<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Mama's Musings]]></title><description><![CDATA[NITE TANZARN]]></description><link>https://www.nitetanzarn.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:25:12 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Navigating Parenthood: A Journey Without a Playbook]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Shift to Parenthood and its Challenges Parenthood is perhaps one of the most significant roles an individual undertakes. It marks an irreversible identity shift. Suddenly, you become a caregiver, an educator, a protector, with society expecting you to excel at this complex and multifaceted role. However, is it fair to anticipate perfection when the path to parenthood is rarely accompanied by a comprehensive guide or playbook? The Journey Begins: Infancy and Learning on the Job The journey...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/navigating-parenthood-a-journey-without-a-playbook</link><guid isPermaLink="false">64ba5c9cc4bb2cf5176369ff</guid><category><![CDATA[Parenting Wisdom: Tips & Stra]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:23:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_dc16e492ed694399baab1165e5d34a7d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why sameness is not fairness]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why treating everyone equally can produce unequal outcomes Few ideas sound more fair than the promise to treat everyone the same.   Governments promise equal access to public services. Institutions commit themselves to equal opportunity. Organisations proudly declare that everyone will be treated without discrimination. Development programmes frequently emphasise that their benefits are available to all.   Equality has become one of the most widely accepted principles of modern public policy....]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/why-sameness-is-not-fairness</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a70510916cff318c18781e4</guid><pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:53:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_74811821964c4414b083be916c41db6e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[One road does not fit all]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why interventions must be fit for purpose Development is built on solutions.   Roads improve access. Schools improve education. Health centres improve health. Credit improves livelihoods. Training improves productivity. Social protection reduces poverty.   Every sector possesses interventions that have transformed lives. Every profession develops approaches that have proven their value. Governments learn from success. Development agencies document good practice. Successful projects become...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/one-road-does-not-fit-all</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a6d79f53e0c16484ff4c09e</guid><pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 05:12:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_043a11224909410e896cfda0ba3f239c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[How problems become problems]]></title><description><![CDATA[Recognition, diagnosis and the roots we refuse to uproot.   Every development intervention begins long before the first dollar is spent.   It begins long before the baseline survey, the feasibility study, the logical framework, the theory of change or the implementation plan.   It begins with a decision so fundamental that it is rarely recognised as a decision at all.   Someone decides what the problem is. Everything that follows inherits that decision.   The evidence that will be collected....]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/how-problems-become-problems</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a6a2f517ef449b92cf819ce</guid><pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:26:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_68587639df654c44abc88cc33aa837a1~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What transforms understanding into recognised knowledge?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Understanding, legitimacy and the politics of recognition.   I never doubted the value of expertise.   Throughout my career I have worked with economists, engineers, statisticians, agricultural scientists, health specialists, planners and policy makers. I have been one of them. I have spent decades conducting research, teaching, writing, advising governments and leading development programmes.   I believe in expertise. I believe in research. I believe in scholarship.   What I no longer...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/what-transforms-understanding-into-recognised-knowledge</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a68d730ddd3673bc9b7773e</guid><pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:40:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_c08a74b9eb444a798b9cb4b1a2f670c9~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The wrong solution to the right problem]]></title><description><![CDATA[What counts as evidence in development? I am a mathematician. Numbers make sense to me. Equations make sense to me. Econometrics makes sense to me. Models bring order to complexity. They require assumptions, they test relationships, they reveal patterns that would otherwise remain hidden. If the assumptions are sound, the mathematics follows. If the mathematics holds, the conclusions can be defended. Precision matters. Measurement matters. Evidence includes measurement. What mathematics...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-wrong-solution-to-the-right-problem</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a67a64a388acffd1e3c0bf9</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:10:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_4b6de2c36e25430da51716efbae48b93~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The economy the market cannot see]]></title><description><![CDATA[Rethinking poverty, livelihoods and economic activity. The questionnaire was designed to measure consumption.   But the people I interviewed were not consuming in the way the questionnaire assumed. They were producing. They were storing. They were exchanging. They were sharing. They were sustaining life through systems that never appeared in the columns of the survey.   