Category Archives: Issue Number

OBITUARIES

Posted on by
Reply

MOHAMED AMIN died in the highjacked Ethiopian Airlines plane which crashed in the Comoro’s on November 23 1996. ‘New Africa’ described him not only as a photographer of quality – he was named British cameraman of the year and built his East African ‘Camerapix’ into the foremost picture agency in Africa – but also as an entrepreneur and a fixer. New Africa wrote that ‘at the beginning of his career he had been thrown into jail and tortured in Zanzibar for photographing Russians training soldiers of the Zanzibar Liberation Front’ .

New Zealander GEORGE HART (86) who died in December 1995, worked from 1951 to 1985 with the Church Missionary Society and the International Leprosy Mission in the Dodoma region.

The death of former CCM Secretary General and cabinet minister HORACE KOLIMBA (57) on March 13 under extraordinary circumstances was mourned throughout the country. Mr Kolimba had earlier obtained massive publicity by criticising the CCM party for its lack of vision and clear guidelines and had then been attacked verbally by several party colleagues for making such remarks in public. Summoned to Dodoma to explain his views to the party’s Central Committee he collapsed during the meeting and then died three hours later. To avoid any allegations of foul play, President Mkapa ordered a post-mortem which found that he had died due to a rupture of the aorta, a natural cause of death.

MARY LEAKEY (83) the archaeologist who died on December 9 in Nairobi and who lived for many years at the famous Olduvai Gorge, was noted for the scrupulous scientific approach she always applied, which added veracity to the important discoveries of her husband, the anthropologist Louis Leakey and herself. After his death in 1972 she found three trails of fossilised hominid footprints 3.6 million years old at Laetoli which showed that man’s ancestors were walking upright at a much earlier period than most anthropologists had believed.

PHILIP LOUSADA (81) who died recently was a District Officer/District Commissioner in Tanganyika from 1959 until independence – (Thank you Liz Fennel/for this information – Editor)

ESTER NYAGALU (111), the mother of former Prime Minister John Malecela died on December 29 in Dodoma.

MICHAEL MACOUN CMG, OBE, QPM (82) who died on March 24 was in the Tanganyika Police for most of the time between 1939 and 1958 rising to the position of Acting Commissioner. His first job, as he was fluent in German, was the internment of German residents at the beginning of the second world war and evaluating the extent of Nazi influence in the country at that time (thank you Geoffrey Cotterell for this information – Editor).

CHIEF EDWARD WANZAGI (86), a former Chief of Butiama in Mara Region died on March 9. He was the half brother who brought up Mwalimu Nyerere in the latter’s early years.

REVIEWS

Posted on by
1

Compiled by Michael Wise and John Budge

Paul J. KAISER, structural adjustment and the fragile nation; the demise of social unity in Tanzania, and, Sayre P. Schatz, The World Bank’s fundamental misconception in Africa. Two articles in Journal of Modern African studies, 34 (2), 1996.

The most powerful economic institutions in the world, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been, and continue to be guilty of serious errors of judgement and practice, in the opinion of two American investigators. In the opinion of Paul Kaiser, of Mississippi state University, their structural adjustment policies as applied to the Third World, especially Africa, are largely responsible for the destruction of the essential virtue of social cohesion. Any visitor to Tanzania since the two institutions’ loan conditions were reluctantly accepted will probably agree with him that, in one of the few African countries to have remained relatively calm ever since independence, “a long history of ethnic, racial and religious cohesion has begun to fray”. He believes too, that the terms imposed and the burgeoning debt crisis may represent a “new dependency” for many African countries unable to acquire capital from other sources.

He points to religious and racial tensions directly related to the process of economic liberalisation, a matter which was argued between President and World Bank for almost six years. For example, when parastatals were being sold off, it was not long before racially motivated questions began to be asked about who should be allowed to move into the rapidly expanding private sector. At the same time the quality of life of the majority of Tanzanians was declining, as incomes became devalued and the costs of necessities of life escalated.

The welfare state, built up over 30 years witnessed a partial demise, with the people, especially urban workers, being called upon to share the costs of education and health at a time when their incomes were inadequate even to meet food costs.

Although Nyerere’s policies may not have entirely achieved some of the intended goals, Kaiser comments: “A potentially divisive array of social groups achieved a degree of cohesion that surpassed each and every neighbouring country” .

In the second article, Sayre Schatz of Columbia University reinforces this by reproducing data showing that the World Bank’s attempts to demonstrate the policy’s efficacy “not only failed to support its conclusions but actually bolstered the contrary thesis, namely that its implementation most often caused poorer economic performances”. He attributed this to the “objective difficulty of promoting development in Sub-Saharan Africa, a formidable and obdurate problem”, but also to the “mistaken view that the basic cause of Africa’s economic stagnation was poor government performance”.

He concludes: “The only way to generate a satisfactory rate of growth in Africa’s least developed economies is through government intervention to nurture investments. We should also remember that governmental activism has been associated with economic success in many developing countries”.

This promotes in this reviewer the horrifying thought that perhaps IMF/World Bank policies may have played a part in undermining the social cohesion of Rwanda and Burundi, and thus contributed to the recent escalation of conflict, which in turn has cost Tanzania heavily as a host neighbour to refugees.
JB

A. Charles LANE, Pastures lost: Barabaig economy, resource tenure, and the alienation of mainland Tanzania. Nairobi: Initiatives Publishers (P.O. Box 69313, Nairobi), 1996. 216p., US$18.

Charles Lane cannot be other than highly commended for his very detailed study of the Barabaig of Hanang District, Tanzania. It is also a most useful contribution to the cause of pastoralists generally in East Africa.

