A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a violent group of young men that sprout out of "nowhere" in Dar es salaam. The men in this group are between age 17 and 25, give or take. Their main objective is to shut down streets and rob all those in site of their valuable possessions; their weapons being clubs, knives and their fists.
I was alarmed! Here? In Dar es salaam, in Tanzania? The African hub of eternal peace! How could this be? Before jumping into conclusions as I was tempted to (I could have concluded that they were high on drugs), I went on to try and find out the origins of this group. What I found devastated the very depth of my soul.
The panya group is made of young men who used to be self-employed in the streets of Dar es salaam. Young men who took loans from different places and set up merger businesses in any corner they could find to try to make a living for themselves and their families; young men who worked the streets to try to provide for their families or some take themselves to school.
Then the "bomoa bomoa" (demolish demolish) teams came along and their sources of the little income they had were snatched away from them. With their goods stolen, their lives shattered and with no sense of direction for what to do next, these young men took to the streets. Those who tried to get back into the hustle (business) they were involved in where continuously banned from doing business. Options; they were given none.
So doomed to the streets, they got together and formed the Panya group. I do not want to get into details of where they live, how organized they are or what is being done about them.
I wonder however: When the bomoa bomoa campaign was planned, where these young men put into consideration? Were the sacrifices they had made to start the little and seemingly obsolete businesses they had considered? Where options of what they could do next laid out for them? Who then can blame the Panya group for doing what they do/did? Is the small guy EVER considered? Therefore, who takes responsibility for the destruction that happened at the hands of these young men?
Rightly so, violence is never the way. However, what else are young men with little to no education and exposure to do in the light of such harsh and brutal circumstances expected to do in the streets? Are we as a country forming our own group of rebels? Sure, the Panya group is not religiously based violent group but when the young men of a country, any country believe that their no hope but in violence then what is the next generation to look up to?
What do your thoughts on the Panya group? How can this situation be monitored to ensure that these young men receive some kind of light in their darkness; any light? Are we slowly but surely forming our own custom Al Shabab or Boko Haram? #vijanatuungane #vijanatusaidiane (Translated: The younth; we need to come together; We need to help one another)
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