This time around a member of parliament for Tarime Constituency kept the ball rolling when he demanded to know the steps being taken by the government to avert religious conflicts haunting our society and is a threat to national peace.
The controversial minister in the President’s Office in-charge of the social relations docket, Hon. Stephen Wassira, responded with contradictory remarks by saying the problem of religious conflicts in our society is rather “trivial” and is being “exaggerated”, but the government is taking it seriously and has some measures in place aimed at nipping it in the bud. Expressions like “it is trivial” and is being “exaggerated” are, of course debatable, taking into account the fact that most governments, the world over, rarely admit there is social instability even where there is one, unless the situation has reached a critical stage where playing ostrich is no longer an option.
Of interest here is what the Minister revealed in regard to addressing the increasing religious tension which involve two major denominations, that is Christians and Moslems, who for a long time have been accommodating each other in a way which has always been exemplary to other countries in the continent - characterized by religious and ethnics strife.
According to Minister Wassira the government has a two-pronged approach, which involves holding separate meetings with Muslim leaders as well as those of Christian denominations and then bring the two parties on the table, with a hope that they will iron out their religious based differences. The second initiative is for the government to team up with religious clerics from different institutions and conduct peace promotion campaigns, with a focus on creating public awareness about the importance of religion in creating a harmonious society.
When the Minister was in Dodoma briefing our legislators on the government thinking about the religious problems haunting the nation, media stakeholders were also attending a special meeting in Dar es Salaam to brainstorm on the role of the media in promoting peace in society. President Jakaya Kikwete had earlier challenged media owners and practitioners to re-examine their role creating a peaceful atmosphere in the country when he was delivering his monthly address to the nation at the end of last month.
Discussion on ongoing signs of religious disharmony was indeed inevitable, as this is a major cloud on the horizon. A keen listener at this meeting must have noted that some of the media stakeholders have a deeper insight about the man-created problem, and even think the powers of the day are approaching the issue superficially.
Key questions raised by participants at the media stakeholders meeting include: why are religious differences actively raring their ugly heads today? Why should people bother about who has a right to slaughter animals for food when the activity did not begin yesterday? Aren’t there people who, for one reason or another, are stoking religious fire in our society? Can they be identified? Are measures being taken to cope with the problem adequate? The list of questions was long.
As the discussion proceeded, the view that there is a political dimension to the religious problems being witnessed came out prominently. The thinking here is that what we see is partly a manifestation of a nation devoid of a clear-cut ideology to give it a sense of direction. You have those who contend that it is against this background that some of today’s politicians are using money as well as exploiting all sorts of human differences to create small power bases.
For example, it is not accidental that ambitious politicians have now turned into big fundraisers for religious institutions, and are making extra effort to be close to religious clerics of different religious denominations.
While it is true that the new phenomenon of religious fundamentalism is also partly to blame for religious tension in many parts of the world, yet the role of politicians should also be a source of concern as we deal with this problem, which can’t be resolved through mere sweet-talking.
By Henry Muhanika is Media Consultant(hmuhanika@yahoo.com)
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