Move best for all Zanzibaris

Move best for all Zanzibaris.

A typical dictionary defines leadership as; 'the process of ruling, guiding or inspiring others'. But it was Marian Anderson (1897-1993) who opined that 'Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.'

Marian spent most of her life fighting against racial prejudice whilst gaining recognition as a contralto singer. She was awarded the UN Peace Prize in 1972 in recognition of her leadership and statesmanship.

We are offering this definition to bring into proper context the prevailing situation in Zanzibar following last week’s talks between Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume and his arch-rival opposition Civic United Front (CUF) Secretary General Seif Sharif Hamad.

We join the chorus of many local and international personalities who have applauded what was rightly termed as ground-breaking meeting between the two leaders, because we believe Karume and Seif were motivated to hold the talks by the interests of the people of Zanzibar and not private interests as some people would want us believe.

Zanzibar has never been at peace since the ushering in of the multi-party political dispensation. Many a people have been maimed and killed. Tanzania, renowned as a sanctuary for people running away from tyranny in their own countries, produced its first refugees after the 2000 general elections. All dialogues initiated to resolve the political stand-off have stalled. For how long should this explosive situation be allowed to continue?

We think it was in answering this question that Karume and Seif saw it fit to break the ice and set the pace for continued dialogue to reach an amicable solution to the Isles crisis.

One of the personalities who commended Karume and Seif’s visionary step was the Norwegian Minister for Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim, who described the meeting of the two political leaders as a bold step towards a lasting solution to the long standing political difficulties in Zanzibar.

We are, however, disturbed by the negative reaction of some CUF members and supporters who this weekend attempted to rough up Seif and party national chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba.

The unrelenting CUF supporters accuse Seif and Lipumba of committing an unforgivable sin of recognising Karume as the legitimate President of Zanzibar for what they perceive to be fraudulent 2000 and 2005 elections that put him in the saddle.

While we wish to call on CUF members and supporters to let bygones be bygones and fully rally behind their leaders in their efforts to bring normalcy to the Isles, we commend the move by the CUF top leadership who met at the weekend and announced their unanimous endorsement of the party’s recognition of President Karume’s legitimacy.

For let’s face it. You cannot negotiate with someone you don’t recognise. You cannot dream of a government of national unity if you undermine the authority in power. Intransigent CUF members and supporters should understand that if they do not read well the signs of the time, they will be dealing a terrible blow to efforts to resolve the political turbulence in the Isles at probably more unnecessary cost to life and property and rollback of their own development.