AFRICA LAUNCHES WOMEN’S DECADE WITH KEYNOTE ADDRESS FROM DEPUTY UN CHIEF

AFRICA LAUNCHES WOMEN’S DECADE WITH KEYNOTE ADDRESS FROM DEPUTY UN CHIEF




New York, Oct 15 2010 5:05PM



The African Union (AU) today launched the African Women’s Decade, with a

top United Nations official calling on the continent’s leaders to seize

the opportunity to eliminate a raft of ills, from exclusion from land

tenure, credit and inheritance to violence and genital mutilation.



“Empowering women is a moral imperative, a question of fundamental

rights,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro

<"http://www.un.org/apps/dsg/dsgstats.asp?nid=243">told an AU forum in

Nairobi, Kenya, in a keynote address. “It is also sound policy. This is

our chance to put principle into practice... Investing in women and girls

is one of the greatest investments we can make.



“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are not add-ons – they are

integral to development. Furthermore, they will have a multiplier effect

on sustainable growth, and provide resilience to future challenges. Let us

therefore work to empower Africa’s women and girls.”



She recited a litany of discrimination faced by women, especially those in

rural areas. They do most of the agricultural work, yet endure the worst

working conditions, with low pay and little or no social protection. They

produce most of the food, yet are often excluded from land tenure, credit

and business services. They are the primary users and custodians of local

natural resources, but seldom have a voice on the bodies that decide how

these resources are managed.



“They are the care-givers and managers of households, but rarely share

these responsibilities equally with men or have a say in major household

decisions,” Ms. Migiro declared. “We need to right these wrongs. We must

ensure that rural women can access the legal, financial and technological

tools they need to progress from subsistence agriculture to productive

agriculture.”



She called for better income-generating opportunities and education for

women, noting that women make up over two thirds of the 800 million adults

in Africa who cannot read and write.

“This is denying women the chance to work, to prosper, to assert their

rights and take their place as equal participants in society,” she said.

“It also denies their countries an invaluable asset.”



More than half of Africans infected of HIV/AIDS are women, up to

three-quarters of those aged 15 to 24. “The statistics tell a shocking

story,” she added. “Young women are powerless in negotiating safer sex.

Let us empower them. Healthy women and girls means healthy societies,

healthy nations.”



Turning to violence against women, she called it “a topic that pains me –

that should pain us all… It is endemic in our societies. We must unite to

end it. It comes in many forms: domestic violence; the abuse of vulnerable

young girls; genital cutting; rape. Such crimes can never be rationalized

as culture or tradition. Wherever they occur they should be condemned.

They should be prosecuted. And most of all, they should be prevented.”



African leaders must take their commitments seriously, Ms. Migiro underlined.



“We need national and local action to make women’s rights a reality, to

end discriminatory traditional practices, and to end impunity for

gender-based violence,” she said. “Let us accept in our minds, and in our

laws, that women are rightful and equal partners – to be protected, to be

respected, and to be heard.”

________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

UFAFANUZI KUHUSU FURSA KWA WANAFUNZI KUPIGA KURA CHUONI WAKATI WA LIKIZO

Hiki ninaona kama kiini macho kwani mwanafunzi aliyeko kigoma atakuja kwa gharama ya nani? wadau hii imekaaje. wanaharakati tupambane kuhakikisha wanafunzi wanapiga kura. this might be a strategy for CCM to ensure that majority of University students who are tied with ccm are not going to vote.


CHUO KIKUU CHA DAR ES SALAAM




UFAFANUZI KUHUSU FURSA KWA WANAFUNZI KUPIGA KURA CHUONI WAKATI WA LIKIZO

Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam kinapenda kufafanua kwamba, ingawa tangu tarehe 24 Julai mwaka huu wanachuo walio wengi wamekuwa mapumzikoni, hakuna kampasi yoyotote ya Chuo Kikuu iliyofungwa. Shughuli zote muhimu za Chuo, zikiwemo ufundishaji wa makundi kadhaa ya wanafunzi wa shahada za kwanza, utafiti, huduma za maktaba, utoaji wa ushauri wa kitaaluma na shughuli mbalimbali zinazohusiana na mafunzo ya uzamili na uzamivu zimekuwa zikiendelea muda wote. Kwa kifupi, Chuo kimeendelea kutoa huduma kwa wadau wake wote.



Kwa hiyo ni wazi kwamba siku ya uchaguzi, yaani tarehe 31 Oktoba 2010, vituo vya kupigia kura vilivyopo ndani ya kampasi za Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam vitawapokea na kuwahudumia watu wote wenye stahili ya kupiga kura hapo bila usumbufu wowote. Watakaohudumiwa kwa mujibu wa taratibu zilizowekwa na Tume ya Uchaguzi ni pamoja na wanafunzi, wafanyakazi waliojiandikisha Chuoni na wananchi kutoka maeneo yanayozunguka kampasi za Chuo.



IMETOLEWA NA OFISI YA UHUSIANO

CHUO KIKUU CHA DAR ES SALAAM









from: http://www.wavuti.com/4/post/2010/10/ufafanuzi-kuhusu-wanafunzi-udsm-kupiga-kura-2010.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wavuti+%28Wavuti%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail#ixzz12mrAfLvR

aliyesambaza message za kumkashifu DR. SLAA HUYU HAPA

The hateful text messages widely circulated throughout the country from mobile numbers registered in Finland were part of an election smear campaign carried out by a local IT specialist currently operating on the fifth floor of Barclays House, The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.




The revelation comes as Finnish and Tanzanian officials launched an investigation to nab the culprits behind the propaganda, which has targeted opposition candidates ahead of the October 31 general elections.



Earlier this week, while addressing the nation on the 11th anniversary of the death of Julius Nyerere, President Jakaya Kikwete described those spreading the hate messages as dangerous to the nation's peace and unity. President Kikwete said circulating defamatory messages was not the way to canvass for votes, as it could create more problems.



“I think this is becoming a serious problem... leadership cannot be gauged by obscenities or bad language against your rivals. This shows that Tanzanians have started to segregate one another,” Kikwete said on Thursday this week.



Text messages sent from Finnish telephone numbers, targeting Chadema presidential candidate Willibrod Slaa, have been circulating since last week. The police, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority and mobile phone providers are investigating the source of the messages to establish who is behind them.



But, according to details gathered by The Guardian on Sunday, including emails sent between October 5 and 10, this year, the IT specialist is one, Rashid Shamte, who has a very strong connection with senior IT specialists at two leading mobile companies.



Two weeks ago, Shamte received edited versions of the ten hateful messages plus the 'ten commandments' at his email address rashid.shamte@6telecoms.co.tz. In one of the email seen by this newspaper, the author says, “Brother, we have finished your assignment with my boy who seemed to be good in doing this job…I will call you shortly so that we see how to empower him financially.” “As you may be aware this is a tough job that needs time and creativity” reads another one of the emails sent to rashid.shamte@6telecoms.co.tz on October 10, this year.



But, not all messages designed, authored and sent to Shamte’s emails were hateful or incriminating. Majority of these emails were just strategies aimed at responding to various policy issues raised by Dr Slaa and Professor Lipumba.



The hateful text messages have predominately targeted Chadema presidential candidate Dr. Willibrod Slaa but have also been directed at Professor Ibrahim Lipumba.



The first crop of ten messages accused Dr. Slaa of being a dangerous man who shouldn't be trusted with the task of leading a nation like Tanzania. Some of these messages were circulated to millions of mobile phone subscribers two weeks ago, forcing Chadema to file an official complaint with law enforcers.



“When you wake up on the morning of October 31, remember to recite this prayer: Oh Father who art in heaven and earth, don’t divide your people the way Chadema does; give us rights as the way those who come from Kilimanjaro give themselves; don’t deny us opportunities because we are not the in-laws of Mzee Mtei, give us light to live longer, and don’t take us hurriedly the way you took our hero Chacha Wangwe” reads one of these text messages



The text messages also depict Dr Slaa as a leader bent on winning the presidency at all costs, even if it would mean spilling blood. The texts were sent from two numbers, +358-8108226 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +358-8108226 end_of_the_skype_highlighting and +358-8976578 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +358-8976578 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, both bearing the Finnish country code. One of the messages accuses Chadema of being a tribal party dominated by Chagga people who receive their orders from former Central Bank governor Edwin Mtei. Mtei is among the founders of Chadema party, which was officially registered in July 1992.



