Burundi makes football history as Tanzania looks to Jamaica

Around this time last year – May 27 to be precise – I wrote in my column about some good news from Burundi in a story titled, “FIFA proves that Burundi is not anonymous.” The story hinted on the rise of Lydia Nsekera, the president of Burundi’s Football Association when she was the first woman to be co-opted in the FIFA Executive Committee. Lydia Nsekera was in the news again making history as the first woman to be elected to FIFA’s powerful executive committee in the football governing body’s 109-year history. The 46-year-old will serve a four-year term. She won the seat after collecting 95 of the 203 votes defeating Australian Moya Dodd. Nsekera was a member of FIFA’s organising committee for the 2008 and 2012 Olympic football tournaments. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee. As if that is not enough, she also happens to be on the independent governance committee set up two years ago to deal with the issue of corruption within FIFA. In my story last year I tried to make the point for local media houses covering more regional stories as a way to boost regional integration. When many hear about Nsekera, they are quick to add, “And finally a good story from Burundi.” What such people do not notice is that they have been missing out on the good stories because they are not being covered by the media. Unless one is living in Burundi or keeping a keen eye on Burundi, a lot of the good news will pass you by. I have a Google news alert for Burundi and I see lots of good stories covered by other media houses like China’s Xinhua news agency but never by other media houses in the East African region. No need to hide behind the excuse that the country is Francophone so there is no news. Why, for example, should we give more space to the story of Radamel Falcao’s move from Atlentico Madrid to AS Monaco than Lydia’s Nsekera’s historic appointment? Should we really be paying more attention to a Colombian striker moving from a Spanish club to a French club than our own sister climbing to the top of the FIFA structure? How can we expect integration when we live in a sea of ignorance about those we want to integrate with? Why should we wait for a story to appear on BBC for us to pay attention to it? I am glad that some media houses such as Nation Media Group, Royal Media Services and IPP Media have taken on a more East African look. Away from Burundi, I came across an interesting story about Tanzania. While going through one of the news sites that I have regularly read since 2009, I found a story about the Jamaican prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, promising to ‘help’ Tanzania with Maths and Science teachers. The story appeared in the Jamaica-Gleaner, a newspaper that was established in 1834. It is interesting to note that the paper referred to Tanzania as a southern African nation. Jamaica’s PM met President Jakaya Kikwete in Ethiopia during the African Union celebrations where she is was reported to have said, “I will look for those teachers once I return home. We will support you as much as possible because I know you are in great need of teachers in your country.” Interestingly, I had seen another story before about how Tanzania was to get athletics coaches from Jamaica. That is something to take note of since the small Island nation has a reputation of producing the fastest men as exemplified by Usain Bolt. Tanzania has long had a shortage of teachers not just for Maths and Science. In 2007, a Tanzanian friend called Evode Kabwogi told me one of the easiest ways to make money in Tanzania would be for me to stay and teach English and computer skills. Of course that was before he explained how difficult it would be for me to get a work permit. I would like to believe that President Kikwete was not serious with this request but only making small talk with the Jamaican leader. Otherwise it is obviously easier to source teachers from Uganda or Kenya than Jamaica. Rwanda has done it before so why not Tanzania? Unless, of course, the whole EAC talk is just another bluff. Personally I think Tanzania can even exchange Swahili teachers for Maths and Science teachers as well as English language ones with her neighbours. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81