The questionnaire was looking for cash flows. The people were explaining livelihood systems.   This was not a failure of...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-economy-the-market-cannot-see</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a650d37532301fe59fc87ec</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 06:07:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_189d77475ae34ae690d52adf091ac6d4~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When baseline data carries hidden theories of change]]></title><description><![CDATA[The questionnaire was not the problem. The problem was the theory of change it was carrying.   Early in my career, I was part of a team conducting a feasibility study for a rural road project. Before fieldwork began, I designed a questionnaire to establish baseline conditions.   The purpose was straightforward. Before the road was improved, we needed to understand existing conditions.   After the road was completed, we would return and measure change.   Had travel time reduced? Had transport...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/when-baseline-data-carries-hidden-theories-of-change</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a620703b252e37e4d34e0fa</guid><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:31:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_9d827c0a480a4bafbcac0840914688bc~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The questions we ask shape the roads we build]]></title><description><![CDATA[Rethinking transport, development and the realities we fail to see Development does not begin with projects. It begins with assumptions. Before governments build roads, design policies, measure poverty, allocate resources or introduce new technologies, they decide what counts as reality. The questions come first. The categories come next. The measurements follow. The interventions come after. Every development intervention carries a theory of change, whether it is written in a project...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-questions-we-ask-shape-the-roads-we-build</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a610d041a46f8513d72cbdb</guid><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:37:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_98d6740772bc46538ad6d6f49243d0c4~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Revenue measures what governments collect. Tax justice measures what societies become]]></title><description><![CDATA[Two series. Thirty-five essays. Thousands of words. One question has travelled through every one of them.   Who pays?   Who benefits?   Who decides?   This series has followed taxation far beyond tax rates, revenue collection, and compliance. It has followed taxation into kitchens, markets, clinics, classrooms, water sources, roads, statistics, budgets, and laws. It has shown how women are taxed through unpaid care, depleted time, unavoidable consumption, statistical invisibility, unequal...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/revenue-measures-what-governments-collect-tax-justice-measures-what-societies-become</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a5c7958e447e3bde5890d1d</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:14:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_7f86890dfc3b48b0b57aef9b4f9b9efa~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Where are the services?]]></title><description><![CDATA[This series has traced how women are taxed through unpaid care, depleted time, unavoidable consumption, and economic invisibility. It has shown how tax systems extract from lives already carrying the work of sustaining households and communities. This essay turns to the other side of taxation.   What happens after taxes are collected?   Tax justice is measured not only by what the state takes. It is measured by what taxation gives back. The cost of sustaining life Living has costs.   Water...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/where-are-the-services</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a5b38fb5e7d848635e0f9ab</guid><pubDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2026 08:32:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_26345b0fbd5c4904bd424e3343fc659b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What is not counted does not count]]></title><description><![CDATA[This series has traced how care, time, and consumption are extracted through systems that depend on what they do not measure. Now we ask: what does taxation choose to see – and what does it erase?   What is not counted does not count.   The woman who is not in the register She wakes before dawn. She fetches water. She cooks. She cleans. She cares for children and the sick. She works in the market. She returns. She repeats.   She has no Tax Identification Number. She files no return. The...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/what-is-not-counted-does-not-count</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a589ea64ee79d900370187a</guid><pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:41:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_b598b23955e647f6b5e5ba4188006760~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The tax you cannot escape]]></title><description><![CDATA[Consumption, survival, and the taxation of everyday life   She buys food. VAT is already embedded in its price.   She buys fuel. Excise is already embedded in its price.   She buys soap, maize flour, school supplies. Tariffs are already embedded in their prices.   There is no moment before tax. There is no space outside it. There is no way around survival costs that are already structured by fiscal design.   Consumption is not where taxation begins. It is where taxation becomes visible.   And...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-tax-you-cannot-escape</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a0e78df84923565e06a7bdd</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 03:21:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_0e7bc795544c4f898fcf4981ad3fc009~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The time tax: Hours already taken]]></title><description><![CDATA[This series has named the care tax — the invisible extraction that sustains households and economies. Now we ask: what does that extraction do to a day? To a body? To a life?   This is the time tax.   