Category Archives: Issue Number

OBITUARIES

Posted on by
Reply

THE RIGHT REVEREND EDMUND CAPPER OBE (89) spent 25 years in Tanganyika serving as Bishop of Masasi. From 1958 to 1962 he was Provost of the Collegiate Church of St Albans in Dar es Salaam. He confirmed an old man who remembered Livingstone pass by on his last journey of exploration, shortly before he was found dead at Chitambo. In the absence of clergy many village churches were run by African lay catechists. At one such church Stradling announced that he would sing Evensong, and that the catechist was to read the lessons. Just as the service was starting the catechist said in an agitated whisper. “Whatever shall I do? A goat has eaten the first lesson” (Thank you Randal Sadlier and Paul Marchant for sending this information from the Times and the Daily Telegraph – Editor)

JULIA CARTER died on January lst. She and husband Roger, who were married for 57 years, spent five of those years in Tanzania and when they returned to Britain they started the Britain-Tanzania Society. Julia served as Trustee of the society’s Development Trust. The March 27th issue of ‘The Friend’ described her as a deeply caring person with a natural ability to stand alongside others, to share their pleasures and achievements and to understand their problems and anxieties. She worked for a time in family planning in Tanzania and a former Tanzanian High Commissioner wrote ‘we have always regarded Julia as part of us’. A large number of members of the Society, including representatives from the High Commission, were among the 180 friends present to celebrate her life at a memorial meeting held in Settle on January 14th.

The April issue of the journal ‘White Fathers-White Sisters’ contained two obituaries. FATHER ARNOLD GROL (74) who, during a long period of missionary work in Tanzania supervised the construction of the Sumbawanga Cathedral, has died of a heart attack; SISTER MARGARET TANSEY (83) who died on December 18 served for 30 years in Tanzania including a period when she ran the student’s hostel at Kipalapala (Thank you John Sankey for this information -Editor).

RICHARD A JOSSAUME FIAGE was an agricultural engineer much involved in the Groundnut Scheme in Tanzania in the late 1940’s. He kept careful records of his experiences and his son Chris has donated his collection of slides, photos, cine films and books to the Institute of Agricultural Engineers – they are held at the Cranfield University (Silsoe College) Library.

MRS CHRISTINA MUGAYA BURITO NYERERE, the mother of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, has died at the age of 104. Mwalimu has been quoted as saying that even on his 75th birthday she still treated him as her child.

EMIL SENGATI (70) who died after a long illness on March 8, was a long time civil servant and was the first African to hold the post of Town Clerk before independence.

BISHOP MAURICE SOSELEJE (80) of Masasi Anglican diocese, one of the first Tanzanian church leaders, died on January 10.

(Apologies for the error in the last issue. Dr Joseph Taylor OBE FRCS was mistakenly referred to as Dr David Taylor -Editor).

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF WADI MOJA

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday a lorry carrying eighty-odd people to a football match overturned. Three were killed and a fair number were brought here. Wadi Moja (Ward One); which already has its fair share of problems, resembled a battlefield. There were sixty-odd patients, four nurses, me and one clean sheet. Hamna shida. This is Africa.

Waiting patiently in the corridor for admission were ten men, most of whom were bleeding from somewhere. All the usual chores – operation cases etc., plus relatives milling around, did not alter the admitting nurse’s usual polite greetings in any way. Each individual was greeted in the same manner -just as they would have been if there had been only one of them and the whole afternoon stretching ahead. “Habari za leo? “Nzuri.” Habari za Nyumbani? ” “Salama “. Even – honestly -“Habari za afya?” “Nzuri kidogo”. “Nzuri kidogo?” Now this answer is from a man with blood pouring from his chin and his leg in plaster from toe to groin! Each of the ten men got the same treatment. No hurry or panic on wadi moja.

After all had been admitted, some two to a bed, some on the floor of the corridor, and the afternoon shift had been given the report, the now off-duty nurses tied on their kangas and wandered off home. After all, one day is much like any other on wadi moja.
Jean Cooper

Glossary: Hamna shida -No problem. Habari za leo? -How are things? Habari za Nyumbani? -How are things at home? Habari za afya? -How are you feeling? Or how is your health? Nzuri -Good. Kidogo -small or a little.

(Jean Cooper, author of the above article is a VS0 volunteer working at Nyangao in Mtwara Region. VSO’s programme in Tanzania opened in 1961 and today around 110 volunteers are working in the country. Fourteen new volunteers will be going there in June followed by another 30 in September. Volunteers are involved in education, technical training, community development and agriculture as well as health. As a charity, VS0 is fortunate in receiving a large grant from the British Government. However, it still needs to raise over £4 million this year. One of the most enjoyable and rewarding ways of supporting VS0 is through sponsoring a volunteer. VS0 has various schemes, For example, if you contribute £15 per month you can share sponsorship of a volunteer, choose the region where your volunteer works and expect about two letters a year from the volunteer. Another scheme costs £300 per year but if you contribute £1,000 per year you will be able to choose a specific volunteer according to his/her skill, meet the volunteer (if possible), and receive letters, reports and photographs. Details from Anne Harrison or June Quayle, on 0181 780 7200 or write to them at VSO, 317 Putney Bridge Road, London SW13 2PN e-Mail XXX Editor)

REVIEWS

Posted on by
Reply

Compiled by John Budge and Michael Wzse

Helena JERMAN, Between Jive lines: the development of ethnicity in Tanzania, with special reference to the western Bagamoyo District Uppsala: Finnish Anthropological Society; Nordic Africa Institute, 1997. 360p. (Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society; no.38) ISBN 952-9573- 16-2, SEK 110.

This study is based on the area that lies inland from Bagamoyo. It forms the section of the greater Bagamoyo district that, more than the sea coast town itself, was subjected to and influenced by, the passage of representatives of differing cultures through the centuries. Not all of the slavers, propagators of religious belief, traders, and politicians merely passed through, leaving a detritus of ideas and physical tokens of their passage. Some, for whatever reason, tarried or settled, administered from distant urban centres; all had some significant impact. It is their successive impacts that are the subject of this interesting book.

