How the Berlin Conference Clung on Africa: What Africa Must Do
Saturday, 29 February 2020
KATI YA KABWE NA MAALIM NANI ANAMDANGANYA NANI?
Kwa wanojua historia ya Zitto Kabwe kiongozi wa chama cha ADC na aliyekuwa katibu mkuu wa chama cha wananchi CUF Maalim Seif Sharriff Hamad na namna walivyoweza kuibuka na kuzunguka kisiasa kabla ya kufikia walipo, atakuwa anashangaa sana ndoa waliyofunga wawili hawa. Seif anasifika kwa kumnyang'anya chama chake marehemu James Mapalala na kukimilki kabla ya kupokwa na rafiki yake wa muda mrefu aliyegeuka kuwa hasidi wake mkuu Prof Ibrahim Lipumba. Zitto naye anakumbukwa alivyotaka kuja juu kwenye chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA). Kwa historia na malengo yao, wawili hawa ni wajanja hata schemers. Sina Kiswahili chake. Je umefika wakati wa Kabwe kupokwa chama au Maalim kuonyeshwa mlango kwa mara nyingine? je nani anamdanganya nani? Na nani atamzidi kete mwenzie?
Friday, 28 February 2020
A CRUCIAL TEST FOR THE EFFICACY OF THE ONE-PARTY DEMOCRACY SYSTEM. (Continued from last week)
The 1965 elections were, essentially, a very crucial test for the efficacy of President Nyerere’s cherished “One-party democracy”. We concluded last week’s article with the following words: “It was in the management of that delicate exercise, that fortune smiled on me”. The relevant ‘delicate exercise’ was that general election; which I had to manage in my other capacity as Director of Elections.
That particular election attracted an amazing amount of interest and skepticism from political stake holders worldwide. Thus, hordes of international journalists descended on our country, basically to watch the fairness or otherwise, of the entire election process.
The extent and depth of this skepticism was amazing even among the British officials who were still working for the Tanzania Government at that time, which I soon discovered through my working relationships with some of them; specifically with the Parliamentary Draftsman, Paul Fifoot; who had developed an unexpected habit of consulting me, as Clerk of the National Assembly, on many issues regarding some of the legislative proposals that were under preparation, because he thought I might have helpful ideas.
He was, undoubtedly, a brilliant lawyer who showed extraordinary diligence in his work. But this particular assignment, apparently gave him great tension. For example, it became necessary to craft a new elections statute. In the course of putting together the various clauses of this law, he reached the clause which was making provision for the “Primary Nomination” of candidates by the party. He became worried and apprehensive that the party would be inclined to give favourable treatment to its cadres at the expense of the unknown newcomers.
He could not find a formula which would take care of this problem. So he called me for assistance; and together, we found a solution; which was to prohibit the party from nominating only one candidate; by making it compulsory for the party to nominate the statutory two candidate, who would then be presented to the Electoral Commission for “Final Nomination”; that is to say, the final nomination of the two same- party candidates, who would compete in the election.
But my friend had also become apprehensive of the possibility of some ambitious candidate, just murdering his competitor in order to enable him to remain alone in the race, and therefore be elected unopposed. He contemplated adding a proviso which would make it compulsory, in such an eventuality, which was for the entire nomination process to commence de novo. But he was not sure whether this would be acceptable to the legislators, since, obviously, they were interested parties. Hence, he called me for consultation on this point; and I encouraged him to go ahead with that proposal. This gave considerable relief to his troubled mind.
The enactment of the new One-Party Constitution. In last week’s article, we explained President Nyerere’s enthusiasm for the rapid enactment of the One-Party Constitution. Eventually, after completion of all the processes involved, it was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 10th July, 1965. As a result of that, the said general election was held under this new Constitution.
