AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE fifth phase government under President John Magufuli will go down in history for making remarkable achievements in communities, ranging from fast electrifying villages to building schools and stuffing them with desks and chairs within a short period of time.
The list may be long including restoring discipline among public servants that has resulted in increased productivity in service delivery and addressing calamities, which at the end of the day has improved lives and peoples’ access to social services.
Some may include uncovering over 30,000 phantom workers and those with fake academic credentials being removed from the government payroll, and in turn save the country over 190 million U.S. dollars.
One can also mention austerity measures that saw reduced foreign trips for government officials and cutting down the budget for unnecessary meetings, which in turn have also saved money to be directed to community projects.
However, as the government and stakeholders like companies and banks also chipping in in their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-widely understood as philanthropy (“doing good with part of the profit”), citizens at the grassroots should also be educated on the importance of owning these projects.
This is because if the projects are not owned by the people at the grassroots, they will still remain ‘foreign’ and government schemes in their midst and the question will be: who will take care of them?
As the government being the custodian of the people does its part, the citizens as individuals should also inculcate a culture of volunteering in opportunities in the schemes so that they become sustainable and repaired constantly whenever any wear out is detected.
Small things like litter picking and gardening as well as community policing should be given priority in the communities instead of the people waiting for the government to lead and assist.
We all know that charity starts at home, and community starts with everyone around you and I, hence it is a collective responsibility for all to address challenges in the community.
As members of the same community, we must take time as individuals to see into it that we know and understand all community members and support them. This will also help to weed out criminals and at same time identify vulnerable people like orphans to get assistance.
As individuals or in groups we should have a culture of donating unwanted clothing, jewellery, media, books and home-ware to charity homes, because if you can spare some money local charities are always in need of, you are sure they will not skip a meal and water to swallow a medicine.
