Tanzania: Calm returns 2 weeks after killing of Catholic Priest
By Elias Mhegera – The situation is already back to normal in Tanzania two weeks after the killing of a Catholic Priest Fr. Evarist Mushi, and at last the causes of recent religious commotions have been defined.
The late Fr Evarist Mushi
Good news is, this has been done by religious leaders themselves, which indicates that the permanent remedy is underway.
The two days workshop for religious leaders in Dar es Salaam was one of the important gestures ever made in order to resolve the ongoing tensions which obviously do not serve any positive purpose except for calculated divisive sentiments meant to further other ends.
The event at the New Africa Hotel on 20 and 21 February was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) in collaboration with the Inter-Religious Council for Peace Tanzania (IRCPT).
Apart from launching a book titled “Dini ni Chemu Chemu ya Amani na Maelewano” the Interfaith Dialogue proved to be one of the milestone attempts in bridging gaps between people for different faiths.
Speaking during the opening remarks the Resident Director of KAS Stefan Reith counseled that peace keeping is a prerogative of all Tanzanians regardless of their differences. “This is your country everyone is duty bound to ensure there is peace in Tanzania” he commented.
However it was the main discussion on the causes of religious commotions which drew more attention of keen participants who wanted to know exactly there is this wave of religious fundamentalism, the motives, and who is behind these barbaric acts.
Fr Mushi’s casket in his last journey to the grave
Looking at the debate collectively one can draw a conclusion that there are three reasons that were highlighted by the clerics as being the main causatives of religious bigotry and upheavals.
Firstly it is economic hardships which have hit hard a big number of Tanzanians, while some people feel as if a segment of the citizenry enjoys the ‘national cake’ than others. Secondly it is lack of control in the part of the Government to the religious overzealous who propagate their cause through rallies and unethical media outlets.
Moreover it was started that unemployment has created a readymade pool of irate youths who lack vision of where to direct their grievances, some direct to the confrontation with the Police Force and the city militia in the form of street hawkers while others directs this anger to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi in the form of militant political youths.
And the last group is largely constituted of uneducated youths who can be easily converted into a religious cause without giving due consideration unto the motives of those who recruit them in these tasks.
As such the disgruntled youths in general provide an opportunity to politicians and religious leaders with a hidden agenda even if it is detrimental to this nation as long as it suffices their short term demands.
These observations are pinpointed to be the main reasons but without leaving outside other possibilities. A political analyst and lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Benson Bana almost argues along the same line.
He mentions the main causatives of religious tensions to be as follows; he says this is not a Tanzanian phenomenon as such, but it is an international one. For instance he concurs with religious leaders that unemployment, poverty; these always provide fertile grounds for social unrest.
He extends this to the mechanisms that are used by terrorist movements like Al-shabaab, Al-quida, Boko -haram, to recruit the disgruntled youths who purports to champion a religious cause but in essence they work for a cause which is unknown to them.
Participants during the inter-religious meeting last year
Dr Bana said these accomplices of international terrorism are within ourselves, born within our own families and societies but find new ways of survival through crimes affiliated to a noble cause of championing for a certain ‘holy calling’.
He reminds that in Tanzania it was traditionally known that religious leaders whenever they speak they were representative of three main groups; Catholics through the Tanzania Episcopal Council (TEC), Muslims through BAKWATA and Protestants through the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT), but today this is no longer the case.
The don says that today in Mbeya alone there are more than 200 religious leaders representing Christian denominations, they are uncoordinated and uncontrolled and therefore this alone could facilitate for penetration by bad elements.
On the question of how the two Governments that of the Union and of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar he criticizes these two Governments of having been ‘too soft’ to stop the dangers of religious fundamentalism which are destructive in so many ways for the peace and tranquility that were constructed by utilizing so many resources.
His theories are greatly supported by discussants that represented their congregation at the workshop. For instance one servant of God from the Christian denominations said that some religious leaders including those who claim to have special healing powers are not necessarily true representative of God, but they have a commercial agenda.
This sounded well with Muslim representatives who wanted to hear self criticism coming from the opposite end. But this did not stand for long when one Islamist leader, Khamis Ali Mohamed claimed that some houses of worship have been turned into political halls.
Without mentioning who is doing what he narrated the different scenarios but later mentioned that Uamsho, the notorious group for causing chaos in Zanzibar was registered as a religious NGO but now they are the main propagators of the independence of the Zanzibar from the Union.
Some followers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) weeping after their church was torched last year by irate Muslims
Furthermore he mentioned that for quite some time certain religious leaders have been quoting the book by Aboud Jumbe the former Union Vice President who published book titled the “The Partnership” but dwelt a lot in the grievances of Muslims. He criticized that this was not proper because it was mixing religion with politics.
But this did not mean he went without criticism as well, one sheik from Zanzibar said that the main issue is not to discuss who has done what but rather find ways of stopping the instigations.
As if to console those who say the control mechanism should start within, the Ahmadiya representative Abdulrahman Ame said that Muslims who used to support public rallies which offend other religions should stop now.
“Today we are doing a lot of effort to defend our faith simply because those who are propagating for violence are our fellow Muslims, Umasho are Muslims, those who killed the priest (Evarist Mushi) are Muslims… our faith is being tarnished,” said Ame.
This stance was constructive because it paved for more discussions from Muslim representatives who appeared to be more apologetic. A good number of contributors called for an indefinite ban of religious rallies.
Frank Chuwa, TEC youth wing representative said that he has been witnessing verbal attacks for quite some time but he never thought killings will ever surface in Tanzania. “I have been hearing people attacking certain churches of land grabbing, this can fuel hatred against follows of this faith,” he commented.
On the possible solution it was decided that political and religious leaders must sit together and discuss issues that have catalyzed for tensions in Zanzibar. The point is, although Union is a political matter but it had turned religious because of the nature of religion composition in the isles where Muslims form the majority.
Other solutions were; to maintain customs that have stood for long of respecting each other’s faith. Resolving amicably the beheading debate which led to the death of a cleric in Geita recently, and formulating sports activities which will bring together people of different faiths.
It was advised that people of different faiths read and adhere to the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania which clearly stipulates that Tanzania is a secular state and that no one religion should claim superiority over other faiths.
It was decided that there must be a unity of worshipers in matters of mutual concern like climate change, education, poverty reduction etc. with the aim of increasing inter-religious cooperation.
Moreover there was a warning that from now on wards people should be aware of the cyber war which has catalyzed animosity through insults and abusive language against each other in social media particularly face-book and online forum.
