JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE OF TANZANIA: AN E N I G M A

 POSTED HERE ON  21  OCTOBER,   2012.

Julius Nyerere, the Man and the Myth by SARWED  DAWALO

Julius Nyerere, the man and the myth

The Citizen on Sunday, [14/10/2012] "Tanzania"

Issue No. 416

Summary: 

He was a brilliant and charismatic orator. Every time he spoke, his adversaries trembled in indignation. And when he took a swipe at his detractors, it was devastating. Being anglophile, he had incredible mastery of both Swahili and English.  Many believe that Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a complex phenomenon, so much so that it has proved pretty difficult to compile an accurate account on the man. In his heyday, this intellectual son of Africa was revered by many a Tanzanian and equally loathed by those who thought his iron fist style of rule was outright dictatorial. Some called him a “benevolent dictator”. Truth be told.


Tanzanians often misrepresent Nyerere’s personality, his ubuntu and his philosophical mission. They often take him for granted. They have developed a form of laziness (or is it fear?) to discuss Nyerere objectively. In fact, it requires loads of courage to simply mention the obvious. If you aspire to scale the social or political ladder, for example, prudence requires that you avoid mentioning Nyerere’s failures even if those facts are public knowledge. Sadly, this has almost become a national character. Let’s take a walk down memory lane. Once upon a time, there was a politician who led Tanganyika’s freedom struggle. He luckily gained the trust of his people as their leader and tried to formulate what he thought was best for his country. He experimented with his ideas on his docile citizens for two and a half decades. 

Unlike most African dictators of his era, he was not retired via a coup. Ultimately, with a little help (read push) from sanctions set by the Bretton Woods institutions, he finally stepped down from power in 1985. Who was Nyerere? Was he just the son of a nondescript chief in some far flung locale, who opted to lead a simple and ordinary life? A devout Christian who liked to don a Muslim cap? A graduate teacher who quit his profession to lead a political party? An altruistic President who thought of nothing except his people and the liberation of Africa? A communist (sic) who regularly attended church service and even partook in the Holy Communion? A unifier who left behind a fragile union government? A pan-African who opposed a continental government? Who exactly was this Nyerere? He was, to a large extent, a happily married man endowed with several children. It is on record that none took undue advantage of Dad’s presidency nor bothered fellow Tanzanians. 


The first family led a simple, moderate and quiet life. Considering his absolute powers, Mwalimu was never tempted to create a dynasty, even though he might have got a way with even if he did. Truly, nepotism was unacceptable to Nyerere. On this, hats off to him. Don’t you dare raise an accusing finger against Nyerere for abolishing chiefdoms, the local government system, trade unions, co-operatives, or competitive politics! Don’t even think of the times he nationalised private property, schools, hospitals and virtually everything else. How about the dogmatic approach to his villagisation programme? Or the times when he arbitrarily enforced repressive laws, detained opponents and outlawed strikes and demos. 

That was the order of the day then. He had his way and got away with it. In public, Nyerere tried his level best to unify Tanzania, a large country with a relatively small population. National unity is the number one legacy he will be remembered for. This is epitomised by his unwavering stance on the Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union, which was hastily put together on 26/4/1964 following a coup by a ragtag army to oust the Sultan in Zanzibar. Five decades later, thanks to sensitive declassified files in the US, analysts have questioned the reasons behind the making of the Union. Nyerere’s good intentions notwithstanding, the Union was actually an Anglo-American move to pre-empt a communist takeover in the Islands. Nyerere was blackmailed into playing ball after having been rescued from an army mutiny a couple of months earlier. 

As expected, the British sent in the gunboats. Over the years, Nyerere persistently argued that the Union was the result of brotherly relations between the two states and this was just the first step towards achieving a united Africa. Cynics argue that in pre-and-post uhuru(independence) Tanganyika, institutions and services such as the central railway line used to run regular schedules and were maintained regularly. Roads were also well maintained by the Public Works Department - PWD (Punda Wengi Duniani?). In cities like Dar-es-Salaam, most roads in Magomeni, Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke were tarmacked. By 1975, all the railway and road networks had collapsed. The entire infrastructure collapsed in Nyerere’s very hands. The central administration was also crumbling and discipline reached an appalling level. By the early eighties, the 400-plus parastatals, were running bankrupt from massive thievery. Evidently, the experiment was failing. To his chagrin, this string of failures resulted in an outcry from the citizenry that the colonial times seemed better. Nyerere was enraged. In the wake of the 1967 Arusha Declaration, haphazard nationalisation of private property ensued. We stooped so low as taking over small village shops. But Nyerere pressed on. 