Lane’s detailed research was carried out in 1986-88 and he continued after this to work closely with the Barabaig, particularly on their land campaign. The method used was “participatory research”, that is to say he lived in a traditional Barabaig community for about 18 months and involved them in actual research. This says much for his skill and dedication, as well as, I am sure, ingenuity. It seems he had to learn much Tataga language, to the extent of the names of many species of grass, herbs and trees. I am glad he had help from the East African Herbarium for this. The result is a comprehensive socio-economic and historical account of the Barabaig people, and it reveals a national customary order of life to cope with the circumstances of nomadic pastoralism contradicting some misconceptions generally held. Lane describes their social rank formation and wealth control system; their land tenure methods and customary tenure; care of their cattle; grain production; food consumption; levels of income; their beliefs, culture and other social details.

The book is however, much more than a social study. Lane contends throughout that policy-makers from colonial times have misunderstood pastoralism. The last three chapters deal with the present considerable problems and developments, which have arisen since the appropriation of 100,000 acres of their land in the 1970s by NAFCO for the Canadian Wheat Project. New Tanzanian Government policies on land tenure are discussed. Lane concludes:

Ways need to be found to integrate traditional Barabaig leaders and institutions with state structures. For this to be achieved, government administrators will have to view this representation (i.e. the Barabaig’s) as a complement to effective government and not a threat to their authority, and traditional leaders will need to be convinced of the benefits from such integration.

I do recommend this book and hope it can be made freely available where it is most needed.
Christine Lawrence

Emmanuel J. E. MAKAIDI, EMMA’S encyclopaedia tanzaniana of national records 1497-1995. Dar es Salaam: Sunrise Publishers (P.O. Box 352), 1995. 279p. Tshs 7,500

The first entries in this strictly chronological and rather intriguing record of events in Tanzania over a period of 498 years give some flavour of the style of the book and the presentation of the events recorded:

1497: On April 15 Tanganyika is for the first time infiltrated with white men. This was the occasion of the arrival of portuguese, purportedly on business exploits.

1498: On June 2, leading a large group of Portuguese, Vasco da Gama arrives in Tanganyika. It was largely due to Vasco da Gama’s greed and influence, that led to the establishment of Portuguese settlements on the coast of Tanganyika and later, the initiation of their rule in the country.

1500: On July 16 Kilwa residents wake-up only to find themselves under alien rule. The first Tanganyikans to be colonised by white men …

There are only five more entries before we jump to 1843 when, on September 29, The British national flag is hoisted high in Zanzibar, amidst colonial pomp and pageantry.

As we proceed further, particularly after 1980, the entries become fuller and more comprehensive and thus begin to fulfil the stated objectives of the book – to be a student’s companion, a researcher’s pathfinder, a teacher’s reference, a politician I s compass and a diplomat’s guide. The final entry dated December 31, 1995 records part of President Mkapa’s new year message to the nation.
DRB

Ali A. MAZRUI and Alamin M. Mazrui, Swahili state and society: the political economy of an African language. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers; London: James Currey, 1995. 171p., ISBN 0-85255-729-9, £11.95.

The focus of this book is the relation between Kiswahili and economic, political and social conditions in East Africa. This is a two-way relation: the development and spread of Kiswahili has been and continues to be dependent on social, political, and above all economic factors, whilst at the same time helping to shape (to various degrees) the social, political and economic characters of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zaire. The book consists of three sections and two appendices, each of which can be read in isolation (there is in fact a considerable overlap between the three sections) . The first and third sections of the book cover the same topics, but from different perspectives. Kiswahili is discussed in relation to detribalization (not eradication of ethnic identity, which remains strong, but the overlaying of ethnic loyalties with national, political, class and religious identity), class formation, popular political participation, secularization, and science and technology. The first section provides a concise but comprehensive account of Kiswahili’s role as an agent of change in East Africa, from the perspective of economic history (for example, the role of Kiswahili as a ‘proletarianizing’ force is traced back to the facilitation of dockers’ strikes in Mombasa (1939, 1947, 1955, 1957) and Dar es Salaam (1947). The third section is more of a manifesto, sketching the contemporary socio-linguistic scene and proposals for the ‘decolonization’ of Africa, in which the promotion of Kiswahili should play a prominent role. The second section (‘The History’) also concludes with suggestions for pan-East African co-operation in the development of Kiswahili, but focuses on the historical spread of the language, starting with the Maji Maji rebellion in Tanzania. Section 2.3 provides a fine account of Tanzania’s educational language policy.

The two appendices are: ‘Social engineering and language policy in East Africa’, by Ali A. Mazrui, and ‘African languages in the African-American experience’ by Alamin M. Mazrui. Each of these is reprinted from previously published sources.
Steve Nicolle

Magdalena K. RWEBANGIRA, The Legal status of women and poverty. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1996, 58p. (Research report; no.100), ISBN 91-7106-391-9, £5.95 (SEK60). Distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.,

This book provides a review of existing laws relevant to the title, with legal developments of the last twenty years being dealt with separately. The principle laws that are considered in depth are the Law of Marriage Act, 1971; inheritance laws, and land laws. The issues concerned are described clearly, accessible to those without any knowledge of the Tanzanian legal systems. The section on significant changes to relevant laws in the last twenty years is interesting, not only as a review of the actual legal developments, but also because reference is made to legal changes which did not address gender issues in areas where this could have been productive.

The ‘poverty and the Legal status of Women’ section, although not mentioned in the introduction, briefly mentions some of the wider social influences which reduce the effectiveness of the legal systems in terms of gender equality. A ‘Women’s Law approach’ is mentioned but not elaborated on (worthy of several volumes as a debate topic in its own right). This section, and others on background and conclusions, highlight the need to view the role of the legal system in a realistic and holistic way, rather than assuming that the simple process of a law will ensure that its purpose is fulfilled. Social issues affecting the effectiveness of the legal system are mentioned, including the ever important areas of education and media.

The presentation of the report may be found to be misleading in some respects. For example, although the objectives are described clearly in the ‘Executive Summary’, they are lacking in the ‘Background and Objectives’ section. In this, and elsewhere in the text, a stricter proof reading might have improved the ‘flow’ of the report.