It is precisely for that reason, that the election generated a lot of interest worldwide. The international journalists who descended on the country concentrated on my office as Director of Elections to observe the fairness, or otherwise, of all the stages of the electoral administrative process. In the end, they produced a documentary of that whole process, which, subsequently, all the relevant stakeholders were invited to watch; including me and President Nyerere himself.
I believe that documentary is what brought the goddess of fortune to “ smile on me”. The said documentary, must have been my “fortune cookie”. This is because, it was very soon thereafter that President Nyerere directed the Civil Service Department to upgrade my civil service position of Clerk of the National Assembly, to make it equivalent, in salary and status, to that of Permanent Secretary in a Government Ministry. Fortes fortuna iuvat (Fortune favours the brave).
For, when subsequently President Nyerere came to Karimjee Hall to perform the his constitutional function of opening the newly elected Parliament, he said the following: “Mzigo mkubwa wa uchaguzi huu ulikuwa mabegani kwako Mheshimiwa Spika, na hasa kwa watendaji wawili wa Bunge hili, Katibu wa Bunge na Katibu msaidizi. Kazi yote hii kubwa ilifanyika vizuri sana, na kama kulikuwa na hitilafu, zilikuwa ni ndogo mno . . . Uchaguzi huu umetuachia mafunzo mengi sana, iwapo sisi wenyewe tutakuwa tayari kuyazingatia”.
The end of President Nyerere’s first term.
This general election is what ushered President Nyerere into his second term in the office of President (1965 – 1970). The major economic and political events of his second term include the following: (i) the inauguration of the Bank of Tanzania in 1966; (ii) the establishment of the Permanent Commission of Enquiry, also in 1966; and (iii) the birth of the Arusha Declaration (in 1967).
(i) The inauguration of the Bank of Tanzania on 14th June, 1966; was indeed a major step in the county’s economic development process, for it went in tandem with the inauguration of a new currency for Tanzania, namely the Tanzanian shilling. This was necessitated by the dissolution of the colonial “East African Currency Board”; which had hitherto, according to the legislation which established it, been responsible for “the provision and control of the supply of currency in the East African Protectorate, the Uganda Protectorate, and any other dependencies in East Africa which might be added by the Secretary o State”.
The Statute which established the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) , described its functions in the following terms: “The principal functions of the Bank shall be to exercise the functions of a Central Bank, to issue currency, and to regulate banking and credit, and to manage the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Tanzania”.
(ii) The establishment of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry.
It was President Nyerere’s settled view, that the one-party democracy needed a strong, independent, watchdog institution, a kind of “Ombudsman”. In his own words: “in a one-party Administration, there will be a tendency for the Government and Party officials to run roughshod over the people, by disregarding their inherent human rights with impunity. Hence, such an Institution is necessary for the control of such unruly beHaviour by officials. He achieved this objective through the enactment of The Presidential Commission of Enquiry Act” (no. 25 of 1966); whose lead clauses read as follows:-
“(1) There shall be a Permanent Commission of Enquiry, which shall have jurisdiction to enquire into the conduct of any person this section applies, in the exercise of his office or authority, or in abuse thereof”.
2) The Commission shall make an enquiry whenever so directed by the President; and may make such enquiry in any case in which it considers that an allegation of misconduct, or abuse of office or authority, by any such person, ought to be investigated”.
(3) The Commission shall report the proceedings of every enquiry, and its conclusions and recommendations thereon, to the President.
(4) This section applies to persons in the service of the United Republic, persons holding office in the Party, and persons in the service of a local government Authority; and the members of such Commissions, Corporate bodies established by statute; and Public Authorities or Boards, as may be specified by Act of Parliament”.
(iv) The birth of the Arusha Declaration, February 1967.
The Arusha Declaration was the blue print for the socialist development of our country. It was launched in Arusha on 5th February, 1967; when the ruling party, TANU, formally unveiled its policy document titled “Tanu’s policy of Socialism and self-reliance”. That document defined, much more clearly than before, TANU’s incipient ideology of Ujamaa (socialism).
