We have already said goodbye to the year 2023 in last
week’s article; so, in this presentation, we will only wish our readers a happy
and prosperous new year to all our readers. The year 2023, was the second year of Mama
Samia Suluhu Hassan’s Presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania; which can
also rightly be called “the year of political reconciliation”, because of the fine
achievements scored by the President during that year, in search of political
reconciliation. At the end of that year, by the grace of God, our
family celebrated the two traditional Christmas holidays (25th and
26th December) in abundant health, and in peace and tranquility.
In his sermon, the Parish priest heaped praise on our umuiya,“for showing the
way”; and revealed that many other Jumuiyas,
either just forget, or perhaps deliberately avoid, celebrating similar anniversaries of their name sake saints.
Hence, he took that opportunity to a remind them to always remember to do that.
And, talking about ‘death anniversaries of saints’ quickly reminds me of the death of Padre Celestine Kipanda Kasisi, a native of of Ukerewe, who died on 24th December, 1953. Padre Celestine Kipanda was among the four first-ever Catholic priests to be ordained in this country now known as Tanzania. They were ordained on 15th August, 1917, at Rubya Seminary in Bukoba. The other three were: Angelo Mwilabure fror Kome; Oscar Kyakaraba and Wilbard Mupapi, both from Kashozi, Bukoba.
Padre Celestine has such an amazing record of ‘miracles’ which he reportedly performed at different times and places during his evangelization career; which clearly place him in the category of “undeclared saints”. His exciting story is told in a little book titled “Historia ya Maisha ya Padre Celesitine Kipanda Kasisi”;with a Foreword written by Archbishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande, of the Archdiocese of Mwanza.
Karibu 2024: the year of the ‘glorious Zanzibar revolution’.
It is therefore important, especially for the present generation, to be made aware of that unique voluntary leadership resignation event, which actually delivers two important lessons, for others to follow. These are: One, the quality of selflessness, i.e. that of thinking more about the needs of other people than about your own; and two, that of humility; i.e. the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. The first lesson is fully articulated in Nyerere’s book titled “TUJISAHIHISHE”; which he wrote soon after his resignation from the Premiership.
It is further recorded therein, that upon hearing this surprise announcement, the meeting decided to postpone discussion on all other matters which were listed on its agenda, in order to enable the members to concentrate on this issue. And further that the deliberations regarding this issue alone, continued for a period of six full days; during which every member who got the opportunity to express his views, strongly opposed Mwalimu Nyerere’s intention to resign from the Premiership.
He explained further as follows:-“I have taken this action after winning the support of my colleagues, but after a long debate that has taken several days. It is my firm belief that this is the best option for achieving our new objective, namely the creation of a country in which all the people will have the opportunity to take full and active part in the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease”
Mwalimu Nyerere also correctly predicted how his resignation would be received by different people, when he said the following: “I know that this will come to many of you as a shock, but this will mainly be a product of habit.
The second lesson to be learnt from Nyerere’s voluntary resignation, is humility; or the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. In Biblical language, this concept is expressed as:-“Ajikwezaye hushuhwa; na ajishushaye hukwezwa”. His action of voluntary resignation clearly demonstrates that Mwalimu Nyerere possessed this divine quality in great abundance. He was a modest man in his personal life, and hated pomposity in his official life, even when he was the country’s top leader.
But the 26th of December 2023 deserves special mention, for it was a very special day for us. The Catholic church calendar recognizes that date of 26th December of every year, as the ‘death anniversary’ of St. Stephano; and the formal structure of this church, provides for the establishment of “Jumuiya ndogo ndogo” (neighbourhood communities) at its lowest level. Our family belongs to a ‘Jumuiya’ known as “Jumuiya ya Mt. Stephano, Bomani”, in the Parish of Nansio, Ukerewe.
And, talking about ‘death anniversaries of saints’ quickly reminds me of the death of Padre Celestine Kipanda Kasisi, a native of of Ukerewe, who died on 24th December, 1953. Padre Celestine Kipanda was among the four first-ever Catholic priests to be ordained in this country now known as Tanzania. They were ordained on 15th August, 1917, at Rubya Seminary in Bukoba. The other three were: Angelo Mwilabure fror Kome; Oscar Kyakaraba and Wilbard Mupapi, both from Kashozi, Bukoba.