For anyone with little knowledge of the subject area, this book introduces some of the issues involved in a largely accessible way, and puts forward recommendations on ways to improve women’s legal status. Its size, dictated that only selected issues and legislation could be discussed in any significant detail.
Kenneth Dawe

Nancy SPALDING, The Tanzanian peasant and Ujamaa: a study in contradictions. Third world quarterly, 17 (I), 1996, p.89-108.

The writer of this article pays tribute to Nyerere for his, unusual among African leaders, integrity and devotion to his people, but notes how his policies were failures, leaving the country still “desperately poor despite high levels of aid” .

Asking the question; “How much can or should political agendas and rhetoric be measured against historical reality?”, she employs a ‘culture theory’ from anthropology, constructed by Mary Douglas and based on African social ritual and religion.

This led to the conclusion that the essential characteristics of Tanzanian society are non-centralisation, with the family as the unit of decision, high levels of interaction between communities, especially in trade, and pronounced individualistic cultural tendencies. She believes this culture was “incompatible with Ujamaa and Tanzanian socialism” . However, Nyerere in his essays and speeches never concealed that he had few illusions about the individualism of Tanzanian peasants.

On the one hand, in this article, Spalding asserts that “natural change in response to significant contextual shifts” is different from “engineered change, which is notoriously difficult” and feels that further research on this is necessary. Nyerere, on the other hand, could quite justly respond that changes in human nature and culture, “engineered!’ through the progressive reform of human institutions, has been chiefly responsible for the advancement of civilisation over the course of history. However, such engineering can only succeed when the time and conditions are ripe.
JB

Werner VOIGT, 60 years in Africa: the life of a settler 1926-1986. Published by the Author, 1995. Obtainable from General store Publishing House, 1 Main Street, Burnstown, Ontario, Canada KOJ IGO. CAN$24. 95, plus $10 for shipping and handling.

This book is a rare gem. For anyone with the slightest pang of nostalgia for the Tanganyika of the old days, and even for those who cannot be nostalgic but have a trace of curiosity about what life was really like then in an expatriate community, this book is not to be missed. It is the adventure-packed, gentle and moving personal story of the 60 years the author (who is now 92 and lives in Canada) spent in Africa most of them in Tanganyika/ Tanzania. A short review cannot do justice to the richness of this tale. Werner Voigt grew up in Leipzig and studied tropical agriculture. He went to Tanganyika in 1926 and started work on a coconut/ cotton plantation near Bagamoyo. He nearly died of malaria; one year his crops were totally destroyed by locusts; he panned for gold in the Lupa goldfields; he eventually got his own farm at Mufindi and took his bride on a 1,000 km foot safari for her honeymoon; he became a skilled builder and constructed houses for the groundnut scheme; he imported a lifeboat for his fishing expeditions at Bagamoyo and then converted it into a cabin cruiser. He remembers all the extraordinary stories he heard about exotic personalities he met and recounts them with humour and an original but highly readable and rather elegant writing style. There are a lot of references to ‘the war’ but it is the 1914-1918 war he is writing about Werner Voigt must be good natured. There is hardly a word of criticism of anyone in the book except his neighbours who became rabid Nazis in the 1930’s. His relations with Africans seem to have been excellent. Even the British colonial administration is never attacked – something very unusual among settlers in fact the British are hardly mentioned at all in the first part of the book, as the Germans seemed to be a self-contained group.

During and after the second world war Voigt was interned for eight years. When he tried to buy back his farm which had been taken from him, many of his British neighbours were resentful but later, when he was growing tea at Mufindi, he seems to have become part of a largely British community. The final chapter entitled “The Dream Fades” is sad but very brief. The eightyodd snapshots which illustrate the text are remarkably clear considering that most of them were taken fifty years ago. I am grateful to reader Michael Carr for letting me know that this book exists. Do not start reading it when you are expecting visitors – you might resent their intrusion. Do not start reading it late at night (as I did) – you will miss a night’s sleep! And watch out for the film which will surely follow.
DRB

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Tyler BIGGS and Pradeep Srivastava, structural aspects of manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa: findings from a seven country enterprise. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996, ix, 67p. (World Bank discussion paper; no.346; Africa Technical Department series), ISBN 0-8213-3807-2.

Assesses the result of a survey of firms in seven countries, Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and deals with issues of entrepreneurship, labour markets, technological capabilities, financial markets, infrastructure, regulation, and conflict resolution mechanisms.

COTTON, colonialism, and social history in sub-Saharan Africa; edited by AlIen Isaacman & Richard Roberts. London: James Currey, 1995. xi, 314p., ISBN 0-85255-619-5, £14.94 Includes several chapters dealing specifically with German East Africa/ Tanganyika.

Colin CREIGHTON and C.K. Omari, Gender, family and household in Tanzania. London: Avebury, 1995. 327p., £39.90 Peter J. DAVIS, East African: an airline story. Thirty years of the international airline of Africa. 2nd ed. Egham:
Runnymeade Malthouse Publishing, 1996. 485p., ISBN 0 9523047 08 £20

L.G. “Bill” DENNIS, The Lake steamers of Egham: Runnymeade Malthouse Publishing, 1996,
9523047 1 6, £16 40 East 280p. , Africa. ISBN 0

KONIGSBERG – A German East African Raider by Kevin Patience
This new book of 100 pages and 150 illustrations, many never before published, is the result of 25 years of research and tells the complete story from 1906 to the present day of the German cruiser Konigsberg. This ship destroyed the British cruiser HMS Pegasus at Zanzibar in 1914 before seeking shelter, pursued by the Royal Navy, in the Rufiji Delta. Special pre-publication offer to readers of Tanzanian Affairs – £14 inc. p&p Obtainable from the author at P 0 Box 669 Bahrain.

