Editorial cartoon.
Celebrated every December 9th, the day Tanzania freed herself from British rule, the Independence Day was this year honoured differently, ushering a new age for the country.
The traditional black and white footages that conjure images of that historic day when we finally cast away the shackles of colonialism, were yesterday left in the archives, the nation was exercising its independence.
The president’s directive came coincidentally just before the biggest global meeting on ‘cleaning our environment’ was to be held in Paris, France; the World climate change summit dubbed ‘Conference of Parties (COP21), an annual forum that tackles climate change on a global political level.
President Magufuli’s ‘clean up the country’ order matches hand in hand with commitments entered by world leaders at the climate change conference where they agreed to, ‘clean up the world’ through cutting down Carbondioxide (Co2) emissions, among other measures to be taken.
Co2 and other green house gases are behind the global climate change that we are all grappling with today and which our grandchildren too will have to endure, even with the belated commitments made in Paris.
Polluting the atmosphere with green house gases has caused the unpredictable change in weather patterns that we now face; floods and hurricanes in one place, draught and wild fires in another, rising sea levels here and melting ice poles there.
The result is a world in peril, choked with more natural disasters occurring more frequently than ever before.
So in Paris, Tanzania and other countries agreed to work on mitigation efforts with the developed nations that are responsible for the largest emissions, agreeing to reduce green house gas emissions.
President Magufuli, who not only ordered but walked (literally) right out of State House and joined his ‘neighbours’ (his own words) in the vicinity to hand collect plastic bags and other waste along the road and beach, was nothing short of visionary and practical in his executive order.
As expected, the order came as a surprise not only for Tanzanians but the world and for good reasons. Not only has Tanzania never skipped the Independence Day celebrations over the past half century of Uhuru but also the mere fact that, the day a country unshackled colonial chains is the very birthday of that country.
It is day when we honour freedom fighters who gave their lives for us to have the freedom to govern ourselves as we so choose. It is the day we pay tribute to our forefathers who were tortured, humiliated, dehumanised and enslaved.
When those black and white footages are played and the voice of our past leaders aired, we are reminded of the great price we paid for our independence. The nation is forever in their debt.
However, rather than be disappointed that the celebrations whose cost soars in the millions, was cancelled rather, they would be proud to learn that the day was honoured with a clean up that reflects our communal will to create better living environments for ourselves and grandchildren to come.
Tanzania has been Magulified, a new age is at hand.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN