Our article of last week completed the events of the year 1978. But thereafter, the war against Iddi Amin’s invading forces from Uganda, continued. Although by January 1979; the invading forces had been repulsed from Tanzanian Territory. But the Tanzania Army commanders wanted to go all the way to Kampala to give President Iddi Amin ‘the punishment of his lifetime’. Whereas on his part, President Nyerere was initially hesitating to grant them that permission, on grounds that cannot find sufficient space in this article.
For the purpose of this article, suffice it to say that eventually, the requisite permission was granted, and the Tanzania Army, with the tacit support of the Ugandan population, fought all the way to Kampala, where they arrived in early April, 1979, and removed President Iddi Amin from power. He fled into exile to Saudi Arabia.
Mission accomplished, and objective achieved.
That war ended on 11th April 1979. It was “Mission accomplished, and objective achieved”. President Nyerere had done nothing more than what he had aimed to do. For, President Nyerere’s sole purpose was to repulse aggression and remove the aggressor, in order to prevent any such future recurrence. He had no territorial ambitions whatsoever. Thus, when it became clear that Iddi Amin was being defeated, President Nyerere immediately started making arrangements to get the several Ugandan Liberation movements (based in Uganda and others outside Uganda), to come together and agree on a common coalition to take over the governance of that country. He thus convened a meeting of all of them at Moshi in Tanzania; which was held from 14th to 26th March 1979. Tanzania’s Foreign Minister, then Benjamin Mkapa, was sent by President Nyerere to Moshi, to deliver to them the crucial message, that: “look, your country is just about to be liberated. We don’t want to occupy Uganda, and we don’t want to rule Uganda. You have been fighting Amin separately for all this time. Now that we have almost done it for you, you must come together and work out a leadership arrangement to take over from Iddi Amin”.
The Moshi meeting eventually agreed on an interim leadership arrangement until when they could hold their general elections; with Professor Yusuf Lule chosen as their leader. Yoweri Museveni was given the portfolio of Defence Minister.
After the war was over I arranged, in my capacity as Chief Executive Secretary, a special tour of all the Regions for President Nyerere, to thank the people of Tanzania for the unflinching support they had provided to our armed forces, during the whole combat period; particularly in terms of constant contributions of food and meat supplies to the soldiers who were fighting in Uganda. I personally had participated in mobilizing some of these food contributions, and I also accompanied Mwalimu Nyerere on his thanksgiving tour of the Regions.
The events of 1980.
1980 was another general election year in Tanzania. In 1975, President Nyerere had announced that he was accepting nomination for the last time. Well no, he changed his mind and accepted nomination again in 1980. There were good, cogent reasons that easily convinced him to stay on: There were the crushing economic problems arising out of the Iddi Amin war which had just ended; specifically the consequential heavy reconstruction financial requirements; plus those other problems arising from the collapse of the East African Community, and from the sudden rises in world oil prices. Plus, there was also the undesirable political perception that people might hold, that he was deliberately running away from these problems!
So, he decided to soldier on; but only for another five years; at the end of which in 1985, when the CCM leaders tried again to persuade him to accept further nomination, he flatly refused by saying : “No, please, this time no. In the first place, I am a human being, and I will die one day. Secondly, if I don’t step down and just continue until I die as President, the one who becomes President after me will also want to remain President until he dies, why shouldn’t he? Thirdly, I need to put in place a succession plan; so as to build a culture of peaceful succession. I have finally decided, that I am leaving this office. Let us therefore now talk about the real issue, namely how we can get a proper successor who will maintain the stability of the country”.
Structural reforms introduced in CCM
The party National Executive Committee which met during the last quarter of 1980, appointed a small Task Force which was tasked with the responsibility for drafting new election Rules for the party’s internal elections. I was appointed Secretary of that Task Force. At the same time, two major changes were introduced in the structure of the party. These were (a) the introduction of a new category of ninety ‘national members’ of the National Executive Committee, who were to be elected by the Party’s congress; and (b) the reintroduction of the post of CCM Secretary General. We were therefore required to propose suitable election rules for these new officials. An additional (administrative) structural change, was the separation of the positions of Regional/District Commissioner from that of Regional/District Party Secretary; which had hitherto always been held by one person.
New features in the 1980 elections.
An important new feature that surfaced for the first time in our election history, was the issuance of an Election Manifesto by CCM, the ruling party. This is the five-year blueprint (which would be issued at every general election thereafter), giving details of the party’s pledges to the electorate.