The second round of text messages contained the so-called 'Ten Commandments', in which nine out of these are directed at Dr Slaa, and one is dedicated to Professor Lipumba of Civic United Front.



Although none of these messages attacked the ruling party or its candidates, there is still no credible evidence directly connecting CCM with the author of these damaging messages. According to details obtained by this newspaper, the 'Ten Commandments' were meant to be circulated the day before the election.



In one of the commandments, the author says, “Don’t follow Dr Slaa; he is a womanizer who commits adultery with married women and then dumps them.” Based on the emails sent to rashid.shamte@6telecoms.co.tz, Shamte seems to have been the distributor of the texts, using his IT expertise and connections with telecoms specialists to distribute the texts to millions of mobile phone users in Tanzania.



These emails also show that he has a very strong connection with one firm currently contracted by the ruling party to deal with its online communications through blogs and websites. The firm also has its office at Barclays House fifth floor, Ohio street, according to details gathered by The Guardian on Sunday.



All of Shamte's emails bear the signature of a Blackberry, showing that he usually uses his mobile phones to communicate with his partners in this smear campaign.



The Guardian on Sunday has reliably established that Shamte has also acted as a media analyst, giving his assessment of how the media has covered the top three presidential candidates since the campaign started.



Contacted yesterday through his mobile number, Shamte would not discuss the issue, and when asked to confirm that email address rashid.shamte@6telecoms.co.tz was his, he responded by asking how our reporter got his mobile number.



“If you can please tell me who gave you my telephone number,” requested Shamte yesterday evening when contacted through his cellular phone number.



The Guardian on Sunday’s reporter responded: “As we are always in search of credible information, we take every trouble to get to our sources of information, and today you stand as one of our credible sources,” asking him to confirm whether the email address actually belonged to him.

But instead, he chose to hang off.



The police have yet to apprehend any suspects connected to these defamatory and incriminating text messages, while the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority has also failed to identify the owner of the mobile number.



However what puzzles many people is how the author of these messages managed to access the database of various mobile phone operators in order to reach millions of people countrywide directly.

Under normal circumstances, no mobile handset can store that volume of contacts, but the mysterious author managed to jam over 5 million users within 48 hours, causing panic and outrage among opposition supporters.



Although none of the messages advised for the masses to take any action against the opposition, the rhetoric used was reminiscent of the genocidal propaganda spread in the run-up to the 1994 massacre in Rwanda.



At that time, there was another popular 'Ten Commandments' that was circulated by Hutu extremists in the few days before the genocide, when radio and newspapers were used to incite hate against the Tutsi minority. What followed was the murder of about 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutus in a genocide that shocked the world.



HINT:

Nani anasema CCM Mgombea Urasi wa CCM hana mkono katika hizi meseji.... Ushahidi wa kimazingira huu hapa: Uki-fatilia domain 6telecoms.co.tz, iliyotumika utaona wazi share the name IP ya Kikwete2010co.tz na JK web site yake na nyingine za mafisadi wa papa ziko hosted nao.

Angalia maandishi mekundu!

"

Kikwete2010.co.tz is a domain controlled by two name servers at co.tz. Both are on different IP networks. The name server kikwete2010.co.tz stated in SOA record is not in the list of name servers. Incoming mail for kikwete2010.co.tz is handled by two mail servers also at co.tz. Both are on different IP networks. kikwete2010.co.tz has one IP number (41.77.226.253).

212.233.84.in-addr.arpa, 229.77.41.in-addr.arpa, 228.77.41.in-addr.arpa and 227.77.41.in-addr.arpa share name servers with this domain. 6telecoms.co.tz share mail servers with this domain.







__._,_.___

Is your organization a learning organization????????? "Mine is not "

peter senge and the learning organization


Peter Senge’s vision of a learning organization as a group of people who are continually enhancing their capabilities to create what they want to create has been deeply influential. We discuss the five disciplines he sees as central to learning organizations and some issues and questions concerning the theory and practice of learning organizations.

contents: introduction · peter senge · the learning organization · systems thinking – the cornerstone of the learning organization · the core disciplines · leading the learning organization · issues and problems · conclusion · further reading and references · links

Peter M. Senge (1947- ) was named a ‘Strategist of the Century’ by the Journal of Business Strategy, one of 24 men and women who have ‘had the greatest impact on the way we conduct business today’ (September/October 1999). While he has studied how firms and organizations develop adaptive capabilities for many years at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), it was Peter Senge’s 1990 book The Fifth Discipline that brought him firmly into the limelight and popularized the concept of the ‘learning organization'. Since its publication, more than a million copies have been sold and in 1997, Harvard Business Review identified it as one of the seminal management books of the past 75 years.



On this page we explore Peter Senge’s vision of the learning organization. We will focus on the arguments in his (1990) book The Fifth Discipline as it is here we find the most complete exposition of his thinking.



Peter Senge

Born in 1947, Peter Senge graduated in engineering from Stanford and then went on to undertake a masters on social systems modeling at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) before completing his PhD on Management. Said to be a rather unassuming man, he is is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL). His current areas of special interest focus on decentralizing the role of leadership in organizations so as to enhance the capacity of all people to work productively toward common goals.



Peter Senge describes himself as an 'idealistic pragmatist'. This orientation has allowed him to explore and advocate some quite ‘utopian’ and abstract ideas (especially around systems theory and the necessity of bringing human values to the workplace). At the same time he has been able to mediate these so that they can be worked on and applied by people in very different forms of organization. His areas of special interest are said to focus on decentralizing the role of leadership in organizations so as to enhance the capacity of all people to work productively toward common goals. One aspect of this is Senge’s involvement in the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), a Cambridge-based, non-profit membership organization. Peter Senge is its chair and co-founder. SoL is part of a ‘global community of corporations, researchers, and consultants’ dedicated to discovering, integrating, and implementing ‘theories and practices for the interdependent development of people and their institutions’. One of the interesting aspects of the Center (and linked to the theme of idealistic pragmatism) has been its ability to attract corporate sponsorship to fund pilot programmes that carry within them relatively idealistic concerns.



Aside from writing The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990), Peter Senge has also co-authored a number of other books linked to the themes first developed in The Fifth Discipline. These include The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization (1994); The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (1999) and Schools That Learn (2000).



The learning organization

According to Peter Senge (1990: 3) learning organizations are:



…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.



The basic rationale for such organizations is that in situations of rapid change only those that are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel. For this to happen, it is argued, organizations need to ‘discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels’ (ibid.: 4).



While all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not conducive to reflection and engagement. Furthermore, people may lack the tools and guiding ideas to make sense of the situations they face. Organizations that are continually expanding their capacity to create their future require a fundamental shift of mind among their members.



When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It become quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit. (Senge 1990: 13)



For Peter Senge, real learning gets to the heart of what it is to be human. We become able to re-create ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations. Thus, for a ‘learning organization it is not enough to survive. ‘”Survival learning” or what is more often termed “adaptive learning” is important – indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, “adaptive learning” must be joined by “generative learning”, learning that enhances our capacity to create’ (Senge 1990:14).



The dimension that distinguishes learning from more traditional organizations is the mastery of certain basic disciplines or ‘component technologies’. The five that Peter Senge identifies are said to be converging to innovate learning organizations. They are:



Systems thinking



Personal mastery



Mental models



Building shared vision



Team learning



He adds to this recognition that people are agents, able to act upon the structures and systems of which they are a part. All the disciplines are, in this way, ‘concerned with a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the future’ (Senge 1990: 69). It is to the disciplines that we will now turn.



Systems thinking – the cornerstone of the learning organization

A great virtue of Peter Senge’s work is the way in which he puts systems theory to work. The Fifth Discipline provides a good introduction to the basics and uses of such theory – and the way in which it can be brought together with other theoretical devices in order to make sense of organizational questions and issues. Systemic thinking is the conceptual cornerstone (‘The Fifth Discipline’) of his approach. It is the discipline that integrates the others, fusing them into a coherent body of theory and practice (ibid.: 12). Systems theory’s ability to comprehend and address the whole, and to examine the interrelationship between the parts provides, for Peter Senge, both the incentive and the means to integrate the disciplines.



