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May Day heading for "Namba Nane" grave!By Valentine Marc Nkwame May Day is here again! May Day is always here, come May, the first of May to be precise. In fact, as far as Arusha is concerned, May Day is essentially the fifth month version of the April Fools Day. Except that, it is usually celebrated in Fanfares, Pantomimes, Fetes .... Call them what you want but they always take place at the local stadium. In fact, around ten years ago, these fanfares used to fill the stadium to its capacity, but then, ten years ago, young ladies used to wear canvas shoes known as, Losos. Nobody wears Losos nowadays and quite a few still attend the May Day fetes mainly because people have since discovered that the fanfares are usually huge con-games held at absurd proportions. Those who still attend the shows however, count on the fetes to tickle their ribs, since the fetes usually end up in some rather hilarious happenings. Not to mention some bizarre occurrences as well. For instance, if you have never seen a local fire brigade truck, just make a point of attending these fares and chances are, a fire brigade truck (or two, depending on the current state of their gear boxes), may turn up at the stadium. Sometimes water would even come out of their hoses during a demonstration ... Now, this is bizarre, imagine water coming out of a local fire brigade truck. Speaking of water, the Arusha Urban Water Supply (!) Authority (AUWSA), usually also come with their own truck staged demonstration. Believe it or not, on May Day, water seems to come out on AUWSA taps as well .... But only for demonstrations. Last year, the AUWSA truck was also equipped with some rather large, loud speakers that pumped out some kind of music which sounded like this: "Kila mtu na demu wake ...!" "Kila Mtu na demu wake...!" The direct translation of the above stanzas may ... Eh ... go like this: "Every guy with his Girlfriend ...!" "Every guy with his Girlfriend ...!" It may take the combined effort of both Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, to figure out what those lines have to do with our dry taps at home. As you know, at any such functions, Guests of honour are inevitable apparitions, who usually turn up with around 100 pages of speeches which are normally as interesting as the Thomson’s Dictionary of Banking. The guests of honour are also expected to issue certificates and prizes to some "Outstanding" employees and employers .... Or something!. The winners would always turn out to be those who remembered to take something up to the high table in form of "Present" to the honourable guest. During the year 2002 Labour Day event held in Arusha at National level, the A to Z textile mill employees became winners of the year’s May-Day fete. Apparently, the over 100 employees had marched in the stadium dressed in yellow T-shirts with the picture of the Guest of honour .... The guest of honour of course, was President Benjamin William Mkapa. But there was also the group that didn’t win.. It was dressed in black attires, an internationally acknowledged mourning costume. These were the retrenched former employees of the Seventy Seven Hotel demanding their terminal benefits ... They neither got the benefits nor the May Day prizes. Mind you, if the Police had seen them, the mourners would have been thrown out of the stadium rather unceremoniously. Here the Biblical prophecy took on a frightening reality: "... Even the little that you have shall be taken away ...!" And that’s why most wise people keep away from May Day fetes nowadays and if the trend continues, these fanfares may soon have to shift from the stadium and be held at the "Namba Nane" ward, grounds in Unga Limited. Namba Nane, located behind the Shoprite supermarket, is where even the Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye, wisely conducts his rallies when he is visiting Arusha .... As you know, it is never difficult to fill a ten-feet square ground with people.
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