Speaker
Mohamed Said
Christian Hegemony and the Rise of Muslims Militancy in Tanzania Mainland
Introduction
In order to understand the Tanzanian political environment and to appreciate this study we first need to establish even in a nut shell the source of the problem. Why is the Church in Tanzania and particularly the Catholic Church in control of the government and all that it entails? Why are Muslims, fifty years after independence still backward, uneducated and form the lower strata of society? Is this by default or design? Having seen this we have to analyse and deeply explore the hopes and aspirations of Muslims in free Tanganyika as Tanzania was known then and ask, are Muslims satisfied with this unequal status? We also have to ask again did Muslims spearhead the struggle for independence so that the Church could replace the colonial government. Although for reasons which are to be deduced later, this historical fact is still in contention. No one can ignore the role of Islam and Muslims in resisting foreign domination beginning with German colonialism when in 1907 Muslims rose up in arms against Germans in Maji Maji War to free Tanganyika from bondage; to the period of British rule when Muslims formed the backbone of resistance against British rule.
Subsequently Muslims dominated both labour and nationalist politics. Tanzania Mainland celebrates fifty years of independence this year but the role of Muslims in resisting foreign rule and in liberating Tanganyika from colonialism has not been requited nor have the heroes of independence struggle been honoured. We again have to pose a question why is this so? Is it that Tanzania is an ungrateful nation and therefore hates its heroes? Answers to all those questions will lead us closer to understanding the problem which Muslims in Tanzania face. Answers to these questions will make us reflect and uncover reasons which caused Muslim independence aspirations not to be realised. This is now the bone of contention between Muslims and the government. Muslims without mincing words are now pointing an accusing finger to the Church particularly the Catholic Church which in connivance with President Nyerere for being anti Islam and for frustrating the hopes and aspirations of Muslims in free Tanganyika, a country they liberated from colonialism in 1961.
History in Revision
Muslims are now organising nationwide mass rallies which openly and in live broadcasts denounce the church, criticise the government and church agents within the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the Parliament for oppressing Muslims. Seemingly derogatory words like "pandikizi" (singular) and "mapandikizi" (plural) meaning "turncoats;" or the new coined word "Mfumo Kristo" roughly meaning "Christian dominance" are now part of the Muslim and Swahili vocabulary. These analogies are used freely in the Muslim media and among Muslims in every day conversation. But what usually thrills Muslims and utterly significant showing that times have changed is when in the rallies and in normal discussion Muslims refer to Nyerere hitherto known respectfully as "Baba wa Taifa" as "Baba wa Kanisa," meaning "Church Elder." The move by the Catholic Church to make him a saint has not helped matters. More so it proves all the allegations levelled against Nyerere that he never was a nationalist but a Catholic zealot. Respect and love which Muslims once had for Nyerere has been completely wiped out. The new generation of Muslims no longer believe in the official history of TANU and the propaganda that it was Nyerere who single handed defeated the British. Muslims instead are honouring the forgotten heroes of independence movement and in so doing invoking emotions particularly in the new generation to stand up against oppression as their forefathers had done against Germans and the British. Muslim heroes of the Maji Maji War like Suleiman Mamba, Ali Songea Mbano, and Muslim nationalists like Abdulwahid and Ally Sykes, Dossa Aziz, Sheikh Hassan bin Amir, Sheikh Suleiman Takadir, Sheikh Yusuf Badi, Bibi Titi Mohamed, Bibi Tatu bint Mzee, Bilali Rehani Waikela, Ali Migeyo and others are now part of nationalist history which was suppressed for many years.
Muslims are demanding the restoration of their history and honour as true liberators of Tanganyika. This is unprecedented. One can only speculate and wonder where this would lead to. Can we identify this phenomenon as corrective and revision of history or is it a lesson of anarchy in recording history? The result of all this is that the Church has been made to stand naked. That the Church did not play any role during Maji Maji or during the struggle against the British or that it has worked hand in hand with the government to sabotage Islam and Muslims is now common knowledge.