Here is not the place to go into a detailed exploration of Senge’s presentation of systems theory (I have included some links to primers below). However, it is necessary to highlight one or two elements of his argument. First, while the basic tools of systems theory are fairly straightforward they can build into sophisticated models. Peter Senge argues that one of the key problems with much that is written about, and done in the name of management, is that rather simplistic frameworks are applied to what are complex systems. We tend to focus on the parts rather than seeing the whole, and to fail to see organization as a dynamic process. Thus, the argument runs, a better appreciation of systems will lead to more appropriate action.



‘We learn best from our experience, but we never directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions’, Peter Senge (1990: 23) argues with regard to organizations. We tend to think that cause and effect will be relatively near to one another. Thus when faced with a problem, it is the ‘solutions’ that are close by that we focus upon. Classically we look to actions that produce improvements in a relatively short time span. However, when viewed in systems terms short-term improvements often involve very significant long-term costs. For example, cutting back on research and design can bring very quick cost savings, but can severely damage the long-term viability of anorganization. Part of the problem is the nature of the feedback we receive. Some of the feedback will be reinforcing (or amplifying) – with small changes building on themselves. ‘Whatever movement occurs is amplified, producing more movement in the same direction. A small action snowballs, with more and more and still more of the same, resembling compound interest’ (Senge 1990: 81). Thus, we may cut our advertising budgets, see the benefits in terms of cost savings, and in turn further trim spending in this area. In the short run there may be little impact on people’s demands for our goods and services, but longer term the decline in visibility may have severe penalties. An appreciation of systems will lead to recognition of the use of, and problems with, such reinforcing feedback, and also an understanding of the place of balancing (or stabilizing) feedback. (See, also Kurt Lewin on feedback). A further key aspect of systems is the extent to which they inevitably involve delays – ‘interruptions in the flow of influence which make the consequences of an action occur gradually’ (ibid.: 90). Peter Senge (1990: 92) concludes:



The systems viewpoint is generally oriented toward the long-term view. That’s why delays and feedback loops are so important. In the short term, you can often ignore them; they’re inconsequential. They only come back to haunt you in the long term.



Peter Senge advocates the use of ‘systems maps’ – diagrams that show the key elements of systems and how they connect. However, people often have a problem ‘seeing’ systems, and it takes work to acquire the basic building blocks of systems theory, and to apply them to your organization. On the other hand, failure to understand system dynamics can lead us into ‘cycles of blaming and self-defense: the enemy is always out there, and problems are always caused by someone else’ Bolam and Deal 1997: 27; see, also, Senge 1990: 231).



The core disciplines

Alongside systems thinking, there stand four other ‘component technologies’ or disciplines. A ‘discipline’ is viewed by Peter Senge as a series of principles and practices that we study, master and integrate into our lives. The five disciplines can be approached at one of three levels:



Practices: what you do.



Principles: guiding ideas and insights.



Essences: the state of being those with high levels of mastery in the discipline (Senge 1990: 373).



Each discipline provides a vital dimension. Each is necessary to the others if organizations are to ‘learn’.



Personal mastery. ‘Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs’ (Senge 1990: 139). Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively’ (ibid.: 7). It goes beyond competence and skills, although it involves them. It goes beyond spiritual opening, although it involves spiritual growth (ibid.: 141). Mastery is seen as a special kind of proficiency. It is not about dominance, but rather about calling. Vision is vocation rather than simply just a good idea.



People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’. Sometimes, language, such as the term ‘personal mastery’ creates a misleading sense of definiteness, of black and white. But personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process. It is a lifelong discipline. People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, their growth areas. And they are deeply self-confident. Paradoxical? Only for those who do not see the ‘journey is the reward’. (Senge 1990: 142)



In writing such as this we can see the appeal of Peter Senge’s vision. It has deep echoes in the concerns of writers such as M. Scott Peck (1990) and Erich Fromm (1979). The discipline entails developing personal vision; holding creative tension (managing the gap between our vision and reality); recognizing structural tensions and constraints, and our own power (or lack of it) with regard to them; a commitment to truth; and using the sub-conscious (ibid.: 147-167).



Mental models. These are ‘deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action’ (Senge 1990: 8). As such they resemble what Donald A Schön talked about as a professional’s ‘repertoire’. We are often not that aware of the impact of such assumptions etc. on our behaviour – and, thus, a fundamental part of our task (as Schön would put it) is to develop the ability to reflect-in- and –on-action. Peter Senge is also influenced here by Schön’s collaborator on a number of projects, Chris Argyris.



The discipline of mental models starts with turning the mirror inward; learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. It also includes the ability to carry on ‘learningful’ conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others. (Senge 1990: 9)



If organizations are to develop a capacity to work with mental models then it will be necessary for people to learn new skills and develop new orientations, and for their to be institutional changes that foster such change. ‘Entrenched mental models… thwart changes that could come from systems thinking’ (ibid.: 203). Moving the organization in the right direction entails working to transcend the sorts of internal politics and game playing that dominate traditional organizations. In other words it means fostering openness (Senge 1990: 273-286). It also involves seeking to distribute business responsibly far more widely while retaining coordination and control. Learning organizations are localized organizations (ibid.: 287-301).



Building shared vision. Peter Senge starts from the position that if any one idea about leadership has inspired organizations for thousands of years, ‘it’s the capacity to hold a share picture of the future we seek to create’ (1990: 9). Such a vision has the power to be uplifting – and to encourage experimentation and innovation. Crucially, it is argued, it can also foster a sense of the long-term, something that is fundamental to the ‘fifth discipline’.



When there is a genuine vision (as opposed to the all-to-familiar ‘vision statement’), people excel and learn, not because they are told to, but because they want to. But many leaders have personal visions that never get translated into shared visions that galvanize an organization… What has been lacking is a discipline for translating vision into shared vision - not a ‘cookbook’ but a set of principles and guiding practices.



The practice of shared vision involves the skills of unearthing shared ‘pictures of the future’ that foster genuine commitment and enrolment rather than compliance. In mastering this discipline, leaders learn the counter-productiveness of trying to dictate a vision, no matter how heartfelt. (Senge 1990: 9)



Visions spread because of a reinforcing process. Increased clarity, enthusiasm and commitment rub off on others in the organization. ‘As people talk, the vision grows clearer. As it gets clearer, enthusiasm for its benefits grow’ (ibid.: 227). There are ‘limits to growth’ in this respect, but developing the sorts of mental models outlined above can significantly improve matters. Where organizations can transcend linear and grasp system thinking, there is the possibility of bringing vision to fruition.



Team learning. Such learning is viewed as ‘the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire’ (Senge 1990: 236). It builds on personal mastery and shared vision – but these are not enough. People need to be able to act together. When teams learn together, Peter Senge suggests, not only can there be good results for the organization, members will grow more rapidly than could have occurred otherwise.



The discipline of team learning starts with ‘dialogue’, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine ‘thinking together’. To the Greeks dia-logos meant a free-flowing if meaning through a group, allowing the group to discover insights not attainable individually…. [It] also involves learning how to recognize the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. (Senge 1990: 10)



The notion of dialogue that flows through The Fifth Discipline is very heavily dependent on the work of the physicist, David Bohm (where a group ‘becomes open to the flow of a larger intelligence’, and thought is approached largely as collective phenomenon). When dialogue is joined with systems thinking, Senge argues, there is the possibility of creating a language more suited for dealing with complexity, and of focusing on deep-seated structural issues and forces rather than being diverted by questions of personality and leadership style. Indeed, such is the emphasis on dialogue in his work that it could almost be put alongside systems thinking as a central feature of his approach.



Leading the learning organization

Peter Senge argues that learning organizations require a new view of leadership. He sees the traditional view of leaders (as special people who set the direction, make key decisions and energize the troops as deriving from a deeply individualistic and non-systemic worldview (1990: 340). At its centre the traditional view of leadership, ‘is based on assumptions of people’s powerlessness, their lack of personal vision and inability to master the forces of change, deficits which can be remedied only by a few great leaders’ (op. cit.). Against this traditional view he sets a ‘new’ view of leadership that centres on ‘subtler and more important tasks’.



In a learning organization, leaders are designers, stewards and teachers. They are responsible for building organizations were people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models – that is they are responsible for learning…. Learning organizations will remain a ‘good idea’… until people take a stand for building such organizations. Taking this stand is the first leadership act, the start of inspiring (literally ‘to breathe life into’) the vision of the learning organization. (Senge 1990: 340)



Many of the qualities that Peter Senge discusses with regard to leading the learning organization can be found in the shared leadership model (discussed elsewhere on these pages). For example, what Senge approaches as inspiration, can be approached as animation. Here we will look at the three aspects of leadership that he identifies – and link his discussion with some other writers on leadership.



