Kambona mishandles Nyerere task

Then-External Affairs minister, Oscar Kambona addresses the UN General Assembly at its 19th session. Since independence in 1961, Kambona had slowly built a faction of young and dynamic leaders who posed a threat to the older members of Tanu.

The tension came to the forefront in the confrontations of the Tanu National Executive of December 16-18, 1964. Kambona had bungled a sensitive matter that President Nyerere had told him to deal with. He lost; he lost badly. PHOTO | file

Oscar Salathiel Kambona reached the pinnacle of power during the troubles of January 1964 when the army mutinied and shortly afterwards fell out of political grace with the powers that be.

He lost the portfolio of Defense to Rashidi Kawawa in the end of April 1964. The stress of work appeared to have taken a toll on his health.

Kambona was a great orator and a skilled politician; however, some questioned his administrative abilities.

One of his weaknesses was his inability to delegate work; Kambona often wanted to do most of the work himself. Kambona’s health deteriorated at various points in 1964.

His situation was so serious that his wife expressed concerns for him towards the end of 1964 to a Ghanaian official.

Kambona went to a mission hospital in Moshi where he was treated by a German doctor; it was decided that the doctor would follow Kambona to Dar es Salaam to continue to administer him with medications some time around October of 1964.

The doctor reported to German diplomats that Kambona was on the “verge of a nervous breakdown.” He had circulatory problems, hypertension, and was physically exhausted. Kambona had worked himself to the ground.

Nyerere agreed to grant Kambona weeks of leave from work at the recommendations of a doctor in the beginning of November 1964 and he would act as the Minister for External Affairs.

Kambona was not to be deterred by his deteriorated health. He made an important decision on an issue that would have serious consequences for the nation; it was a disastrous decision that he would not recover from politically.

A Tanzanian diplomat working in Congo presented Kambona with documents that purported to show plans by the Americans and Portugal to subvert the government of Tanzania early November 1964.

The source of the document is not clear; at least one report names Andrew Tibandebage as the person who brought the documents to the Foreign Minister.

Tibandebage was Kambona’s school mate from Tabora Boys. Another source claims that the Tanzania Ambassador to Congo (L) flew to Dar es Salaam and showed the documents to Lukumbuzya, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

In this version, Lukumbuzya flew to Arusha on October 9, 1964 to show the documents to Nyerere who was on vacation.

Nyerere showed the documents to Kambona at the Arusha airport and then resumed with his vacation.

One report claims that Nyerere told Kambona to “deal with it.” Nyerere expected Kambona to call the US Ambassador and discuss the matter. Kambona flew back to Dar es Salaam and called a press conference on November 10, 1964.

The Nationalist newspaper of November 11, 1964 devoted most of the front page on a “Western Plot” against Tanzania. The paper printed copies of the documents and a translation from French to English.

Kambona accused the US of interfering with Tanzania and sent a telegram to the Secretary General of the OAU to inform him of a “Western plot” against Tanzania and the liberation movements based in the country. He asked for an emergency meeting of the African Liberation Committee.

Kambona’s handling of the “Western plot” against Tanzania was disastrous. The US government went to great length to provide “proof” that the documents were a forgery.

The Americans brought a specialist with sample of the machine they use, the type of paper, and pointed out numerous errors in the documents to make a case that it was a forgery.

In the meantime, the Tanzanian masses were angry; protests were organised at the American Embassy.

Nyerere was caught in the middle; he called the US Ambassador and admitted that a mistake had been made.

However, he refused to speak out publicly about it and acknowledge that a mistake had been made. Nyerere did not disavow the plot publicly until December 10, 1964.

The incident caused a serious diplomatic crisis between Tanzania and the US. Tanu National Executive meet in December 16-18, 1964 under tight security.

Peter Siyovelwa presented a motion to censure Kambona. The Executive tried to discipline Kambona. When asked at the meeting if he had authorised Kambona to go to the media, Nyerere was equivocal.

Nyerere had told Kambona to “deal with it;” he did not tell him to go public with it. Many of those present in the meeting concluded that Kambona acted hastily and irresponsibly.

For the older and conservative members of the Executive, Kambona lacked respect for authority and tradition. There was a clash behind the scenes between Rashidi Kawawa and Oscar Kambona.

Some sources identify Kawawa as the man who engineered Kambona’s censure behind the scenes.

Kambona and Kawawa had been in collision course ever since the latter became the Prime Minister of Tanganyika.

Kambona felt that the Prime Minister position should have gone to him. According to one source, Nyerere appointed Kambona shortly after becoming the President in 1962 to two powerful portfolios-Defense and Foreign Affairs-as a compromise.

Since the independence in 1961, Kambona had slowly built a faction of young and dynamic leaders who posed a threat to the older members of Tanu.

The tension came to the forefront in the confrontations of the Tanu National Executive of December 16-18, 1964. Kambona lost; he lost badly.

Kambona and Nyerere disagreed over approach to the brewing crisis with Malawi. Chiume, then Foreign Minister of Malawi, visited Tanganyika in August 1964 together with two other Ministers.

Kambona and Chiume were close during the visit and Kambona made sure the visit received maximum publicity.

Later Chiume escaped from Malawi after disagreeing with President Kamuzu Banda and when it was clear his life was in danger. It was around this time the country name was changed from Tanganyika to Tanzania.

Tanzania became embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with Malawi.

Some reports claim that Nyerere and Kambona disagreed on the approach to the crisis.

Nyerere retained Kambona as the Foreign Minister early 1965 despite their increasing disagreements over foreign policy matters.

Kambona travelled to the UN to represent Tanzania where the problem of Congo was discussed. But the storm did not subside even though Kambona kept performing his duties as the Foreign Minister.

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Professor Azaria Mbughuni is Chair, History Department, Lane College, US. He can be contacted on: Email - [email protected]; and Twitter - @AzariaTz

TOMORROW: A major fallout within Tanu that deals Oscar Kambona’s political career the final blow