The move by the President of the republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli that scrapped the celebration of Independence Day was a bold step that should be hailed by every citizen of that country.
There are some activities which don’t add any value to the common mwananchi and the country at large rather. It is one way of condoning corruption as the organisers of these activities usually inflate prices of various things for their benefit.
In a nutshell, it is an avenue to amass wealth under the pretext of celebrating the heroes and heroines who lost their lives fighting against oppression and independence from their colonial masters.
These funds which are used to commemorate these activities can be used to fight preventable diseases like diarrhea, cholera and also improve the living conditions of our security apparatus who are poorly remunerated. Methinks the president of the Republic of Tanzania was right to abolish these unimportant activities for the benefit of the underprivileged in the society.
The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta should follow suit by emulating his counterpart in Tanzania. This can be done by reconsidering doing away with the celebration of national holidays like Jamhuri day which is marked every year on December 12 since Kenya attained Independence.
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These numerous celebrations are a waste of national resources as a lot of funds are channeled towards marking these activities. These activities do not add any substantial value to the ordinary mwananchi who is struggling to access social basic services like affordable health care, quality education and better housing.
Indeed, these monies can be put into better use like buying adequate drugs in public hospitals to meet the demand of patients who are in dire need of medicine especially antiretroviral drugs in an attempt to control HIV infection.
Furthermore, these funds can be used to improve the state of our deplorable infrastructure which is scaring away potential investors. I believe this is a noble cause the president should reconsider as it will bring significant changes in the lives of many Kenyans.