Leader as designer. The functions of design are rarely visible, Peter Senge argues, yet no one has a more sweeping influence than the designer (1990: 341). The organization’s policies, strategies and ‘systems’ are key area of design, but leadership goes beyond this. Integrating the five component technologies is fundamental. However, the first task entails designing the governing ideas – the purpose, vision and core values by which people should live. Building a shared vision is crucial early on as it ‘fosters a long-term orientation and an imperative for learning’ (ibid.: 344). Other disciplines also need to be attended to, but just how they are to be approached is dependent upon the situation faced. In essence, ‘the leaders’ task is designing the learning processes whereby people throughout the organization can deal productively with the critical issues they face, and develop their mastery in the learning disciplines’ (ibid.: 345).



Leader as steward. While the notion of leader as steward is, perhaps, most commonly associated with writers such as Peter Block (1993), Peter Senge has some interesting insights on this strand. His starting point was the ‘purpose stories’ that the managers he interviewed told about their organization. He came to realize that the managers were doing more than telling stories, they were relating the story: ‘the overarching explanation of why they do what they do, how their organization needs to evolve, and how that evolution is part of something larger’ (Senge 1990: 346). Such purpose stories provide a single set of integrating ideas that give meaning to all aspects of the leader’s work – and not unexpectedly ‘the leader develops a unique relationship to his or her own personal vision. He or she becomes a steward of the vision’ (op. cit.). One of the important things to grasp here is that stewardship involves a commitment to, and responsibility for the vision, but it does not mean that the leader owns it. It is not their possession. Leaders are stewards of the vision, their task is to manage it for the benefit of others (hence the subtitle of Block’s book – ‘Choosing service over self-interest’). Leaders learn to see their vision as part of something larger. Purpose stories evolve as they are being told, ‘in fact, they are as a result of being told’ (Senge 1990: 351). Leaders have to learn to listen to other people’s vision and to change their own where necessary. Telling the story in this way allows others to be involved and to help develop a vision that is both individual and shared.



Leader as teacher. Peter Senge starts here with Max de Pree’s (1990) injunction that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. While leaders may draw inspiration and spiritual reserves from their sense of stewardship, ‘much of the leverage leaders can actually exert lies in helping people achieve more accurate, more insightful and more empowering views of reality (Senge 1990: 353). Building on an existing ‘hierarchy of explanation’ leaders, Peter Senge argues, can influence people’s view of reality at four levels: events, patterns of behaviour, systemic structures and the ‘purpose story’. By and large most managers and leaders tend to focus on the first two of these levels (and under their influence organizations do likewise). Leaders in learning organizations attend to all four, ‘but focus predominantly on purpose and systemic structure. Moreover they “teach” people throughout the organization to do likewise’ (Senge 1993: 353). This allows them to see ‘the big picture’ and to appreciate the structural forces that condition behaviour. By attending to purpose, leaders can cultivate an understanding of what the organization (and its members) are seeking to become. One of the issues here is that leaders often have strengths in one or two of the areas but are unable, for example, to develop systemic understanding. A key to success is being able to conceptualize insights so that they become public knowledge, ‘open to challenge and further improvement’ (ibid.: 356).



“Leader as teacher” is not about “teaching” people how to achieve their vision. It is about fostering learning, for everyone. Such leaders help people throughout the organization develop systemic understandings. Accepting this responsibility is the antidote to one of the most common downfalls of otherwise gifted teachers – losing their commitment to the truth. (Senge 1990: 356)



Leaders have to create and manage creative tension – especially around the gap between vision and reality. Mastery of such tension allows for a fundamental shift. It enables the leader to see the truth in changing situations.



Issues and problems

When making judgements about Peter Senge’s work, and the ideas he promotes, we need to place his contribution in context. His is not meant to be a definitive addition to the ‘academic’ literature of organizational learning. Peter Senge writes for practicing and aspiring managers and leaders. The concern is to identify how interventions can be made to turn organizations into ‘learning organizations’. Much of his, and similar theorists’ efforts, have been ‘devoted to identifying templates, which real organizations could attempt to emulate’ (Easterby-Smith and Araujo 1999: 2). In this field some of the significant contributions have been based around studies of organizational practice, others have ‘relied more on theoretical principles, such as systems dynamics or psychological learning theory, from which implications for design and implementation have been derived’ (op. cit.). Peter Senge, while making use of individual case studies, tends to the latter orientation.



The most appropriate question in respect of this contribution would seem to be whether it fosters praxis – informed, committed action on the part of those it is aimed at? This is an especially pertinent question as Peter Senge looks to promote a more holistic vision of organizations and the lives of people within them. Here we focus on three aspects. We start with the organization.



Organizational imperatives. Here the case against Peter Senge is fairly simple. We can find very few organizations that come close to the combination of characteristics that he identifies with the learning organization. Within a capitalist system his vision of companies and organizations turning wholehearted to the cultivation of the learning of their members can only come into fruition in a limited number of instances. While those in charge of organizations will usually look in some way to the long-term growth and sustainability of their enterprise, they may not focus on developing the human resources that the organization houses. The focus may well be on enhancing brand recognition and status (Klein 2001); developing intellectual capital and knowledge (Leadbeater 2000); delivering product innovation; and ensuring that production and distribution costs are kept down. As Will Hutton (1995: 8) has argued, British companies’ priorities are overwhelmingly financial. What is more, ‘the targets for profit are too high and time horizons too short’ (1995: xi). Such conditions are hardly conducive to building the sort of organization that Peter Senge proposes. Here the case against Senge is that within capitalist organizations, where the bottom line is profit, a fundamental concern with the learning and development of employees and associates is simply too idealistic.



Yet there are some currents running in Peter Senge’s favour. The need to focus on knowledge generation within an increasingly globalized economy does bring us back in some important respects to the people who have to create intellectual capital.



Productivity and competitiveness are, by and large, a function of knowledge generation and information processing: firms and territories are organized in networks of production, management and distribution; the core economic activities are global – that is they have the capacity to work as a unit in real time, or chosen time, on a planetary scale. (Castells 2001: 52)



A failure to attend to the learning of groups and individuals in the organization spells disaster in this context. As Leadbeater (2000: 70) has argued, companies need to invest not just in new machinery to make production more efficient, but in the flow of know-how that will sustain their business. Organizations need to be good at knowledge generation, appropriation and exploitation. This process is not that easy:



Knowledge that is visible tends to be explicit, teachable, independent, detachable, it also easy for competitors to imitate. Knowledge that is intangible, tacit, less teachable, less observable, is more complex but more difficult to detach from the person who created it or the context in which it is embedded. Knowledge carried by an individual only realizes its commercial potential when it is replicated by an organization and becomes organizational knowledge. (ibid.: 71)



Here we have a very significant pressure for the fostering of ‘learning organizations’. The sort of know-how that Leadbeater is talking about here cannot be simply transmitted. It has to be engaged with, talking about and embedded in organizational structures and strategies. It has to become people’s own.



A question of sophistication and disposition. One of the biggest problems with Peter Senge’s approach is nothing to do with the theory, it’s rightness, nor the way it is presented. The issue here is that the people to whom it is addressed do not have the disposition or theoretical tools to follow it through. One clue lies in his choice of ‘disciplines’ to describe the core of his approach. As we saw a discipline is a series of principles and practices that we study, master and integrate into our lives. In other words, the approach entails significant effort on the part of the practitioner. It also entails developing quite complicated mental models, and being able to apply and adapt these to different situations – often on the hoof. Classically, the approach involves a shift from product to process (and back again). The question then becomes whether many people in organizations can handle this. All this has a direct parallel within formal education. One of the reasons that product approaches to curriculum (as exemplified in the concern for SATs tests, examination performance and school attendance) have assumed such a dominance is that alternative process approaches are much more difficult to do well. They may be superior – but many teachers lack the sophistication to carry them forward. There are also psychological and social barriers. As Lawrence Stenhouse put it some years ago: ‘The close examination of one’s professional performance is personally threatening; and the social climate in which teachers work generally offers little support to those who might be disposed to face that threat’ (1975: 159). We can make the same case for people in most organizations.



