job at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training…why shouldn’t she be appointed?” he asked.