It originated as the author’s thesis for her doctorate, and was based on oral as well as documentary evidence. The investigation dates from more than twenty years ago, and as such is to some extent a valuable historical record, pictorially and in the interviews with old people, of a society that has subsequently undergone further radical change; such has been the impact of the late twentieth century even on rural communities.

The five lines of the title were drawn in the sand by an elder in the course of describing his country’s development though many centuries. They symbolised, for him, the peoples who have confronted each other in the region. The author’s text is divided into sections that consider the pre-colonial period, which included most notably the islamisation of the coast, the development of the Waswahili ethnic identity, and powerful invasions such as the Ngoni and the Kamba. Then came the German period, and the widespread repercussions of the Maji Maji movement. The British period included the emergence of political associations, while the post-independence era has seen attempts at the integration of a national culture and controversial attitudes regarding the positiveness or otherwise of ethnic/tribal thinking.

The author’s list of sources used, or consulted in personal contacts is impressive. This is the outcome of systematic investigation over a period of years, and deserves consideration. It is also very readable.

MW

John MILLARD, Never a dull moment: the autobiography of John Millard -administrator, soldier and farmer. Silent Books [1997?] 226p., ISBN 1 85183 096 0, 217.50. Obtainable from: Philippa Millard, 29 Gorst Road, London SW1l 6JB. U.K.

This is an apt title for the story of an all-rounder who enjoyed life to the full. A more sententious critic might categorise the book as a smug saga, but although a degree of self-satisfaction does emerge in its pages (as happens with many autobiographies) this would be far too harsh a verdict to make in this case.

The author writes from experience in many fields and countries and he must have taken great pains over the years to chronicle the incidents that provide the material for his narrative. In doing this he has achieved his aim of portraying both the highs and lows in various situations and careers. He describes these lucidly and entertainingly and with an easy style in which, inter alia, he makes light of adversity.

John’s account compares favourably, in my view, with several others I have read written by persons who served and farmed in the colonies, and he certainly captures the atmosphere of Africa. Although not a scholarly dissertation, he writes expansively and diversely, not confined only to African matters. His encounters during World War I1 in many theatres receive due comment and are interesting, as also his amusing description of his time in Whitehall at the Colonial Office, where he worked with the late Sir Ralph Furse (the renowned Director of Recruitment) on the selection of key personnel for the Post-war Colonial Service. Never a dull moment is not penned in official Government-type language nor is it weighed down by numerous appendices. Another plus, and so essential in a non-fiction book, is the efficient index of names and places.

Affection for his family is apparent throughout, and this is well illustrated by his sensitive handling of the effects of the serious and tragic riding accident sustained by his wife; Corinne. His love of the countryside, and for South Africa (where he was born), the United Kingdom and especially his wife’s homeland, Ireland, all figure prominently in his thoughts. His final philosophical words, written no doubt from his contented retirement base in Kenya state: “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today”.

N. O. Durdant Hollamby

Aili Maria TRIPP, Changing the rules: the politics of liberalisation and the urban informal economy in Tanzania. Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997. 289p., ISBN 0-520-20278-3, £13.95; US$ 18 (paperback)

It is the early 1980s. Forty passengers board a privately operated bus leaving Dar es Salaam. A police officer stops the bus because, although public transport is woefully inadequate, only government-owned buses are legal. The passengers, strangers to one-another, spontaneously become one big happy family, singing and ululating as though on the way to a wedding. The police give up; they cannot charge the driver of a wedding party.

That is but one of the many examples Aili Maria Tripp offers to convince the reader that the civil society – persons pursuing livelihood outside wage employment – strongly influenced government policies. Tripp’s approach is refreshing because the ordinary citizen is often seen as victim of inept or immoral government and/or international banking policies. The tale is too seldom told of collective survival skills -families getting roofs over their heads, beans on the table and shoes on the children.

The author of this book, the daughter of Lloyd and Marja-Liisa Swantz, did her schooling in Tanzania (1960-1974) and often accompanied her mother on research interviews. Between 1987 and 1994 she and a Tanzanian research assistant interviewed (in Kiswahili) nearly 300 residents of Manzese and Buguruni districts of Dar who were engaged in informal sector activities. They also interviewed ten-house cell leaders, party secretaries and chairmen and legal counsellors. The objective of the study was ‘to document the growth of new dimensions in Tanzania’s urban and informal economy in response to the economic crisis of the late 1970s and 1980’.

Tripp traces the employment-related history of Dar es Salaam, including the split between CCM and government in the mid-1980s. In 1970 just 4 per cent of wives living there were self-employed, but by the end of the 1980s, 69 per cent of women were self-employed. Because real wages fell by 83 per cent between 1974 and 1988, more than 90 per cent of household income came from the informal sector of the economy, where women, children and the elderly dominated. Most of them operated from their homes, a fact that leads Tripp to a strong condemnation of the oversight of the household economy in national accounts that intensifies the formidable nature of market restraints for the poor.

The survival strategies of women, children and the elderly form an innovative array. They sell maandazi and other pastries, fish, cassava, soup, rice, beer and soft drinks; they are tailors, and the better educated export horticultural products and organise secretarial services; they own shipping and receiving companies, private schools, flour mills. In Zanzibar alone, since the late 1980s, an estimated 10,000 women produce seaweed as a cash crop.

Some husbands -but not many -fear that their wives ‘will do well and leave me’, others simply say that their wives ‘make a few cents’ with their projects. But most men keep quiet after providing starting capital for their wives. Indeed! The average monthly income from making maandazi is 4.5 times the minimum salary in Dar.

Women have a good deal of autonomy today, and at least half of those interviewed by Tripp participate in savings societies (upato). Whether barely getting by or earning high incomes, they save money to pay for their children’s education, clothe them and build family houses. They are central to the family economy. In the words of the author: ‘People have drawn on their own resources and have come up with creative, flexible and viable solutions to the problem of survival under extreme duress’. In the process, they have often quietly defied the law, and government gradually gave in – often quietly as well – by easing restrictions and legalising informal economic activities.
Margaret Snyder

Articles in Journals

Rita ABRAHAMSEN, The victory of popular forces or passive revolution7 A neo-Gramscian perspective on democratisation. Journal of modern African studies, 35 (1) 1997, p. 129-152.

Most scholars acknowledge the connection between the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the subsequent “democratic wave” in sub- Saharan Africa. This paper, by a journalist and PhD. candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Swansea, is primarily a perceptive study of overseas aid and its ramifications.

Aid policy during the Cold War was shaped by strategic-political considerations, and African leaders did not hesitate to play the two sides off against each other in order to attract foreign support. When it ended there was a substantive reduction of aid to Africa, especially for authoritarian regimes -as witnessed most recently in Zaire. The end of the cold war has been portrayed as a ‘moral release’ for the West because it allowed for the formulation of policies along more principled ethical lines, and resulted in the emergence of the ‘good governance’ agenda, and political conditionality.

While former communist states became successful competitors for Western aid, presenting new and lucrative investment opportunities, Africa’s share of economic assistance declined. At the same time the idea of one-pasty states was discredited and democratic thinking was encouraged – even Julius Nyerere was said to have conceded that Africa could learn “a lesson or two” from Eastern Europe.

Africa’s prolonged economic crisis also undermined the developmental ideology which underpinned the one-party state, as the capacity of states to meet the welfare needs of their citizens steadily deteriorated or collapsed altogether. At the same time corruption, mismanagement and human rights abuses persisted in what have been called ‘states without citizens’ – which exist only for themselves and their own beneficiaries, excluding the vast majority of the population. Popular protests became common among wide sections of the population, especially urban workers, trade unions and the middle classes, including students, teachers and civil servants.

Maintaining that countries do not exist in isolation, the author sees that in a world increasingly dominated by a global capitalist system, more and more decisions lie outside the control of the individual state. African regimes, increasingly reliant on overseas aid, consequent on poor credit ratings, had no alternative to dealing with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, described as “a de fact receiver to African governments”, and the effective governance of Africa was “gradually transferred from its official political leaders and former political organs to international financial institutions”.

Structural Adjustment policies, with their emphasis on privatisation, market efficiency, proper pricing policies, and so on, invariably lead to a dismantling or radical reduction of the economic and welfare role of the state. But so far, the author continues, “the miracle of the market” has failed to materialise, while the negative effects continue to mount. “Those few countries which have achieved some macro-economic stability have done so at the expense of growth, investment and human welfare”.

The emergence of pro-democracy movements could not be explained without reference to the widespread feeling of disillusionment and discontent arising from externally imposed austerity measures.

The author expresses the view that a liberal market democracy merely becomes complementary and supportive of goals aimed at expansion of the capitalist world economy. Some gains are achieved in terms of civil and human rights, “but the same elites are still in power and the same socio-economic arrangements persist”.

She concludes: “For those committed to change the message is perhaps that, in order to succeed, counter-hegemonic struggles must take place, not only at the national but also at the international level.”

JB

Stein Sundstol ERIKSEN, Between a rock and a hardplace? Development planning in Tanzanian local governments. Third world planning review, 19(3) August 1997.

Laura FAIR, Clothing, class and gender in post-abolition Zanzibar. Journal of African history, 39, 1998, p.68-94.

From the dawn of civilisation – if not before – what people wore and how they wore it has been significant for the identification of class, status and power. In this interesting and detailed study Laura Fair shows that in Africa, and especially in Zanzibar, this subject is particularly meaningful because of the legacy of slavery and of the area’s specific geography.

She observes that with the abolition of slavery in 1897, former slaves began a “protracted multi-generational process of redefining their positions”. In the early part of this century they accounted for roughly three-fourths of the island’s population, and began identifying themselves as freeborn coastal Swahilis. “They had spent the greater part of their adult lives there, built their homes, planted their farms and watched both their children and their trees grow to maturity on Zanzibar’s rich soil.”

They abandoned clothing associated with their mainland heritage and adopted fashions which identified them first as Swahili and later as Zanzibar-is. As smallholders they became the main producers of the island’s two main exports -cloves and coconuts. Their increasing economic advance often came at the expense of the Omani aristocracy.

Clothing fashions and styles, as well as class and ethnic identities were dramatically remade. Freeborn children began adopting elements of free dress, particularly head coverings and shoes, which they had formerly been forbidden to wear, as well as creating new forms of dress. New markets for imported cloth were opened up, especially in towns, as consumerism was seized upon by former slaves “as a means of articulating their aspirations of upwards social mobility.” The makers and sellers of kangas were making a fortune from women who were said by many to be busily transforming their identities from those of slaves into “slaves of fashion”!

The adoption of Arab clothing was a common strategy, for the association of veiling and purdah with status and property was widespread in pre-colonial Muslim Africa.. After the First World War, women who covered themselves from head to foot with a buibui were publicly demonstrating that they were worthy of respect. Asked why women began to wear the buibui instead of a kanga, a respondent suggested : “It covered you completely, rather than simply covering your head, and was therefore a sign of respect for yourself, your parents and Islam.” It signified that they were “women of dignity and rank and more worthy of respect.”

The author adds significantly: “While the buibui reflected a growing ideology of spiritual equality among East African Muslims, it nonetheless allowed Zanzibari women a freedom to express and debate hierarchicies rooted in more material bases.”

She concludes: “Throughout history and across the globe, men and women have consciously manipulated their material world in order to fabricate their identities physically, and differentiate themselves from others… Covering their heads and bodies was one of the first public demonstrations that formerly servile men and women made of their freedom.” Intrigued by the power of drawings and photographs to act as historical sources, the author effectively utilises such evidence as an integral part of the discussion and text.

JB

Susan GEIGER, Tanganyika nationalism as ‘Women’s Work’; life histories, collective biography and changing historiography. Journal of African history, 37(3) 1996, p.465-479.

Outstanding and exceptional personalities, almost invariably male, are all too often assumed to be the prime instigators and leaders of revolutionary and anti-colonial movements.