In the seventies, the Ujamaa experiment was enjoying a good level of buoyancy, backed by the Scandinavian governments and China. Huge grants catered for free education and free health care. The euphoria was short lived. Just when Nyerere seemed to be basking in success and having a good laugh at the expense of the Americans and the British, the East African Community broke up in 1977. The Kagera War to liberate Uganda from Idi Amin Dada was the proverbial “last straw” as far as the national economy was concerned. This extravagant expedition forced Tanzania to live beyond its means. Analysts now question Nyerere’s haste to opt for war. The big question is: Would Nyerere have declared war on Amin had exiled former President Milton Obote, his close ally and friend, not been planning a comeback? In the aftermath, Obote briefly regained his presidency before another coup sent him into exile again. 


Tanzania is still recovering from that excursion. With a withering economy on the one hand and a dead socialist policy on the other, Nyerere had now reached the end of the road. The World Bank happily pounced on him while the IMF was sharpening its claws. Food shortages became the norm. In his last attempts to win public understanding, he let loose his Premier, the late Edward Moringe Sokoine, who went on to grab private property and jailed the unfortunate rich. Kangaroo courts were established across the country. In a classic case, a man was jailed for owning a TV set. Another went in for having a bottle of antibiotics. Worse things happened around the country, in some cases resulting in the loss of life! 


This 1983 economic crackdown was clearly the Arusha Declaration’s second coming. It was another poor performance by Nyerere in his last days in office. Several currency devaluations later, Nyerere had to go in 1985, leaving the economy in dire straits. Lots of propaganda and political spin went into making it look like Mwalimu had voluntarily left office. One of Nyerere’s lowest moments was in the late sixties, when he supported the Biafra secession attempt in Nigeria against all OAU tenets. Contributions were locally extorted and sent to Biafra. Incredibly, Nyerere was actually participating in and promoting the breaking-up of an independent African state. Later, historians came out with a revealing theory—that the Biafra fiasco was simply a Catholic conspiracy spearheaded by Nyerere, Cote d’Ivoire’s Houphouet Boigny and Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo. His esteem in Africa took a drastic plunge as close to a million people lost their lives in the Biafra War. 


This notwithstanding, Nyerere was known for his consistency on matters he believed in. He embarked on the war against tribalism by retiring all the tribal chiefs countrywide. He promoted the Swahili language as a national asset and used it to consolidate his grip on power. He castigated corruption vehemently and never stopped. He championed justice for all and sundry and spewed venom on those who advocated racial discrimination. After leaving office, he became a critic and anti-establishment proponent, much to the discomfort of those in power. The rulers then saw him as a spoilsport. The man was a brilliant and charismatic orator. He had a way with words. Every time he spoke, his adversaries trembled in indignation. And when he took a swipe at his detractors, it was devastating. Being anglophile, he had incredible mastery of both Swahili and English. He once accused British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of “prostituting British honour” and called Idi Amin Dada “that syphilitic lunatic”. 

It was hardly surprising when Rhodesian (now Zimbabwe) ex-Prime Minister Ian Smith described Mwalimu as the “evil genius”. Mwalimu wrote several books and poems. But he resisted all attempts to get him to write his autobiography. Is it not amazing, however, that for a man who was mostly led by his ego, Mwalimu spent most of his life worrying how history would handle him? Politically, Mwalimu left a legacy of sycophancy and a gang of self-serving power mongers within CCM. They specialise in praise singing, ululation and incessant clapping at their meetings. Party elections have become big business, with votes openly bought and sold. And the so-called Nyerere protéges prefer to quote Nyerere only when and where it suits them and serves their interests. 


There are evident signs of a religious crisis in the offing. Muslims are now lamenting louder than when Mwalimu was in power. They claim that Mwalimu intentionally favoured Christians in college selection, Government appointments and division of other resources. Mwalimu left us this rift and it has turned into an accident waiting to happen. Now, as we commemorate 13 years of the death of a man who claimed to oppose religious favouritism, the Catholic Church is in the process of ‘canonising’ Mwalimu. What is the underlying agenda? What is the Church up to? After a quarter of a century at the helm of all things political, Mwalimu got a rude awakening. He glanced back at the trail of havoc he inflicted on his people and saw everything smouldering and the wreckage strewn all around. It was a “things fall apart” scene. 


At the end of the day, he had no real friends. His family suffered from his neglect. The masses were still poverty stricken, illiteracy was holding sway, healthcare was zilch and the Union was collapsing. Both grand and petty corruption were riding high and, to make it worse, the ruling CCM dumped his Arusha Declaration and Socialism. Because nothing that he stood for stood, Nyerere died a bitter and very angry man. Yes, there will never be another Julius Nyerere. He was, indeed, an enigma.


sdawalo@yahoo.com JKN the Enigma