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Adeladius Makwega – TANGA
In several previous articles, I have mentioned many Party and Government leaders who, in one way or another, participated in various stages concerning the situation at Tambaza School. These included presidents, prime ministers, ministers, and even public servants at various levels, both high and low.
As for the senior leaders, most of them are well known to Tanzanians. However, there are some who are completely unknown to our society, despite having dedicated, or having once dedicated, their whole hearts to serving it.
A leader such as Ditopile Mzuzuri was very well known for his positions on public platforms and even for his decisions. However, what happened inside meetings was known by very few people. His ability to make decisions in the public interest—who knew about it? Very few.
Most of those few people were of his generation, while others have since passed away. For us as Mwanakwetu, we were some of the students of Dar es Salaam at that time. We were children, and we were fortunate enough to see these people simply because of the mischief of childhood and the adventurous spirit of being young people from Dar es Salaam.
Anyone who is fortunate enough to read these articles can learn from them, imitate the good qualities of these leaders, and extend similar fairness and goodness to others.
In one previous article, I mentioned the secretary who worked for the Dar es Salaam City Education Officer at that time. She was a woman with a well-built body who took pride in herself. She was physically disabled and used crutches to walk.
This woman was the one who received us for eight months whenever we went to the city offices to ask about the dates of the Appeal Board meetings. I also explained the day we delivered the meeting letter and how Teacher Mbegu was very busy attending to us and providing us with lunch.
“You people of Dar es Salaam should be very grateful. Your region is being led by people who were born and raised in Dar es Salaam—Ditopile and Teacher Mbegu. Whenever the issue concerns Tambaza students or any student from Dar es Salaam, whenever Teacher Mbegu involves the Regional Commissioner, the matter is resolved with great wisdom. If it were someone else, things would not be as you see them today.”
Those were the words of this secretary.
My reader, I ask you to understand this: in the operation of government, many of us regard clerks and assistants, especially those who work for leaders, as very ordinary people. My reader, let me reveal a secret to you: clerks are not ordinary people.
Clerks know a great deal more than even many institutional leaders because they work with many different leaders. This helps them understand an institution far better than leaders who come into an institution only for a limited period.
They have a vast institutional memory, greater than that of almost anyone else. They understand the capabilities of every leader they work with, and they learn from the performance of those leaders who serve for limited periods, more than almost anyone else.
They are also the ones who receive and even keep an institution's confidential documents. If you are a leader and a clerk tells you something, pay attention.
“You work with them until late hours, then you leave them at the office to take a motorcycle taxi while you drive away alone in a government vehicle. If they were not important, you would remain at that office by yourself.”
Mwanakwetu, I give you this as a gift: respect these clerks very much. They know very serious things. You will discover their wisdom if you sit with them and treat them well. Mwanakwetu, this is a gift to all public leaders.
One of the major responsibilities of the secretary to the Dar es Salaam City Education Officer was to participate in preparing the book containing the names of students selected to enter Form One every year. My reader, think about it: how many secondary schools are there in Dar es Salaam? How many students? How many names? She had to do the work without misspelling a single name—that is, with the highest possible level of accuracy.
What I want to say is that this secretary's assessment of Ditopile and Mbegu was correct. She recognized their abilities and their commitment to the people of Dar es Salaam. Perhaps, Mwanakwetu, you are somewhere and there are people around you whose contributions you need to recognize. Do justice to those people, because there may be someone else in your own area who also deserves to be treated fairly.
Mr Mbegu completed his public service and retired. In 2010, he entered the race for Parliament for the Kigamboni Constituency through the CCM primary elections. He came from one of the wards in Mbagala; if I am not mistaken, it was Mbagala Kibondemaji. At that time, Mbagala and Kigamboni were part of one Kigamboni constituency, with 22 aspirants.
Among those candidates was Dr. Faustine Ndugulile, who later became the Member of Parliament for that constituency. The sitting Member of Parliament whose term was coming to an end was Mwinchumu Abdul-Rahaman Msomi. There were also two very young candidates, Thadeus Musembi and another whose name I will not mention.
Under the CCM system during Jakaya Kikwete's time, each candidate collected nomination forms from the District Secretary, filled them out properly, and returned them to the district office. At that time, it was Temeke. After completing the process, they were called to the district office and given a schedule for going around every ward in the constituency to ask for votes, travelling together in one bus.
As they were going around asking for votes, Mwanakwetu, I saw Teacher Mbegu. I greeted him and asked, “Teacher, do you remember me?”
He replied, “No.”
I told him, “I am one of your young Tambaza students who used to come to the city offices to follow up on our appeals.”
“Really?” he asked.
I said yes, and he was very pleased.
I took some of his campaign leaflets containing information about him and gave them to one of my younger brothers. This incident took place in Kisarawe B Village, which was among the villages of the Dar es Salaam Region at that time.
I told Thadeus Musembi, the young aspirant:
“Of all these 22 candidates, Teacher Mbegu is the candidate who has all the qualifications. Even if he wins and is given a ministerial position, he would serve it fairly for two reasons. First, he understands the government, and second, he understands the people. He cannot be swayed by any person or institution.”
Musembi asked me, “Brother, even me?”
Mwanakwetu, I said yes.
He asked me, “Why do you say that?”
I gave him the entire story of Tambaza. At that time, the incident had happened 17 years earlier.
Mwanakwetu, when the primary election votes were counted, Mr Mbegu received very few votes. Even my friend Musembi received more than twice as many votes as he did, while Dr. Faustine Ndugulile, who was also among the students who had studied at Tambaza, received 4,000 votes and defeated them all.
The question I continue to ask myself to this day is: who recognized the work and performance of Mr Abdul Mbegu when he served as the Dar es Salaam City Education Officer? Was it only the late Ditopile, who worked closely with him?
If the CCM voters—the ruling party—in the region where he worked failed to recognize his contribution, who can see it?
My reader, do not give up on fulfilling your responsibility and doing good. I assure you that there is someone who recognizes every good deed you do, wherever you are, and His reward is just. And that someone is none other than Almighty God.
Mwanakwetu, are you there?
What will happen next?
Wait for the next article.
Remember, this is The Azania -Tambaza Conflict XLII.
(These articles, from I–XLII, are available on the Facebook page named Adeladius Makwega, the Instagram page named Adeladius Blog ya MwAnAkWeTu, and the YouTube channel named MwAnAkWeTu.)
I wish you a good day.
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