After independence, for example, Nyerere was known as “Father of the People”, and the inspiration provided by the masses was generally ignored by historians. These unchronicled individuals were generally presumed to be men, but in this study Susan Geiger, of the University of Missesota, claims that nationalism in Tanzania was largely the creation of women.

Bibi Titi Mohammed, the only TANU leader besides Nyerere whose name was known throughout the country at the time of independence, went from being the lead singer in a popular Dar es Salaam group called ‘Bomba’ to being head of the women’s section of TANU in 1955, and was responsible for enrolling 5,000 women members in a period of three months.

Susan Geiger suggests that the women activists, who constituted a substantial majority of TANU’s card-carrying members, did not learn nationalism from Nyerere or TANU; rather they brought to TANU and to political party activism an ethos of nationalism already present as a “trans- ethnic trans-tribal social and cultural identity”, expressed collectively in their dance and other organisations, and reflected in their families of origin as well as in marriages that frequently crossed ethnic lines. They “evoked, created and performed the nationalism that Nyerere needed to make TANU a credible and successful nationalist movement.”

Open to all who wished to join them, urban women’s dance groups provided newcomers to urban life with entry into “a social and cultural world in which Swahili was the language of song and conversation.”

TANU also benefited from the appeal of uniformed members of the party’s women’s section and of the choirs and youth league, with their many women members, chiefly constituting the party faithful. “Performance and signification produced nationalism in Tanzania as surely as Nyerere’s speeches.”

The writer concludes that nationalism was significantly the work of thousands of women whose lives and associations reflected trans-tribal ties and affiliations, and who thought of Nyerere not so much as father of the people as the son of the people!

JB

Bruce HEILMAN, A social movement for African capitalism? A comparison of business associations in two African cities, by Bruce Heilman and John Lucas. African studies review 40 (2) September 1997, p. 141-17 1.

A comparative study of Kano, in Northern Nigeria, and Dar es Salaam.

Publications Noted

FAREWELL to farms: de-agrarianisation and employment in Africa; edited by Deborah Fahy Bryceson and Vali Jamal. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1997. 277p., ISBN 18014 193 X, 516.50.

This collection of essays by various authors is a continent wide survey, which considers the topic of whether Africa’s future is necessarily rooted in peasant agriculture. The term ‘de-agrarianisation’ embraces the actuality of urban migration, and the expansion into rural areas of non-agricultural activities which provide income for those who live there; thus accelerating a move away from reliance on agriculture by rural people.

The name Bryceson is familiar to many Tanzania-philes, and the book includes a study of the rural informal sector in Tanzania, as well as several chapters of general scope, such as rural industries, and labour diversification in rural areas, which take into consideration the Tanzanian factor,

K. GUILANPOUR, A systematic review of Tanzanian environmental impact statements, by K. Guilanpour and W.R. Sheate. Project apppraisal, 12 (3) September 1997, p. 138-150.

Daniel KOBB, Measuring informal sector incomes in Tanzania: some constraints to cost-benefit analysis. Small enterprise development, 8 (4) December 1997, p.40-48.

LAND degradation in Tanzania: perception from the village, by Alemneh Dejene and others. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1997. 92p. (World Bank Technical paper; no.370) ISBN 0-8213-3993-1) US$20.

Charles LANE, Tanzania – uncertain future for the Maasai of Ngorongoro. Indigenous affairs, no.314, July-December 1997, p.4-7.
Garth MYERS, Localising Agenda 21: environmental sustainability and Zanzibari urbanisation, by Garth A. Myers and Makarne A.H. Muhajir. Third world planning review, 19 (4) 1997, p.367-384.

P.K.G.M. NDYETABULA, The use of soil information in Tanzania. PhD.
thesis, University of East Anglia, 1995.
Stephen J. NORTH, Europeans in British administered East Africa: a provisional list 1889 to 1903. Wantage: The Author (22 Belmont, Wantage, OX12 9AS, U.K.), 1995. ISBN 0-9524754-0-5, £37.

A loose-leaf compilation of information which the author has already supplemented, and intends to continue as more information comes to light. This useful and unusual handbook follows work previously undertaken by Donald Simpson at the Royal Commonwealth Society, Mary Gillet of Kenya, and others. The informative entries aim to provide for each individual: full name, dates of birth and death, date of arrival in East Africa, nationality, profession, and chronological account of the person’s career in East Africa.

Robert PINKNEY, Democracy and dictatorship in Ghana and Tanzania. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997. 240p., ISBN 0-333-63 175-7, £40.

In examination of the evolution of democracy in the two countries, the author looks at the balance of forces between governments and campaigners for pluralist democracy, and at the outcomes that emerged.

Severine M. RUGUMANU, Lethal aid: the illusion of socialism and self- reliance in Tanzania. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press, [1997?] 256p., ISBN 0-86543-513-8, US$21.95 (paperback)

Peter R. SCHMIDT, Iron technology in East Africa: symbolism, science and archaeology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, [1997?] 400p. US$19.95.

Peter R. Schmidt, The tree of iron. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
[1997?] US$39.95

A 60 minute video. Has been welcomed for being one of the few films which document archaeological work in sub-Saharan Africa. In dealing with African iron smelting it presents convincing evidence of early indigenous technologies far more sophisticated than anyone had previously suspected. The video is described as being skilfully crafted and often beautiful to watch.

SUPPORTING women groups in Tanzania through credit: is this a strategy for empowerment? By Dorthe von Bulow and others. Copenhagen: Centre for Development Research, 1995. 14p. (CDR working paper; no.95.10)
Corinne Natalie Cox WHITAKER, The Impact of women’s participation in an income-generation program in south-western Tanzania. PhD. thesis, Johns Hopkins University (USA), 1996.