She wakes before dawn She wakes at 4am. Not by choice. By necessity.   The water queue starts before sunrise. If she is not there, there is no water for cooking, washing, drinking.   She queues. She carries twenty litres home. Her back already aches.   The market opens at 6am. She walks to reach...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-time-tax-hours-already-taken</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69fb16e6b27e981e27c96c8b</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 05:23:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_10b116dac26941e4b091724b63b4df89~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The tax no one names]]></title><description><![CDATA[She wakes before dawn. The house is still dark. She fetches water. She prepares food. She readies children. Her day begins before the recognised working day starts — and continues long after it ends.   Care work is not seen. It is not recognised. It is not recorded. It is not paid. It is not valued. This article is not about care work. It is about the extraction that care work enables. It is about the tax no one names.   Care as extraction Care tax is the socially constructed, non-monetary...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-tax-no-one-names</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f83cbc5caf4ed272b94c24</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 09:35:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_9249f36cb68343d6b8726c6dc5888cf3~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The tax system treats the majority as the exception]]></title><description><![CDATA[Tax systems do not reflect economic life. They structure it around assumptions about income, time, and visibility. They are built on an implicit model of the taxpayer — stable income, formal employment, individual responsibility, linear time. This model is not descriptive of the economy. It is a design choice. And it is a narrow one. The result is not that some people fall outside the system. The result is that the system defines the majority through categories that do not fully recognise...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-tax-system-treats-the-majority-as-the-exception</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69f4cb467b1c42fb24f2e870</guid><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 15:54:40 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_6f1bf434cfbb47ed96c2fefec0427c8b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The citizen the tax system imagines]]></title><description><![CDATA[Who is recognised as a taxpayer — and who is treated as an exception? Tax systems are built around an implicit model of the taxpayer. Stable income. Formal employment. Individual responsibility. Linear time.   This model is not universal. It maps closely onto a male, formal‑sector economic life. Most people live outside that model.   The result is a gap between the taxpayer the system imagines and the economy as it is actually lived.   A salaried worker fits the system cleanly. A market...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/the-citizen-the-tax-system-imagines</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ee4892cf2afc83b04ede52</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 06:33:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_359e0d7af11c4b5c87c135d1ed74c5e8~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tax enforcement: Who gets punished — and who walks away?]]></title><description><![CDATA[The previous article asked who can comply and who struggles. This article asks: when compliance fails – or when the system decides to pursue – who is punished and who walks away?   Enforcement is where the state reveals its power. Inspections, audits, penalties, confiscation, harassment, extortion. This is not a failure of the system. It is how the system operates. Some taxpayers negotiate. Others comply immediately. Some are invisible to enforcement. Others are targeted.   Enforcement does...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/tax-enforcement-who-gets-punished-and-who-walks-away</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ee0f06cf2afc83b04e3310</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:14:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_80768b212b3548bbbd9f184f53efda16~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tax administration: Where power meets people]]></title><description><![CDATA[This series has examined what is taxed, how it is designed, and who pays. Now we ask: how do people actually comply? Who can enter the system, and who struggles before enforcement even begins? Tax administration is where the system meets people. It decides who can register, who can file, who can pay. It decides whose time is taken, whose distance is measured, whose work is recognised.   Before any penalty, before any audit, before any enforcement – there is administration. It is here that...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/tax-administration-where-power-meets-people</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69eb68ae81e17196bd246316</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:09:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_333575dd9c3c4280b82b71de41cc1018~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Who pays? The burden of tax extraction]]></title><description><![CDATA[This series has examined what is taxed and how it is designed. Now we ask: who actually pays?   The myth of the taxpayer Tax systems tell a simple story: taxpayers are those who are registered, documented, and visible.   This is only part of the truth.   A salaried worker appears on payroll records and pays automatically. A market vendor may never file a return, yet pays tax every day – on food, fuel, transport, school supplies. An individual may not exist in tax databases, yet contributes...]]></description><link>https://muhizi420.wixsite.com/mama-s-musings/post/who-pays-the-burden-of-tax-extraction</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e89ff8cce6ab16d3920d85</guid><category><![CDATA[Feminism, Gender & Power- Framework]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:36:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/080c01_e7af0a36cf3d4aec9cf0415d33f088cc~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Nite Tanzarn</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>