Also obtainable:
Zanzibar and the Shortest War in History: A narrative of events leading up to the destruction of the Sultan’s Palace at Zanzibar on 27th August 1896. 32pp illustrated. £4 inc. p&p. Zanzibar and the Bububu Railway: A history of the two railway systems built on the island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 32pp. Illustrated. £4 inc. p&p.

Zanzibar and the Loss of H.M.S. Pegasus. The story behind the destruction of the British cruiser sunk at Zanzibar by the German raider Konigsberg on 20th September 1914. 48pp. Illust. £5 inc. p&p. Steam in East Africa: A pictorial history of the construction and development of railways and lake services in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zanzibar from 1893 to 1976. 140pp.hb. £15 inc. p&p. Steam Twilight. A nostalgic look back at the last years of steam on Kenya Railways. 64pp. Illustrated. £8 inc. p&p.

Alex DIANG’A, Where native fish face extinction September 21, 1996. Daily News,

A study of Lake Victoria, carried out by World Watch Institute, has shown that as a result of the introduction of exotic, i.e. non-native fish and the commercialisation of fishing activities, 60 per cent of the native fish species are extinct, and the remaining 40 per cent are at risk. From time immemorial the native fish of the lake were harvested by artisan fishermen and processed for local consumption. The harvesting of fish by large, open water vessels, with destructive gear, prior to large scale commercial processing operations for the export. market, has brought about this change.

China has experienced the virtual extinction of fishing on the Yangtze River in 40 years since the 1950s. The World Watch report considers that a major cop-operative effort between the three East African countries could still restore Lake victoria, as well as preserve the less degraded other lakes, Malawi and Tanganyika. will anything effective be actually put into action?
MW

Peter DUMBAYA, Tanganyika under International mandate, 1919- 1946. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1995. no price stated.

Klaus FIEDLER, Christianity and African culture: conservative German Protestant missionaries in Tanzania, 1900-1940 .. Leiden: Brill, 1996. 250p. (Journal of religion in -Africa supplements; 14). NLG125.

The FUTURE of Tanzania. Conference report; deliberations and recommendations, ESAURP (Eastern and Southern African Universities Research Programme), December 1995. Dar es Salaam: Tema Publishers Co., 1996, 81p., ISBN 9987 25 010 6, no price stated.

Includes the summary of a paper by Dr. M. Hodd, a member of Britain-Tanzania society and occasional contributor of reviews.

Seyoum Y. HAMESO, Ethnicity in Africa: towards a positive approach. London: TSC Publications (P.D. Box 12879, London W13 8WS), 1997. viii, 120p., ISBN 0 9530204 0 I, £11. The author’s preface draws attention to the tendency of historians and nationalists, during the first half of this century, to concentrate on state nationalism, and to bypass the significance of more localised expressions of ethnicity in the African continent. This short study includes quite lengthy case studies of selected studies, including Tanzania and its neighbours.

C. George KAHAMA, The Twelve tasks. Dar es Salaam: Tema Publishers Co., [1995?]. 12p., no price stated. Described by the author as being derived from his book, Tanzania into the 21st century, this short statement on his view of the way ahead ends with a punchy acrostic of twelve points for development into the next century. They read: Government: Education: Overseas visitors: Rates of currency exchange; Guidance for the private sector; Exports; Karibu visitors: Alleviation of poverty: Health: Accumulation of savings; Management; Asset restructuring.

Juhani KOPONEN, Development for exploitation: German policies in mainland Tanzania 1884-1914, [Helsinki]: Finnish Historical society, 1995. 49), ISBN 951 710 005 1, £19.95.. 741p., (Studia Historica; Has been described as being the first major survey of the period since the works of John Iliffe and Rainer Tetzlaff twenty five years ago.

Gwynneth LATHAM and Michael Latham,Kilimanjaro tales: the saga of a medical family in Africa. 1995, ix, 220p. London: Radcliffe Press,

A double narrative (Mother and son) about two generations of a medical family in Tanzania, from the 1920s to the 1960s. The larger part of the book is made up of a narrative by Michael Latham, based on his Mother’s journal up to the end of the 1940s.

LIBERALIZED development in Tanzania.; edited by Peter Gibbon. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1995.

Georges LOIRE, Sea people in Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House, [1996?]. 170p. Tshs 7,000.

This is an account, by Fr. Georges Loire of to Seamen, of his attempts to organise help return home of “fishermen”, and other sea stowaways who have become stranded far from during the 1980s. the Missions towards the people or home shores

M.H. MULOKOZI, The last of the bards: the story of Habibu Selemani of Tanzania, c.1929-93. Included in Research in African literatures, Spring 1997, published by the Journals Division of Indiana University Press.

LETTERS

Posted on by
Reply

HAND WASHING
I am writing in response to John Budge’s review of Astier Almedom’s article ‘Recent developments in hygiene behaviour research’ which appeared in Tanzanian Affairs No 56. John Budge comments “one cannot help being surprised ….. by the naivete and glibness of experts, who, sitting in a room in London, with no doubt an adjoining toilet, discuss the importance of teaching African children to wash their hands … ”

I was based in Dodoma myself for three years and worked on the WaterAid programme as the Community Involvement and Hygiene Education Co-ordinator. I was responsible for liaising with Astier Almedom whilst she conducted her field trials, and can assure you that she was not discussing the importance of hand washing with other experts but with Tanzanian villagers and government field staff. WaterAid staff and those of our partners, the Tanzanian Government, work extremely hard. They are in the field, visiting and staying in villages, five-six days a week, most weeks of the year. All of the work they do is based on the full participation of the people who will benefit, and they employ a range of community development techniques to ensure the involvement of the whole community (some of which are mentioned in Dr Almedom’s article. The hygiene education component of the work is a prime example. The villagers are involved in assessing and prioritising the hygiene behaviours that should be targeted for change. Sanitation improvements are also discussed with villagers using a sanitation ladder, an exercise which stimulates discussion about the usefulness of making incremental improvements to latrines. This means that villagers can make changes at their own pace. WaterAid carries out hygiene education activities at the same time as providing clean water to a community. Whilst not the same level of service as ‘an adjoining toilet’, clean water is an invaluable resource for hand washing.

