Once upon a time, in the dim and distant 1980s, I was requested to act as a secretary to a workshop on Family Life Education, as it was called then, just as we were beginning to address the HIV epidemic.

Participants came from the government, different non-governmental organisations, and the United Nations (UN). The chair was a former Member of Parliament of the then one and only party – to what extent have things changed now?– an old and very conservative person. 

I found it extremely challenging to work with him as whenever we were in the middle of a good discussion on some issue relating to young people, and participants were contributing freely, if he disagreed, he would stand up, raise himself to his full height and pronounce in a less than friendly tone: “Participants, let’s agree that …”

However much I tried to convince him that participation and diverse opinions were key to the workshop, he would sing this mantra several times a day.

Now, I have always found this phrase fascinating because it is nearly always used when the majority are agreeing on quite the opposite. It is a way for the authority figure to bully us into accepting what he regards as the official position. 

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This could be accepted as a typical one-party system statement. “The Party says … the Party decrees … the Party dictates,” so what else should we do but agree? Amazingly, it continues to be used until today.

Non-participation

And sometimes, in even more extreme forms, when some government or party leader goes to the village and, after using quite bullying language to put his point across before a silent set of listeners, he or she will conclude: “Okay, we have agreed that … (we will build a school, beat our truant kids, contribute to Mwenge or whatever).

Not even ‘let us agree’ as before but ‘we have agreed’ as if they have asked the opinion of the others. I am not saying his or her priority is necessarily a bad one, but they are fooling themselves if they think they have actually been participatory or consultative. 

No wonder, on the side of leaders, they go to semina elekezi but never semina shirikishi. They do not participate but are told what they should do. I fear that the same is true even in parliament many times. No wonder also, on the side of the people, they have perfected the art of kubali yaishe. 

When they are informed that they have ‘agreed’ on something, they shout ndiyooooo and then continue as if nothing has happened. And I still remember when that excellent song by Professor J, Ndiyo Mzee, was removed from the airwaves, never to be heard again. It was too close to the bone, I guess. Whatever the ‘Mzee’ says. Ndiyo. Ndiyo. Ndiyo!

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However, while I thoroughly enjoyed the kubali yaishe and the ndiyo mzee as they are both covert acts of resistance, which I guess my old friend the chair and his co-thinkers actually recognise, what I cannot understand is the current wave of uchawa, or liceism or should it be licery, or even lickery as uchawa requires the licking of boots, high heels, crocs, Nikes and even bare feet when required. 

Why anyone would revel in being called a louse, I cannot understand either. Maybe we should have louse competitions, who can louse or lice or blood suck or bootlick the best.

Whoops, sorry, we have that already, and I must admit my fellow teachers have let us down badly. 

Twice now, a group of educators has assembled to contribute to the campaign of our current president. Now, I have no problem with anyone who thinks our current president should continue to be current until 2030. 

But is it really the time or place for teachers, as a body – and who knows how many kubali yaishes there were among them in the face of the louse chair of those meetings – to indulge in such flagrant campaigning before the campaign? Surely that is lousery at its best. Or should we say lousy lousery?

Undemocratic schooling

However, to finish, I would like to return to an issue that is really bed-bugging me. How can we claim to be developing a democratic society when the schools we all love and want to send our children to are the very opposite of democracy? 

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Silence, obedience, faithful parroting of what the teacher and the exam require and the cane if you dare to go against any of these or even fail to parrot properly. What are we teaching our children? 

Yet these children who go to these ‘best’ schools because they have the ‘best’ exam results as a result of blatant selectionism – thank you, Mheshimiwa Minister, for pointing this out, but I will believe it when I see schools are actually punished for not implementing your directive–, followed up by a school regime of big sister and brother know best and your job as a student to follow. 

As the old poem about the massacre of a foolish British army battalion, or rather a British army battalion that followed unthinkingly the orders of their very foolish commander:

Theirs not to reason why

Theirs but to do or die

Into the valley of death

Rode the 600.

Now, all our pupils whose task is not to reason why, no critical thinking, just to follow and parrot, are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. What leadership role model have they imbued from school? 

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They may have read about ‘democracy’ in some class, but as the old Marshall McLuhan says, “the medium is the message,” and the message they got from the medium is the very opposite of democracy. 

No wonder they will continue the anti-development policies of ‘We have agreed that …” when imposing their views. Not forgetting the need to call out the army to wield the big stick when any section of the populace dares to go beyond ndiyo mzee. 

Theirs not to reason why. I sincerely hope the new syllabus, which places an emphasis on critical thinking, will reverse this trend. I just hope.
Richard Mabala is an educator, poet, and author. He is available at rmabala@yahoo.com or on X (Twitter) as @MabalaMakengeza. These are the writer’s own opinions, and they do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of The Chanzo. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.