The process of exploring one’s performance, personality and fundamental aims in life (and this is what Peter Senge is proposing) is a daunting task for most people. To do it we need considerable support, and the motivation to carry the task through some very uncomfortable periods. It calls for the integration of different aspects of our lives and experiences. There is, here, a straightforward question concerning the vision – will people want to sign up to it? To make sense of the sorts of experiences generated and explored in a fully functioning ‘learning organization’ there needs to be ‘spiritual growth’ and the ability to locate these within some sort of framework of commitment. Thus, as employees, we are not simply asked to do our jobs and to get paid. We are also requested to join in something bigger. Many of us may just want to earn a living!



Politics and vision. Here we need to note two key problem areas. First, there is a question of how Peter Senge applies systems theory. While he introduces all sorts of broader appreciations and attends to values – his theory is not fully set in a political or moral framework. There is not a consideration of questions of social justice, democracy and exclusion. His approach largely operates at the level of organizational interests. This is would not be such a significant problem if there was a more explicit vision of the sort of society that he would like to see attained, and attention to this with regard to management and leadership. As a contrast we might turn to Peter Drucker’s (1977: 36) elegant discussion of the dimensions of management. He argued that there are three tasks – ‘equally important but essentially different’ – that face the management of every organization. These are:



To think through and define the specific purpose and mission of the institution, whether business enterprise, hospital, or university.



To make work productive and the worker achieving.



To manage social impacts and social responsibilities. (op. cit.)



He continues:



None of our institutions exists by itself and as an end in itself. Every one is an organ of society and exists for the sake of society. Business is not exception. ‘Free enterprise’ cannot be justified as being good for business. It can only be justified as being good for society. (Drucker 1977: 40)



If Peter Senge had attempted greater connection between the notion of the ‘learning organization’ and the ‘learning society’, and paid attention to the political and social impact of organizational activity then this area of criticism would be limited to the question of the particular vision of society and human flourishing involved.



Second, there is some question with regard to political processes concerning his emphasis on dialogue and shared vision. While Peter Senge clearly recognizes the political dimensions of organizational life, there is sneaking suspicion that he may want to transcend it. In some ways there is link here with the concerns and interests of communitarian thinkers like Amitai Etzioni (1995, 1997). As Richard Sennett (1998: 143) argues with regard to political communitarianism, it ‘falsely emphasizes unity as the source of strength in a community and mistakenly fears that when conflicts arise in a community, social bonds are threatened’. Within it (and arguably aspects of Peter Senge’s vision of the learning organization) there seems, at times, to be a dislike of politics and a tendency to see danger in plurality and difference. Here there is a tension between the concern for dialogue and the interest in building a shared vision. An alternative reading is that difference is good for democratic life (and organizational life) provided that we cultivate a sense of reciprocity, and ways of working that encourage deliberation. The search is not for the sort of common good that many communitarians seek (Guttman and Thompson 1996: 92) but rather for ways in which people may share in a common life. Moral disagreement will persist – the key is whether we can learn to respect and engage with each other’s ideas, behaviours and beliefs.



Conclusion

John van Maurik (2001: 201) has suggested that Peter Senge has been ahead of his time and that his arguments are insightful and revolutionary. He goes on to say that it is a matter of regret ‘that more organizations have not taken his advice and have remained geared to the quick fix’. As we have seen there are very deep-seated reasons why this may have been the case. Beyond this, though, there is the questions of whether Senge’s vision of the learning organization and the disciplines it requires has contributed to more informed and committed action with regard to organizational life? Here we have little concrete evidence to go on. However, we can make some judgements about the possibilities of his theories and proposed practices. We could say that while there are some issues and problems with his conceptualization, at least it does carry within it some questions around what might make for human flourishing. The emphases on building a shared vision, team working, personal mastery and the development of more sophisticated mental models and the way he runs the notion of dialogue through these does have the potential of allowing workplaces to be more convivial and creative. The drawing together of the elements via the Fifth Discipline of systemic thinking, while not being to everyone’s taste, also allows us to approach a more holistic understanding of organizational life (although Peter Senge does himself stop short of asking some important questions in this respect). These are still substantial achievements – and when linked to his popularizing of the notion of the ‘learning organization’ – it is understandable why Peter Senge has been recognized as a key thinker.



Further reading and references

Block, P. (1993) Stewardship. Choosing service over self-interest, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. 264 + xxiv pages. Calls for a new way of thinking about the workplace - arguing that notions of leadership and management need replacing by that of 'stewardship'. Organizations should replace traditional management tools of control and consistency with partnership and choice. 'Individuals who see themselves as stewards will choose responsibility over entitlement and hold themselves accountable to those over whom they exercise power'. There is a need to choose service over self-interest.



Heifetz, R. A. (1994) Leadership Without Easy Answers, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press. 348 + xi pages. Just about the best of the more recent books on leadership. Looks to bring back ethical questions to the centre of debates around leadership, and turns to the leader as educator. A particular emphasis on the exploration of leadership within authority and non-authority relationships. Good on distinguishing between technical and adaptive situations.



Senge, P. M. (1990) The Fifth Discipline. The art and practice of the learning organization, London: Random House. 424 + viii pages. A seminal and highly readable book in which Senge sets out the five ‘competent technologies’ that build and sustain learning organizations. His emphasis on systems thinking as the fifth, and cornerstone discipline allows him to develop a more holistic appreciation of organization (and the lives of people associated with them).



References

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley.



Argyris, C. and Schön, D. (1996) Organizational learning II: Theory, method and practice, Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley.



Bolman, L. G. and Deal, T. E. (1997) Reframing Organizations. Artistry, choice and leadership 2e, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 450 pages.



Castells, M. (2001) ‘Information technology and global capitalism’ in W. Hutton and A. Giddens (eds.) On the Edge. Living with global capitalism, London: Vintage.



DePree, M. (1990) Leadership is an Art, New York: Dell.



Drucker, P. (1977) Management, London: Pan.



Easterby-Smith, M. and Araujo, L. ‘Current debates and opportunities’ in M. Easterby-Smith, L. Araujo and J. Burgoyne (eds.) Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization, London: Sage.



Edmondson, A. and Moingeon, B. (1999) ‘Learning, trust and organizational change’ in M. Easterby-Smith, L. Araujo and J. Burgoyne (eds.) Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization, London: Sage.



Etzioni, A. (1995) The Spirit of Community. Rights responsibilities and the communitarian agenda, London: Fontana Press.



Etzioni, A. (1997) The New Golden Rule. Community and morality in a democratic society, London: Profile Books.



Finger, M. and Brand, S. B. (1999) ‘The concept of the “learning organization” applied to the transformation of the public sector’ in M. Easterby-Smith, L. Araujo and J. Burgoyne (eds.) Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization, London: Sage.



Fromm, E. (1979) To Have or To Be? London: Abacus.



Guttman, A. and Thompson, D. (1996) Democracy and Disagreement, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press.



Hutton, W. (1995) The State We’re In, London: Jonathan Cape.



Klein, N. (2001) No Logo, London: Flamingo.



Leadbeater, C. (2000) Living on Thin Air. The new economy, London: Penguin.



Van Maurik, J. (2001) Writers on Leadership, London: Penguin.



O’Neill, J. (1995) ‘On schools as learning organizations. An interview with Peter Senge’ Educational Leadership, 52(7) http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9504/oneil.html



Peck, M. S. (1990) The Road Less Travelled, London: Arrow.



Schultz, J. R. (1999) ‘Peter Senge: Master of change’ Executive Update Online, http://www.gwsae.org/ExecutiveUpdate/1999/June_July/CoverStory2.htm



Senge, P. (1998) ‘The Practice of Innovation’, Leader to Leader 9 http://pfdf.org/leaderbooks/l2l/summer98/senge.html



Senge, P. et. al. (1994) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization



Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Roth, G. and Smith, B. (1999) The Dance of Change: The Challenges of Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations, New York: Doubleday/Currency).



Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N. Lucas, T., Smith, B., Dutton, J. and Kleiner, A. (2000) Schools That Learn. A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education, New York: Doubleday/Currency



Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development, London: Heinemann.



Sennett, R. (1998) The Corrosion of Character. The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism, New York: Norton.



Links

Dialogue from Peter Senge’s perspective – brief, but helpful, overview by Martha Merrill



fieldbook.com – ‘home to The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project’ – includes material on Schools that Learn and The Dance of Change



Peter Senge resources – GWSAE online listing includes interview with Senge by Jane R. Schultz.