Editor’s Recommendation

In issue no.58, September -December 1997 we published an enthusiastic review of Laura Sykes’ attractive guide, Dar es Salaam: a dozen drives around the city. It went with us when I revisited Dar with my wife earlier this year. As former residents we felt it would probably be useful in locating areas and buildings of interest after an interval of almost thirty years. We used it as a point of reference as we moved around once familiar districts, and explored new sectors of the huge conurbation that has developed since we lived there. This is a strong commendation of the work of Mrs. Sykes and her co-author, Uma Waide. They have produced a guide that need not be followed faithfully, but can add a great deal to any visitor’s enjoyment of Dar, which is such an interesting, lively and relaxing city -by contrast to the rough hustle into which Nairobi has descended.

From time to time we publish reviews of more general guides. Let me recommend, for the same reason of having actually used it, Michael HODD, East Africa handbook, with Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia. 4th ed. Bath: Footprint Handbooks, 1997. 864p., TSBN l 900949 06 7, 214.99. It provides, as far as we needed, accurate and up to date information about what the average traveller requires: what to see, where to stay and eat; how to move around each locality; and most important, provides unexpected sections of relevant and very interesting background information when appropriate. We travelled very happily, following our own instincts and with reference when necessary to this guidebook, through Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. Full marks to Footprint!

MW

LETTERS

Posted on by
Reply

WHY IN THE WORLD DAR ES SALAAM?

Greetings from Tanzania. I enclose a translation I have done of an article about the closure of the Goethe Institute in Dar es Salaam written by Bartholomaus Grill in Die Zeit on December 5 1997 which might be of interest to some of your readers. Extracts from the article:

In four months it will be all over. A movie in December symbolises this final act: Der Totmacher (the Dead-Maker); and there can be no doubt whom Tanzanians identify it with: the Minister of Finance in wealthy Germany. His money saving measures put an end to this episode which began in 1962 when the grandchildren of German colonialists founded a branch of the Goethe Institute in Tanzania, not far from the military cemetery where for 100 years their heroic grandfathers had found their rest. It was not meant as an apology as Germany was then busy enough forgetting her most recent past. With the passage of 35 years, however, the project became some kind of compensation. At least, that’s the way many Tanzanians see it. “Through this cross-cultural exchange programme, Germany has shed her colonial reputation” says painter Robino Ntila….. “With the closure of the Institute, the finest period of German-Tanzanian cross-cultural communication ends” palaeanthropologist Charles Saanane complains…. “If you were seeking to meet with Tanzania’s artists, writers and intellectuals, just sit in the institute’s foyer and wait.” Situated at Dar’s most popular spot, the city’s geographical centre, it had been integrated into the host country, unlike other Goethe branches. By comparison the Institute in Johannesburg, placed in the sterile white shopping quarter of Rosebank, looks like an alien spaceship landed by accident in the new South Africa. ….” Why in the world Dar es Salaam?” asks Shafi Adam Shafi, author of that mysterious story from Zanzibar ‘The Slavery of Spices’ who gave his very first lecture at the institute.. . . “in Munich, where the decision was taken, it’s a mere movement of the pen. For us in Tanzania it’s a catastrophe’ remarks Shafi…… Germany’s financial and technical aid for community development in Tanzania for one year would suffice to finance the Goethe Institute for 184 years.”

Oliver Stegen, Box 21, Kondoa

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I served as Park Warden Tourism in the Serengeti from 1965 to 1967 and was able to return about once a year for some time but have not seen it for 12 years. I have some 6,000 slides of the Serengeti, many of which have been published.

After school in 1955 I went to Tanzania to stay with a school friend, Jonathan Kingdon, now an established and internationally acclaimed wildlife artist/cientist. Jonathan’s father was Provincial Commissioner, Central Province, so I stayed with the Kingdon family at Dodoma and photographed several bird of prey nests on the Dodoma Golf Course! This trip was extensively photographed, sadly only in black and white. I am wondering now about making the entire trip again, covering exactly the same ground, (Arusha -Dodoma -Mbeya). I am keen to ascertain whether anyone can advise me on the safety and otherwise of making this trip, probably driving alone, with photographic equipment aboard.

I have just learned of the death of former Minister of Wildlife Soloman
ole Saibul. I shall greatly miss his smiles, his wit and his help -but above all his friendship. I would like to contact his family; can anyone help me with the address?

Grahame Dangerfield,
The Grahame Dangerfield Wildlife Trust, Bowers Heath,
Harpenden. Herts, AL5 5EE.
Telephone and Fax: xxxxx


SEED TREATMENT

I started travelling to East Africa as a consultant to UNIDO, developing seed treatment technology suitable for rural farmers. When the project finished we had shown that yields of maize and beans can be substantially increased by treating the seeds before planting and that the low cost machines we developed worked well. We found a general awareness among villagers that treated seed grew better than untreated. However, we did not disseminate, so our prototypes were in line to join the many other workable ideas abandoned because their dissemination was not properly tackled.

I therefore decided to spend a few years in Tanzania to try and luck start a seed treatment system for rural farmers but I have faced a number of problems. There is now no legal and available seed treatment available in Tanzania. The registration authority, TPRI in Arusha, charges $5,500 for registration which is beyond my means and is also too high to be justified by any agro-chemical company. The market is quite small and speculative. The recently re-vamped pesticide formulation plant at Moshi is now developing a formulation using some active ingredients imported by UNIDO at the end of their project but they are devoid of funds. I also have problems with a resident’s permit.

The reason I am writing to you is because I believe the matter may be of interest to the Britain Tanzania Society and also to ask if you have any ideas regarding my problems.

J E Elsworth. E-Mail: xxxxx

WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION HOTS UP

Posted on by
Reply

Attorney General Andrew Chenge told parliament recently that Tanzania had declared war against corruption and there was no way in which it would go back on this. But, a year after the publication of the ‘Warioba Report’ on corruption in December 1996 (TA No 57) questions are being asked about when its recommendations are going to be implemented and what is going to happen to those persons alleged in the report to have been corrupt.

For example, the ‘East African’ quoted outgoing American Ambassador Brady Anderson as saying that in 1995 about $80 million of government revenue had been lost but the culprits had not been brought to book. Visiting former World Bank President Robert MacNamara said that he had been shocked by the current level of graft. Swedish Ambassador Thomas Olof Palme spoke of corruption being taken lightly and Finnish Ambassador Hari Rantakari said that, before discussing long-term development plans, this issue of corruption had to be tackled. In Parliament several CCM MP’s joined opposition members in expressing shock in early November when they heard from the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that in the 1994/95 fiscal year some Shs 12 billion had been ‘spent unvouched, misused or outwardly stolen’.

