Sunday 8 December 2013

[wanabidii] RE: [Wanazuoni] JULIUS NYERERE: THE LEGEND OF AFRICA’S ELDER STATESMAN [1 Attachment]

Bias

M


Pleasing and being honesty.... A difficult task!
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> From: mohamedsaid54@gmail.com
> Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2013 05:58:14 +0300
> Subject: Re: [Wanazuoni] JULIUS NYERERE: THE LEGEND OF AFRICA'S ELDER STATESMAN [1 Attachment]
>
> <*>[Attachment(s) from mohamed said included below]
>
> Please take a moment to read the attached document.
> See the other side of Nyerere and Tanzania which is hidden to many.
>
> I am sure you will find it interesting.
>
> M
>
> On 08/12/2013, Yona Maro <oldmoshi@gmail.com> wrote:
> > By Nina Mbabazi Rukikaire,
> >
> > JULIUS NYERERE: THE LEGEND OF AFRICA'S ELDER STATESMAN.
> >
> > A Ugandan Perspective.
> >
> >
> > PART 1: How he saw it in the end.
> >
> > Julius Kambarage Nyerere, founding father of Tanzania and often times
> > defined as the "Elder Statesman" of Africa was by far the most interesting
> > of all African leaders. Not only did he lead Tanzania to independence and
> > unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, he set upon a path of equality
> > among the citizens or Ujamaa; that was to produce the greatest policy
> > disaster in Tanzania history since the departure of the Germans in World
> > War I.
> >
> > But through this disaster came a higher conscientious of what needed to be
> > done to put Tanzania on the right path. Nyerere had the wisdom to lead his
> > country to this path of steady growth before bowing out. By putting country
> > and party first, he was able to speak with such openness and sincerity to
> > his people in what is probably one of his greatest speeches. This speech
> > defined his entire legacy and achievements as head of state. Nyerere said;
> >
> > I am a very poor prophet. In 1967 a group of youth who were marching in
> > support of the Arusha declaration asked me how long it would take Tanzania
> > to become socialist. I thought 30 years. I was wrong. I am sure it will
> > take us much more than that… Ten years after the Arusha declaration
> > Tanzania is certainly neither socialist nor self–reliant. The nature of
> > exploitation has changed, but it has not been altogether eliminated. There
> > are still great inequalities between citizens. Our democracy is imperfect.
> > A life of poverty is still the experience of the majority of our citizens.
> >
> > We have not reached our goal; it is not even in sight. But that is neither
> > surprising nor alarming….We have made reasonably good progress towards
> > providing basic health, education and transportation facilities for all the
> > people of this country…The measure of our success is that these fundamental
> > achievements are generally taken for granted. We are now much more
> > conscious of the difficulties in our daily lives than of fundamental
> > exploitation….Today such difficulties and frustrations make us forget where
> > we came from, and even make a reminder seem like an irrelevant
> > impertinence. It is quite true that when our shops were full of a large
> > variety of goods, the vast majority of people had no money to buy them…But
> > people have now developed a little; they have higher expectations of life.
> >
> > Over the last ten years we have done quite well in spreading basic social
> > services to more and more people in the rural areas. More remains to be
> > done; but we shall only be able to do it if we produce more wealth. And we
> > have not been doing very well on that front.
> >
> > Political and public service leadership has undoubtedly improved over the
> > past ten years, in both commitment and efficiency. But still leader too
> > often forget the purpose of government and party and of ALL the laws and
> > regulations in this country to serve people….The truth is that despite our
> > official policies, and despite all our democratic institutions, some
> > leaders still do not LISTEN to people. They find it much easier to tell
> > people what to do. Our leaders at all levels must make more effort to reach
> > decisions by discussion. They must encourage the people to criticize
> > mistakes which have been made, and they must be willing to work with people
> > in rectifying past mistakes and avoiding new ones. Leadership by
> > intimidation is not leadership. And it will work for a short time only.
> >
> > The real danger to Ujamaa in this country does not come at all from
> > people's criticism of leaders. It is arrogance, incompetence, and slackness
> > among leaders which we have to guard against, and we must do so. Every
> > leader should privately examine his own behavior to see where he/she has
> > fallen down. Leaders are not gods; they are able to be effective and to
> > serve the people; only on the basis of mutual respect between themselves
> > and those who have entrusted them with responsibility.
> >
> > We have cause for great satisfaction in our achievements of the past ten
> > years. But we have no cause at all for complacency….As we celebrate the
> > tenth anniversary of the Arusha Declaration, let us determine that the
> > twentieth anniversary (of his leadership) will find us more productive, and
> > therefore more free as a nation and as individuals.