This was rapidly followed by a series of other publications, most of which were written by President Nyerere himself; which explained and clarified in greater detail this new concept of Ujamaa; and its application to the various sectors of the country’s social and economic development programme. These additional documents included: “Ujamaa Vijijin” (Rural Socialist development); “Elimu ya Kujitegemea” (Education for Self-reliance); “Siasa ni Kilimo” (Guidelines on socialist Agricultural development; and “Sera ya Viwanda Vidogo vidogo” (Gidelines on socialist small-scale industrial development).
In view of the length of time that has elapsed since its adoption way back in 1967; plus the fact that the document itself is no longer readily accessible to the public; the vast majority of Tanzanians of the current generation are most probably completely unaware of its contents.
It may thus be helpful to them, and probably to many others, to reproduce here a brief summary of its major contents. We have done that in the paragraphs that follow below.
A summary of the Arusha Declaration document.
This document is presented in Five Parts, as follows:-
PART ONE describes “Ujamaa” as the official ideology of TANU; and proceeds to recite the seven principles of Ujamaa, as listed therein.
PART TWO is a key section; which defines and elaborates on the ideology itself. It says the following: (a) In a mature socialist society, there is no exploitation, since every able- bodied person is a worker . There is no capitalism or feudalism; and its people are not artificially divided into a lower working class; and an upper class of people who depend entirely on the labour of others, That is what is called ‘exploitation’. (b) That the major means of production are controlled by the State; and proceeds to list the essential, major means of production, that must be owned and operated by the State on behalf of the people. (c) That for socialism to succeed, there must also be democracy. It says that: “However, a country does not become socialist simply because its major means of production are controlled by the State. The State itself must also be governed by a democratically elected Government”. (d) That Socialism is a kind of faith (Ujamaa ni imani). It pointedly says that: “Socialism cannot establish itself, because, in reality, it is a kind of faith. Socialism can only be established by people who have genuine faith in its efficacy as a system, or way of life; and are prepared to abide by its rules".
PART THREE is another key section of the Arusha Declaration. This is wholly devoted to explaining the all important policy of self-reliance (Kujitegeea). It warns Tanzanians that: “we are waging a war”; and that “money is not the poor man’s weapon for waging such war”; and further that “”loans and grants could jeopardize our freedom”. And finally announces the solemn resolve, that ”from now on, we will stand on our own feet, and walk using our own feet , instead of taking an upside down position”. These are the Arusha Declaration’s indelible “nuggets of wisdom”.
PART FOUR spells out new requirements for the party’s membership, in the following terms: “We must now put the greatest emphasis on the quality on the ideological quality of our members, and their commitment to Ujamaa”,
PART FIVE is the final chapter of that book. It reveals the resolution which was adopted by that meeting. It also prescribes the “code of ethics” which was adopted, which is to be observed by all TANU and Government leaders at all levels.
To be continued next week.
Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa Himself.
Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Saturday, 22 February 2020
Wednesday, 19 February 2020
PRESIDENT NYERERE’S FIRST TERM IN OFFICE (Continued from last week).
Inadvertently, last
week’s article kind
of ‘jumped the
queue’ to discuss
the army mutiny
of January 1964;
when there were
other momentous governance
events in President
Nyerere’s first year
in office, 1963,
which are worth
putting on permanent
record. Hence, for
the purpose of
orderly chronological presentation
of events, we
will go back
to those momentous
events of President
Nyerere’s first year
in office; which
was, coincidentally, also
my first year
in office as
Clerk of the
National Assembly, becoming
the first Tanzanian
chief executive officer (CEO)
of that highly
respected Constitutional establishment.
The
first term of
President Nyerere in office.Even though
President Nyerere assumed
office in December,
1962; but he
served in that
capacity only for
the remainder of
the stipulated five-year
leadership period, which
was counted from
the general elections
of 1960, and
was therefore scheduled
to end in
1965. Hence, for
the benefit of
the current generation
of young Tanzanians,
we will describe,
in greater detail,
those momentous, history- making, formative
first three years
(1963-1965) of Mwalimu
Nyerere’s Presidency, actually
year by year.
