Looking forward to a cleaner EAC in the New Year

In the world of tourism, there is no doubt that the best thing you can ever experience in East Africa is the annual migration of over two million animals mainly herds of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. They have to cross the Mara River where they have to deal with huge crocodiles and later on other carnivores like lions, leopards and cheetahs. It has aptly been dubbed The World Cup of Wildlife. This migration is also proof that unlike human beings, wild animals do not give a damn about international borders. The wildebeest will cross between Kenya and Tanzania the same way you move from your bedroom to the sitting room. Mountain gorillas also roam around between Rwanda, Uganda and DRC without wondering what immigration officials may think. There is another big migration that happens without attracting as many tourists as the one in the Serengeti and Maasai Mara plains. I am talking about the urban to rural migration where thousands of city workers get a break from their daily jobs and head to the country sides to celebrate Christmas. Yes to them the city Christmas is never quite the real deal. This migration often comes with hiked transport fares as most transporters find themselves with a surge of travelers heading in one direction. Just before Christmas I was in Kigali’s main taxi park and I felt like I had walked into one of those super huge political rallies like we saw during the election campaigns in Tanzania. People were everywhere and the cars seemed like endangered species. During this festive season the rural economies get a shot in the arm from the visitors who are willing to show off why they left for the city in the first place. African social life is at its best during this time and it is a spectacle worth witnessing or being a part of. For those who have wished to tour the city, this is one of the best times as the traffic madness is by now elsewhere and you are left with clear streets. I must commend the traffic officers who spend this time trying to ensure that our roads are safe since it is during such days that our road carnage statistics rise. A seasoned bus driver told me that this is often the result of inexperienced drivers eager to show off their new cars to the folks in the village. It is always better to drive carefully and leave our roads clean not with blood stains and broken glass. Speaking of cleanliness, news coming indicates that Tanzanians will now be having a monthly cleaning exercise to be held every first Saturday of the month. This comes on the heels of the highly publicised cleaning exercise that was led by President John Pombe Magufuli held in the place of having Independence Day celebrations. In this regard, Tanzania can be said to be taking cue from its neighbour Rwanda where the exercise happens on the last Saturday of each month. The benefits of these communal cleaning exercises include the obviously clean streets and neighbourhoods but more importantly they nurture a sense of responsibility among the people. When the neighbourhoods are cleaned once a month you are sure of having functioning drainages and no bushes or rubbish thrown all over. It also frees work and time for the city council authorities to further beautify other areas. Kigali is strikingly clean partly because the city council doesn’t have to waste much time in the neighbourhoods doing things that those who live there can do themselves. I also love the mass tree planting efforts that Rwanda carries out and Tanzania is set to embark on. We need to cut back on the effects of deforestation on our environment. A mass tree planting exercise ensures that so many trees are planted at once since the responsibility is spread out to many people across the country. More importantly for other East African countries to achieve that Rwandan look the use of polythene bags has to be drastically cut down. Many have only talked about this without implementing it. I now look forward to a sparkling Tanzania just like is the case with Rwanda. Hopefully other East African Community members will join this clean club. Let me also use this opportunity to wish all my regular readers and everyone else wonderful New Year 2016.

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Looking forward to a cleaner EAC in the New Year