Tido Mhando, Tanzanian veteran broadcaster. PHOTO | FILE
In 2010, Tanzania held a general election. At the time, the
media was exploring its freedoms and BBC Idhaa ya Kiswahili retiree Tido
Mhando had been recruited by the state broadcaster to revamp it and
drag it into the present.
Little did we know he had intentions for the coming election…
During
the revamp, Mhando gathered a team of young people and veterans of the
trade and he made full use of his advantage as head of the government
outlet.
Whereas the private broadcasters were hobbled
by the costs of covering such a vast country, TBC under Mhando was able
to embed an admirable number of journalists with politicians of all
parties who were campaigning.
Everybody got screen time, from the charming unknowns to the big guns.
By
the time voting day came around and we were all glued to our screens
for results, TBC had proved itself. The state broadcaster was trusted to
give us local government and presidential voting numbers as close to
real time as possible.
The National Electoral Council had been thoroughly outgunned and overshadowed in terms of speed and credibility.
The Fourth Estate is a formidable and fundamental pillar of the democratic ideal.
I
remember seeing the team of broadcasters and the crew and support staff
all posing at the end of a gruelling 48 (or more) hours of coverage to
sign off and thank us for watching. No, thank you.
In 2010, Tanzania had, for the first time ever, a public broadcaster of the people, by the people, for the people.
Spoiler
alert: CCM won. A few months later, Mr Mhando was “offered” an “early
retirement” by the government. Upsetting, but expected.
With
the exit of Mhando, TBC predictably degenerated to its former level of
comfortable mediocrity. It got rid of its young talent, including the
groundbreaking Ze Komedy show.
Now it takes a patient
viewer to figure out which shows are worth the bother. At least we still
had the private stations to give us a healthy variety of coverage that
allowed us to make up our own minds as consumers.
In
roughly 2014/2015, Azam – yes, that Azam that makes your ice-cream,
wheat flour and speed ferry rides to Zanzibar – decided to open a TV
station.
Other wealthy private citizens and
industrialists may run broadcast operations, but if we are talking size…
well. Azam is Azam, full stop. They built a state-of-the-art studio in
Dar es Salaam that is rumoured to be one of the best in the region. And
then they hired none other than Tido Mhando to set up their newsroom as
the 2015 election approached. Oh happy day.
The
government may have deep pockets but there are also fussy rules and
regulations and bureaucratic spiders occupying every dusty depressing
corner of the sullen civil service.
Azam has both deep
pockets and that unique private-sector thirst for success. Every other
TV station had to do a makeover after Azam launched just to look like
they were not stuck broadcasting from 1985.
As for why
Azam chose to hire Tido Mhando after the government spat him out? Who
knows, considering their carefully curated apolitical stance.
But I will leave you with this saying: “Chema chajiuza kibaya chajitembeza.”
Elsie Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report. E-mail: elsieeyakuze@gmail.com
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