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Beginning of the end

May 06, 2014

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

If this is not the first time you are reading this powerful quote from the late Martin Luther King, Jr, then I'm hoping you've at least had a chance in the past to think about the impact of those words. If not, let's take a few minutes to think through them together by using an example we can all relate to, regardless of where in this globe you may be at.

Roughly thirty years ago, corruption was not as rife, rampant and obvious as it is today. People used to be more "afraid" and "careful" about it because those days being branded a corrupt person was bad and shameful enough. You didn't even need to be taken to the authorities because just the mere fact that your peers/friends/family had known about your bad behaviour, that was purnishment enough.

Fast forward to today where things are very different. You'll be forgiven for thinking that nowadays people take glory in being branded the most corrupt people. In fact, we even have organisations that spend lots of resources doing surveys and researches just to find out which African countries top the list of the most corrupt. I don't mean to be sarcastic but whenever I see those stats, I always wonder whether they will be followed by the announcement of an award giving ceremony in honor of those that have "won" the "coveted" title of being the most corrupt. 

How did we get to this point? Like some wise man said, "a stitch in time saves nine". This problem must have started with a few people, they got away with it the first time, the second time, the third time, the nine hundredth time and since then, the number of people has multiplied to a point where you cannot tell who is and who isn't tainted by corruption within the spheres we operate in anymore. It's become a beast that will require more resources to eliminate, not just in terms of money but also in terms of intellectual input, spiritual investment and a complete overhaul of leadership in all affected areas-basically everywhere. This means more time needs to be spent coming up with the right strategies to deal with this problem, time that could have been spent doing other more progressive things. As a result, we will take longer to attain the actual fruits of our freedom and in the meantime, many people will continue suffering.

That is the end the late King was referring to. If only those who were there before us had had the guts to speak out about corruption before it became the challenge it is today. If only someone had done the right thing that time, I believe things would be so different now. I believe it's not late to change things today even though it might take longer to accomplish the end result for obvious reasons. However it can be done. In fact, I saw someone boldly take a stand against corruption a few weeks ago.

If you've been to Arusha/Moshi by road, then you must have come across a weigh-bridge that is commonly referred to as "Njia Panda". All buses and trucks using that road have to get weighed. On that day however, there was a special situation. There's this bus that was heading for the weigh-bridge. I'm not sure where the bus was coming from but as required, the driver fulfilled his obligation. He weighed the bus the first time and was told it had exceeded the required weight by about 2.4 tonnes. Not wanting to argue, primarily because he saw the readings on the display pole ahead of him, he agreed to pay the thousands of shillings he was fined. Then a very peculiar thing happened; he was asked to go back a second time and weigh the same bus. This time when he did, the bus was within the normal weight. That's when all hell broke lose.

According to the driver, he was doubtful the first time when the reading showed excess weight. However, because the system is "computerised" and "digital" he assumed the readings were correct. But when he was told to re-weigh the bus again, he confirmed his fears and at that point he decided to take action. The weigh bridge officials hadn't given him any receipt for the fine or a print-out for the exceeded weight. Instead, they wanted to give him the printout for the second reading, which obviously did not reflect the fine paid for the exceeded weight. This means those officials wanted to "potezea" the "fine" that was paid. My guess is that this had happened enough times to this driver (maybe) and many others. I guess for that driver this "joke" had gone too far and he decided enough is enough. It was time to bring an end to those extortionist behaviours.

The driver decided not to move from the weighing ramp and actually left the bus there until the responsible officials gave him the answers he was looking for. It became such a major issue that the top police bosses from that area had to be called in. In the meantime there was a massive buildup of traffic on both sides of the road. There must have been more than fifty trucks and close to a hundred buses all waiting to weigh before proceeding with their journey. Well, the driver stood his ground, refused to remove his bus and owing to the fact that the trucks and buses were all going several hundreds of kilometres in both directions, the weigh-bridge officials had no choice but to let all those vehicles go without being weighed, probably losing what could have been genuine revenue gotten from genuine fines.

What this bold move by this simple driver revealed is that the officials at that weigh bridge are not to be trusted. If they can tamper with the system, what else can they do? Are these the people we are trusting with the safety of our roads? If they are ready to take a "fine" from an overloaded bus and then let it continue with its journey, are they really serving the purpose they were placed there to serve?

Well, the driver played his part of revealing the corruption at that particular weigh-bridge. I guess now the ball is in the court of the relevant authorities to take the necessary steps and actions to ensure all the weigh-bridges in the country are doing what they should do. Even though he caused a lot of delays for all the other buses and trucks, I'm certain his actions have triggered a lot of changes in that section.

Again to quote the late Rev Martin Luther King Jr,

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it". The driver mentioned above clearly wanted no part in cooperating with the evil at the weigh-bridge. 

Still quoting King,  "whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality." In other words, corruption will never stop unless and until we stop fuelling its fire by avoiding corrupt practices. If we stopped shortcuts and did things the right way, then there would be no need for bribes dressed as "fines".

And it's not just about corruption. This goes for every other area of our lives. For instance if we were all faithful and dedicated to our relationships, there would be no "nyumba ndogos" aka "clandes".  If we were all dedicated to our jobs or businesses, doing things as they are supposed to be done, with both the employer and employee playing their roles as expected, we would have happier working environments and highly productive people.

As we start a new week this fifth month of the year I leave you with the words I started with: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

What matters to you today? Like the bus driver above, do you have what it takes to say "enough is enough?" The ball is in your court today. 

Wishing you boldness today and every other day.

PS: Article published in Tanzania's Guardian on Sunday on the 4th May, 2014, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words".

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