But EU Resident Representative Peter Beck said that he believed that President Mkapa was determined to combat corruption but needed support from society and the civil service. And Principal Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bernard Mchomvu said that the graft claims had been exaggerated by the media; the government-owned Daily News went further and described the diplomat’s stand as ‘a crusade against the government and a lack of respect for an independent nation’.

Judge Joseph Warioba himself is reported to be convinced that there is now enough evidence to try the suspects but Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye told parliament that the government would not be driven by internal or external pressure. The rule of law would prevail in determining corruption cases.

PRESIDENT MKAPA TAKES ACTION
President Mkapa is reported to have retired 122 corruption-linked officials and, according to the East African (November 24) has declared his intention to strengthen Tanzania’s Prevention of Corruption Bureau. He had been promised foreign aid for this he said. He was thinking about appointing an independent prosecutor for the Bureau who would concentrate on corruption cases and thus avoid some of the delay which has been incurred when files have been passed between the Bureau and the Director of Public Prosecutions. In November MP’s passed new legislation giving the Bureau powers of arrest, search and detention.

Following the Warioba Report President Mkapa had appointed a task force which had completed its work in May 1997 and submitted its files, including some mentioned in the Report, to the Prevention of Corruption Bureau. In a front page article on October 19 the Sunday News reported that the Bureau’s Director General Mr Anatoly Kamazina had announced that more than 200 people had been questioned between December 1996 and May 1997. Major General Kamazina had sent a number of the files to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP); some of these had been returned with a request for more evidence; some of the documentary evidence on others almost filled his office he said. It was understood that the files of certain senior personnel in the then Ministry of Communications and Works, mentioned in the Report, had not been sent back by the DPP. But the Director was quoted in the Daily News as complaining that it was the Corruption Prevention Bureau which was delaying prosecutions. One of the files which lacked material evidence had been that involving the former Minister of Communications Transport and Works, his then PS, the then Director of Roads and a road engineer.

Meanwhile, certain people are already before the courts on charges of corruption. According to the Daily News the Director General of the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) has been charged with six counts of corruption including possession of two houses and $6,000 in cash. The Director of the Mwanza Municipal Council has been charged with owning property worth Shs 93 million which was alleged to be beyond his level of income (Daily News, October 30). Three Bank of Tanzania officials were also in court in late October charged with siphoning off Shs 136 million. On October 13 the East African reported that the General Manager of the Sugar Development Corporation had been sacked by President Mkapa following allegations of mismanagement leading to the loss of Shs 44.4 million.

The Council of (Zambian and Tanzanian) Ministers has dissolved the top management of the TAZARA RAILWAY AUTHORITY. The Tanzanian Minister of Communications and Transport told workers that the company’s liquidity position had reached a stage which would have warranted a declaration of bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, former Lands Minister Edward Lowassa has been awarded Shs l million ($1,587) by the newly formed Media Council (a voluntary body set up by journalists as a watchdog to improve media standards) against the newspaper Heko which had published a front page article saying that he had been named in the Warioba report. The editor of the paper said that his staff had misinterpreted the Report and that Mr Lowassa’s complaints were genuine. Former Communications and Works Minister Nalaila Kiula has complained in parliament that he had been condemned in the Warioba report without being heard – the Commission had been malicious and vindictive he said. A CCM MP Mr Kitwana Kondo also complained in parliament that Bureau officers had confiscated his car. Attorney General Andrew Chenge said he sympathised but that the MP should appeal to the responsible legal organs.

OPPOSITION REMAINS DIVIDED

Posted on by
Reply

Answering a question about the extent to which democracy was now working in Tanzania in a recent interview House Speaker Pius Msekwa said that yes it was working and the foundations had been laid for its maintenance and durability. He added: “I actually have heard many people commenting that so far multi-partyism is working properly only inside Parliament; but it is not doing so well in the country as a whole. I am personally inclined to concur with these views”.

The warring groups within the main opposition NCCR-Mageuzi Party – the NCCR-Mrema faction (led by the Chairman of the party, Augustine Mrema) and the NCCR-Marando faction (led by the party’s Secretary General Mabere Marando) seem still to be far apart and this is not helping their cause at all.

Firstly, the High Court continues to prohibit the two factions from holding meetings of the old NCCR National Executive and Central Committees until a suit disputing the chairmanship of Mrema filed against him by Marando is disposed by the court.

Secondly, as the NCCR party suffers more casualties from petitions presented to the High Court against the election of its MP’s, it is finding it impossible to register in the subsequent by-elections because the faction leaders cannot agree to sign the necessary election registration documents.

The most recently dislodged NCCR MP has been the very fiery and prominent MP for Ubungo, Dar es Salaam Dr. Masumbuko Lamwai.

NCCR-Mrema faction Secretary General Mr Prince Bagenda was successful in his petition to the High Court to remove the CCM MP for Muleba South (Kagera Region) because of malpractice during the last elections, He assumed that he would have a good chance in the forthcoming by-election. But when he went to submit his nomination papers, the Returning Officer (and later, on appeal, the Vice-chairman of the Electoral Commission) rejected them because of irregularities – they did not contain the signature of the original NCCR Secretary General Mabere Marando, who still officially holds that post, although now leading the other faction of the party. Marando’s reaction to these events was, according to the Daily News, to accuse Bagenda of political ineptitude. Marando said that he would have been prepared to sign the nomination papers but had not been asked. The results of the by-election, where there was a poor turnout (announced on November 11) were:

Wilson Masilingi (the CCM MP who had been removed) 25,703
Ernest Mashobe (Civic United Front – CUF) 6,121
Gratian Mukoba (United Democratic Party – UDP) 2,957

A similar situation arose in the Arusha seat where the son of Mwalimu Nyerere, NCCR MP Makongoro Nyerere, whose success in the general elections had come as a surprise to many observers, lost his seat in October. He had originally survived a petition against his election but Appeal Court Justice Lameck Mfalila overuled this and spoke about the ‘massive foul play’ by the Returning Officer who was said to have excluded votes from seven polling stations. There had also been 5,246 ‘ghost’ voters and over 50 ballot boxes which had not been sealed. Mr Makongoro said he would now pursue further studies abroad. He was withdrawing (after being nominated for the by-election) in the interests of party unity. The by-election was scheduled for December 28. The Marando faction nominated a Mr Jeremiah Mpinga to replace him.

