{UAH} Mwalimu Nyerere in his own words! - Opinion/Editorial - thecitizen.co.tz

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Mwalimu Nyerere in his own words! - Opinion/Editorial

In Summary

"At the World Bank the first question they asked me was 'how did you fail?' I responded that we took over a country with 85 per cent of its adult population illiterate.

For the last 14 years on every October 14th Tanzanians mark another year without their beloved founding president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. One of the best ways to honor this great Tanzanian, the son of Africa, is by recalling what he said during his lifetime. Here is one sample of what he said when he was interviewed by Dr Ikaweba Bunting.

Briefly, Dr Bunting, is an African American who lived in Tanzania for almost three decades following Nyerere's invitation when he visited Harlem, New York, in the late 1960s.

Dr Bunting also served in the Burundi Peace Negotiation Facilitation Team under Mwalimu and later under Nelson Mandela. He knew Mwalimu very well!

Dr Bunting interviewed Nyerere in December 1998 at his Butiama Village. Thus, on January 1, 1999, the first day of the year that Mwalimu died, the London-based magazine, New Internationalist, published a along article titled - 'The Heart of Africa' which Nyerere addressed the key issues that haunt Tanzania and Africa even today.

This was one of Bunting's questions that many people would certainly have asked Nyerere even presently: "Does the Arusha Declaration still stand up today?"

Nyerere replied: "I still travel around with it. I read it over and over to see what I would change. Maybe I would improve on the Kiswahili that was used but the Declaration is still valid: I would not change a thing. . . The Arusha Declaration was what made Tanzania distinctly Tanzania."

Mwalimu was proud of his achievement when he observed: "The Arusha Declaration and our democratic single-party system, together with our national language, Swahili, and a highly politicized and disciplined national army, transformed more than 126 different tribes into a cohesive and stable nation."

We must say no. We can't deny everything we accomplished.

The floundering of socialism has been global. This is what needs an explanation, not just the Tanzanian part of it." On the unification of East Africa in particular, Nyerere dropped a bombshell: "I respected Jomo immensely. It has probably never happened before in history; two heads of state, Milton Obote and I, went to Jomo and said to him: 'let's unite our countries and you be our head of state'. He said no. I think he said no because it would have put him out of his element as a Kikuyu Elder."

Dr Bunting at one time asked: "What were your main mistakes as Tanzanian leader? What should you have done differently?" Nyerere started by saying: There are things that I would have done more firmly or not at all. For example, I would not nationalize the sisal plantations. This was a mistake. I did not realise how difficult it would be for the state to manage agriculture."

On his failure and success, Nyerere gave a story of his encounter at the World Bank in Washington: "At the World Bank the first question they asked me was 'how did you fail?' I responded that we took over a country with 85 per cent of its adult population illiterate. The British ruled us for 43 years. When they left, there were two trained engineers and 12 doctors. This is the country we inherited. When I stepped down there was 91percent literacy and nearly every child was in school. We trained thousands of engineers and doctors and teachers."

Nyerere continued: "In 1988 Tanzania's per-capita income was $280. Now, in 1998, it is $140. So I asked the World Bank people what went wrong. Because for the last ten years Tanzania has been signing on the dotted line and doing everything the IMF and the World Bank wanted. Enrolment in school has plummeted to 63 per cent and conditions in health and other social services have deteriorated. I asked them again: 'what went wrong?' These people just sat there looking at me."

This is how Mwalimu finished his story: "Then they asked what could they do? I told them have some humility. Humility – they are so arrogant!"

 

Mwalimu Nyerere in his own words! - Opinion/Editorial - thecitizen.co.tz
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/oped/Mwalimu-Nyerere-in-his-own-words-/-/1840568/2055280/-/mh864m/-/index.html