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By Hamoud Said
The Citizen Correspondent
Zanzibar. Zanzibar has had seven leaders since its January 12, 1964 revolution, but it is only the founding president, the late Abeid Amani Karume who has delivered.This is the view of some people as wananchi in both Zanzibar and Pemba islands celebrate the 48th anniversary of the revolution that toppled the Sultan.
Other subsequent presidents to occupy the top post in Zanzibar were: Messrs Aboud Jumbe Mwinyi, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Idriss Abdulwakil Nombe, Salmin Amour Juma and Amani Abeid Karume. The seventh leader, Mr Ali Mohamed Shein has just taken over leadership two years ago.
“Many Zanzibaris regard the late Karume as a great leader who was the right man at the right time. His successors failed to adopt the senior Karume’s traits of optimism and inspiration in changing Zanzibar,” said Mr Hassan Mussa, who called himself as just a Zanzibar political fan. He said that there were a number of things which showed that the senior Karume was a serious man, despite the fact that he had no formal school education. He clarified: “In practice he was a man of vision, talent and commitment to bring change in Zanzibar.”
Unfortunately, the leaders who followed had not been as active and serious as the late Karume who ruled Zanzibar between 1964 up to his assassination on April 7, 1972.“Former presidents Jumbe, Mwinyi, Abdulwakil, Salmin and Karume junior borrowed Karume’s values, beliefs, verve, and passion just in words but failed to put them into practice. “That is why most problems remain the same. People’s housing and water would have improved if they followed the footsteps of the late Karume,” he said.He said Zanzibaris were now waiting to see if Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, the incumbent president, would deliver, noting: “Dr Shein’s words are promising, but people need action to solve the challenges.”
However, he said the immediate former Zanzibar President, Mr Amani Abeid Karume, would be remembered for two things: Political reconciliation which ended the political impasse in Zanzibar, and improvement of roads.
On the other hand, Mr Jumbe is remembered for writing the present Zanzibar constitution and establishing the Zanzibar House of representatives.But the leader of Tanzania Association of Farmers party (AFP), Mr Said Soud Said, evaluated the 48 years of revolution by accusing all leaders after Karume as being weak in fighting corruption and dishonesty in public institutions.
“Zanzibar is very lucky to have marine resources, a trade centre, tourist attractions and a good geographical location. There is enough tax being collected, but unfortunately leaders in the government are corrupt,” Mr Soud claimed. He said since the senior Karume’s death, it has been difficult to find a leader with great ambitions to change Zanzibar, claiming: “Some were running the country like they were running their businesses.”
He explained: “When some got leadership positions they did not seem to know what they wanted to do with it. If at all they knew, they failed to communicate with the people through action,” he said.
Mr Said credited senior Karume as having intellect and political skills, but said being a good leader was not just about being educated.It was about setting out the direction where one wanted to go and persuading people to go with him/her. Historians say that on the night of January 12, 1964, a band of more than 300 people seized the Island of Unguja to start the revolution. They were led by a little known man called John Okello, who had lived in Pemba and had come to the Islands some years earlier from Uganda or Kenya.
In Zanzibar he developed a popular following among the young, tough men, many of whom were porters who worked in ships arriving and leaving the Zanzibar harbour. His group met in secret and he promised to bring changes to the islands.
However, political unrest had been increasing in Zanzibar and Pemba islands since the death, in 1960, of Sultan Khalifa who had ruled Zanzibar for almost 50 years since 1911. After much jockeying for constituencies and coalitions, the main political parties ran neck to neck in two general elections of 1961 to the satisfaction of neither.
The British were leaving, and their troops, including a contingent of Irish guards stationed near the golf course at the edge of the Stone Town, pulled out in early 1963.When the new Sultan, Jamshid, hoisted the flag of independent Zanzibar, on December 12, 1963, he marked the departure of the last British Resident Governor of Zanzibar and the end of colonial rule.
Another election in late 1963 had given a slim majority to a coalition of two political parties, the ZNP (Zanzibar Nationalist Party) and ZPPP (Zanzibar and Pemba Peoples Party).Meanwhile, the Afro-Shirazi Party(ASP) was to be the minority in a British style parliamentary system with the Sultan a reigning but not ruling “monarch”.
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