National Scandals and University Activism

A lot has been going on in Tanzania, not so much for me personally, but it’s been really interesting to see all of this unfolding. In February there was a big government scandal that made people pretty angry, especially since a similar thing has been going on for about two years. There is also an interesting relationship forming between President Bush and TZ’s President Kikwete that has some sketchy vibes. And here on campus we’ve had our own protests and crazy campus politics. Here’s the rundown…

2005- 2007

· $131 million was swindled from the Bank of Tanzania. Five or so banks (local and international) were involved in laundering the money by using forged documents; most of it ended up in foreign banks, and the rest was used to buy land, houses, cars, etc. in Dar es Salaam. As of last week, they’ve supposedly recovered a third of it.

2007

· Sometime in 2007, Tanzania reports the possibility of vast oil reserves as well as uranium deposits in the Southwest. It is estimated that by 2015, Africa will supply the US with a quarter of their oil.

· Bush creates Africom (around October, but it's planned to be fully up-and-running in September this year). It’s a combatant command under the Department of Defense and is responsible for all military operations in Africa.

2008

· Jan 31: Kikwete was elected as the Chairman of the African Union

· Feb 6-8: Prime Minister Lowassa resigned and the entire cabinet was dissolved. Severe drought in 2006 had left many people without power, so the prime minister and the cabinet signed a contract with a Texas-based company to provide electricity to Tanzania. Turns out, they were really just embezzling tons of money (something like $175 million, which could do a lot here).

· Feb 17: Bush comes to Tanzania (I can’t escape!). He signed an aid deal to provide $700 million to build roads and infrastructure (a record deal between the US and TZ, I believe). He and Kikwete seem pretty buddy-buddy. The students weren’t too receptive to his visit, and there was an organized protest by much of the Muslim population in Dar (peaceful, of course—I don’t want to spread any false stereotypes). A lot of Tanzanians think that Bush is trying to get on Kikwete’s good side so that he can either build a military base here or get their oil. I'm sure they're right.

· Feb 22: On campus, the water has been turned off for days. Friday night, the students protested. They marched down to the Vice Chancellor's house, drumming on buckets and chanting “water!” in Swahili, and broke the chains on his gate. They marched all around campus rallying people and tore down one of the water tanks. It was pretty crazy. The next day there was a more organized rally where they addressed concerns for the lack of water, proposed tuition increase, etc. Students here are way more politically active than students at home.

· Feb 26: Students gave the university a two week period to make a decision about the tuition increase. They are proposing to increase it by 80%, and people here really can’t afford that. Last spring this happened and students went on strike right before exams. The university was closed until the issue was resolved in the summer. They are supposed to make their tuition decision by Tuesday, and if the students don’t like the answer, they say they will go on strike again. Should make for an interesting Tuesday…

So that’s what’s in the news in these parts. I’m interested to see how it all develops. Hopefully the students will prevent tuition increases and the US doesn’t come mess everything up in Tanzania in search of oil. I guess we’ll see…