I am not writing purely in a professional capacity, but also as a member of the Britain-Tanzania Society since 1989. May I add that I find ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ an essential lifeline to events in Tanzania.
Julie Jarman
Advocacy Manager, WaterAid

Tanzanian Affairs’s review of my paper on recent developments in hygiene behaviour research was brought to my attention by Ms Julie Jarman of WaterAid with whom I had collaborated in 1994.

My paper describes the development of a field handbook ‘Hygiene Evaluation Procedure’ which has been published by the International Foundation for Developing Countries (INFDC), Boston, 1996. Among the field studies which contributed to the handbook was the Dodoma Hygiene Evaluation Study. The results of that study are mentioned in my paper as examples of the value of involving rural women and children in discussions of health and hygiene as part of good planning and implementation of hygiene education projects. Looking at John Budge’s ‘review’ I am not sure that he has read my paper. This is the first task of any reviewer, to actually read and then comment. As it is I do not know which experts ‘sitting in London’ he is referring to. As an African woman with young children, I have no problems in emphasising the need to wash hands at ‘critical times’ with African children (or any other children) because it is a simple and effective way to prevent diarrhoeal disease which claims the lives of too many of our children. Where clean water is not available WaterAid and other agencies try to make it available as much as possible.

Your readers may be interested to know that the hygiene evaluation procedures handbook is already being used by WaterAid and its partners in the field as part of its ‘good practice’ package. In addition, UNICEF is disseminating it more widely by funding a French and Spanish translation of it.
Dr. Astier M Almedom
Medical Anthropologist

THE LANGI LANGUAGE
…… We have been invited by the Anglican Church, Diocese of Central Tanzania, to work on the language development, literacy and Bible translation project for the Langi (also known as kiRangi) language … .if any of your readers knows something about the Langi, be it from own experience or from other people’s writings we would be only too happy to hear from them …. Oliver and Dorothea Stegen, P 0 Box 1369, Dodoma

‘DYNAMITE DAN’
I am writing to ask whether there is anyone out there who knows anything at all about ‘Dynamite Dan’ – one of East Africa’s most colourful personalities. There may be a reader of ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ who remembers him or a least can add to my very meagre but vividly clear memory of him. I know he was a big game hunter in Tanganyika after the first World War. I was told he was a remittance man, that he came from a ‘good’ family, had been educated at Winchester College and that his surname was Eldridge. I was six years old at the time and clearly remember Dan leading his game scouts and porters to Songea, where my father was then D. O. The procession was enormous, with men, sometimes two to a tusk, carrying a vast amount of ivory which was taken to the Boma for storage. Dynamite Dan was a wiry weather beaten man with a huge felt hat, a bushjacket with many pockets and a sort of khaki kilt which came to the top of his snake-crusher boots. He was as fascinated by the small fair haired child as she was by him. My parents found him an interesting guest though my father complained that his stock of sundowner whisky was depleted very rapidly. I can’t remember if they ever caught any escaping would-be German spies or what had happened to all that ivory or even what became of Dan but I’d love to find out.
Mrs Fiona Marsland
contact editor for contact details

TA ISSUE 56

Posted on by
Reply

TA 56 cover

STUNNING BY-ELECTION VICTORY
FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS
CCM DIVIDED?
$768 MILLION OF NEW INVESTMENT
IMF APPROVES BIG NEW LOAN
SCHOOL DAYS IN BRITAIN AND TANZANIA
TANZANIA AS SEEN IN THE MEDIA

TANZANIA – GOOD NEWS

Posted on by
Reply

There was much for Tanzanians to feel pleased about during the final weeks of 1996 as President Benjamin Mkapa completed his first year in office;

DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE AND WELL (at least on the Mainland); Tanzanians took everyone by surprise and showed their political maturity by ignoring ethnicity and religion in a highly significant parliamentary by-election in Temeke, Dar es Salaam on October 6; they voted for a Christian in a largely Muslim constituency and rejected a locally born candidate in favour of a man from Moshi;

THE JUDICIARY IS SHOWING ITS MUSCLE AND ITS LACK OF BIAS by removing from parliament MP’s from both the government and opposition parties following election petitions from candidates who lost in the 1995 elections;

CORRUPTION AND DEDICATION TO DUTY ARE BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY; a very senior minister has felt it wise to resign and senior officials in all kinds of organisations are finding themselves suspended, retired early or demoted;

THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) HAS SET ITS SEAL OF APPROVAL ON TANZANIA’S ECONOMIC REFORMS; following considerable improvement in revenue collection, the IMF has finally agreed to a new loan for Tanzania which should help to release substantial sums of additional donor aid money;

INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS ARE SHOWING GREAT INTEREST IN TANZANIA; but they remain critical about bureaucracy and anti-investment attitudes;

TOURISM IS AT THE BEGINNING OF A BOOM; there is a new professionalism in the way that Tanzania presents its very considerable tourist attractions to the outside world.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Posted on by
Reply

MREMA’S STUNNING VICTORY

After a very heated and rather negative campaign with much character assassination and many platitudes rather than policies, the Temeke by-election on October 6 nevertheless turned out to be free, fair and peaceful. The result astonished political commentators and greatly strengthened the position of NCCR-Mageuzi opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister, Augustine Mrema.

