Abdulwakil retires in Zanzibar, Salmin Amour takes over

Dar es Salaam. It was Sunday, August 12, 1990 - just five days before the names of the presidential candidates of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar were nominated - when the former President of Zanzibar and chairman of the Revolutionary Council since November 1985, Idris Abdulwakil, announced he would not seek re-election in the October 1990 General Election.

Abdulwakil told reporters at his home in Dar es Salaam that he had reached the decision to rest because of his age. “I have decided to retire. I was not forced. It’s my decision,” he said.

Abdulwakil - who until that time was 65 years old - said he would hand over the Presidency to a new President who would be elected and sworn in.

After serving as Zanzibar president for only one 5-year term, Wakil asked his political party (‘Chama cha Mapinduzi:’ CCM) to appoint another member to run for the Presidency.

The task of nominating candidates for the presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania and that of Zanzibar was carried out by a special national conference of CCM held for two consecutive days from August 16 at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam.

Abdulwakil was born on Friday, April 10, 1925 in Makunduchi Village in Zanzibar. Among the posts he had held included teaching and working in the ministry of Foreign Affairs, as ambassador to The Netherlands, West Germany, Guinea, minister gor Information and Tourism, Chief of Protocol - and was later elected President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Zanzibar.

Abdulwakil, was also serving as the second Vice-President of he United Republic when announcing he would not run for re-election. He was elected President of Zanzibar after winning the election in the Clove Islands on October 13, 1985.

During the election, Abdulwakil garnered 109,593 YES votes in Unguja Island, NO votes were 11,208 while spoiled votes were 3,463. The total number of votes cast was 123,917. The total registered voters were 124,264. The percentage of Yes votes was 88.19.

In Pemba Island, the YES votes in the presidential election were 21,880 while NO votes were 64,004. About 3,575 votes were spoiled.

The total number of votes cast was 89,461. The total number of registered voters in the 1985 election that put Abdulwakil in office was 97,847 with a percentage of 24.46 as YES votes.

On October 14, 1985 - the day after the Zanzibar Presidential Election was held - Zanzibar Electoral Commission Chairman Abdallah Maisara Suleiman announced Idris Abdulwakil the winner. He was sworn in three days later by the Zanzibar Chief Justice, Augustino Ramadhani.

Abdulwakil became the fourth President of Zanzibar since the ZanzibarRevolution of January 12, 1964. The first president was Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume who led Zanzibar from the Revolution Day, January 12, 1964, to April 7, 1972, when he was shot dead at the Afro-Shirazi headquarters in Kisiwandui, Zanzibar.

The second president was Aboud Jumbe Mwinyi since April 11, 1972 - just four days after Karume’s death.

The first election in Zanzibar was held on Sunday, October 26, 1980. The-then Chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, Idris Abdulwakil, announced the results on October 28, 1980 that Mr Aboud Jumbe had won the election. The Zanzibar Electoral Director of the day was Abubakar Khamisi.

Jumbe secured 174,672 YES votes out of 186,517 votes cast in the election, equivalent to 93.65 percent of the total votes cast. The total number of NO votes were 5,508 and 6,337 votes were spoiled, while 199,946 people had registered to participate in the elections.

However, Jumbe led Zanzibar until Sunday, January 29, 1984 when he resigned from both the ruling party CCM and government positions following political tension between the Tanzania Mainland and the Isles.

President Ali Hassan Mwinyi was the one who led the revolutionary government of Zanzibar from Monday, January 30, 1984 to October 1985 when he was elected President of the United Republic of Tanzania, leaving his former seat as President to Abdulwakil.

Of all those, Abdulwakil was the first President to step into power via the ballot box. On April 11, 1972 Jumbe had assumed thePresidency after President Karume’s assassination.

On Wednesday, August 15, 1990, when speaking at the end of a two-day session of the ruling party’s National Executive Committee, the CCM Chairman of the time, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, congratulated Abdulwakil on developing good leadership characteristics by relinquishing the Presidency when the constitution allowed him to contest for reelection to another five-year period. In the event, Mwalimu Nyerere cited Abdulwakil as an excellent example for not clinging to power tooth and nail!

“It is good for us to develop the habit of not seeking these high positions. Let the seniors recommend the right person,” Nyerere told Abdulwakil - adding: “a colleague whom you defeated by seven votes in 1985 has never been happy to this day. Can’t this (fellow) wait his turn? He’s impatient. We have gone through a difficult time.”

Speaking about the rationality of rotating the leadership, Mwalimu Nyerere told Abdulwakil: “If you had decided to stand again we would have nominated you and I am sure the people of Zanzibar would have also voted for you again… Our fledgling countries that have no even a single language have been pursued by the major nations that their leaders are striving for power. We are creating new nations. Our fellow nations have been built by kings for many years. Who are the white leaders who give up their power at their discretion? ” Nyerere asked.

“How many of my colleagues have had my fortune and are clinging to power?” asked Mwalimu Nyerere. He noted that prominent leaders like Kwame Nkhrumah (Ghana), (Abubakar Tafawa), Balewa (Nigeria’s first prime minister) and Madibo Keita (Mali’s first president) were overthrown even before they had time to lead. “There is no assurance that if they were given the opportunity to lead they would cling to power,” he said.

Further congratulating Abdulwakil, Nyerere cited emerging leaders of their own volition as Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senegal’s first president), Siaka Stevens (Sierra Leone’s President) and Ahmadou Ahidjo (Cameroon’s first president) and said that the delay from leadership cannot be said to be an African trait.

At the meeting President Abdulwakil informed the committee that he had reached the decision to retire since 1989, but did not want to announce it earlier because he feared he would be persuaded to change it. “I even hid this from the CCM Chairman,” said Wakil.

On Sunday, August 26 - just a few days after Salmin Amour was proposed and later nominated by the party to be the sole candidate for the Zanzibar Presidency and Revolutionary Council chairman, Abdulwakil began an official campaign by telling Zanzibaris “I beg you to accept Dr Salmin - and give him all the YES votes on election day so that he can be elected by a majority vote as President.”

After retiring from politics, Abdulwakil continued to live a normal citizen’s life until his death on Tuesday, March 15, 2000 at the age of 74.

He was buried in Makunduchi Village with full national honours at a funeral attended by the third President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, and other top government leaders.

Tomorrow, we bring you the story of Zanzibar’s former President Salmin Amour - and how he came to power.