> >
> > And with these words, Julius Nyerere began the end of his chapter of
> > leadership in Tanzania. As he moved to unify Tanganyika and Zanzibar in his
> > final decade of leadership, Nyerere who was obsessed with the cult like
> > image of Chairman Mao Zedong, prepared to build for himself the greatest
> > legacy of leadership in Africa.
> >
> > Nyerere led his people quite successfully to independence. From the onset,
> > he was beset with all sorts of conflicting interests in the country. His
> > vision of a prosperous socialist Tanzania had failed. Ujamaa had yielded
> > more hunger and anger from the public and a level of disillusionment that
> > he could not fix. Nyerere had survived two coup attempts, hostilities from
> > Kenya and Uganda, bloodshed on the Island, still his people loved him.
> >
> > He had displayed a tendency to wobble on important issues and though the
> > people that started the struggle with him had left him, it was of his own
> > making and his own character weaknesses. But still through all of this,
> > Julius Nyerere recognized his pivotal role in the history of a nation that
> > he had helped build and he gracefully bowed out.
> >
> > This is the beginning of a serialization of Nyerere's leadership. As we
> > reflect upon his leadership, let us understand just how effective he was in
> > preparing Tanzania for the current prosperous state that it is today. His
> > weaknesses notwithstanding, understanding his depth of commitment to
> > country is important in any assessment of political development in East
> > African Federation, because his vision still defines Tanzania's social,
> > political and economic policies and their perception of an East African
> > Federation.
> >
> > Mwalimu as he so fondly was called once said; "We have learnt this hard
> > fact of life, that there are no shortcuts to our aspirations"
> >
> > What was it that drove the elder statesman of Africa?
> >
> > PART 3: The move to the left of Center.
> >
> > In March 1959, Governor Turnbull proposed an increase in TANU's role in the
> > government. His first move was to appoint five members to the twelve man
> > cabinet. Julius Nyerere of course was against this. He insisted that since
> > Tanganyika majority were blacks, the majority cabinet must be held by black
> > Tanganyikans. Turnbull conceded and Nyerere's gamble before the elections
> > vis a vis Mtemvu's position paid off. The wisdom to know what fight to pick
> > was one of Nyerere's strengths. When asked by JR Bailey about independence
> > Nyerere's response was; "It is up to the people of Tanganyika – Europeans
> > and Africans and Asians – to say when and in what form. We want to set an
> > example from which Rhodesia and Kenya can learn" And with this spirit, he
> > set on the task of designing Tanzania's way forward. "You are my brother"
> > the words that they said carried an age old message of love and hope.
> > Nyerere certainly believed in those four words and it would shape his
> > message to Africa. With the mindset that Africa had a lot to offer, Nyerere
> > designed what he thought would be Africa's gift to the world. An African
> > socialist state where every person was a worker, equal in stature and able
> > to contribute equally.
> >
> > "Our first step must be to re-educate ourselves" he wrote "To regain our
> > former attitude of work. We took care of the community and the community
> > took care of us". We neither needed or wished to exploit our fellow man –
> > the basis of Ujamaa must be that a member of society is entitled to a piece
> > of land on condition that he uses it. True socialism is an attitude of
> > mind" And with those words, movement towards the Ujamaa began.
> >
> > Tanganyika's greatest problem towards movement to Ujamaa was the fact that
> > the rural population was greatly dispersed and Nyerere's new ideology was
> > not coherent. His message also came at a time when Kawawa was emphasizing
> > party discipline and was not speaking the same language as Nyerere. His
> > (Nyerere) heart was in the right place, but he didn't have the mental
> > faculty to design it properly. He was after all a simple man. The ideology
> > was a great hit among the people of Tanzania. By early 1964 the
> > Tanganyikans on their own initiative and from what they perceived as the
> > word of delivery from the President formed 300 embryonic collective farms.
> > Within a year, almost all had collapsed. The problem? There seemed to be no
> > clear plan to follow other than the call by the President to Ujamaa.
> >
> > Nyerere in turn responded by setting up the rural settlement commission
> > whose duty was to approve plans for new schemes and finance those new
> > schemes. Israeli experts were brought in to help make these village
> > cooperatives viable. The village settlement program was key in the first
> > five year plan for the move towards prosperous Tanzania. But by 1966, it
> > had failed.
> >
> > Nyerere said " To burden the farmer with heavy debts at the outset and at
> > the same time to make it appear that government can provide all services is
> > not the best way of promoting activity." In 1966 he abandoned the idea of
> > village settlement schemes.