A Primer on Systems Thinking & Organizational Learning – useful set of pages put together by John Shibley @ The Portland Learning Organization Group



Resources on Peter Senge’s learning organization – useful listing of resources from the Metropolitan Community College, Omaha.



sistemika – online Peter Senge resources



Society for Organizational Learning – various resources relating to Senge’s project.



Systems thinking - useful introductory article by Daniel Aronson on thinking.net.



Bibliographic reference: Smith, M. K. (2001) 'Peter Senge and the learning organization', the encyclopedia of informal education. [www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm. Last update: September 03, 2009]



© Mark K. Smith 2001



infed is a not-for-profit site [about us] [disclaimer]. Give us your feedback; write for us. Check our copyright notice when copying. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Hosted on a Memset Dedicated Server [CarbonNeutral®].

Botswana and its progress, Can Tanzania learn from her

Guys it is real irritating to see that we hardly get something from massive natural resources we had in Tanzania. I sometimes ask myself who has bewitched Tanzanian??/
read the below article by Prof. Gervase to see how our neighbours are progressing in development ladder.


DPMN Bulletin: Volume X, Number 2, April 2003




Economic Development and the Role of the State in Botswana

Prof. Gervase S. Maipose





Introduction



Botswana is widely known for its remarkable economic growth and prudent macro-economic management. In fact the country "has had the highest level of per-capita growth of any country in the world in the last 35 years" (Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson 2001). Analysts who are acquainted with this successful development record attribute the country’s "performance" more to effective state management than to "diamonds fortune", the main engine of growth (Harvey and Lewis 1990; Tordoff 1993; Leith 2000). In contrast, "development crisis in many African countries is compounded by an often profound weakness in the capacity of the state to promote development" (Brautigam 1996, 81). However, the institutional context of rapid growth in Botswana - that is a multiparty democratic system of government - offers a sharp and refreshing contrast to authoritative/undemocratic regimes elsewhere in China and the East Asian miracle which did not have a history of democratic systems of government in the first place until quite recently.



The most striking negative aspect is that, unlike other success stories, such as those in Asia and Mauritius in Africa, a story of good governance and long period of sustained rapid economic growth in Botswana has not translated itself into a significant degree of socio-economic transformation as reflected both in the country’s over-dependency on one mineral, diamonds, and high unemployment/poverty levels. To compound the situation Botswana, like all the countries in the sub-region, suffers from one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the world, with signs of adverse impact already being felt in achievements in human resource development and general economic growth. Thus, Botswana faces a major policy challenge of turning the country’s wealth into meaningful economic diversification for sustainable and broad-based development.



This article highlights the main policy and institution related factors that explain sustained rapid economic growth with limited structural transformation. It also illuminates the extent to which the role and sheer size of the public sector, which for a long time had been a catalyst for growth and development, appear to have turned out to constitute part of the obstacles to growth and sustainable economic diversification – the main challenges facing the country. The crucial question is: what explains sustained rapid economic growth with limited economic diversification and unemployment/poverty alleviation, and what else does the Botswana state need to do?



The Role of the State: Continuity and Change



Managing the public sector and the required policy choices to facilitate broad-based sustainable economic growth and diversification hinges on one of the most topical issues in development literature – the role of the state in socio-economic development and how this is associated with failure and success stories. "Failure of the state perspective" that has loomed for almost two decades now since the 1980s and increasingly cutting across the World Bank and IMF perspective - known as the "Washington consensus" - contends that Africa’s development crisis is first and foremost a crisis of the African state capacity, or a failure of governance (Hyden 1983; World Bank 1989; Lipumba 1994; Brautigam 1996). The evidence is enormous, persuasive and need not be reviewed. But there are a few recognised exceptions, such as Mauritius and indeed Botswana, the later the focus of this article.



The overview of Botswana’s development record and the role of the state may be captured in one sentence – endorsing a general consensus among the country’s development analysts. Initially based on agriculture and heavily dependent on foreign aid, rapid economic growth and general development in Botswana have been propelled by the mining sector, particularly the diamonds industry, and have been strategically led and managed by the state and decreasingly complemented by foreign aid within the overall institutional context of a liberal market economy and multi-party democratic system of government. In examining this observation, it must also be noted immediately that the strategy of "state-led development" was not born out of "ideological dogma", but pragmatism in line with the informed economic opinion and preferred strategy when Botswana and many African countries became independent in the 1960s and 1970s. The same strategy was adopted by many developing (African) countries irrespective of their political regimes – civilian or military – and it did not matter whether a particular regime pursued a capitalist or socialist development strategy (Tordoff 1993, 121-147). The general lack of indigenous entrepreneurs or the absence of a viable private sector led some influential development economists of the time to provide further justification for a more interventionist state role in development. The point is that the idea of "state-led" development and national economic planning has worked relatively well in Botswana. The same strategy is associated with, and it is now blamed for, the general economic crisis in many African countries most of which were under authoritative/one-party regimes until quite recently.



However, following the dominance of "neo-liberalism dogma" and the collapse of many centrally planned economies, the emphasis on the role of the state in development has currently shifted towards attacking the development theories of the 1950s and 1960s as well as introducing a new style, the argument of "government failure" and the need for a minimalist and facilitative role for the state to leave sufficient space for "market-based" socio-economic development (Huntington 1994). Many aid donors began to demand political and economic liberalisation reforms as conditions for giving aid. Partly in line with the new school of thought on the role of the state in development process, and mainly out of the internal review of the old development strategy that increasingly yielded reduced returns from early 1990s, Botswana has also been re-orienting the overall strategy from "state-led" to "private sector-led" development, complemented with some public sector reforms. It is necessary to reflect on the factors, which accounted for Botswana as a successful developmental state so far: policies and/ or institutional factors that are still regarded as necessary fundamentals with which to confront the major challenge of socio-economic transformation.



Significance of Existing State Management Elements



The explanation for Botswana’s "success story" and the outlook for the country’s future prosperity tend to oscillate between emphasis on the "good luck" factors, on the one hand, and the "good management", on the other hand. It must be added that the two factors – "good luck" and "good management" – are inter-related, but independently constituted, though achievements owed more to careful or "good management" than "good fortune" which the Botswana state exploited to national advantage (Harvey and Lewis 1990, 6-7; Tordoff 1993, 282).



The elements in the good luck factor are basically four, though a detailed survey could reveal some other complementary issues. These are: i) the national mineral endowment, particularly diamonds; ii) the production and marketing of diamonds within the most durable and successful producer/marketing cartel run by De Beers, the Central Selling Organisation (CSO); iii) inflow/impact of foreign aid; iv) and small and largely homogenous population (with relatively large Tswana speaking) at least in the sense that ‘tribalism’ and ‘sectionalism’ are not sharply used to explain electoral behaviour and leadership competition in Botswana.



The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) remained quite stable for a long time between the 1970s and1990s. That it played a significant role in Botswana’s development effort is not an aspect of good luck, but one of the examples of good management – attracted by good policies and market-friendly environment. The same argument applies to the inflow of foreign aid and its sustainability long after Botswana became a middle-income country. Many donors were happy with the use of their aid and they wanted to be associated with the country’s success story (Maipose and Somolekae 1996). One can also appreciate the advantages of "small country effect" in key macro-economic indicators, and frustrations regarding broad or agriculture-based poverty reduction strategies due to recurrent drought conditions that make agriculture a precarious undertaking. Institutionalisation of multi-party political system and good macro-economic management contained various interests, thereby managing not just the country’s wealth but also the diversity of its people. Thus, the context of the "good natural fortune" is crucial.



The elements in the Good Management factor are many and basically different, though inter-related, illustrating the significance of policy choices and institutional capacity. These are: development planning and its integration with the annual budgetary process; institutionalisation of the liberal multi-party democracy and economic setting; prudent macro-economic management; and high state extractive and saving capacities. It is one thing to have "good fortune" or receive windfall foreign aid resources, and it is another thing to put one’s fortune to good use and to build and sustain the confidence of foreign investors.



