Rais Anapokusanya Sadaka

Rais John Pombe Magufuli anaweza kuwa rais wa kwanza kuweza kukusanya sadaka wakati wa ibada ukiachia mbali kuonyesha anavyojiamini na kuwaamini watu wake. Maana asingekuwa anawaamini na kujiamini angeogopa kufanya alichofanya. Kama binadamu tena mwenye madaraka, unyenyekevu alioonyesha rais ni wa kupigiwa mfano hasa ikizingatiwa kuwa hii ni mara ya kwanza kutokea si tTnzania tu bali duniani.

What do you know about Madagascar?

 Apart from being one of the largest island on earth at number four, Madagascar has its own unique vegetation. So, too, Madagascar has some unique animals that cannot be found anywhere on earth such as lemurs not to mention unique lizards and trees. However, there is another thing that the world has pooh poohed about Madagascar, its long names. Today's take is this Malagasy name Andrianampoinimerinatompokoindrindra which belong to the King of Imerina (1787-1810 commonly known as Andrianampoinimerina the Wise. 

INTRODUCING MY LATEST BOOK: HISTORIA YA MUUNGANO WA TANGANYIKA NA ZANZIBAR

My latest book is titled “HISTORIA YA MUUNGANO WA TANGANYIKA NA ZANZIBAR”; published by Tanzania Educational Publishers Ltd (TEPU) of P.O. Box 1222, Bukoba.  The book made its first debut onto the Tanzanian Book market this week, for its appearance had been carefully planned to coincide with the 55^thanniversary of this Union, namely the 26^th day of April, 2019. And, by the grace of God, it so came to pass.  Speaking for myself, I am particularly grateful for having had the good fortune and privilege, of having been a direct participant in most of the crucial events leading to the establishment of this Union. Hence the contents of this book are mostly my personal recollections of the relevant historic events. It is now my great pleasure to share this information with our readers, through the publication of said book.

About the book.

Book’s name: Historia ya Muungano wa Tanganyika na ZanzibarAuthor: Pius Msekwa

ISBN: 978 9987 07 092 3

Year of publication: 2019Number of pages: 77

Size: 14.8cm x 21cm

price: Shs. 10,000/=

With: Barcode

Will also be sold as e-book on line, using the publisher’s online Books Sales Platform:

https://tepu.co.tz/index.php/product/historia-ya-muungano-wa-tanganyika-na-zanzibar.

The book’s contents.

The successful and lasting unification of the former Republic of Tanganyika and the former Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar on 26^th of April, 1964, was such a huge significant event of great historical importance, that it fully deserves to be kept alive in the minds and memories of all subsequent generations of Tanzanians. And that, presumably, has been the main purpose and objective of the annual celebration functions which are organized by the Union Government, to commemorate the said event. My little book was designed and intended to make a contribution, albeit small, to the achievement of that noble objective.

The motivating factors for the formation of this Union.

The current generation of Tanzanians will presumably wish to know what the motivating factors for the establishment of this Union were.  Available records show that there were two principal matters which specifically motivated the founding fathers of this Union, President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of the then Republic of Tanzania, and President Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume of the then Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar, to agree to its formation. The first was the ‘great’ desire for African unity; and the other was the need to enhance the defense and security of these two countries and nations. But there was also a third factor, which was the desire to consolidate the close affinity, or brother hood, that already existed between the peoples of the two countries. These are fully elaborated in Chapter Two of this book; but could be summarized as follows: -

The desire for African Unity.

The details of this aspect are given in Chapter Two of this book.  It is easily confirmed by the speeches made on separate occasions by both Mwalimu Nyerere and Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume. For example, in his speech to the National Assembly delivered on 25^th April, 1964, President Mwalimu Nyerere said the following in Kiswahili: - “Leo hii kuna tamaa kubwa sana ya umoja wa Afrika.  Mioyo ya Waafrika ina shauku kubwa ya ajabu ya kuungana tuwe kitu kimoja.  Lakini yafaa tukumbuke kwamba umoja huo hautakuja kwa sababu ya shauku tu, na  maneno matupu. Lazima hatua zichukuliwe za kuonesha kwamba shauku hii, na matumaini haya, si ndoto tu isiyowezekana, bali ni jambo linalowezekana kabisa kutumia. Similarly, in hisearlier speeches during the struggle for Zanziba’s independence, Sheikh Abeid Karume quite often referred to the need for African unity, when he called for “ukombozi wa Bara zima la Afrika, ukifuatiwa na umoja wa afrika”.

The need to enhance defense and security.  

Both Tanganyika and Zanzibar had very good and sound reasons of being apprehensive in terms or their defense and security. In the first place, Zanzibar had only just emerged from a successful revolution which had toppled the Arab Sultan’s government. Obviously, the new Zanzibar Revolutionary Government led by President Karume was fearful that that the people who had been remove from power might want to attempt a come-back, in an attempt to regain their lost ‘Kingdom’. 
But secondly, there was also the nagging factor of the 'cold war’, whose influence actually dominated world politics at that material time; with the Western powers, particularly the Americans, being extremely worried that the Communists would seek to establish a strong base in Zanzibar, and from there, to spread their influence to Tanganyika, and the other East African countries. They were therefore determined to stop that from happening. In view of this, Presidents Nyerere and Karume presumably felt that a Union of their two countries would provide a much better protection against this looming ‘danger’, which would be brought about by the feared communist penetration, plus the consequential cold war effects that would surely follow.