The following
were the major
momentous events of
that period:
(i)
The resettlement of
the rural population
into new, well
organized, village settlements.
(ii) The making
of a new
Constitution, ( that made provision
for a democratic,
One-Party State). (iii)
The formation of a long
lasting Political Union
between Tanganyika and
Zanzibar. (iv) The
1965 general elections,
(which demonstrated to
the whole world
that “Single-Party Democracy”
was, indeed, a viable
political option). I
am a credible
witness to all
of these events;
because of my
personal involvement in the administration of
the relevant Legislative
processes that had
to be undertaken
for their finalization.
The beginnings
of the Villageization programme.
The
“villageization policy” was first
announced by President
Nyerere in his inaugural
address to the
National Assembly on 10th December,
1962; wherein he
said the following: “ukiniuliza Serikali
yetu imepanga kufanya
nini katika
miaka michache ijayo,
jibu langu ni
rahisi sana. Ni
kwamba katika miaka michache ijayo,
Serikali itafanya kila liwezekanalo, ili kuwezesha wakulima
wa Tanganyika waishi
katika vijiji, utartibu
ambao utaiwezesha Serikali
kuwapatia kwa urahisi
zaidi, mahitaji ambayo ni
muhimu kwa ajili
ya kuboresha maisha
yao”.
The
implementation of that
policy started immediately,
with the establishment
of the “Rural
Settlements Commission Act,
1963”, which was tasked
with the responsibility for
establishing new, properly
organized, ‘village settlements’;
wherein the rural residents
would enjoy the
modern life styles,
similar to those enjoyed
by their
urban counterparts; such
as the availability
of electricity, piped
clean water supplies,
and within- easy- reach primary education
facilities, for their
children. Unfortunately, this
initial experiment of
‘Village Settlements’ ended
in total failure,
as a result
of the administrative blunders
committed by the
relevant implementing Agency,
the Rural Settlement
Commission, of making
them too ‘capital
intensive’ investments, which
went far beyond
the capability of
the Government to
fund their establishment
throughout the country.
The
making of a
new Constitution.
President Nyerere
took the earliest
opportunity, at the
first meeting for
that year of
the TANU National
Executive Committee, which
was held in
January 1963; present
his cherished
proposal for the
country to have
a new, democratic,
One-Party State
Constitution. The meeting
unanimously adopted his
proposal, and also
authorized him, in his
capacity as President
of the country,
to appoint a
‘Presidential Constitutional Commission’,
which would be
tasked with the
responsibility to prepare
proposals, and recommendations, for
the Constitution of
such a democratic,
One-Party State.
And because he
wanted to get
the process started
as quickly as
possible, he fast-tracked
the appointment of the
said Commission, and
announced its members
towards the end
of the same
month, on 28th January,
1963.
In
view of the
general understanding that is now
prevailing in the
world, which tends
to equate democracy
with multi-party politics, Mwalimu
Nyerere’s desire for a Constitutional ‘One
Party democracy’ needs
to be explained.
Basically, it
was based on the
search for a
practical solution to
what he considered
to be a
failure of multi-party
democracy in Tanganyika
at that time;
arising from the
results of the
two multi-party general elections which
were held in Tanganyika before
independence, in 1958/59;
and in 1960.
In both cases,
the majority of
the voters country wide had become
disenfranchised, for the
reason only that because
of TANU’s huge
popularity, most of its candidates
were elected unopposed. For
example, in the
1960 parliamentary elections,
TANU candidates were
elected unopposed in
58 of the
seventy-one constituents that
were available, thus
no voting took place
in all of
those constituencies.