Professor Mujahid: Kighoma Abdallah Ali Malima
And the Christian Lobby
After the introduction of multi-parties in 1992 Muslims attempted clandestinely to form a political party, trying to invoke their past history but these efforts were thwarted by the government and other factors, the main one being the problem of organising what is to be an open political party in a clandestine fashion. The mainstay of this movement was the underground Muslim nationwide network which has always been there. The aim was to have a political party which Muslims could control although not in the style of the defunct All Muslim National Union of Tanganyika (AMNUT) founded in 1958 by a splinter Muslim group from TANU following the controversial tripartite voting which came to be known as "Kura Tatu." However Muslims managed to overcome all obstacles when Prof. Kighoma Ali Malima, a symbol of Muslim resistance to the status quo resigned from the ruling party CCM and joined a little known opposition party, National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA) founded by an obscure Muslim politician, one Abubakar Ulotu. Prof. Malima earned the wrath of the government and church when he pointed out the existence of long standing circle of Christian functionaries in the Ministry of Education which was sabotaging and discriminating Muslim youths barring them from higher education. Through a confidential letter to President Ali Hassan Mwinyi he exposed this faction and made suggestions to the government on how to put an end to that discrimination and elevate Muslims. Prof. Malima for this he was labelled a "Muslim fundamentalist" and therefore a dangerous person out to endanger peace which has been observed since independence. To make a long story short Prof. Malima was hounded out of the ministry by the powerful Christian lobby in CCM and Mwinyi's government. But Prof. Malima did not leave the ministry quietly. He told Muslims what he had found in the Ministry of Education. Prof Malima's findings complimented an earlier study done by Warsha.
After the resignation of Prof. Malima from CCM, Muslims perceived that act as a signal for the second liberation. Signs that the country was being divided into two hostile camps between Muslims in opposition and Christians in the ruling party were very much evident. Had Prof. Malima lived and with the charged political atmosphere which was there at that time, and stood for presidential election to oppose Benjamin William Mkapa, a Roman Catholic and a Nyerere protégé, one can only speculate the outcome. Although there were four presidential aspirants nationwide the battle would have narrowed down to only the two of them, which are Prof. Malima and Benjamin Mkapa. Retired President Julius Nyerere had seen the danger of such a confrontation and asked Prof. Malima not to resign from CCM. Nyerere knew for Prof. Malima to resign on a Muslim agenda that would make him a hero to his people and Muslims would rally behind him. The country would be split and polarised.
President Nyerere sent emissaries to Prof. Malima pleading with him not to resign from CCM. Prof. Malima was to receive thinly veiled threats from other quarters as to what could happen to the country was he to resign from CCM on a Muslim agenda. What Prof. Malima endured in the hands of the powerful Christian lobby, his party the CCM and his eventual death, is a drama worth documenting. This situation was averted when Prof. Malima died mysteriously in London soon after taking the leadership of NRA and announcing his candidacy for 1995 presidential elections in a well attended public rally in Tabora. Muslims gave Prof. Malima a funeral which has never been seen before. Prof. Malima had crossed the Rubicon. It was only his death which prevented Muslims from moving towards a head on collision with the government. In Prof. Malima's death the movement was robbed of its leader and as a result the religious euphoria which was at fever pitch as the country was preparing to enter into second multiparty election waned away. It took a decade to bring the Muslim movement back on track and the irony for that was, it was not CCM the old enemy which was responsible for that but an opposition party, Chama Cha Maendeleo na Demokrasia (CHADEMA) seemingly under the tutelage of Catholic Church out to oust a Muslim president, Mrisho Jakaya Kikwete, which broke the camel's back. The Catholic Church prior to election issued an Election Manifesto and a document of guidance on how Christians should vote. The presidential candidate for CHADEMA was a former Roman Catholic priest. That said it all. Muslims mobilised for the general election in a manner never seen before to oppose CHADEMA and the Church. Muslims irrespective of their political affiliations campaigned for the return to office of a Muslim president.
Religious Distribution in Tanzania
In order to appreciate the impending danger we need to agree that Muslims are a majority in Tanzania and in any civil upheaval large numbers carry psychological advantages. The government has over the years been making deliberate efforts to conceal this fact and to portray to the world that Muslim-Christian religious distribution is more or less the same and at times to give an impression that Tanzania is a Christian nation and Muslims are a minority. The government to say the least has been very evasive on this question. When the government went into its first census after independence the government did not envisage that the results would show Muslims as a majority. In the 1957 census Muslims outnumbered Christians at a ratio of three to two. Ten years after in 1967, in the post independence census Muslims were 30%, Christians 32% and local belief 37%. Reasons were not given for this sudden decrease of Muslims or the growth of pagans. It is on record that the 1967 statistics were doctored to show that Muslims were trailing behind Christians in numerical strength. D.B. Barret gives statistics which show Muslims as a minority: Muslims 26%, Christians 45% and local belief 28%. Tanzania National Demographic Survey figures for 1973 have Muslims at 40%, Christians 38.9% and local belief 28%. Africa South of the Sahara shows that Muslims are a majority in Tanzania at 60% this figure has remained constant in all its subsequent publications since 1991.
