Let’s look back to get perspective on the future

London.Issues of re-writing our Constitution and of the future of the Union with Zanzibar have been so dominant in our national life recently and so wrapped up in self-serving emotional sentiments to a point where one can easily get lost as to what is really the issue.

In this process serious matters vital to the livelihood of the masses, who form more than 85 per cent of our population, like land control are being overshadowed by questions that largely serve the interests of politicians.

If we are to get a proper perspective on where we want to take the country, we need to have a hard look at where we have come from. It is also imperative to be honest with ourselves. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher from the 5th century advised: “Study the past, if you would divine the future.” This is an approach our leaders would be well advised to adopt.

What future for the Union?

In order to get a clear perspective on the future of the Union issue, which is dominant at present, we need to go back to the early 1960s when both Tanganyika and Zanzibar were still under the yoke of colonialism. Tanganyika gained independence in December 1961 followed by Zanzibar in December 1963.

But Zanzibar’s independence did not change the exploitative, colonial situation on the ground in the Islands, which is why there was the popular Revolution of January 12, 1964.

However, reliable intelligence confirmed that the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government was under the clear and present danger of a counter-coup from the deposed Arabs, who under Sayyid Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah Al Said, dominated the Islands’ politics and the economy.

To forestall that threat the Zanzibar Government, under the late Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, approached the Tanganyika Government under Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere with the idea of Union.

The Union was, therefore, not Tanganyika’s idea, although judging by current sentiments coming from Zanzibar, one can be excused for thinking that Tanganyika invaded Zanzibar to impose this Union.

History is witness to the fact that this was clearly not the case.

The same forces that made the formation of this Union imperative in the first place attempted to dissolve it using a technicality in 1984 which resulted in the dramatic resignation of the then Zanzibar President and the Vice President of Tanzania, Sheikh Aboud Jumbe.

Is it too far-fetched to suggest that a hidden hand could now be at work, under the camouflage of the constitutional review exercise, to try to achieve the dissolution of the Union which they failed to do in 1964 and 1984? The masses from Zanzibar and the Mainland stand to lose greatly through a break-up of our Union and are advised to be vigilant, if not sceptical, in this matter.

During a recent symposium organised by the East African Business and Media Training Institute, Mr Saed Kubenea, a journalist and media mogul, is quoted as saying: “Our brethren from Zanzibar want their own currency, their own central bank, their own foreign affairs ministry and their own security system. This is not possible in the two-tier government system.”

If that is really what the Zanzibaris want, then seriously what is left of the Union? This is tantamount to: “they want their Sultanate and Jamshid back.”

This is fair enough, if it is what the majority of the Zanzibar people really want, but their leaders need to be clear whether they indeed have such a mandate and be open and honest about this matter.

Under the current circumstances the choice facing Tanzania is to either make a clean break-up of the Union or to go through an expensive, messy and protracted divorce through the mockery of a three-tier government system.

What future for our Constitution?

In a layman’s language, a State Constitution is a set of fundamental rules or precedents that govern a country. Such a document establishes the parameters within which operators of State organs, such as the President, Members of Parliament and Judges, will operate.

It lays down clearly the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of those in positions of trust. Since Constitutions deal with the fair organisation of particular societies and because life is determined by local factors, then it follows that Constitutions are always made-to-measure and cannot be ready-made or off-the-peg documents.

It is also the function of a State Constitution to establish and enshrine state fundamentals - basic values of vital interest.

Such values are permanent and should not be in the hands of party politics to be manipulated by personal and group interests. State fundamentals must rather be controlled by the State.

However, much to my surprise and chagrin, those charged with re-writing our Constitution have skated around this very important responsibility.

All matters that are vital to the survival of citizens are matters of fundamental importance to any State and the availability and access to them need to be guaranteed in the State Constitution.

They are not policy matters. The commodification of what is essential to sustain life is inhuman and needs to be outlawed by the State Constitution.

What are these essentials that need to be in State hands at all times? These are land, water, education and health which must remain accessible to all.

Today, our leaders are doling out vast tracts of land on 99 year ‘leases’ to private, mainly foreign, ‘investors’ as if there is no tomorrow.

The new Constitution needs to put a stop to this trend without delay as it will create mass landlessness for future generations and reduce them to little more than modern-day slaves on privately-owned plantations in their own country. This is not hypothetical, it is a reality in Brazil now, the fifth largest country in the world with over 8.55 million square kilometres of land at its disposal.

There is no reason why it should not happen in Tanzania under identical land policies. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere foresaw the type of problems confronting Brazil today when he nationalised land in 1963 and turned it into a state fundamental freely available to every citizen in the country. Tanzania’s post-Nyerere land policies are not only myopic, but also treacherous to our children and grandchildren. They are not building the future, but undermining it.

My strongest advice to decision-makers is for them to take the new Draft Constitution straight to the people for a referendum.

Unless this is done the personal and private interests of those who would control the Constituent Assembly may mutilate the Draft Constitution beyond recognition.

These are the issues that Tanzanian voters should be demanding a say in from their leaders.

In turn, the leaders themselves should resist the temptation to use their people as mere pawns on a political chess-board to further their own personal and private interests, rather than those of the State and the citizenry at large.

Harid Mkali can be reached through email: [email protected], Website: haridmkali.com