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 55thanniversary of this Union, namely the 26th 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:
The book’s contents.
The successful and lasting unification of the former Republic of
Tanganyika and the former Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar on 26th 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 25th 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.
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 25th 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 22nd 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.
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