The result was as follows:

Augustine Mrema NCCR-Mageuzi 54,840
Abdul Cisco Mtiro CCM 33,113
Hiza Tambwe CUF 3,324
Alec Che Mponda TPP 515
Mege Omar UMD 422
Samson Msambara CHADEMA 217
Legile Msonde UPDP 162
Ndembe Abdallah PONA 120
Rashid Mtuta NRA 114
Brighton Nsanya NLD 69
Shabaan Matembo UDP 67
Rachel Mutayoba TLP 62
Paul Mtema TADEA 54

(The full titles of these parties were given in TA No. 52)

Towards the end of the by-election the candidates of eight smaller parties began to accept the new reality and announced that they wished to withdraw from the contest in favour of Mr Mrema. Another indication of the beginnings of cooperation between opposition parties was the withdrawal on November 19 of an election petition in Hai district in Moshi by a CHADEMA candidate against an NCCR-Mageuzi MP. The CHADEMA representative said that the dispute presented a negative image of the opposition and that opposition parties needed to cooperate against the CCM. Many smaller parties had been hoping to receive government subsidies for the by-election but these were given only to parties which had won at least 5% of the votes in the general elections in 1995 – these were the CCM, NCCR-Mageuzi, CUF and CHADEMA.

How did it happen? Although CCM brought in all its top people including, surprisingly, President Mkapa himself to support its candidate, most observers said that CCM’s campaign was poorly conducted; the government had had to remove the CCM controlled Dar es Salaam city council for general inefficiency and replace it by a government-appointed commission; there was much dissatisfaction about the mishandling of the elections in Dar es Salaam in 1995 – they had to be conducted twice; the budget had been unpopular: but, it was perhaps Mrema’s popular style and his characteristic demystification of the political process that had endeared him to the people. In the spirit of the new democracy Vice-President Dr. Omar Ali Juma congratulated Mr Mrema on his victory, and said that the government would give him maximum cooperation in his endeavour to bring about development in Temeke. And in the Mainland parliament itself relations between government and opposition MP’s are said to be cordial and the opposition is being constructive rather than destructive.

FOREIGN FUNDING FOR PARTIES
Just prior to the Temeke campaign Mr Mrema was in South Africa. He praised National Party leader Frederick de Klerk and said that he had received a warm welcome from South African Home Affairs Minister and Inkatha leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. According to allegations reported in the Business Times the NCCR-Mageuzi party had received massive sums from the South African National and Inkatha parties during its 1995 election campaign. The CUF party was also alleged to be receiving funds from the Gulf and Scandinavia. Registrar of political parties George Liundi has said that there could be no objection to this foreign funding; CCM had been receiving assistance from China, Cuba and North Korea for decades.

TWO MP’S LOSE THEIR SEATS
Two former government ministers have lost their seats in parliament following petitions to the High Court. They are the NCCR-Mageuzi MP for Bunda, Musoma, Mr Stephen Wassira and the CCM MP for Muhambwe in Kigoma Region, Mr Arcado Ntagazwa.

It was former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba who petitioned against Wassira (the last election results gave Wassira 18,411 votes to Warioba’s 17,640). Mr Justice Lukangira said that there had been corrupt practices (Wassira had promised to issue sugar and salt to one village and had held parties in other villages), use of foul language to denigrate Warioba, and that there had been flouting of election rules and procedures. However, Justice Lukangira, in a controversial landmark decision, ruled that a determination that a person was guilty of corruption was not the same as a conviction for corruption, the former being a finding from a set of facts and the latter being an order consequent to the finding. Warioba has decided to appeal against this ruling so that the by-election originally scheduled for January 5 1997 had to be postponed because Wassira intended to stand. Mr Warioba would not be standing as he was joining the International Court of Justice.

Former Minister of Natural Resources Arcado Ntagazwa lost his seat on the grounds that he was a foreigner born in Burundi and therefore not eligible to stand in Tanzanian elections.

TOUGH ACTION ON SENIOR PERSONNEL
The purge of senior personnel started by President Mkapa following his inauguration last year continues and it is becoming apparent that the government is serious in doing something about the widespread corruption. According to the Daily News (September 3) the Finance Director of the Tanzania Cashewnut Board had been suspended for misuse of money meant for the Cashewnut Industry Development Fund and two other executives had been retired in the public interest. Eight officials of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), including two deputy managing directors, were suspended in late September pending investigation of allegations of misappropriation of funds. A new board of directors has been appointed at the Kilombero Sugar Company: the General Manager has been retired and several line managers were demoted for disciplinary reasons. At the end of September it was announced that the Board of Directors of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) had dismissed two senior officials and demoted four others, all of whose names were published, for misappropriation of public funds and maladministration. On October 18 the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives was said by the Daily News to have confirmed that the Managing Director of the Tanzania Sisal Authority (which is to be privatised) was on suspension pending investigation of an alleged mismanagement of Shs 1 billion. On October 25 Health Minister Mrs Zakhia Meghji announced that she had ordered the transfer of seven officers from the Dar es Salaam port health office following accusations by importers that they were corrupt and inefficient. And the next day the Daily News main front page headline read ‘ATC Officials suspended’; it went on to say that ‘ almost the entire management of Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC) has been sent on forced leave to give room for auditors from Price Waterhouse to investigate the company’s accounts following an emergency meeting of the board of directors. The management was said not to have planned properly for the lease of an aircraft to replace the Boeing 737 ‘Serengeti’ which had to be sent away for service. The most recent development has been a reorganisation of CCM’s Youth wing and changes in top staff.

In Zanzibar President Amour sacked the Unguja Central District Commissioner for failing to resolve a dispute amongst fishermen which had resulted in one death.

FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS
But the most important sign that things have changed in Tanzania came on November 3 when Tanzania’s Finance Minister Professor Simon Mbilinyi announced his resignation after weeks of speculation. Minister of State (Planning) in the President’s Office Mr Daniel Yona was appointed Acting Minister of Finance.

