PROCESSED MEAT, TANZANIAN ELECTIONS AND OTHER NEWS

Living overseas and switching on mainstream TVs –early this week- the headlines were not Tanzania’s elections but the meat issue. As for international politics of governance, – Sunday October 25^th appeared to incorporate  elections in over five nations, Ivory Coast, Poland, Argentina, Congo Brazzaville and Tanzania...  Speaking of Tanzania, London’s BBC and other major channels hardly mentioned her on Sunday.

It was Al Jazeera.

ALLEGED MAASAI EVICTION AFFECTING TANZANIAN INTERNATIONAL IMAGE

I recall while in secondary at Ilboru, Arusha where numbers of Maasai children was high, fights among us boys due to teasing were frequent. Mostly they were resolved verbally, but at times ended in dramatic formal duels. When one of these clashes occurred we would cluster around a circle to watch. One of the memorable ones was between a Hehe teenager and a Maasai. Hehe boys were few at Ilboru as they were from a far away Iringa region while Maasai being the majority tended to be cocky and proud. You did not mess with Maasai (or Waarusha), this was their homeland. The word for non- Maasai person “Ol Meeki” was freely used (just like we Chaggas had “Kyasaka” for a similar description).

On this late afternoon the Hehe warrior, unsmiling and valiant faced his adversary supported by a frenzied and partisan crowd.