Africa's leadership academy inaugurated in Tanzania

New Content Item (1)
New Content Item (1)

What you need to know:

  • Establishment of the school is a strategic one that will address a number of issues, including strengthening our youth and our people who will work in our political parties and government

Dar es Salaam. All is set for upcoming political leaders from countries in southern Africa to start sharpening their skills from March this year, thanks to the inauguration of a leadership school yesterday.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan graced the ceremony of the newly-constructed Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School located at Kibaha in the Coast Region, noting that the modern centre is going to revolutionise leadership in Africa.

President Hassan - who is also chair of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) - said at the live-broadcast event that the Sh100 billion institution was established to serve southern Africa in honour of Tanzania’s founding President, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

She said the school would also provide comprehensive training for political party leaders, train young people to be patriotic as well as evaluate the progress made in the six Southern African countries since independence and plan future growth.

The idea of the establishment of the school was based on the Harare Resolution that involved six parties from six countries on June 8, 2012. The construction was funded by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The involved liberation parties in attendance were ANC (South Africa), Swapo (Namibia), MPLA (Angola), Zanu-PF (Zimbabwe) and Frelimo (Mozambique).

President Hassan said the event reminded them of their progress in the sense of unity and achievements in the economic independence of their countries as well as the economic revolution that would bring great development to the people.

“Establishment of the school is a strategic one that will address a number of issues, including strengthening our youth and our people who will work in our political parties and governments,” said President Hassan.

Leading six representatives from the aforementioned parties, President Hassan described the event as historic and strategic for all six countries and their China ally.

She said the presence of the academy would train young people with a modern view of developing their countries from within their liberation parties.

She expressed her belief that the presence of the school would answer the questions that exist among the people about whether liberation parties were still capable of bringing about change.

President Hassan said the academy would also conduct development assessments in the six countries to see where they had been since independence and a view of how they were progressing.

“This school will also change the attitudes and ideas of our people,” she said, urging all delegates to work on the campus.

“The leaders and cadres of the parties and executives of strategic institutions will be subjected to the long, medium and short-term training.

The preparation will address issues of leadership and ideology which are among the biggest problems in Africa, especially in this era of multi-party democracy,” she noted.

The CCM chair said there were new parties that emerged in recent years and lacked clear ideologies and experience, noting that even in experienced outlets there were challenges in recruiting and appointing leaders.

“For a long time, we have been working together in our parties without having a solid strategy to teach each other and assess who should play what role, so I believe now we will go the way we were supposed to go,” she said.

“We need to coordinate our people because we live in a changing world that is dynamic. We can’t live with the same old philosophies but give them a modern look to go with the current world,’’ she added.

In July 2018, Tanzania’s fifth phase President the late John Magufuli laid the foundation stone for the construction of the institution.