Nyerere’s role in driving changes

Dar es Salaam. When he died in 1999, the multiparty system was still in its infancy, with only one General Election under the system in 1995. Today, exactly 16 years after his passing, the political landscape has drastically changed. And Tanzania with only 11 days from the most competitive elections on its history, what he stood for has been cropping up and then.

Even with the changes, major political players from all parties speak of him as their icon and model. He is none other than the country’s founding father and first President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

From the newly formed Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo) who are campaigning on ‘Nyerereism’ philosophy of socialism and self-reliance and reviving the codes of the 1967 Arusha Declaration, to the main opposition Chadema which its presidential contender is endorsed by other three opposition parties under Ukawa coalition and the ruling CCM – are all basing their campaigns on Nyerere beliefs and quotes.

Chadema and Ukawa are campaigning on bringing changes, and they use Mwalimu Nyerere to justify their campaign strategy. Mwalimu’s statement that “Tanzanians want changes, and if they don’t see them or don’t get them through CCM they will look for changes outside CCM,” is the clincher in Ukawa campaigns. They say CCM can no longer provide Tanzanians with the desired social, political and economic changes they want.

Their Presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Mr Edward Lowassa crossed from CCM after being axed from the presidential race. Again, justifying his defection he quoted Mwalimu saying ‘‘CCM is not my mother…’’. His chief campaigner and also former premier Mr Fredrick Sumaye defected to opposition for same reasons as Mr Lowassa, he too quoted Mwalimu that CCM was not his mother.

Mwalimu’s party, CCM is also using him in their campaigns especially on corruption related topics. The ruling party top cadres have been saying that Mr Lowassawas dropped because he is tainted by corruption allegations. They have been using Mwalimu’s quotes such as “Ikulu (State) house is a cave for the corrupt,” and “…anyone who is seeking Ikulu (presidency) by all means should be feared as leprosy.” Surely, Mwalimu Nyerere is still alive in the contemporary politics, but to what extent do those using him are genuine? According to Dr Evarist Magoti from University of Dar es Salaam there’s no politician who is really keen on Mwalimu’s ideas. “They are using him only to justify their ends. Sadly sometimes they are quoting him entirely out of context.”

Dr Magoti who did his PhD on foundation and values of Nyerere’s Ujamaa said politicians are aware that Mwalimu Nyerere is revered by Tanzanians and using him will make their agenda popular and easily accepted by the society.

According to the don, if Mwalimu could have been alive today, he could have been quarrelling with them all. “He (Nyerere) built his politics on ideological foundation, today all these parties quoting him do not have strong ideologies. They say they have policies, but a policy without an ideology is nothing.”

Nyerere against multiparty politics

Leaving the contemporary politics aside Mwalimu Nyerere is highly credited as one leader who tirelessly championed for the reestablishment of multiparty democracy in the early 1990’s. That is however not a complete story.

Early in 1963 the then President Nyerere announced that the National Executive Committee of the ruling Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) party had decided that Tanganyika should become a constitutional one-party state for the interest of national unity.

His argument was that in the then contemporary Africa there were no real class conflicts and therefore a multiparty system had no reason to exist: “In African society,the traditional method of conducting affairs is by free discussion. Elders sit under the big tree and talk until they agree,” he said.

He remained a staunch believer of what he referred as single party democracy even after retiring from presidency in 1985.

According to political science don Prof Muhabe Nyirabu of the University of Dar es Salaam, up to 1989 Mwalimu was still firm on one party rule.

Prof Nyirabu in his 2002 paper titled The Multiparty Reform Process in Tanzania: The Dominance of the Ruling Party noted that on March 5, 1989, while still chairman of the ruling party he told a political rally in Zanzibar that it was time for the state to use its state powers, such as detaining political activists opposed to the ruling party’s views. Nyerere declared that state power would have to be used to restore public confidence in the party and its founders. Even before Nyerere’s open dissent to political activists, late 1980s were already difficult times for the proponents of multiparty democracy. Amnesty International report of 1987 noted that the human rights organization was concerned about the detention without trial of two political activists.

The report noted that in October 1987, Mr James Mapalala and Mr Juma Othman Upindo were detained without trial apparently because they had petitioned leading officials of the government and CCM calling for a repeal of the 1965 law that made Tanzania one-party state.

“Since September 1984, when this petition was made public, Mapalala was reported to have been detained for brief periods at least six times and Upindo at least three times. The Preventive Detention Act, under which they were held, authorized the President to order indefinite detention without trial of anyone deemed dangerous to peace and good order,” reads the Amnesty International report of 1987 in part.

The U-turn

As Prof Nyirabu put it in his paper, in February 1990, Nyerere, the architect of one-party rule, made an acrobatic U-turn and proclaimed that it was no longer treasonable to discuss the introduction of multi-party politics. He stated that Tanzania, like the rest of the world, would be affected by the democratic changes sweeping across the globe and thus he advised his party and government to be primed for the changes.

In February 22, 1990 Nyerere told Daily News that “When you see your neighbour being shaved, wet your head to avoid a dry shave. The one party is not Tanzania’s ideology and having one party is not God’s will. One-party has its own limitations.”

By that time Mwalimu Nyerere was aware that the change was inevitable and acted quickly to avoid chaotic transitions as it was happening in other places.

He again told Daily News in February 1992 that, “CCM can and should welcome the opportunity to give a lead in yet another major peaceful political transition in our country. We have an opportunity to ensure that this change happens democratically under rules to provide for genuine democracy. This is a moment when Tanzania under CCM can choose to change and oversee that change, rather than be made to change.”

Mwalimu Nyerere’s open support for multiparty made other activists to come out and join him to challenge the establishment. An independent National Steering Committee composed of academics, lawyers, students and political activists was formed launched a National Committee for Constitutional Reform (NCCR) to spearhead demands for a constitutional conference, free establishment of political parties, and a conference to debate a future political system.

The government of the then President Ali Hassan Mwinyi had to bow down to a political pressure which had all blessings of the nation’s founding father.

On March 1991, President Mwinyi proclaimed the creation of a commission under the chairmanship of the then Chief Justice of Tanzania, Justice Francis Nyalali to collect nationwide views and advise the government on what type of political system Tanzania should adopt.

Although 77.2 per cent of those interviewed (36,299) preferred Tanzania to continue with one-party system, the suggested changes in the political system could only be accommodated by a multi-party system and therefore recommended the establishment of a multiparty political system.

Early 1992 specially convened extraordinary congress of the ruling party CCM accepted to end its monopoly of political activities and its supremacy as guaranteed by the constitution. In May 1992, Parliament endorsed the recommendation to start the transition to multiparty politics and enacted a law to allow opposition parties to begin political activities on 1 July 1992.

Mwalimu Nyerere deserves the credit of granting the calls for multiparty safety and solid ground. His fear of violent transition was real for Tanzania at that time was one of only five countries where between 1989 and 1991 the initiative to reform was taken by the incumbent leaders as opposed to sixteen other countries where the wave of protest by opposition forced the transition to multiparty.

Today, the opposition has grown to the point of waging a very decisive against CCM that has never been seen before. The largely smooth growth of opposition can be traced to the history of peaceful transition in the early 1990’s, and Dr Magoti believes the country will best honour Mwalimu Nyerere this year by holding a peaceful election and record yet again another calm transition to life after elections.