Public Sector Development Planning and its integration with the annual budgetary process have been the foundation of Botswana’s development management machinery, and the basis for managing its windfall gains – mineral rent and foreign aid (Stevens 1981; Maipose and Somolekae 1996). The country relies on a six-year planning cycle, with mid-term reviews and annual budgets to update the plans in response to changes in the economic and political context. National Development Plans are essentially plans for public spending and human resource use, and annual budgets are used as instruments for converting a development plan into a programme for action, on the basis of the projections underlying the Botswana macro-economic model (Jefferis 1998). For effective aid management and co-ordination, the donors are asked to support (and have flexibility to choose) projects that are already identified as national priorities in the plan.



Good governance record, underlined by relatively well-institutionalised private property values, multi-party political system and the quality of the country’s political leadership, is another important factor which explains good management. Striving to enhance this form of institutional development was and continues to be crucial for better and more accountable government, which maintains freedom of speech, press and association, and respect for property rights, rule-based governance and independent Judiciary. A participatory and transparent political system has combined with the good and disciplined political leadership to moderate/limit, the incidence of corruption. Relying on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Botswana has, for many years, been ranked among the least corrupt countries in the world and the best in Africa. Although there are cases of corruption and probably it is increasing (Good 1994), there are also cases of suicides (for fear of obvious consequences), resignations or dismissals (on matters of principle/accountability) and imprisonment involving politicians and government officers. Many analysts and the Batswana themselves acknowledge the exemplary ethical leadership and general foundation made by the country’s first President, Sir Seretse Khama, by establishing a precedent for high ethnical standards, a strong and relatively independent but accountable merit-based career civil service, and a developmental orientation of government (Tordoff 1993, 281). It must be emphasised that these attributes have been carried on and built upon by his successors



The degree of state extractive and saving capacities, which the Botswana state has displayed, due to good policy choices including negotiating skills and leadership vision and their implication for state capacity to budget, has been incredible. State extractive capacity, as defined by Brautigam (1996, 83) "is a measure of the ability of a government to raise the revenue it needs to pay for the expenses of implementing its policies and goals", and it is analytically seen as one of the four dimensions of state capacity – regulatory, administrative/managerial and technical. Some development analysts regard this as the most important element of the state capacity, mainly because "a capacity to budget is a capacity to govern"(Schick 1989) and also because financing capacity can be used to increase other forms of state capacity. Available evidence from the World Bank publications (1990-2000) – Development Indicators – clearly show that the country’s overall extractive capacity has been quite impressive by regional and international standard. During the period 1980 to 1998, government revenue (excluding grants), as a percentage of GDP, averaged about 50 % in the 1980s – reaching the peak of 64% in 1988 and had the lowest flows of 42% in 1993 (World Bank 1999). State extractive capacity in Botswana is impressively high mainly because the state is a share-holder in the key industries – known as an aspect of smart partnership – and all the main sources of government revenue, such as mineral/diamonds rent, customs revenue, aid and earning on reserves/savings, accrue to the treasury in lump forms, and without hard toil. This is partly explained by good policy choices, negotiating skills and vision on the part of the country’s leadership – covering how partnership/shares in the mining companies and sharing of custom revenue from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and continued flow of foreign aid were negotiated for, and so are policy choices regarding public sector savings and investment.



Another point is that unlike most other African countries, aid represents a small portion of Botswana’s national budget and is hardly significant in other key macro-economic variables. Financial aid as a percentage of public capital expenditure has come down from near 100 % in the 1960s (Stevens 1981) to 15% in 1992, and represents about 5% of total government revenue in the recent statistics (Maipose and Somolekae 1996). Moreover, foreign debt, which represents just about 8% of GNP, remains manageable, and almost insignificant in the sense that the debt service ratio is about 3% of export earning. Finally, a significant proportion of public revenue in the form of annual budget surpluses and the foreign exchange reserves have been saved – used as offshore investment or savings abroad (Jefferis 1998, 38), thereby making Botswana a net exporter of capital. Income from the country’s offshore investment/savings now constitutes the second or third major source of government income



Prudent macro-economic management, including complementary balance between monetary and fiscal policies for ensuring macro-economic stability, for which Botswana has acquired a good reputation, has been indisputably crucial for the country’s success (Harvey and Lewis 1990; Hill and Knight 1999). Dimensions of sound economic management that have been highlighted elsewhere need not be repeated here. Strikingly, for mineral-based economic growth, the government has been able to maximise the domestic benefits of its mining development, increase its domestic savings and investment, and strived to diversify (rather than suppress) the non-mining economy, while at the same time mitigating the potentially adverse effects of mineral-led development syndrome – effectively avoiding what is known as Dutch Diseased.



The government’s self-imposed adoption of orthodox stabilisation and adjustment policies is viewed as illustrative of strategic state intervention, and this is in sharp contrast to "forced structural adjustment reforms" in some other African countries. Because of good policies and consistent market-friendly environment, FDI came to play a significant role in many industries early in Botswana’s development effort, and in partnership with the government, they developed the mining sector – providing the resources critical for the first phase of economic diversification from agriculture to include mining. In terms of qualitative impact, early inflows of FDI strongly boosted export receipts and government revenues, which were invested wisely and created the foundation for long-term growth, and the government still continues to enjoy a reputation for the quality of bureaucracy and the non-distortive economic policy.



New Development Strategy: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects



Usually good at anticipating opportunities and problems, the government acknowledged in early the 1990s that the country’s success prospects had come to a stage where it had to use a different development strategy to confront a new set of more complex development challenges if its strong development record was to continue. Consequently, the government embarked on public sector reform process aimed at changing the development strategy from state-led to private sector-led development through various forms of privatisation, complemented by a more extensive use of Performance-based (contract) Management Systems (MFDP 1997). Results have been mixed with some clear achievements and prospects, generally underlined by limited structural socio-economic transformation. The main good news is that economic growth has picked up, progressively especially since the country’s NDP 8 was effected in 1997 and growth rate has averaged 6% per year with noticeable increase in non-traditional exports and some degree of structural economic diversification (Harvey 1998; MFDP 2000). Structural diversification seems to be promising for the tourism and financial services sectors, which have doubled their GDP shares from 1988/89 to 2001/2002. The mining GDP share has declined from about 50% (or rather 49.3% to be specific) to its present level of 32.5% for the same period. Prospects for manufacturing sector, whose GDP share of 4% has remained more or less the same since independence, cannot be ruled out yet. The sector’s main setback was in 1999 when the country’s main automobile assembly plant – the Motor Company of Botswana that assembled Hyundai vehicles – was closed following the liquidation of the motor company, the Wheels of Africa Group of South Africa. Except for the cattle sub-sector, the contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP has continued to decline mainly due to arid climatic conditions and relatively low investment. These conditions make agriculture and (consequently) broad-based rural development strategy a precarious undertaking.



One of the most important aspects of concern is the GDP share and growth of the public sector. Despite the Botswana government’s strong private sector thrust, it still retains a strong presence in the economy and has continued to expand – illustrated by recent state acquired shares in the newly built shopping malls in Gaborone, creation of three new ministries, and new parastatal agencies to facilitate economic diversification as elaborated upon below. While there are good reasons for retaining government involvement in areas such as diamond mining – the country’s key assert – there are areas where it may now make sense to step back. Unlike other African countries, Botswana has not been under the same financial stress and/or pressures of mismanagement associated with public enterprises to make this move, probably on appreciation of the fact that the number of state-owned enterprises and the size of the sector did not grow excessively in Botswana or accounting for about 6 per cent of GDP (Jefferis 1996). However, taking the public sector as a whole – the civil service and the state-owned public enterprises – there is a belief that the public sector is over-staffed and has outgrown its capacity for effective policy implementation and monitoring of projects (BIDPA 2000, 4; 14-19). The delay in privatising corporations may have already been costly – seen as one of the reasons for drastic reduction in FDI inflows, much of which are currently directed into other SADC countries through privatisation, which Botswana has not yet implemented.



Unfortunately, reviews of the country’s progress and prospects show that the structural transformation of the economy has not proceeded well – certainly not at the pace that the country would wish to have as it looks to the future. The fact is that Botswana is still at the factor-driven stage of economic development, highly dependent on vulnerable primary products for growth. The shrinkage of agriculture in favor of mining – not manufacturing – is not regarded as a sustainable development path in literature. The development of a mineral "staple" such as diamond export in Botswana has been thought of as a potential springboard for structural transformation – not via expansion of the mineral factor itself but via its linkages to the rest of the economy. The rest of the economy has been very weak except through foreign exchange earning (made available to other sectors) and fiscal linkages that have been very strong. Like many other African countries, Botswana is a mono-economy, heavily dependent on one mineral, diamonds, that is indirectly linked to other sectors of the economy through direct contribution to export earning and strong fiscal linkages. Mining is not a big employer and unemployment is estimated at nearly twenty percent – a disappointing situation in view of the country’s small population of 1.7 million. With about 45% of Batswana living below the poverty line – close to the African average of 50% – Botswana exemplifies the huge income differentials elsewhere on the continent. Gini co-efficient is said to be 0.56 and it has hardly been reduced for the past two decades.