In such
circumstances, Mwalimu Nyerere
felt that this
disenfranchisement of voters
was undemocratic; and
therefore a problem
that required a
solution. He also felt that
the best solution
lay in creating
democratic competition within TANU itself, by
crafting a Constitution
which would make
provision for that
to happen.
The
Presidential Constitutional Commission
took two years
to complete the
task that had
been assigned to
it, and presented
its final report
to the President
on 22nd March,
1965. And that, is
what gave birth
to the One-party
Tanzania Constitution of 1965.
The momentous events of 1964: The birth of a new country, and a new nation.
The momentous events of 1964: The birth of a new country, and a new nation.
“The
Peoples’ Republic of
Zanzibar, and the
Republic of Tanganyika,
shall upon Union
Day, and forever
after, be united
into one sovereign
Republic”.
These are
precise words of
section 4 of
the a statute
titled “The Tanganyika
and Zanzibar Union
Act” (no.
22 of 1964);
which was enacted by
the Parliament of the Republic
of Tanganyika on 25th April,
1964. I would like
to draw our younger
readers’ special attention
to the specific
words shall be
united upon Union
Day “and forever
after”; which partly
accounts for the
continued stable existence
of our Union,
so many years
after half a
century since its
establishment; and still
going strong.
This action
by the Tanganyika
Parliament, was preceded
by the passage
of an identical
legislation, titled “The Zanzibar
and Tanganyika Union
Law, 1964”; by the
Zanzibar Revolutionary Council
on the morning
of the same
day, 25th April, 1964;
and was subsequently
published in the
Union Government Gazette as
GN 243 of
1964.
The two
pieces of legislation
were enacted separately
for the purpose
of ratifying the
Agreement for uniting
the two countries,
which had been
signed earlier by
Presidents Julius Kambarage
Nyerere of the
Republic of Tanganyika,
and Abeid Amani
Karume of the People’s Republic
of Zanzibar, on 22nd April,
1964. That Agreement
had specified that
the Union “shall
be governed by an
interim Constitution, pending
the enactment of
a permanent Constitution”; and
further that “it
shall come into
existence on the day
following that Agreement’s
ratification by respectively
by the Legislatures of
the two countries”.
That is
why 26th Aril
became the birth
date of our
Union, or “Union
Day”.
Briefly
then, that is
when, and how,
an entirely new
country called “The
United Republic of
Tanzania”, and the
new nation of “
sisi Watanzania” came
into existence; this being
a proud creation
of the people
of these countries
themselves; and not
that of the
colonial powers who
met in Berlin
in 1884, created
the boundaries of
African countries, and
proceeded to divide
these countries among
themselves, for their
colonial domination and
exploitation.
The
inauguration of the
First Five-year Development
Plan.
In my
capacity as Clerk
of the National
Assembly, I was
present therein when
President Nyerere arrived,
on 12th May,
1964, to inaugurate
Tanzania’s first five-year
development Plan. It may be helpful
to also explain,
that soon after
Mwalimu Nyerere had
taken over full
responsibility for managing
the affairs of
Tanganyika, upon the
achievement of independence
in December 1961;
he had invited
Sir Ernest Vassey ,
a British national
who at that
time was serving
in the colonial
Government of Kenya;
to become his
Minister of Finance,
and given him
the added responsibility for
developing a short-term,
three- year development plan,
for Tanganyika.
Sir Ernest
did, indeed, produce
such a Plan;
but, in view
of the prevailing
circumstances at the
material time, plus
the fact that
all the funds
required for the
implementation of that
plan were expected
to be provided
by the British
Government; the said
Plan had, of
necessity, relied heavily
on the World
Bank recommendations that
had been issued
in respect of Tanganyika’s economic
development.
However, that
was not quite
satisfactory for Mwalimu
Nyerere; whose aspiration
was for Tanganyika’s development
to be more
people-centered, aimed at
upgrading the people’s
quality of life,
plus the achievement,
in the long
run, of the
country’s self reliance.
