Hello everyone,

Kipima Joto comes on and I see three prominent individuals in social issues in Tanzania from TGNP, if you don’t know what that is it’s Tanzania Gender Network Program. I ask myself what it is they are going to be talking about on gender today and instead the host, then introduces the EAC as the topic for the program. Immediately I ask myself how effective the program; these people all come from an institution promoting gender issues, all adults...not at all representing particular interests as far as different age groups are concerned.

The program turns out to stir up a strong discussion and many people call in to air their views on the matter. One of the guests stands on the need for Tanzania to seize the opportunity the EAC presents and speed up its efforts to make the journey possible. The other two stand on the other side of the coin; "Tanzania is not ready, we will be exploited, our land will be taken away...just not good for us at all." So i tell myself as the show goes on, what do Tanzanian feel about this; how come we are not saying much on the matter? I was not discussing this at all one month before today, but after looking at the dynamics of the issue at hand, i can’t help it but bring it to your face...what’s your take on the issue.

The issues that were under discussion included "why EA countries were rushing to finalize the integration," "what went wrong with the previous efforts in the 70s," 'if Tanzania fully joins the community, how will we benefit,' "education differences in EA countries - jobs are already being taken from Tanzanians, how do we make sure Tanzanians don’t cry 'unemployed' although there is a need for competition" and so much more...

...I don’t want to come out of this with some fancy ideas on the course we should take, criticism on the process at hand to finalize the integration; i want us to reach that consensus together. There are more than 800 members from Tanzania here and our opinions matter. I propose a moderated discussion on "The East African Community; Opportunity, Challenge and Responsibility." We will set up a project address and if we concur with the need to discuss this issue, it will be established and we will pick it up from there.

But I must end this where I started it. I commend ITV for bringing the EAC discussion to our living rooms for just about two hours, it was effective am sure...I mean am talking about it for one thing. But I was not impressed with their choice of panelists. I think we should have seen a young person, an adult, a political/ government representative and others in that order to get different perspectives on the matter. It’s highly likely that comments from the guests were premeditated since they are coming from one institution.

Please get back to me, let me know if you think we should take the discussion forward. There is a lot we can do as young people and adults to move Tanzania forward. It will be 45 years since we gained independence in 15 days...lets make those years of professed freedom and democracy count by making sure we stand on our own two feet on this.

Peace for now.

Robert Kasenene.

PS: feel free to respond in any language that you are comfortable with......