The desire to consolidate the close affinity.

This desire is evidenced by the statement contained in the preamble to the “Articles of Union”, which reads as follows: “Whereas the Government of the Republic of Tanganyika, and of the Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar, being mindful of the long association of the peoples of these lands, and of their ties of kinship and amity, and being desirous of furthering that association and strengthening of these ties . . .  It is therefore AGREED as follows: The Republic of Tanganyika and the Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar, shall be united in one sovereign Republic”. It is also evidenced by President Nyerere’s speech, delivered in the National Assembly on 25^th April, 1964, in which he said the following: “Tanganyika na Zanzibar ni  nchi ndugu. Tunsashirikiana kwa historia, lugha, mila, tabia na siasa”.  Thus, as clearly expressed in the ‘Articles of Union’, this is the ‘association and ties of kinship’ that the two countries were desirous of furthering, by establishing this Union.

The secrecy surrounding the negotiations for unification.

                One prominent feature in the process leading to unification, is the absolute secrecy which surrounded the process of the relevant negotiations, and the reasons thereof; matters which are fully elaborated in Chapter Three of this book. This was so because it was necessary to protect the process from interference by those whose evil intentions, or the ‘enemies’ of African unity, who would attempt to derail that process. As President Nyerere had warned in 1960: “the desire for unity which now exists among African leaders could be whittled away by those enemies who find their strength in the weakness of small nations”. Thus, in view of the secret nature of these negotiations, participation in this segment of the process was necessarily limited to the two Presidents, Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika, and Abeid Amani Karume of Zanzibar. The matter was made public only after the two Presidents had signed the Agreement for the unification of the two countries, in the evening of 22^nd April, 1964; when the the State House, Dar es Salaam issued the following brief statement: “The President of the Republic of Tanganyika, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere; and the President of the Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, have today signed an Agreement  to unite our two countries into one sovereign Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. This Agreement will need to be ratified by the respective legislatures of the two countries” No further details were provided at that stage.

The subsequent conflicts and challenges, internal and external.

                   The conflicts which have bedevilled this Union, are extensively discussed in Chapters Four, Five and Six, of this book. The initial conflicts were first with West Germany (as it was then); and a little later with the United States of America. The conflict with West Germany was based on an important principle; but that with the United States was largely based on a misunderstanding, unfortunately created by the Government’s reliance on forged documents.  The details are given in Chapter Five. The major internal conflicts have been in relation to the two-government structure of the Union, which was provided for in the original “Articles of Union”, and later transferred to the permanent Union Constitution, enacted in 1977.                                                                               

  Thereafter, starting with Zanzibar President Aboud Jumbe’s attempt in 1982, up to the Warioba Commission’s attempt in 2014, there have been a total of five unsuccessful attempts to have that article of the Constitution repealed, and replaced by a three-government structure provision. The details of these attempts, plus the reasons for their failures, are given in Chapter Six of the book.             

The main reason has been Mwalimu Nyerere’s strong opposition to these proposals, whose influence rightly continued to dominate all his successors in office, and the ruling party CCM.          

As for CCM, the conflict was resolved through the holding of an internal party referendum held in 1994, after the National Assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a three-government Union structure.  The referendum question had invited each participating member of the party to indicate, by secret vote, his preference for the Union structure, i.e. whether it should be a one-government; or two-government, or three government structure.                      

The results of that internal referendum were that 29.21% voted in favour of the one-government structure; 61.75% voted in favour of retaining the two-government structure; while only 8.39% voted in favour of the three-government structure.  These results were positively received by the majority of the MPs, who quickly returned to the House and passed a new resolution to rescind their earlier resolution which had called for the introduction of a three-government structure. “All is well that ends well”.

Mwalimu Nyerere’s principal argument in opposing these attempts, was that the introduction of a Tanganyika Government would definitely result in the demise of this Union. He said that to the National Assembly team which went to brief him regarding their proposed motion for the introduction of a Tanganyika Government in the Union structure. “doing that will kill the Union” he was reported to have said.  However, in Chapter Seven of my book, I have endeavoured to show that rather than the number of governments in the Union structure, there other factors which are more likely to bring about the demise of our Union; the most serious of which is he lack of political will  on the part of the top national leadership to sustain the Union.  I believe it is for that particular purpose, that article 46B was added to the Union Constitution. This article requires the four national leaders specified therein, before assuming office, to swear a solemn oath which binds them to protect our Union.

There has been another category of internal challenges, described in Kiswahili as “Kero za Muungano”. These are also presented and discussed in detail in Chapter Five. The Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office responsible for Union Affairs, Hon. January Makamba, recently made a statement saying that “the Government has made positive headways in addressing the Union challenges”. Indeed, a permanent mechanism has been established, headed by the Vice-President herself, aimed at finding solutions to the remaining Union challenges.

piomsekwa@gmail.com  /0754767576. 

Source: Daily News and courtesy of Cde Msekwa.