Padre Celestine has such an amazing record of ‘miracles’ which he reportedly performed at different times and places during his evangelization career; which clearly place him in the category of “undeclared saints”. His exciting story is told in a little book titled “Historia ya Maisha ya Padre Celesitine Kipanda Kasisi”;with a Foreword written by Archbishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande, of the Archdiocese of Mwanza.
Karibu 2024: the year of the ‘glorious Zanzibar revolution’.
It is therefore important, especially for the present generation, to be made aware of that unique voluntary leadership resignation event, which actually delivers two important lessons, for others to follow. These are: One, the quality of selflessness, i.e. that of thinking more about the needs of other people than about your own; and two, that of humility; i.e. the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. The first lesson is fully articulated in Nyerere’s book titled “TUJISAHIHISHE”; which he wrote soon after his resignation from the Premiership.
It is further recorded therein, that upon hearing this surprise announcement, the meeting decided to postpone discussion on all other matters which were listed on its agenda, in order to enable the members to concentrate on this issue. And further that the deliberations regarding this issue alone, continued for a period of six full days; during which every member who got the opportunity to express his views, strongly opposed Mwalimu Nyerere’s intention to resign from the Premiership.
He explained further as follows:-“I have taken this action after winning the support of my colleagues, but after a long debate that has taken several days. It is my firm belief that this is the best option for achieving our new objective, namely the creation of a country in which all the people will have the opportunity to take full and active part in the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease”
Mwalimu Nyerere also correctly predicted how his resignation would be received by different people, when he said the following: “I know that this will come to many of you as a shock, but this will mainly be a product of habit.
The second lesson to be learnt from Nyerere’s voluntary resignation, is humility; or the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. In Biblical language, this concept is expressed as:-“Ajikwezaye hushuhwa; na ajishushaye hukwezwa”. His action of voluntary resignation clearly demonstrates that Mwalimu Nyerere possessed this divine quality in great abundance. He was a modest man in his personal life, and hated pomposity in his official life, even when he was the country’s top leader.
But the 26th of December 2023 deserves special mention, for it was a very special day for us. The Catholic church calendar recognizes that date of 26th December of every year, as the ‘death anniversary’ of St. Stephano; and the formal structure of this church, provides for the establishment of “Jumuiya ndogo ndogo” (neighbourhood communities) at its lowest level. Our family belongs to a ‘Jumuiya’ known as “Jumuiya ya Mt. Stephano, Bomani”, in the Parish of Nansio, Ukerewe.
Because of that name, we normally commemorate that “St Stephano death anniversary” by celebrating
Holy Mass at a selected location within
the Jumuiya’s demarcated area. For this year, we it was
again our turn to host these celebrations. We decided to make it big. In consultation and agreement with the
leadership, we designed a programme, which has the usual Holy Mass celebration; but this time we added two important functions.
One was the wedding of a couple
belonging to our Jumuiya; and the
other was the baptism of 15 children, born of parents who are also members of our Jumuiya. And the final event
was a luncheon, for every one present. For our
family. it was, indeed, a “day to remember”. Because of the wedding and baptism events which were included, the attendance
this time was much larger than is customary for such small functions. This
auspicious event was presided over by the parish priest himself, Rev. Fr.
Renovatus Twin’omkama, accompanied by the St. Joseph choir of our Parish. This choir is the proud winner of the latest Diocesan choir
competition.
We shall revisit the Zanzibar ‘glorious revolution’ in our presentation next week. In today’s presentation, we will revisit the historic
event of Prime Minister Julius Nyerere’s voluntary resignation from office on 22nd January 1962;
hardly one month after Tanganyika’s independence. I have told this story in this column before, but due
to the great historical significance of that action; and especially for the
benefit of our new readers, I have included it in today’s presentation; for the
primary reason that this action alone,
clearly distinguishes Mwalimu Nyerere’s unique leadership style, from that of
many of his African peers, both past and present; who, as we all know, have cultivated an
insatiable greed for power, such that once they have acquired that power, they
will resort to all sorts of tricks, even including foul ones, in order to
remain in power.