> >
> > Why did the scheme fail, the design of the scheme though simple would not
> > have been so disastrous? Well, what Nyerere designed between 1962 and 1965
> > was what we called development committees and ten house party cells. In
> > Uganda we still use this system in Northern Uganda. It is called "Nyumba
> > Kumi". Nyerere wanted to build a two way all weather road between the
> > political centre and the rural masses. What happened was the reverse, with
> > government dictating to the villages what they thought best and ignoring
> > the requests by the farmers. What government failed to understand is that
> > every society grows with its own science and if they are not allowed to
> > explore their own homegrown solutions, the ideas that they are asked to
> > implement will fail.
> >
> > It didn't help that in January 1964, Zanzibar was held hostage by a raving
> > Ugandan lunatic calling himself Field Marshal John Okello whose origins are
> > in Lira. So Nyerere was implementing a scheme while having difficulties
> > settling Zanzibar's political issues. He was also beset by a mutiny in the
> > army in 1964 that was to rock his government.
> >
> > While the Ujamaa was failing, the Tanzanian economy was growing. Nyerere
> > had also embarked on an industrialization plan whose main focus was import
> > substitution. The plan was to be financed through the sale of agricultural
> > goods coming out of the Ujamaa villages, foreign direct investment (FDI)
> > and aid. However, Tanzania was not able to attract that much needed FDI
> > because of the risk factor attached to our African states at that period of
> > time. Also the fact that world prices in sisal had dropped drastically,
> > probably a European attempt to destabilize the African economies that were
> > no longer providing markets for their goods, but still, because of
> > Nyerere's message of import substitution, they registered a balance of
> > payment surplus and were able to cushion some of the Ujamaa failings. But
> > few jobs and private investment were forthcoming.
> >
> > Nyerere said in 1966; "The amount of private investment which has taken
> > place over the past year is quite frankly a disappointment to us. We have
> > special tax concessions to encourage new investments; we have investment
> > guarantees for bringing capital into the country; and we have many
> > arrangements designed to encourage private enterprise of a character which
> > will serve our nation. Yet the level of private investment does not appear
> > to be as great as that provided for in the plan" A very honest speech from
> > the leader.
> >
> > Tanzania at this time was heavily dependent on aid and Nyerere felt that
> > his vision of an egalitarian and democratic African society was slipping
> > away. President Nyerere then called a party conference and on 5th February,
> > 1967 unveiled a carefully written document that had far reaching
> > implications. Written in his very blunt and vivid style, Nyerere unveiled
> > the Arusha Declaration. The Arusha declaration introduced a move to
> > nationalize all Industry and productive institutions. The justification in
> > Nyerere's words? " the major means of production and exchange to be under
> > the control of the peasants and workers".
> >
> > The plan was for a radical reform of the rural areas, improvement of rural
> > standards of living, improved productivity by collective villagisation and
> > increased productivity through self help groups. It was no longer voluntary
> > villagisation like before but was now compulsory. By mid 1970's most
> > citizens had been moved to these villages and Tanzania's food production
> > had taken a drastic drop. Tanzania then had no choice but to import staple
> > foods to stave off hunger.
> >
> > Nyerere in the Arusha declaration asserted: Socialism is a way of life, and
> > a socialist society cannot simply come into existence, a socialist society
> > can only be built by those who believe in, and who themselves practice, the
> > principles of socialism. The first duty of a TANU member and especially of
> > a TANU leader is to accept these socialist principles and to live his own
> > live in accordance with them. In particular, a genuine TANU leader will not
> > live off the sweat of another man nor commit any feudalistic or
> > capitalistic actions.
> >
> > Because of our emphasis on money, we have made another big mistake. We have
> > put too much emphasis on industries. Just as we have said, "without money ,
> > there can be no development, we also seem to say, Industries are the basis
> > of development" without industries there is no development. The mistake we
> > are making is to think that development begins with industries. It is a
> > mistake because we do not have the means to establish many modern
> > industries in our country. We do not have either the necessary finances or
> > the technical know-how.The development of a country is brought about by
> > people, not money. Money and the wealth it represents, is the result and
> > not the basis of development"
> >
> > Thousands marched though Dar Es Salaam in support of the declaration. The
> > old Ujamaa model as well as colonialism had bred a state of haves and have
> > nots; Foreigners still owned a large section of Tanzania's economy.
> >
> > The Black Tanzanians rejoiced; the Europeans and Asians were not happy, but
> > for once Nyerere saw how deeply impoverished his people were and it shook
> > him to the bone. He hated the kind of leaders that TANU leaders had become,
> > each owning shares in business in foreign companies, he stated that rich
> > men can't be asked politely to give up their shares, it must be taken away
> > from them. No foreign aid was coming; people had to work hard if they
> > wanted to improve themselves. How could TANU allow the repatriation of
> > funds anyhow? Unemployed had to be sent back home to the rural area, the
> > government made it clear; there was no room for slackers. The youth were
> > turned into "Green guards" to ensure the success of socialism. The people
> > were happy more so with the new leadership code that forbade and leaders of
> > government from doing business and earning two salaries.