Thus, when he came to Parliament to inaugurate the first five-year plan, whose preparation he had closely supervised himself, he was vividly exuberant, and full of hope and confidence, that his cherished objectives would probably be achieved through the successful implementation of this Plan. His is evidenced in parts of his speech on that occasion, wherein he said the following: “Mpango huu una maana sana kwa nchi yetu. Uhuru ulitupatia nafasi ya kujiletea maendeleo yetu sisi wenyewe. Nafasi hiyo sasa ni lazima itumike, kwa kuliweka Taifa letu katika misingi imara ya kuwa na watu wenye afya bora, walioelimika, na walioondokana na umaskini Mpango huu wa miaka mitano, unaonesha njia tutakazozipitia ili kufikia shabaha hizo”. “Kupanga ni kuchagua” is one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s well known metaphors. He used it for the first time in the course of this speech. But, unfortunately, despite his enthusiastic optimism, luck was not always on his side. There were obvious constraining factors which had apparently been overlooked; the main ones being: the lack of sufficient trained manpower in many of the Plan areas; and, even more serious, the heavy dependence on foreign donors and loans for the Plan’s implementation.
For example, when Tanzania suddenly broke diplomatic relations with Britain in December 1965, on a quarrel over the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by its Southern Rhodesia colony, resulted in the suspension, or cancellation, of a substantial loan amounting to seven and a half million sterling pounds, which had been expected to be secured from Britain, for the implementation of some of the projects which had been envisaged in that Plan. The 1965 general elections: A vital test for the “one-Party democracy” argument.
Thus, when he came to Parliament to inaugurate the first five-year plan, whose preparation he had closely supervised himself, he was vividly exuberant, and full of hope and confidence, that his cherished objectives would probably be achieved through the successful implementation of this Plan. His is evidenced in parts of his speech on that occasion, wherein he said the following: “Mpango huu una maana sana kwa nchi yetu. Uhuru ulitupatia nafasi ya kujiletea maendeleo yetu sisi wenyewe. Nafasi hiyo sasa ni lazima itumike, kwa kuliweka Taifa letu katika misingi imara ya kuwa na watu wenye afya bora, walioelimika, na walioondokana na umaskini Mpango huu wa miaka mitano, unaonesha njia tutakazozipitia ili kufikia shabaha hizo”. “Kupanga ni kuchagua” is one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s well known metaphors. He used it for the first time in the course of this speech. But, unfortunately, despite his enthusiastic optimism, luck was not always on his side. There were obvious constraining factors which had apparently been overlooked; the main ones being: the lack of sufficient trained manpower in many of the Plan areas; and, even more serious, the heavy dependence on foreign donors and loans for the Plan’s implementation.
For example, when Tanzania suddenly broke diplomatic relations with Britain in December 1965, on a quarrel over the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by its Southern Rhodesia colony, resulted in the suspension, or cancellation, of a substantial loan amounting to seven and a half million sterling pounds, which had been expected to be secured from Britain, for the implementation of some of the projects which had been envisaged in that Plan. The 1965 general elections: A vital test for the “one-Party democracy” argument.
Indeed,
the 1965 general elections
turned out to be
a vital test
for Mwalimu Nyerere’s
argument, that ‘One-Party
democracy’ was a
viable political option.
For that reason, two things happened:
Firstly, President Nyerere
himself, being keenly
aware of this
fact, directed that
maximum attention be focused
on the need for absolute
fairness in all
the aspects of
that election exercise.
The relevant aspects
included: (i) the
crafting of an
Electoral Law which
would ensure the
availability of strict fairness to all
the participating parties;
(ii) the management
of the whole
process by the
TANU, particularly the
selection of candidates,
and the campaign
stage; and (iii)
the management of
the entire process by
the Director of
Elections, (that was myself).
It was
in the management
of that delicate
exercise, that fortune
smiled on me. Will
be continued next
week.
piomsekwa@gmail.com/0754767576.
Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa Himself.
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