Furthermore, there was the unexpected announcement by first-time Prime Minister Edward Sokoine, (who had been appointed only three years earlier in 1977), that he was not going to seek re-election in his constituency during those elections, explaining that he was going for treatment abroad in Yugoslavia. This created considerable speculation and excitement, regarding who would be appointed as his replacement in that office. But otherwise the elections were held as scheduled, with Julius Nyerere emerging the winner of the Presidential election, who then appointed Cleopa David Msuya as Prime Minister.
The events of 1981.
On 1st January I assumed a new appointment back in the Government Service, as Regional Commissioner for Tabora Region. During the week before Christmas, President Nyerere had called me to his office, to inform me of his intention to appoint me to that position, effective from 1st January, 1980. Accordingly, I had already taken the required oath of office. But in addition, Regional Commissioners in those days also became ex-officio members of the Union Parliament. That new appointment therefore brought me back inside Karimjee Hall, which I had left in 1970 when I was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam. But, these new responsibilities notwithstanding, I continued with my responsibility as Task Force Secretary, for drafting the new CCM election Rules. The work on these Rules was completed, submitted and approved, and were used for the first time during the 1982 party general elections, in which veteran Rashidi Kawawa was elected Secretary General.
President Nyerere’s endeavours to detoxify the economy, and politics.
One major event that was set in motion right at the beginning of 1981, was President Nyerere’s endeavours to detoxify the country’s economy and politics. The difficult economic problems of those times had created a class of business people and public officials, who lived in total laxity; lacking in accountability, austerity, and frugality, plus impunity in mismanaging or careless spending of public funds; and/or practicing widespread corruption. The President established a small but very high-level CCM team of investigators, headed by Vice President and Party Vice-Chairman Aboud Jumbe, and operating from the CCM Sub-head offices in Lumumba Street, Dar es Salaam. The sole task of this special team was to investigate and report to him, any accusations or allegations of corrupt transactions, and/or other breaches of ethics, or laxity in the transaction of public business; for him to take the necessary corrective measures. To the best of my knowledge and recollection, many heads did roll as a result of the work of this special team. But alas, the damage had perhaps already gone beyond remedy. Thus the economic situation continued to deteriorate, to the extent that some conspirators even hatched a plot to kill President Nyerere, by shooting him when he was coming out of his regular church services at St Peter’s catholic church, Oysterbay. They were of course discovered before they could carry out their evil intentions.
The events of 1982.
As we have already seen, the year 1982 was one in which two major constitutional changes were introduced in the structure of Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), of vastly increasing the size of the party’s National Executive Committee, and re-introducing the post of Secretary General.
These constitutional changes were effectuated by the CCM congress meeting in October 1982; when a meeting of the National Executive Committee which was held immediately thereafter, elected Rashidi Mfaume Kawawa as the CCM Secretary General; and abolished the post of Chief Executive Secretary.
The events of 1983.
We have already referred to the administrative changes which separated the posts of Regional/District Commissioners from those of Regional/District Party Secretaries. This change was implemented in March 1983, when I was transferred to Kilimanjaro Region only as Regional Commissioner, while retired General Silas Mayunga was appointed Regional CCM Secretary for that Region.
In the meantime, Edward Sokoine had returned from Yugoslavia, having fully recovered from the disease that was troubling him. That is also the time when President Nyerere re-appointed him Prime Minister, to replace Cleopa Msuya who, apparently, had been only “housewarming” that position in Edward Sokoine’s absence. Msuya became Minister for Finance.
Premier Sokoine’s anti-economic sabotage campaign.
Premier Edward Sokoine is still remembered to this day, for his initiative and sterling performance in his gallant fight against perceived economic saboteurs. He first had an anti-economic sabotage act enacted by Parliament, and thereafter quickly settled down to managing the campaign himself. The Regional Commissioners were, of course, the main actors in this campaign, and I was therefore very closely involved in it from my new base in Moshi.
But because I was CCM’s Chief Executive Secretary during Edward Sokoine’s first term in office as Prime Minister, and he had apparently developed a large amount of trust and confidence in me; he decided to maintain a similarly close working relationship with me during his second term in that office. He thus, shared many of his thoughts with me during that campaign.
The events of 1984:
The year 1984 immediately brings to mind the sad memories of the tragic death, by road accident, of Prime Minister Sokoine; which produced equally tragic consequences; particularly regarding President Nyerere’s envisaged succession plan.
We have referred above to Mwalimu Nyerere’s reasons for refusing to accept nomination for the Presidency in 1980; when he said : “ I need to put in place a succession plan”. When he re-appointed Edward Sokoine to the Premiership, he was, in fact, putting his succession plan in place. Thus, a major consequence of Sokoine’s sudden death, was the total frustration of this grand plan.
piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576.
(Will be continued next week).
Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa himself.
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