It’s election season, vote on 29th October

TANZANIA: FELLOW Tanzanians, it is time to start preparing physiologically that the General Elections will be on 29th October! Yes, the date is set, the stage is almost ready and this is your time. No campaign promise is bigger than your vote. So, let us turn out en masse, not just to take selfies at the polling station, but to shape the future of this nation.

Now, before you bring your entire family tree to the campaign grounds, let us talk logistics and leave the kids at home. We get it. Political rallies can feel like mini-festivals, there will be music, speeches dancing and whistles blowing, but let us not mistake campaign season for a funfair. Children should be home eating, doing homework or at the very least, watching cartoons, not being jostled in campaign crowds with grownups shouting slogans in their ears.

This is because for health and safety, campaigns are crowded, noisy, hot and not designed for small bodies clad on their mothers’ backs. Kids can’t vote, so why are we dragging them to campaign rallies like they are voting consultants?

In campaign rallies, there are risks of violence: Even in peaceful campaigns, the risk of stampedes, confusion or clashes are real. Children have no place in such environments. Let us protect them, not parade them.

So dear parents, guardians and political enthusiasts, if you must go, go solo. Leave little Amina and junior Daudi at home with grandparents or your trusted neighbour. That is patriotism too.

Again, in every election season, some political hopefuls suddenly discover that their muscles are more useful than their minds. One moment you are a university student, the next you are a ‘security volunteer’ standing next to a politician’s SUV in sunglasses and a borrowed reflector vest.

Let us be clear: You are not a bouncer. You are not a militia. And this is not Mortal Kombat. Tanzania has a longstanding tradition of peaceful elections, we are not about to throw that out the window because someone promised you 100,000/- and a T-Shirt. Any group of youth thinking of turning rallies into street fights, flexing muscles for the wrong cause or intimidating fellow citizens should know: This is not our way.

The Police will be out in full force not to join the party, but to protect property, maintain peace and ensure that campaigns don’t turn into chaos. We expect order. We expect dignity. And we expect every candidate, supporter and citizen to act like this is a democratic republic, not a poorly written action movie.