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Much attention continues to be focused on the new Election Expenses Act. Personally, I am applauding the government and all other stakeholders who have made this new bill possible. I hope this bill will achieve its goal to transform our country's electoral process at a critical time when we are crying for good governance.Moreover; without being biased, since there has been much promise of promoting young people and women in politics, this new law certainly brings some reason for optimism. Myself being a young person, I believe most of the young people and women who aspire to hold public offices breathed a big sigh of relief, when the new law was passed through. As we all know pretty well; under the previous political conditions it was very hard for women and young people to participate in politics and be able to compete for political positions. I believe this new law will create a good environment for young people and women to compete and participate in politics, and hence it will widen democracy by allowing those two groups of less represented people into politics. The two groups will present their views on the issues that touch the society through their participation in making effective decisions which will transform our society.
The main reason I am emphasising on the benefits which young people and women will get from this bill is simply because, I truly believe women and young people are the main catalyst for change in any country. Therefore for the first time I see a law which will provide an enormous chance for women and the young people to participate in politics by making their prospects in politics reachable. In addition the existence of this law is also a good time to remind President Jakaya Kikwete if he wins a second term in the next October General Election; to remember to fulfil his pledge as he had earlier promised; to appoint more young people to his government.
Looking at governance issues in general, I am sure we will never be able to afford the costs of corruption. We know that because of corruption Tanzania has failed many times to deliver the desired changes we have wanted for our country; which has resulted in lost opportunity for us to improve our economy. Therefore to create a prosperous Tanzania, Tanzania requires an immense effort by the whole community, an effort which can only be possible by electing good leaders, and electing good leaders is not possible without having a good electoral system which will promote a greater disclosure requirement for people who are seeking for public office. That is the only way which we can make the government work more efficiently.
For my friend in the media I believe they can help this new law to become a reality by not merely looking for profit but rather having a honest zeal for improving the transparency in election process; which will demand for more change for the better. We know that news papers have a great influence on the formation of the public opinion. This will not be easy for the media companies, as I am predicting; this new law will pause great danger for media houses, because corrupt politicians will use money to buy objectivity of our media. Thus the objectivity of the media will be the only window left for the politicians deceiving the public. This can give window for media corruption which we have never seen before in our country. Thus a close eye should be kept on such matters, to avoid such effects the new law might have on our media.
Lastly, it is hard to say at this stage whether the new law will completely bring about the change we want to see in our election system; because as we know in Tanzania it is very easy for any good cause to be cancelled out by other factors. In saying that, I still hope that this law will not just end up in (law) books only but will effectively help the country to drift from one corruption scandal to another by providing high quality and non corrupt leaders, and in turn boost the democracy system and participation level for women and young people in our country.
