When Institutions Wait for One Man: Governance, Accountability, and the Crisis of Public Responsibility!
- Adveline Minja
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
By Mussa Shehe & Nia N. Kileo —WTM | Independent Media. Civic Education. Strategic Commentary. Principled Analysis.
There is something deeply troubling when a president publicly laments that he has been left alone to govern.
Not because leadership is easy. Not because presidents are not expected to carry immense responsibility. But because such words often expose something larger beneath the surface: institutions that are no longer functioning as institutions.
The recent public frustration expressed by the President of Zanzibar over officials failing to execute their responsibilities touches a nerve that extends far beyond one blocked walkway or one administrative complaint. It opens a wider civic question about governance itself: What happens when public institutions stop functioning proactively and begin waiting for presidential intervention before solving ordinary problems?
And perhaps even more importantly: What happens when citizens themselves begin disconnecting from governance, believing politics and government are “not their business,” even while their daily lives are shaped entirely by public systems?
This is where the discussion moves beyond politics and enters the deeper territory of civic responsibility, institutional accountability, and democratic culture.
A government is not merely the president. A ministry is not merely the minister. An authority is not merely its director. Governance is a chain of responsibilities stretching from leadership to institutions to citizens themselves.
When that chain weakens, societies begin experiencing dysfunction not as isolated incidents, but as everyday life.
Water shortages become normal. Flooding becomes seasonal routine. Garbage accumulation becomes background scenery. Broken drainage systems become accepted reality. Sewage failures become invisible until disease outbreaks emerge. Public frustration rises, but responsibility becomes difficult to locate because everyone assumes someone else should act first.
This broader crisis becomes particularly visible when examining the recurring water challenges affecting areas of Dar es Salaam, especially localities within Ilala Municipality.
For weeks — and in some cases longer — residents dependent on the services of Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA) have experienced severe water shortages. Yet within the same localities where public water scarcity is declared, private individuals continue extracting and selling water daily.
That contradiction naturally raises public concern.
If water is genuinely unavailable, how is it consistently accessible through informal private supply networks in the very same neighborhoods? If private actors can distribute water continuously from nearby sources, why does the public authority responsible for water provision struggle to ensure reliable access?
Such questions are not merely emotional reactions from frustrated citizens. They are legitimate governance questions tied directly to accountability, public trust, and institutional performance.
This is especially serious because water is not a luxury commodity. Water is life infrastructure.
And when water systems fail in a crowded commercial city of over six million people like Dar es Salaam, the consequences extend far beyond inconvenience. They touch public health, sanitation, education, productivity, urban safety, and economic stability.
The African Union’s recent commemoration of 63 years of continental existence under the theme of Water and Sanitation was therefore not simply about environmental sustainability or conservation. At its core, the theme concerns human safety, dignity, and survival.
Unsafe water, poor drainage systems, sewage failures, unmanaged waste, and weak sanitation infrastructure are directly linked to preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, dysentery, and other waterborne illnesses that continue affecting African communities.
In this sense, the discussion about DAWASA cannot be reduced merely to “water rationing” or “technical shortages.” It becomes part of a larger civic and governance issue involving implementation, accountability, urban planning, and institutional responsiveness.
The concern is not that challenges exist. Every growing city faces infrastructure pressure.
The real concern emerges when institutions appear reactive instead of preventive; when authorities communicate scarcity while citizens observe contradictory realities on the ground; when problems persist so routinely that people begin normalizing dysfunction itself.
This is where civic education becomes essential.
Many citizens often distance themselves from government matters by saying: “I do not want politics.” Yet governance affects nearly every aspect of ordinary life — transportation, healthcare, education, taxation, roads, water access, electricity, sanitation, business licensing, security, and environmental management.
To detach completely from governance is, in many ways, to detach from the systems shaping everyday survival.
At the same time, citizens must also recognize that governments cannot function through presidential intervention alone. Public institutions are sustained not only by laws and budgets, but by professional responsibility, civic participation, ethical public service, and societal accountability.
There is also a dangerous public perception gradually taking root across many societies: the belief that government must do absolutely everything while citizens themselves bear little collective responsibility.
This mindset weakens public ownership.
People stop protecting public infrastructure. Waste disposal becomes careless. Drainage channels are blocked through neglect. Community oversight disappears. Public participation declines. Institutions become blamed for everything while society slowly disconnects from its own role in sustaining functional systems.
The result is a cycle of mutual failure.
Officials wait for directives from above. Citizens wait for government to solve every problem. Institutions lose initiative. Leadership becomes over-centralized. Accountability weakens. Public frustration intensifies.
Political theorists and administrative scholars warned about such conditions long ago.
Max Weber argued that modern bureaucracy depends on specialization, division of labor, professionalism, and institutional accountability — not on one powerful individual managing everything personally. A functioning state requires systems capable of operating consistently without constant intervention from the top.
Henri Fayol emphasized delegation of authority. If every issue must wait for senior intervention, then either authority has not been effectively distributed or officials fear exercising it.
Michel Foucault warned that excessive concentration of power gradually weakens institutional independence. Officials begin waiting for signals from above instead of acting through their own responsibilities.
Even Antonio Gramsci observed how systems can cultivate cultures of passivity, where institutions and individuals internalize dependency rather than initiative.
But beyond theory lies ordinary reality.
When sewage systems fail in densely populated urban settlements, disease spreads among ordinary citizens — not among institutions themselves.
When drainage collapses during rainy seasons, flooding affects neighborhoods and businesses.
When water shortages persist, wananchi carry the burden physically, financially, and psychologically.
Children miss school. Families buy expensive private water. Hygiene declines. Public health risks increase.
And when institutions repeatedly fail to address these problems consistently, public trust itself begins eroding.
That erosion is dangerous for any society.
Because governance ultimately depends not only on laws and authority, but on legitimacy and public confidence that institutions are functioning fairly, competently, and responsibly.
This is why the President of Zanzibar’s frustration should not merely be interpreted as a personal complaint. It should be understood as a warning sign about institutional culture itself.
A nation cannot be sustainably governed through presidential supervision of every leaking pipe, blocked drainage system, traffic violation, sanitation failure, or administrative delay.
Nor can societies survive by reducing citizenship to complaint alone while abandoning civic responsibility.
Strong governance requires both capable institutions and active citizens.
Public officials must perform their duties professionally and transparently. Authorities entrusted with public health infrastructure — including water, sanitation, waste management, sewage, and drainage systems — must recognize that their responsibilities directly affect human life and national productivity.
At the same time, citizens must move beyond superficial disengagement from governance. Democracy is not a spectator activity. Governance is not something existing “out there” separate from ordinary people. Citizens fund public systems through taxes, authorize leadership through elections, and sustain institutions through participation and accountability.
Ultimately, the crisis being exposed is not merely about one president feeling abandoned, one blocked walkway, or one locality facing water shortages.
It is about whether institutions still understand their public purpose.
It is about whether accountability still exists beyond speeches.
And it is about whether societies are prepared to rebuild a culture where responsibility is shared — by leaders, officials, institutions, and citizens alike.
Because when institutions stop functioning independently and citizens stop believing governance belongs to them, the burden eventually falls upon everyone.
And by then, the damage is no longer administrative. It becomes national
VIDEO-2026-05-17-16-54-28.mp4
"Development is not measured only by new buildings and growing markets, but by whether the people can live, work, and walk in safe and healthy environments. Water and sanitation are not side issues—they are public dignity, public health, and public responsibility.”
— WTM | Water, Sanitation & Everyday Realities in Urban Communities
Very good critique !