Daily News by james ahadi

I HAVE just emerged from the safety of my bunker down under;now that the political war is over. The place, as most of you would agree, is full of political debris. The big take, however, is that there are many lessons to be learnt across the board.

Coincidentally, this time around, our elections have occurred concurrently with the US í mid-term ballot. In the USí polls, the Democrats have been routed loosing Congress to the Republicans.

Clearly this has been a referendum to Barak Obamaís presidency. As someone in the TIME Magazine put it early this week, the writing is clearly on the wall. For Mr Obama to win a second term in 2012, he needs a new strategy, probably that is more appealing than his first ëchangeí war-cry.

As Obama counts his dead and charts the way forward, we in Tanzania could learn a lesson from his demonstrated humility on the galling results. He took total responsibility for them and spelt out his next course of action: creating more jobs. Whether this will help him, it is a question that is open for further debate.

Certainly the terrain in Tanzanian was different. We had a general election here. Although the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) finally won, as expected, the duel was tough. It was probably the toughest contest so far in the countryís multi-party history.

As former Prime Minister and African Unionís first Secretary General Dr Salim Ahmed Salim observed last week, this is clear evidence that democracy has grown.

A sizable number of the country’s big wigs lost their seats across Tanzania . Feeling the pinch are some political heavyweights in Arusha, Mwanza, Kigoma, Dar es Salaam and elsewhere.

Frankly, I have no qualms over why they lost. This is unquestionable since it is peopleís verdict. To me, the most crucial issue is how they lost. Because if we know the how variable in this equation then we can predict the results at future polls.

To begin with, the countryís voter scenario has drastically changed. There are far more young voters today. The ëblack boxesí in this case are video clips of the crowds that gathered soon after the polls at the town halls of Mwanza, Arusha, Kigoma and Dar es Slaam.

Responding to a question on Thursday one official of the National Election Council (NEC) told the media that the crowds at the town halls constituted people of no fixed abode, rowdy crowds. Unfortunately, that was a simplistic answer to a complex question.

The fact is that those guys were voters who wanted to get poll results without hesitation. They were mostly young and rather militant who defied police orders to disperse. Some were teargassed but went around washing their eyes re-entering the scene.

In Kigoma, for example, the media reported that subsequent to unspecified police action, the youth ran amok but came back kneeling down, raising their hands up but still petitioning for the results.

I would like to commend the police for their professional conduct during the fracas, because no excessive force was used. In all the above cases, calm returned after the results were announced.

Admittedly, what I saw in some of the youth on that day was a dramatic playback of the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The youth looked incensed just like the ëlumpensí whose only worry was to lose their chains of poverty.

Doubtlessly there will be more of these fellows at the next elections in 2015. These will include kids who are now 13 and to whom Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s persistent calls for peace and tranquility, are just another chapter in their history books.

Instead of wishing away the imminent arrival of more radical voters, as proposed by the NEC official, CCM should do a proper diagnosis of the situation. If you ask me, they ought to do what Obama has promised his voters -- to boost the economy. In return, this would create jobs and bring down the high cost of living.

In Tanzania, these can no longer be abstract views; the countryís abundant natural endowments remain virgin waiting for the arrival of suitable suitors; good economic polices.

It is heartening; however, that President Jakaya Kikwete has accepted the Civic United Frontís Election Manifesto promising to make use of it, if and when applicable. It is
such exemplary humbleness of opening up to alternative views that will advance Tanzaniaís development agenda.