Mr Makakala, ‘Project Tanzania’ went haywire here

I wish to begin this article by congratulating The Citizen columnist, Charles Makakala, for his incisive and thought-provoking piece on our 60th Independence Anniversary, December 9, 2021.

Makakala essentially identified Mwalimu Julius Nyerere as the single biggest contributor to some of our country’s woes.

Admittedly – and in all fairness – it cannot be denied with a straight face that Mwalimu Nyerere has his fair share of blame that must be forensically scrutinised. One can, for example, cite the transfer of the national capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma that is already proving to be tortuous for the country.

Makakala is, in fact, on record as expressing misgivings on Dodoma as the national capital.

Indeed, the history of the transfer was contentious, even judging by the votes that were cast on the matter within the ruling party of the day, the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu).

It is, therefore, arguably safe to conclude that the move was railroaded by Mwalimu Nyerere. Furthermore, if one looks at the nation’s cracks that Mwalimu enunciated in 1995, they could surely not have all sprung up after he left the presidency late in 1985.

Notably, it was Mwalimu Nyerere who said the following at the official launching of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation (MNF) on June 14, 1996: “None of us is perfect. We cannot always see the full implications of what we do or say; and, however (hard) we try, none of us always resists the temptations and arrogance of Office. So, I hope that, in studying my ‘practices,’ people will be kind – but also honest! Tanzania can learn from my mistakes, as well as from our aims and achievements.”

In true Trumpian style, though, I’ll attempt to put forth a few “alternative facts” to Makakala’s viewpoints. As we are in the political independence spirit, it is worth mentioning that it was actually Nyerere who dared to extend an invitation to the colonialists on our tenth independence anniversary to come and see for themselves what had been attained by the country in its first decade of independence, compared to decades of colonial rule.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure what exactly came out of that visit. But, to me, that invitation was laudable and meant to exhibit that Nyerere meant business in steering the country forward. How many presidents, after Nyerere, would even think as such? We can even extend it across the African Continent!

Makakala postulates that Mwalimu Nyerere was Machiavellian, stating that “it looks like Nyerere was quite happy to allow Democracy to thrive – but, as long as the people chose from the options as he had already prescribed!”

This may have been the case. But, I find it instructive to quote from a book written in 2012 by Prof Mark Mwandosya, a former Cabinet Minister, in which he refers to his first-ever experience of an election campaign in 1965, where there were two TANU candidates aspiring for the same parliamentary seat in an electoral constituency.

“It was a campaign built on sound arguments. Back then, the word ‘corruption’ did not exist in political elections. This good supervisory arrangement of the party in national elections continued in the party and right until the multiparty political system was statutorily restored in 1992 – and took effect in the 1995 General Election.

By stating this, I’m not at all suggesting that multiparty politics has brought chaos in the country. All I’m saying is that it would be right that the good aspects in driving party and national elections be continued – but only instituting changes when they are really necessary.

Sages down the Ages used to say that: if you don’t know where you are going, then at least remember where you are coming from.” (My translation)

Mwandosya’s comments, I believe, can’t be entirely discounted, as they are a call to critically examine our nearly-30 years of multiparty politics. Personally, I believe we shifted prematurely to the new political system.

That said, tragically in Tanzania, CCM’s commanding heights have facilitated an environment in which many individuals have suffered needlessly – including individuals who have suffered just for being associated with political opposition people.

I can cite the case of Tanzania’s former Permanent Representative at the UN in New York, Mr Anthony Nyakyi, who ended up losing his job for simply playing host to the founding chairman of Chadema, Edwin Mtei. This was during the Government of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi (1985-1995), popular as ‘Mzee Ruksa.’

Mr Mtei says “one incident which demonstrated that the CCM Government was unprepared for a multiparty political system was when my lifelong friend Anthony Nyakyi entertained me during my visit. Apparently, an Embassy official thought I was persona non grata, and reported to Dar es Salaam regarding the dinner. Strangely enough, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly recalled Nyakyi from his posting...”

Incidentally, Mwalimu Nyerere had exhorted CCM members at the party’s Extraordinary Congress in 1992 that “they should not look at those who cross over to the political opposition as traitors”. This plainly fell on deaf ears – what with political intolerance being the order of the day.

I’ll shift gear and look at another area that I find damning of some of our past leaders. As we all know, Mwalimu Nyerere was so passionate about Education, and his speech at the Open University in 1998 was tellingly titled “Education for Service, and not for Selfishness.”

Had President Benjamin Mkapa (1995-2005) taken it on board seriously enough, we would be talking differently today as a nation.

I find it equally appropriate to refer to a collection of old articles by a veteran journalist, Jenerali Ulimwengu, titled Rai ya Jenerali, in which he explicitly puts forth Education in 1994 as an immediate priority for the new leadership in 1995.

“It is my hope that the government to be formed after the October (1995 General Election) will be one of people who are bitter as a result of this dangerous situation – and are, therefore, ready to take action to put things right before we turn into a country of imbeciles. We need fundamental thinking about the education system that is appropriate to us.

“We must agree on the percentage of the budget for Education. It must be an amount that cannot be reduced, and we must be ready to restrict expenditure in other areas – including merrymaking by leaders – in order to prioritise our educational needs.

“I also propose that we find a way of preventing leaders from educating their children outside the country, even if they claim that they are ‘educating them at their expense!’ The goal here is to ensure that our leaders, especially at the national level, do not disregard our educational progress – and, in the process, are able to educate their children out of the country and at public cost, for whom their own children are given poor education.” (My translation)

As it were, the person who ascended to the Presidency in 1995, Benjamin William Mkapa, was not only an erudite man; he was someone behind whom Jenerali Ulimwengu threw his weight wholeheartedly – at least initially.

As for what was eventually done to uplift the country’s educational standards: precious little, I say! What we got instead was a Mkapa coming out a few years ago under the President John Magufuli regime (November 5, 2015-March 17, 2021) to express his profound concerns as a private citizen that we need to urgently have a dialogue.

A case of too little, too late…? I’m afraid not!

The priorities lay elsewhere. It speaks volumes that, at the funeral of the late President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya (1978-2002), Mkapa spoke eloquently of how Moi was his mentor.

Really? Moi and Nyerere put in the same league as mentors? This makes it clearer just why Mkapa had a high-handed streak – and, consequently, why he expended a great deal of energy on the politics of patronage.

One can so easily enumerate cases to illustrate how our leaders, after Nyerere, have pursued matters that are self-seeking. Many of our people don’t even know that there was an attempt to extend Mwinyi’s final presidential term of office – but Mwalimu Nyerere nipped that in the bud. In whose interest was it, we ought to ask!

We have now got to the stage that a president can initiate a law that a retirement home be built for former presidents, starting with himself. And, no other Head of State has the moral conscience to oppose such parasitic conduct that Mwalimu Nyerere forewarned leaders against.

Is it any wonder that Mwalimu in 1995 spoke so pejoratively that “the bad thing with you leaders is that you carry on the stupid mistakes of the past, rather than the good things – and even put a question mark on what is fundamental!”

Andrew Bomani is a political scientist and acting publicity secretary of the United Democratic Party (UDP)[email protected]