The Christian Lobby in Tanzania's Political System
The Catholic Church is in control of the government by proxy. Through unseen hands it manipulates the political system in such a way its influence permeates every sector of society from the mass media to selection of students to join secondary schools and other institutions of higher learning, securing scholarship, employment, promotion, for political office etc. etc. In short the Church is in control of the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature. This is the reason the political system has been able to manipulate the law with impunity as far as it affects Muslim interests. The government has been able to ignore serious petitions submitted to the President, Prime Minster, and the Parliament by Muslims. The government with the support of the Christian dominated press has been able to control and shape public opinion against Islam and Muslims. The Church perceive Islam as an enemy it therefore has in operation strategies to ounter its development. Evidence to this fact has been uncovered by Muslim as well as Christian scholars.
Through research and many years of observations it is now possible to know a little how the unseen hand of the Church functions. It works like a secret society and yet it is not one at least from outside. It works in a two prong fashion. It has agents in all important institutions of the civil society who co-ordinates their activities when the need arise forming what could be identified as the Christian lobby. This is a multi-denomination power house. Interesting is the fact that this alliance has been able to even recruit Muslims and alleviated them to important positions in the government and the media. The main function of these Muslims is to soften blows against Muslims interests and give a pleasant perception in the eyes of the public in issues where the government has to confront Muslims. The dirty work for example, to order force to be used against Muslims or to undermine a Muslim in an important position who it is to the interest of the Church that he be sorted out, such tasks will always be apportioned to these Muslims in the Christian lobby. These Muslims can be found in the media, in echelon of the CCM, the government, the police etc. etc. These Muslims are well rewarded and are a government into themselves. Unique in these Muslim personalities is that they endure the political system. They are the show piece to display to the Muslim majority that the government does not discriminate. This system has perfected itself and is now self - propelling. It can work independent of whoever is in command, as seen in the ten year period (1985-1995) when a Muslim president, Ali Hassan Mwinyi was in power and now that another Muslim holds the reigns.
Subtle oppression and propaganda unleashed on any people for many years is bound to have negative effect in their psychology. Majority of Muslims are poor due to impediments unleashed on their path towards upward mobility and will continue to suffer if deliberate efforts are not carried out to reverse the situation. On the other hand the Church has also suffered in its own peculiar way as it now lives in fear and there are few Christians who have seen the danger of Christianity as a doctrinaire being turned into a government within a government and these "sympathizers" have crossed over to the sprouting Pentecostal churches. Tanzania has in place self-generating mammoth machinery, blind and uncontrollable. It cannot think and therefore it is failing to see the danger even when it knocks on its door, the danger which will not only destroy the Church but also the country. The Church machinery now in motion for more than a century and like a true machine it would not wake up. It would only stop when the fuel and grease which propels and oils its parts is exhausted. By then it would be too late. The Church has failed to wake up to the realities that it cannot operate as it did, first under colonialism and later under two Catholic presidents, Nyerere and Mkapa. It cannot always be business as usual. This is proven in the way the government has failed to approach the stagnating Muslim problem and the now new Muslim movement which has gained momentum since the last general election of 2010 in which religious sentiments were out in the open. If the status endures signs are that Muslims will confront the Catholic Church as they had confronted Germany and British colonialism.
Conclusion
The aim of this paper was to show the dangerous path which Tanzania is currently heading to. It is a fact that there is a struggle currently taking place between two contending forces both at institutional and individual levels. It is my belief that this study has provided information which would help decision makers, and those Muslims and Christians who in their apathy, innocence and at times ignorance are oblivious of the problem to realize that Tanzania is not different from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya or any other African countries torn apart by civil strife as a result of one ethnic group or religion monopolizing all the privileges and resources of the country. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Church and Government is a good example of this. It is high time the government stopped to pretend that all is well and to approach the Muslim plight objectively, seriously and with a sober mind. It is my belief that this will also help well wishers from outside to give good advice to the government. It is also my belief that this topic will receive further research from students of African politics and conflict resolution. To my countrymen the message is that it is only through talking about these problems in the open that we can uncover and expose the unseen hand which if left unchecked would plunge Tanzania into abyss and darkness.
"There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures."
Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224
Mohamed Said
Berlin.
7th July 2011
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