> >
> > Although the idea was wonderful and welcomed by all, nobody had planned for
> > the communal income. How as it supposed to be shared? What was the
> > milestone for a day's work? What happens if someone does not meet the
> > desired target? If they are lazy? What about those who decided to work
> > privately after work. How would they share income? The response to this new
> > Ujamaa was slow despite the incentives of building schools, running water,
> > clinics and investment.
> >
> > In 1973 due to the slow response, TANU committed themselves to actively
> > relocating people into villages. Nyerere said; "This huge task TANU
> > committed itlsef to involved the forced relocation of millions of people"
> > The response of the people was not so nice. Nyerere used the police, army,
> > national service and militiamen to move people to the villages. This they
> > did with brutality.
> >
> > By 1974, 2 million out of Tanzania's 9 million were in Ujamaa villages and
> > in 1976 they were 13 million. What happened next was catastrophic. In 1970
> > Tanzania exported 540,000 tons of surplus maize, in 1974, it imported
> > 300,000 tons of maize. TANU had been exposed as being ignorant of what the
> > citizenry wanted.
> >
> > But for all the failure to understand the peasantry, Ujamaa had done four
> > wonderful things. There were drugs in the hospitals, and the classrooms had
> > been built. The people of Tanzania were no longer 120 ethnicities; they
> > were now one people, united for the good of country. Ujamaa paved the way
> > for a brighter prosperous Tanzania and Nyerere built the Tazara railway to
> > tap the potential. It was called "Freedom railway". The Nationalization of
> > industry had yielded tremendous achievements for Tanzania and for this
> > Nyerere had reason to smile; Government parastatals had increased from 64
> > to 139. But 1979 was to see the beginning of a six year drought that would
> > rock Nyerere's faith in himself. It did not help that the neighbor Uganda
> > was misbehaving.
> >
> > Nyerere described the achievements in Agriculture as such; "Since the
> > Arusha Declaration was passed, we have talked a very great deal about rural
> > development and the expansion of agriculture as the basis for Tanzania's
> > future. And we have spend large sums of money on rural development.
> > However, the truth is that the agriculture results have been very
> > disappointing"
> >
> > Nyerere's speech to celebrate ten years of the Arusha Declaration was not
> > only sincere, it was telling in what he was going to do. His speech showed
> > a leader who had grown with country and who was willing to accept where he
> > had gone wrong. His speech showed that despite all his efforts, he had
> > realized that country was bigger than him and he had brought them thus far,
> > but would not lead them to the Promised Land. He had set the foundation for
> > a prosperous Tanzania but the time had come for him to advance Tanzania one
> > step further on its democratization goal.
> >
> > As Nyerere prepared for a new future, he quietly relieved Kawawa of his
> > duties. He had used Kawawa as a scapegoat for his failings but Chama Cha
> > Mapinduzi was all too aware of where the real problem lay and by 1983, it
> > was very clear that Nyerere would not be seeking re-election.
> >
> > As he announced a new leader of government business, Mr. Sokoine took over
> > as Prime Minister. Sokoine stated quite clearly ; " In Tanzania, it is the
> > party which is supreme" and with his speech began a movement towards a new
> > leadership in Tanzania, and change in regional policy towards other East
> > African countries.
> >
> > With a solid leader in charge of government business, strong critics in
> > Oscar Kambona, Babu and Bibi Titi Mohammed, Julius Nyerere moved to build a
> > great legacy in his foreign policy that would earn him worldwide title of
> > "unblemished hero". What was his foreign policy?
> >
> > As written by various contributing critics. JR Bailey, Mohamed Amin,
> > Kanyama Chiume, Sir Thomas Hopkinson, Haji Konde, GR Naidoo, Alan Rake,
> > Abdulla Riyami, Robert Ryamamu and others.
> >
> > --
> > Find Jobs in Africa <http://www.wejobsafrica.blogspot.com> Jobs in Africa
> > International Job Opportunities <http://www.naombakazi.blogspot.com/>
> > International
> > Job Opportunities
> > Jobs in Kenya <http://www.findjobinkenya.blogspot.com> Jobs in Kenya
> >
>
>
> <*>Attachment(s) from mohamed said:
>
>
> <*> 1 of 1 File(s) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wanazuoni/attachments/folder/583838614/item/list
> <*> Baraza Abridged.doc
>
> ------------------------------------
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