In that book, he listed a number of ‘makosa’,
(mistakes); which he said must be avoided by all TANU leaders and followers. He
called the first of such mistake as “Ubinafsi”,
or self-centeredness, which he described in the following words (translated
from Kiswahili):- “With the
exception of a few catastrophic events, whose occurrence is beyond the power of
human beings to prevent such as floods and droughts; many of the other problems
are caused largely by peoples’ self-centeredness; and this usually takes a
variety of forms and appearances.
For example, sometimes we hear people asking this question: ‘what does
the future hold for us? In
many cases, such questions are motivated primarily by personal self-interests,
for there are those who think that TANU was formed for their personal benefits.
They seem to believe that TANU has a contractual obligation to reward them; by
seeming to forget (or, maybe, to deliberately ignore), the fact that TANU was formed in order to benefit the whole community.
This
social trend is dangerous, for if our members, especially those who hold
leadership positions, fail to judge our party’s usefulness on the basis of
services rendered to the community; and instead, decide to judge it on the
basis of how it satisfies their personal
ambitions and desires; then the party
will not last very long”.
From these words, it can be correctly inferred that
when Mwalimu Nyerere resigned from the Premiership, he was actually giving a
practical lesson to TANU leaders and followers, regarding the importance of not
using the party for personal benefits.
His unprecedented action of voluntarily resigning from
the Premiership of newly independent Tanganyika, just about a month after that country had
achieved its independence under his leadership; was, indeed, a historical event
of great significance; and it generated many unsolicited comments from a
variety of people, who expressed shock,
surprise, and disbelief, from across
the board. Some of the ‘wild’ comments,
included unfounded speculations, alleging
that Nyerere had been ‘kicked out of power’ by some power-hungry
elements within his own party, TANU.
However,
such allegations were baseless; and totally misguided. For, being the
charismatic leader he truly was, Julius Nyerere was in such a strong position
that no one person, or group of persons, could possibly succeed in ousting him
from power. The true reasons for his resignation are clearly
stated in the minutes of the meeting of
TANU’s National Executive Committee, which was held from16th to 21st
January, 1962, as follows:- “Mara
baada ya ufunguzi wa mkutano huo, Rais wa Chama alikiarifu kikao kuhusu mpango
wake wa kujiuzulu Uwaziri Mkuu, ili aweze kutumia muda wake wote, katika kukijenga upya Chama cha TANU, na
kukiweka katika mazingira mapya ya kuwa ni Chama Tawala; baada ya kuwa kimekamilisha kazi za kuwa ni Chama cha kupigania Uhuru. Alieleza zaidi kwamba hiyo hasa ndiyo ilikuwa
sababu yake kubwa ya kuitisha mkutano huo wa Halmashauri Kuu ya Taifa, ili
aweze kuwataarifu na kuwashirikisha wajumbe, juu ya azma yake hiyo”.
But
eventually, upon realizing Mwalimu Nyerere’s firm resolve and determination to
resign, and presumably having been convinced by his reasons for that resolve,
the meeting unanimously agreed to his proposal. Thereafter, the meeting was in
no mood to continue with the rest of the agenda, and so, it was decided to close the meeting at that
stage.
In a press statement issued on 22nd
January, 1962; Mwalimu Nyerere himself said the following: “Today, I
relinquished my position as Prime Minister of Tanganyika. But before doing
that, I selected a new team of Ministers, with Mr. Rashidi Kawawa at its head
as the new Prime Minister. I will not
myself be a member of this new Government, but I will give it full support, from my position as a Member of Parliament,
and as President of TANU.”
And it is the
same habit which might cause some of the people to misunderstand the significance
of this bold step; for the reason only that it is most unusual for a Prime to
step down from his position as leader of the Government, and confine himself
only to the leadership of the ruling party. But we do not believe that it is necessary
for us to copy, or maintain, the
practices of other countries; instead,
we believe that we must work out our own pattern of democracy; and the step I
have announced today is the best way for us to proceed in that direction at the
moment . . . It is therefore with the
fullest confidence in the new Government, and in the people of Tanganyika, that
I will now undertake my new task, that of leading the important task of
building a new TANU, which must be reformed and reshaped in order to meet the
changed circumstances of independent Tanganyika”.
piomsekwa@gmail.com/0754767576.
Source: Cde Pius Msekwa.
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