The problem had first come to light in parliament on August 2 when CCM MP Chrisant Mzindakaya demanded an explanation from the minister on a decision by his ministry to exempt four companies from paying an import tax of Shs 300 million (25% flat rate) – as laid down in the 1996/97 budget – on 5,500 tons of cooking oil. The matter soon became a major political issue and some MP’s demanded the minister’s resignation. Under great pressure from press and parliament Professor Mbilinyi announced on August 14 that he had reversed his decision. He had originally granted the exemptions, he said, because the goods arrived in the port before June 20, 1996 and that the exemptions were therefore proper. But this was questioned by others who said that taxes should be paid on the date they are cleared from customs control.

NCCR leader Augustine Mrema lost no time in bringing the issue up in the Temeke by-election and openly accused Mbilinyi and other named persons in his ministry of having accepted Shs 900 million in bribes.

On September 24 a parliamentary select committee, under the chairmanship of businessman/banker and CCM MP Iddi Simba, which had been set up to examine the allegations, issued a 42- page report. It recommended that the President should take action against the minister – he should be ‘made accountable’. The committee said that they had failed to prove that the professor had accepted any inducement but there was sufficient circumstantial evidence ‘which led the committee to make its decision’. Normal procedures had been flouted. Mr Simba also criticised Mr Mrema saying that his charges that certain persons had received Shs 900 million in bribes were based on forged documents.

The Tanzania Oil Manufacturers Association categorically denied any underhand dealings with any government official but the minister finally resigned. President Mkapa’s press secretary said that he had resigned ‘to let state organs investigate allegations of corruption which had been made against him’ and ‘as a move to strengthen solidarity in the party and government’.

On November 7 the National Assembly directed the government to investigate corruption charges against the Finance Minister and other CCM and government officials and report within six months~ the Attorney General should then take appropriate action. New MP, Mr Augustine Mrema, said that if the documents he had presented to the committee were to be further examined they should be examined by an international police body and not by Tanzanians.

CCM DIVIDED?
Britain is seemingly not alone in having a divided ruling party. According to the Business Times (August 16) there was another explanation of what was going on as regards Professor Mbilinyi. There was evidence of a conspiracy by a certain clique of people who had held senior positions in the previous government but who now sat as backbenchers in parliament to damage the Mkapa government by implicating the professor. New African (December) went further and quoted Professor Mbilinyi as saying that ‘the war being waged was not against him personally but against the whole government’. The article went on to name the ‘old guard’ of CCM members who were said to be against the Mkapa government ~ it named Select Committee Chairman Iddi Simba as well as former Prime Ministers John Malecela and Cleopa Msuya and even former President Mwinyi.

An indication that there might be some truth in all this came when President Mkapa stated publicly, according to the East African (November 18), that there were divisions amongst the senior establishment of the CCM party which had interfered with his efforts to lead the country effectively. “If we don’t pull together now … CCM will have a poor record to show Tanzanians come the next elections in the year 2000” he was quoted as saying.

On November 22 the Business Times reported that it believed that CCM was going to tighten up its control of its MP’s and insist on them supporting all bills presented by government to parliament.

THE KOMBE REPORT
The day after the Mbilinyi probe report President Mkapa received the report of the committee set up to investigate the killing of Lt. General Imrani Kombe, the former chief of intelligence (see TA No 55). Fifty two witnesses had been interviewed. The report stated that the government was not involved in any way in the killing but the full report could not be released until court cases against the police officers involved had been completed.

M.V. BUKOBA – THE SEQUEL

Posted on by
Reply

The report of the judicial commission investigating the loss of the MV Bukoba, which sank in Lake Victoria with the loss of 700 lives last May (TA No 55) was published on September 6 and spread the blame widely – the Tanzania Railways corporation’s Marine Division for operating the vessel without due care (it had a long-standing stability problem yet on its final voyage it was overloaded, there was improper storage of cargo and inadequate ballasting); the division was said to have been characterised by gross negligence , inefficiency and corruption; the government was blamed for buying a defective ship (although this was partially because of a lack of expertise on the Tanzanian side and the crisis in Lake shipping caused by the collapse at the time of the East African community’s Lake steamer services; this had placed Tanzania in a weak bargaining position with the suppliers); and the Belgian shipbuilders (BSC) for supplying a vessel which did not correspond to the specifications and for not giving the users adequate guidelines on the extremely delicate handling the ship required. The report also described as ‘regrettable’ the failure of the Belgian government to finance promised rehabilitation work on the ship. The Belgian government has since refused to pay compensation to the victims stating that the shipbuilders (who are believed to have gone out of business) were responsible. But the matter remained under discussion in the Belgian parliament.

The Director of Public Prosecutions announced on November 27 that criminal charges were being prepared against a number of people in connection with the tragedy.

$768 MILLION IN NEW INVESTMENT

Posted on by
Reply

Potential investors turned up in great numbers at two investment conferences, in Dar es Salaam (November 5-8) and London (November 6). The first, the Tanzania International Investment and Technology Forum, was sponsored by UNIDO and the second, which was devoted to East African cooperation, by the Financial Times.

The Dar Forum was clearly very successful as it attracted $786 million in new investment from more than 400 foreign investors representing 220 companies. Four joint-venture contracts and 75 letters of intent were signed by local companies and state agencies with foreign partners. The investments were in gold mining, soap manufacture, oilseeds, a dairy plant, a petroleum pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, a hydro-electric plant in Morogoro, diamond and gemstone mining, construction of hotels, shoe manufacturing, cutlery, cotton yarn, fruit juice manufacturing and coffee processing.