Furthermore, there are still too few indigenous private entrepreneurs picking up business opportunities. Development of indigenous business class, like income poverty reduction, has been modest, at best. Batswana talk about government being rich in partnership with foreign interests and this is underlined by a strong feeling among the country’s elite that indigenous business people have not participated fully enough in Botswana’s "economic miracle", leading to the debates on "citizen empowerment" and the need for "growth with income poverty reduction." Like the rest of Africa, globalisation seems to be taking Botswana by storm. Local business fears that apart from marginalising Botswana in global terms, globalisation will make affirmative action for local business more difficult. It is against this background that one can understand why privatisation, which is not donor-driven in Botswana, has proceeded slowly, and ordinary citizens have reservations against privatisation due to perceived job losses.



Thus, against a story of good governance, regular elections, clean administration and prudent management, there is a major challenge of diversifying the economy, turning wealth into jobs or economic activities that will have effects of alleviating unemployment and poverty levels, and empowering indigenous private entrepreneurs. The major challenge of meaningful economic diversification, that is, export-led diversification, has to be achieved through energised/activated state facilitating role aimed at making the private sector dominant in the economy. This calls for a committed willingness of the state to have a private sector play a dominant role in economic development. Redefined in terms of experience of the Newly industrialised countries of Asia (NICs), the new role of the state in Botswana should be similar to that of the Singapore state – or what Yu (1997) calls the entrepreneurial state – which combines both the facilitative and interventionist role in the economy in a more creative and innovative manner.



The Botswana state has so far been interventionist but not sufficiently facilitative beyond providing a business friendly and enabling environment for the private sector. State entrepreneurship, spearheaded through the role of BDC, is complemented by some form of state facilitation of private agencies that is being done by the newly recreated parastatal organisations, such as Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) and Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (TIPA). This is being illustrated in exploring for opportunities in world markets and identifying strategic industries that has potential for future growth and aiding the private sector to exploit them, and also working to "create" comparative advantage where the country did not initially have it, such as the recent state efforts in exploiting the tourism and financial services sectors. Some of the public sector reforms in this direction – focused on identified sectors or areas of new engine of growth – entailed splitting what used to be large ministries, creating three new ministries in total. For example, what used to be a Ministry of Local Government, Lands, Housing and Environment was split into two with local government standing on its own; so was the subsequent creation of the new Ministries of Science, Technology and Information; Trade, Wildlife and Tourism, and reconstituted Ministry of Industry and Commerce.



However, according to one of the main resolutions overwhelmingly adopted at the 7th National Business Conference that ended on 8th August 2002 in Francis town, government efforts to facilitate economic diversification and reduce direct role of the public sector have not been as aggressive and consistent as they should be. Having not retreated or rolled back yet its role in economic development, state created institutions to carry out the newly acquired mandates appear to have ended up enlarging further what is already a large public sector. Thus, for sustainable economic diversification to be realised under the country’s new development strategy of private sector led development there must be a willingness of the state to have the private sector play a dominant role. So far the message or policy design seems to be clear. According to the policy statement: "governance for market-based economic performance entails ‘right-sizing’ the public sector through selling of shares or asserts... and by a more extensive use of performance-based management contracts" (MFDP 1997, 86). But willingness and commitment have yet to be demonstrated by action/implementation.



Concluding Remarks



The evidence seems to suggest that being mindful of basic economic fundamentals provides a good basis and investment-friendly environment, but it may not be enough for broad-based economic growth and diversification. The necessity of retaining a strong state that possesses a strategic development-oriented capacity for effective public service delivery and/or facilitating the role of the private sector in order to fulfil crucial development goals is asserted. This requires, in our view, forging ahead with management ideas that have served the country well so far, and resolute implementation of the public sector reforms that have been announced in line with the redefined role of the state, the facilitative role of the public sector in the economy.



References



Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson, and J. A. Robinson. 2001. An African success story in Botswana. A seminar paper, July 11.



BIDPA. 2000. Making Government smaller and efficient. Paper prepared by Abdalla Gergis for Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis, BIDPA, March.



Brautigam, D. 1996. State capacity and effective governance. In Agenda for Africa’s economic renewal, edited by B. Ndulo and Van de Walle. New Brunswick and Oxford: Transaction Publishers.



Good, K. 1994. Corruption and mismanagement in Botswana: A best case example. The Journal of Modern African Studies 32, no. 3.



Harvey, C. 1998. Economic diversification and export promotion. A paper presented at a Public Policy Forum, Gaborone Sun Hotel, 27 September.



Harvey, C., and S. R. Lewis. 1990. Policy choice and development performance in Botswana. Houndmill: MacMillan Press Ltd.



Hill, C., and J. Knight. 1999. The diamond boom, expectations and economic management in Botswana. In Trade shocks in developing countries, edited by P. Collier and J. W. Gunning. Vol. I: Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.



Huntington, S. P. 1994. What price freedom? Dialogue: The Economic Agenda, no. 104.



Hyden, G. 1983. No shortcuts to progress: African development management in perspective. London: Heinemann.



Jefferis, K. 1996. Botswana’s public enterprises. In Botswana: Politics and society, edited by W. Edge and M. H. Lekorwe. Pretoria: J. L. Van Schaik Publishers.



_____. 1998. Botswana and diamond-dependent development. In Botswana: Politics and society, edited by W. Edge and M. H. Lekorwe. Pretoria: J. L. Van Schaik Publishers.



Leith, J. C. 1997. Growth and structural transformation in Botswana. In Aspects of the Botswana Economy: Selected Papers, edited by J. S. et al Salkin. Oxford: James Currey Ltd.



Lipumba, H. I. 1994. Africa beyond adjustment, overseas development management in perspective. London: Heinemann.



Maipose, G. S., G. M. Somolekae. 1996. Managing a transition from aid dependence: The Botswana case study. Policy Working Paper. Nairobi: African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).



Maipose, G. S., and M. H. Lekorwe. 2000. Performance management system situational analysis for the public sector in Botswana. Ministries of Agriculture; Mines; Mineral and Water Affairs; Foreign Affairs; Parliament. Public Sector Management Services and National Productivity Centre, Gaborone.



MFDP. 1997. National Development Plan 8 - 1997/98 - 2002/03. Gaborone: Government Printer.



Tordoff, W. 1993. Government and politics in Africa. London: MacMillan.



World Bank. 1999. African Development Indicators 2000. Washington, DC: World Bank.



Yu, F. Tony. 1997. Entrepreneurial state: The role of government in the economic development of the newly industrialized economies. Development Policy Review, no. 15.

I have a dream by Martin luther King

As we approach election day lets reflect on Martin luther king speech to Negros.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.




Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.



But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.



In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."



But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.



We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.



It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.



But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.



The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.



We cannot walk alone.



And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.



We cannot turn back.



There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹



I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.



Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.



And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.



I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."



I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.



I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.



I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.



I have a dream today!



I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.



I have a dream today!



I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2



This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.



With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.



And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:



My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.



Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,



From every mountainside, let freedom ring!



And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.



And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.



Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.



Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.



Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.



Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.



But not only that:



Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.



Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.



Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.



From every mountainside, let freedom ring.



And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:



Free at last! Free at last!



Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!3

Tied with this kind of politics

On Sunday I received this message which i hope is CCM strategy to make voters lose hope on Dr. Slaa.
Here is the message " Slaa ni mropokaji na mgomvi anatukana vyombo vya ulinzi na usalama. Anataka damu imwagike ili mradi aingie Ikulu. Tumkatalie kuigeuza nchi yetu Somali" sender +3588188226
 To me this is very bad kind of political strategies. Parties should leave people to decide the kind of leader they want and not to spoil the name of others like this.  It is our togetherness we Tanzanian that will determine the direction of Tanzania. Lets make our analysis to determine the good leader that derseve our votes in 31st December. Lets be critical in voting for the forthcoming election.