Another MP unseated earlier, the NCCR MP for Bunda (Musoma) Mr Stephen Wassira, has been refused permission by the Appeal Court to take part in the forthcoming by-election because of his alleged involvement in corrupt practices at the 1995 elections.

Even President Mkapa has expressed disappointment at the internal conflict in the NCCR. Democracy was enhanced by the presence of a strong opposition he said.

In other election petitions the Kasulu East NCCR candidate failed in his petition to prove 17 charges of corruption and violation of electoral procedures against the CCM MP for the constituency. In the Bukoba Rural election petition case, witness number 28, a CHADEMA party election agent, caused laughter in the court when he admitted that he had failed to attend a training session because he had heard that the truck bringing election agent’s allowances had arrived in the village. “Gari la kugawa pesa ilipofika, tulikimbilia fedha” he said.

Meanwhile, leader of the small (5 MP’s) UDP party, John Cheyo (described in the ‘East African’ as outspoken and stylish) is benefiting both from the collapse of the NCCR and from his key position as Deputy Leader of the opposition and Shadow Finance Minister – through his alliance with the 27 Zanzibar CUF MP’s who form the majority of the opposition in the Union parliament. He is increasing his national exposure in the media and his popularity by sharp questioning of government ministers. His party has also joined the Liberal International.

He has attacked what he described as the huge sums of money being spent by national leaders on travel expenses. He said that Mwalimu Nyerere had spent Shs 1.4 billion in the 18 months up to September 1996 and that President Mkapa had spent Shs 2.2 billion during the same period. Cheyo compared this with the Shs 2.3 billion in the budget for the water sector and Shs 546 million for the energy sector. The government-owned Daily News described his comments as ‘verbal poison’ and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru, warned him against seeking political popularity though unresearched data. He said that only Shs 173 million of Mwalimu’s expenses had been paid by Tanzania. The South Commission, of which Mwalimu is Chairman, had paid Shs 1.3 billion and the Burundi Fund, of which is he the Facilitator, had paid Shs 63 million. Cheyo was particularly voluble on a Bill presented to Parliament in October to increase benefits to retired leaders and the government subsequently withdrew the Bill so as to give more time to consider MP’s comments.

CCM PREPARES ITSELF

Posted on by
Reply

Meanwhile the government party, the Chama cha Mapinduzi – CCM, has taken early steps to prepare itself for the next general elections in the year 2000 and the local elections in 1999.

At what was described in the press as an expensive ($800,000) Congress in Dodoma in mid-November attended by 1,500 delegates, President Mkapa was elected party chairman and former Prime Minister and long-standing party leader John Malecela retained one of the party vice-chairmanships (Zanzibar President Salmin Amour was chosen again for the other) even though it was said that Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye had hoped to be elected to the mainland post. Robert Rweyemamu writing in the ‘East African’ was critical of the way in which the party chose the same people to be nominated for the top party posts and how these people were then ‘elected’ by chants, clapping and table banging but not by actual voting. In fact there was an election and each candidate obtained more than 99% of the votes. Some observers expressed the view that Malecela had to be chosen again in the interests of unity because he represented a wing of the party not entirely in sympathy with President Mkapa’s reforming zeal. Rweyemamu reported that a long standing party member, Mr Leonard Munasa, had wanted to stand for the chairmanship but was told that to be elected he had first to be nominated and he hadn’t been nominated. The writer said that leadership should not only be democratic; it should be seen to be democratic.

Other observers however felt that the CCM was showing other parties how to conduct their affairs in a way which brought about concensus rather than the kind of bitter division seen in the NCCR.

More democratic was the contest for the CCM National Executive Committee (NEC) where 500 plus members were competing for 80 posts. In all, two ministers, two regional commissioners and 11 MP’s lost their seats. Sadly, one lady member, after making an impassioned plea for votes, died from high blood pressure. The NEC then appointed members to the powerful Central Committee. It now includes the Prime Minister and Messrs Ngombale Mwiru, Jakaya Kikwete, Juma Ngasongwa and three women: Mrs Zakia Meghji, Sifa Swai and Mary Watondoha. The party’s new publicity secretary is Jackson Msome.

ZANZIBAR

Posted on by
Reply

Commemorating his two years in office on October 24 President Salmin Amour said that there was no political crisis in the Isles and the question of mediation did not arise. The only problem he was aware of was the refusal of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) to accept the results of the 1995 elections. His narrow victory margin did not undermine his ability to govern he was quoted in the Daily News as saying.

Increasing pressure is being brought to bear against the CUF MP’s who have been boycotting the House of Representatives since the last elections in 1995. First they were told that they would no longer receive seating and lunch allowances and then, because they refused to attend morning prayers, because these included reference to President Amour, they were suspended by the Speaker for five days for showing disrespect. CUF appealed to the High Court. The House has also passed a ‘Zanzibar Broadcasting Bill’ designed to help Zanzibar to properly supervise the radio media and also cater for the new technologies and the competition which will arise through the setting up of private radio stations in the Isles.

CUF WIN BY-ELECTION

TA No 59 [actually TA58] contained details of the extraordinary story of Zanzibar CUF MP Salum Msabah Mbarouk who reportedly resigned his seat, took refuge in the Swedish embassy and then tried to recover his seat again. Zanzibar Chef Minister Dr. Mohamed Bilal was reported in the Daily news as having accused ‘a certain foreign diplomatic mission’ of taking part in the saga.

