AfricaPress-Tanzania: JOHN Donne, an English poet, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England once said: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
His school of thought was that we all will die: the bell will toll for each one of us and therefore, no need for any person/group of people to politicise the death of a fellow human being for self-interest, especially this time when Mainland Tanzania is joining Zanzibaris to mourn the passing away of Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, the First Vice-President of Zanzibar.
Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad (77) was an exemplary leader, who put personal life at the frontline of fighting for economic improvements and general development of Zanzibar, while teaming up with the Tanzania’s semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi.
May his soul rest in peace. This is not the time to politicise death and start advancing theories, which are not patriotic and only aimed at dividing citizens on ethnic, political and religious factions. Tanzanians want one another in times of peace and grappling with all sorts of enemies of development.
As peace loving citizens, this is the time to collectively support Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania governments to fight any social media that will exploit sadness like death to rumour unfounded report, because this is not African culture.
Police should be on the lookout for rumour mongers and unauthorised government spokespersons, who will take the occasion to cause unnecessary tensions and panic in the public.
Everyone should be aware that the government has its right spokesperson constitutionally allowed to communicate State development projects and affairs to the public, implying that any person usurping such powers is doing a criminal offence punishable before the law.
As Tanzanians, we should have a culture of trashing fake messages circulating on social media, because at the end of the day, they do not support the government in its community projects.
Just like the founder of the nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said during independence, the country has three major enemies i.e. poverty, ignorance and diseases, which the government and succession regimes should concentrate on fighting.
Citizens want water in residential areas, schools for their pupils, hospitals for treatments, roads for goods and services transportations, you name it but not politics day in day out.
