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Joy, anger over pool game ban
2006-07-24 09:22:49
By Austin Beyadi
The effects of the ban on pool playing at pubs and other entertainment facilities during normal working hours started sinking in on Saturday when the police in Dar es Salaam arrested scores of people.
Callers who preferred anonymity told The Guardian that there had been arbitrary arrests on Saturday while the truth is that many people were caught unaware.
Some residents, especially the youth said the game was a serious sport that needed to be nurtured just like football or athletics.
However, some residents vehemently supported the police directive, the game was a threat to development, as too many able-bodied individuals spent hours and hours playing, instead of doing productive work.
Parents of teenagers strongly supported the ban saying addiction to the game was slowly but surely eating up the capabilities of their teens.
Wives whose husbands are addicted to the game also expressed joy saying the ban was long overdue.
Reacting to the ban, Legal and Human Rights Centre Executive Director Helen Kijo Bisimba said the police should act within the legal ambits of the law, when executing their duties.
’’The police should not bother people playing the game at designated places during normal working hours,’’ she said.
The Liquor Intoxication Act of 1960s, she said, allows for recreation in urban and rural areas.
’’Though ignorance can never be defence, some of these laws are overlooked …like the one enacted in 2002, which prohibits smoking in public,’’ she said adding that it has never been enforced and smokers continue to puff at will in public.
When asked to comment on the arrests of people found playing the game at the weekend, Bisimba said it would be prudent for the police to consider in what context they will be effecting the ban.
She said the law provides that from Monday to Friday people can drink from 6:00pm to midnight and at the weekends from 11:00am to midnight in urban areas.
For rural areas, liquor is allowed from 3:00pm to 8:00pm and at the weekends from 2:00pm and 8:00pm, she said.
Menes Dyamet (22) a resident of Kijitonyama dismissed the perception that pool game was used in the guise of planning criminal activities.
’’How can criminals hold discussions at public places?’’ he queried, saying pubs where most pool tables are located are always in the light of public.
A retired army officer, Shaban Sakalo ( 59) of Buguruni Malapa said the police had made the right decision.
’’My position is clear… I strongly support the authorities on the issue. The school performance of my son who is in Form 111 at Makongo Secondary School is so poor thanks to the many hours he spends playing the pool game,’’ he said.
He said one day, he almost hit him on the head, when he found him playing the pool during class hours.
’’We should not entertain laziness under the pretext of recreational activities,’’ Sakalo said.
Zainabu Mloka (36) a resident of Mwembechai said:
’’I am happy the police have banned the game. My husband was addicted to the game.
He had no time for us as his family, no time even to think on how to earn a livelihood,’’she said.
She said men spend a lot of money on the game as any one who is defeated pays 250/- penalty.
Gao Godfrey( 40) said the ban was in order but the devil lays in its implementation, which definitely will be difficult.
Exaudi Ndewori (28) found playing pool game at Uhuru Park Bar in Buguruni at 1:00pm on Saturday said the ban was necessary.
’’Some individuals gather around pool tables as early as 7.00 am,’’ he said.
Yusuf Sued (69) a resident of Mwenge and retired secondary school teacher said the pool game has taken the city by storm.
’’’Since the game involves money the younger generation can do anything to get money to pay for it, after all the game is highly addictive,’’ he said.
’’Let’s think about strategies to fight poverty ... are we so rich to the extent our most productive people spend more time playing that producing?’’he wondered.
He said Tanzania need to emulate China and North Korea where poverty was fought collectively and the results were the success story of today in the two communist countries.
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