The CUF took the case to court demanding that the by-election not be held but, they lost the case and the mysterious MP seems to have disappeared into obscurity.

GREG CAMERON reports on the Mkunazini by-election: ‘It is in Mkunazini where most of the historical Stonetown lies. Moreover, most of the government ministries, including the State House, where President Salmin Amour works, are in Mkunazini thus giving it symbolic importance far beyond its spacial boundaries. The results were expected to be a weather vane for CUF’s boycotting of the Zanzibar legislature in what the party considers the rigging of the Zanzibar Presidential election in 1995 in favour of the CCM.

The voting went off without incident. Counting lasted until 8.45 am the following morning, with reporters and party representatives keeping an all night vigil. The results were as follows:

Juma Duni Haji (CUF) 1,641 (51.38%)
Sultan Mugheiry (CCM) 1,473 (46.12%
Ramadan Hamad Seleman (TADEA) 1 (0.03%)
Masoud Hamad Khamis UDP 6 (0.19%)
Ahmed Amran (NCCR) 12 (0.37%)

During the general election CUF had won with 3,060 votes (72.7%) against CCM’s 1,151 (27.3%).

Meanwhile, 12 officials of the CUF including two members of the House of Representatives were arrested immediately after CUF’s last rally and before voting on November 30 and were charged with sedition. It was alleged by the police that they had told a CUF rally, prior to the vote, that the people should be prepared for a bloodbath should the party lose in Mkunazini. The magistrate ruled that they should be remanded until December 11 when he would rule on bail participation and the status of the legislators (Daily News). On the CUF stronghold of Pemba many people have concurred with the alleged statements of the 12 accused. Pembans are fed up with the crisis with many exclaiming that their homeland ‘is unliveable’ (hapakaaliki). Even on workdays Chake Chake and Wete appear dormant as if it were a Sunday.

Those who have the means are trying to leave; others say they will only continue to die. Though a small minority may be fed up with the boycott and wish the CUF to re-enter the mainstream to bring the hoped for basic development, the vast majority feel a cessation of the boycott would make little difference to their lives. The CUF leadership has assured its followers that it will form the government before the next election. This seems to be based on the hoped for intervention of outside powers. This scenario seems unlikely however and what CUF will ultimately do to bring about this promise is unclear. The stalemate continues.’

Later the Daily News reported that a female CCM employee had been shocked when she arrived home from a campaign rally to find a note from her husband saying that he was divorcing her immediately. A strong supporter of CUF, he had seen his wife on television celebrating with CCM fiends at a CCM rally!

Under the heading ‘Erring reporters in for a tough time in Isles’ the Daily News (October 5) reported that under a change in the Newspaper Act of 1988 recently passed in the House of Representatives, journalists convicted of ‘professional misconduct’ would now be liable to fines between Shs 200,000 and Shs 1 million. Those circulating illegal or banned publications would be fined up to Shs 500,000 or sent to prison for up to three years or both. Zanzibar Minister of Information Issa Mohamed Issa was quoted as complaining that privately owned newspapers were quick at highlighting mistakes the government was presumed to have made no matter how trivial. He said that he had not seen any foreign correspondent going to the rural areas to write development news. We was also quoted as saying that foreign media were more bent on writing news aimed at discrediting the government and that writing such news was a criminal offence.

The Daily News reported on October 18 that following the robbery of a group of tourists visiting the Jozani Forest, famous for its red colobus monkeys, one of the suspected bandits was beaten into unconsciousness by an angry mob of local residents.

Conditions in the Mnazi Moja General Hospital were described as critical in the Daily News on October 24 as the hospital had virtually run out of drugs and equipment and telephone lines had been disconnected because of failure to pay bills. Patients were being advised to buy the drugs they needed from private pharmacies.

But the economy in Zanzibar is doing better. Growth was 6.3% in 1996 compared with 3.7% the previous year; inflation is down from 18.1 % to 12.5%; procurement of cloves reached 10,339 tons compared with figures as low as 1,500 tons in recent years. Per capita income and population are growing at the same rate – 3.3%.

'IT TOUCHED ALL OF US'

Posted on by
Reply

During Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye’s visit to London in late September he met students and answered questions, many of which had been sent by e-mail from students all over the world. After a few general questions a lady student stood up. She was so young and so good looking, not the sort from who you would expect a harsh or embarrassing question. Then she took the mike, paid due respect to the Chair (High Commissioner Dr Shareef) and the PM. She mentioned her name as we had all been asked to do. Then she said “Mimi ni mwanafunzi wa MBA Scotland, niliyeletwa na serikali ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania (I am an MBA student in Scotland and I was brought here by the government of the United Republic of Tanzania).

And that was it. She stopped talking and started crying. Sobbing heavily and tears trickling down her cheeks. We all went dead silent and looked at her as she was in the very front row. The episode ended when one voice from the floor simultaneously with the High Commissioner sad ‘basi, kaa, tumekusikia na kukuelewa’ (“OK sit down. We’ve heard and understood”) a sentence which was spontaneously and instantly repeated by those in attendance, starting with the front seats and repeated by row after row from the front to the back of the hall almost mantra. The lady’s point had touched all of us in attendance.

Later, our High Commissioner, who I must say was on top of the proceedings, announced that there was a question which was going to be read out. It was in Swahili and went into some detail about the plight of various groups of students, of how they had had to resort to kazi za suluba (hard labour) or had gone into debt or had not been able to obtain their certificates on completion of courses because there were no funds to pay for the fees.

The PM faced over 50 questions and he did well. But this was the only question in which he did not try to defend the government’s policy or practice. He simply said that mistakes had been made by sending abroad more students than the government could afford and that some of them (undergraduates) should never have been sent abroad in the first place. However, some funds had already been sent to relieve student problems and more would follow. He reminded us that he was also a parent and asked us to believe in his word. The questioner had now come back into the hall, sobbing again.
Bonaventura Rutinwa

(It is understood that no more undergraduates will he sent abroad at government expense and there has also been a freeze on sending even postgraduates abroad save in exceptional cases – Editor)