Government’s Misguided
Focus
I was born in Tanzania USA
This article is meant to
raise awareness about matters that may be getting overlooked. It provides
constructive criticism about, in my opinion, the seemingly dismal state of
affairs in Dar-es-salaam, followed by specific recommendations. It is my way of
doing something to, hopefully, improve the situation.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize
that the infrastructure of Dar-es-salaam was originally designed for a
population that was far less than what it is right now. The key reason behind
alarming mismatch between the infrastructure and the population, in my view, is
because Dar-es-salaam is growing mostly vertically rather than horizontally.
On many streets, for
instance, where there used to be single-storied row houses thirty years ago,
there now stand multi-storied high rises – thanks to aggressive property
developers, who seem focused on short-term profits at the cost of overburdening
the grossly inadequate water, electricity, and sewage related existing
infrastructure. The result, unfortunately but expectedly, is numerous
occurrences of sewer water overflows onto streets and sidewalks. Even a mild
rain shower under such circumstances causes sizeable puddles of dirty water all
over the city.
But chances are,
property developers (and, in light of rampant corruption, whoever they may have
had to bribe to get building permits, contracts, etc) have already laughed all
the way to the bank. By the way, to ensure their laughter is really hard, those
developers often charge in terms of the USA
Understandably,
abundance of newly built multi-storied high rises has resulted in substantial
localized spikes in the city population growth. That, in turn, has resulted in
nightmarish traffic jams on numerous roads (most of which, by the way, have no
lane markings) at almost any time during work hours. That’s not surprising
since the roads in question were originally designed to handle only a fraction
of automobiles that they are currently subjected to handle. Such overuse of the
roads leads to widespread occurrences of sizeable potholes which, in turn,
worsens the traffic jams – especially when they fill up with rain water mixed
with sewer water overflows.
Notably, people
apparently have more time over there, but they hardly seem able to get much
accomplished, thanks mostly to the nightmarish traffic jams. It took me
two-and-a-half hours just to get to the airport from Kariakoo. That along with
significantly increased population and substantially high cost of living
compared to income have made life quite stressful and hectic for the majority
of city residents. Makes one wonder how the countless fruit and vegetable
street vendors survive on their seemingly meager earnings without resorting to
illegal activities. Such a dire local state of affairs perhaps explains why,
this time around, many friends and relatives living there seemed particularly
apprehensive and aloof.
Supposedly, the government is
doing something to tackle the challenging situation. In my view, however, the
government’s focus is misguided and poorly prioritized in the sense that
resources are being spent on undertakings that may be worsening the situation –
while a select few (like the property developers and equipment vendors
mentioned earlier) continue to enrich themselves and leave the masses
languishing behind.
For instance, I don’t see how
the building of Bus Rapid Transit, new international airport, and bridge at
Kigamboni are properly prioritized endeavors at this juncture, when the grossly
inadequate water, electricity, and sewage related infrastructure is so
desperately in need of upgrade. Chances are, the mentioned endeavors will
increase the flow of people through the city and will worsen the situation by
further overburdening the grossly inadequate infrastructure.
Government funds have
also been used to roundup petty street vendors and not allow them to do
business. The reasoning, apparently, is to improve the image of the city. In
absence of other viable alternate ways of making a living, chances are, such
government misguided efforts will lead to increased incidences of thefts and
robberies.
I think the government
resources would be better spent if used instead to upgrade the electric
generation and sewer water systems. Or to raise awareness in public about not
dumping trash into rainwater drainage ditches. Or to place ample trash bins all
over the city and establish a firm trash pickup schedule. Similarly, government
resources would be better spent if used to promote win-win attitudes in drivers
especially when at intersections during traffic jams. I particularly remember a
stopped driver in the oncoming lane who wouldn’t back up (even though there was
plenty of room behind her car) to allow us to make a right turn onto a cross
street and at the same time hasten the traffic that was backing up behind us.
In the absence of common driving courtesy, even the building of overpasses at
busy intersections will likely not be of much help in terms of easing traffic
jams.
On many occasions, I
noted several uniformed laborers manually sweeping the traffic-jammed streets
to rid them of loose dirt – while at the same time, there were chunks of bare land
and loose dirt just down the street from there. Chances are, their employer had
won a bid from the city to conduct such (practically useless, in my view)
endeavors and was likely getting paid heftily from government funds.
Granted, even housemaids and
street vendors in Dar-es-salaam these days have cell phones, and many residents
have the latest iPads, own expensive fancy cars, and are well-tuned to social
networks. Some hotels even have helipads to facilitate rapid transport of busy
patrons to the airport via helicopters. However, in my view, that per se does
not necessarily make the city advanced. Instead, all that means is that some
(foreign) manufacturers have created for themselves a bigger market share to
sell their products to. I would rather see government resources being used to
advance the mentality and attitudes of the residents, than to merely
grant them access to modern gadgets.
Government resources would
also be better utilized if used to promote do-the-right-thing mentality with
respect to, for instance, obeying traffic signals, following traffic cop
instructions, and not littering. Likewise, those funds would be better utilized
if used to create an atmosphere in which police and traffic cops are perceived
more like friends than foes. A tall order, I know – but it doesn’t necessarily
have to be unachievable.
Along those lines, I can’t
see how one can call a city advanced if the mentality of the masses is such
that thieves, if caught, routinely get beaten or burned to death. Government
funds would be better spent if used to bring awareness to the public that such
practice is, simply put, barbaric and totally unacceptable in the 21st century.
It is somewhat odd that such barbaric mentality continues to thrive in
Dar-es-salaam even though, compared to thirty years ago, there have been big
increases in the number of places of worships.
Lastly, government funds
would be better utilized if used to promote widespread use of checks (and even
credit cards) instead of hard cash, since the former are more conducive to
creating a better, efficient, and elegant commercial environment.
Though easily said but,
admittedly, difficult to implement in practice, government resources should be
properly prioritized with the intention of developing practices and attitudes
that will, in the long term, benefit all the residents, not just a select few.
In other words, doing the right thing and having a win-win mentality should be
the key driving force behind government expenditures. Hopefully, the kind of
awareness this article has attempted to promote will have a positive impact for
all concerned.
I am looking forward to
getting pleasantly surprised the next time I visit Dar-es-salaam.
Nash Khatri