CRITICISM
But Tanzania came in for heavy criticism especially at the London seminar for the way in which its Investment Promotion Centre (IPC) treated investors compared with the warm welcome they received in Uganda. One British businessman called it the , Investment Prevention Centre’ because of its bureaucratic nature and negative attitude. Even the new IPC head, Mr Samuel Sitta, was quoted in the Express (September 12) as saying that he found the centre too tardy and riddled with red tape. Staff at the IPC seemed to love controlling rather than inviting new investment he said; some investors had to go to seven different offices with the same set of documents. At the London seminar Foreign Minister Jakwaya Kikwete put a lot of the blame on the IMF. It was the IMF that had insisted that tax exemptions could be approved only by the Ministry of Finance and not by a ‘one-stop’ investment centre. He felt that the situation would soon be resolved.

THE ADVANTAGES
But Mr Kikwete also pointed out that Tanzania was the largest country in East Africa in terms of size and population; it was better endowed with resources than the other two countries; it was stable, peaceful and had been cohesive since independence; it had just undergone a peaceful transition from a one-party to a multi-party system of government; there was plenty of land; the industrial sector was more or less virgin territory; there were numerous training facilities available for use by the private sector.

A MUCH BETTER DEAL FOR INVESTORS
President Mkapa, in a highly significant pro-private enterprise opening speech at the Dar es Salaam forum (delivered by Vice-President Dr. Omar Ali Juma) promised a much better deal for foreign investors. He said that the government planned to drop visa requirements for citizens of countries of ‘ strategic investment interest and trade importance to Tanzania’, and provide long-term work permits to foreign investors promptly. He said that he would restructure the IPC, would reduce bureaucracy, would streamline the taxation system, fight corruption and rationalise labour laws. He assured investors of protection, peace and stability, things which Tanzania had enjoyed since independence. British aid minister Baroness Chalker at the London seminar pointed out that corruption depended on two parties; investors should stop offering bribes.

TANZANIA’S BIG SPLASH
Regular visitors to the vast World Travel Market at Earls Court in London (November 11-14) were astonished to see the transformation in the scope and style of Tanzania’s stand. Among the African stands only that of South Africa was larger. Dynamic Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Juma Ngasongwa, having just returned from a similar assignment in South Africa, led a party of some 20 private companies who had arranged displays at the impressively laid out stand. Potential tourists were invited to hire a private yacht on the coast, to travel by private train, to flyover the Serengeti in a balloon, to watch birds or ride horse back and engage in a whole range of other activities. Tanzania’s 12 national parks, seven game reserves, 50 controlled areas, its conservation park, its marine park, beaches, historical sites and other attractions are now finally receiving significant international publicity.

The minister had reacted forcefully immediately after an attack on two tourists in the Serengeti National Park on September 8. He announced that security patrols had been strengthened, the number of rangers at each lodge had been increased and those out on patrol had been instructed to shoot bandits on sight. A new helicopter would soon be helping with security in the park. A US$ 25 million film with a cast of 200 entitled ‘The Maasai’ and intended to further promote Tanzanian tourism is to be made in Arusha starting in May 1997.

ASIANS
Uganda’s formidable President Museveni, on a state visit to Tanzania on September 21, lectured the Dar es Salaam business community on ways in which Tanzania could profit from Uganda’s highly successful experience with investment and revenue collection. “I understand that some people here don’t like Indians” he said. “They argue that they are corrupt and bribe the indigenous people. If the indigenous accept bribes from them they are stupid (applause) …. if you don’t want Indians here I’m ready to take them to Uganda ….. five years ago Uganda collected $40 million in taxes; this year I am expecting US$900 million …. suppose I had 1,000 Indians like Madhvani in Uganda, I would be generating US$36 billion annually in taxes and Uganda would become a donor nation!”.

EAST AFRICAN COOPERATION – MANY POSSIBILITIES

Posted on by
Reply

At another meeting in London on November 20, under the auspices of the Royal African Society, the three East African High Commissioners in London talked about East African cooperation. One speaker said that a possible future benefit of such cooperation might be the appointment of only one High Commissioner for the three countries!

Tanzania’s High Commissioner Dr. Abdul-Kader Shareef put some flesh on the bones of the proposed cooperation arrangements now being actively discussed at the headquarters office in Arusha by describing some of the possibilities – an easing of previously restricted social interaction across borders; common strategies on foreign debt; the creation of a critical mass in terms of the market; cooperation on environmental issues – the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara were one continuous ecosystem; the pooling of telecommunications facilities; stemming the loss of professionals; the assembly of the huge capital requirements if energy resources were to be properly developed; and the advantage of a unified approach when dealing with the issue of instability in neighbouring countries.

IMF APPROVES BIG LOAN

Posted on by
Reply

As if to reinforce the other favourable developments, Tanzania’s financial crisis was greatly eased by the decision on November 8 of the IMF finally to approve Tanzania’s Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) totalling US$234 million.

World Bank Resident Representative in Dar es Salaam Ron Brigish was quoted as saying that this could open the floodgates for balance of payments support and donor contributions to Tanzania’s development. Two weeks later the British government announced that it had approved a £24 million grant of programme aid for imports support, civil service reform costs and budgetary support.

The IMF loan is to be released in six equal half-yearly instalments over a three year period. The funds are being used to boost foreign exchange reserves in the Central Bank to enable Tanzania to purchase urgently needed medical and educational supplies.

Tanzania was said to be hoping that a beginning might be made in new international debt relief programmes at the next Paris Club meeting scheduled to be held in January 1997. Although revenue collection had improved and was totalling Shs 44.3 billion each month, some Shs 20.0 billion of this had to be paid in debt servicing. with government personnel needing to be paid, only Shs 4.7 billion was left each month for all other expenditure although the minimum needed was Shs 15 billion per month.

The World Bank announced on November 7 that it had established a ‘Heavily Indebted Poorest countries Trust Fund’ (HIPC) to be managed by the IDA to provide debt relief. Forty one countries being considered for possible assistance have been placed in four categories. Tanzania is in the second group i.e. ‘Possibly stressed’. Countries in the first group containing Burundi, Sudan and Zaire were described as ‘Unsustainable’. ‘Sustainable’ countries included Ghana, Kenya and Yemen.