Category Archives: Issue Number

OBITUARIES

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The first conservator of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and author of the famous wildlife book ‘Ngorongoro, The World’s Eighth Wonder’, HENRY ALBERT FOSBROOKE (90) died and was buried in front of his house, perched on a crater rim at Duluti, 15 kms from Arusha at the beginning of May after a long illness. He came to Tanzania in 1931 and had also worked in Biharamulo, Kondoa and Arusha.

A former Principal Secretary in the President’s Office, Central Establishments and in the Ministry of Agriculture, DAVID ALBERT MWAKOSYA (74) died of cancer in Dar es Salaam on June 18.

SIR GEORGE PATERSON, OBE (89) served first in Tanganyika in 1936 as Crown Counsel. He became an excellent big game hunter. He served again in Tanganyika, this time as Solicitor-General, after war service in Eritrea and Kenya.

The Chairman of the 14-member Committee which organised the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, COL. SEIF BAKARI, who subsequently held a number of important posts in the Zanzibar and Union governments and was, just prior to his death, advisor to President Amour on defence matters, passed away on August 20.

NEVILLE FRENCH CMG who has died at the age of 75 spent 14 years in the administration in Tanganyika, completing his career there as Principal Assistant Secretary for External Affairs. He was later expelled from Rhodesia by Ian Smith for alleged spying and found himself Governor of the Falkland Islands from 1975 to 1977 just as Argentina was beginning to make her military intentions clear by pestering the islands with low-flying jets and circling warships.

MRS LUCY ELIZABETH CROLE-REES (1911-1996) first came to Tanzania in 1966. She was buried by her husband’s side at the Kinondoni War Memorial Cemetery on May 11. Mr Victor Kimesera, Chairman of the Board of the Music Conservatoire of Tanzania (Taasisi ya Muziki Tanzania) which was founded by Mrs Crole- Rees in 1966 and of which she was Principal Tutor as well as Manager, gave the eulogy.

A man described in The Times as one of the most eccentric and talented agricultural officers ever recruited by the Colonial Office in London has died in Mombasa at the age of 88. BRIAN HARTLEY, CMG MBE became an agricultural officer in Tanganyika in 1929. He was said to have been the first man to observe the change that came over gravid locusts when they have finished swarming before laying their eggs. On one occasion he shot two impala for the pot not realising that they were sacred to a local secret society. He believed that he had become bewitched and for 30 years afterwards was affected by sleepleaping – he would leap out of bed in the night and sometimes jump out of windows and even off a roof. Later he farmed in Arusha until his farm was confiscated in 1966 by the Nyerere government and later still, at the age of 80, he introduced camels to Tanzania by walking with a troop of them for some 300 miles from northern Kenya (Thank you Debbie Simmons for this information – Editor).

JOHN BOYD-CARPENTER (67) spent approximately 40 years in Tanganyika/Tanzania having joined Amboni Sisal as an Engineer and then later became Chief Engineer of NAFCO. He retired to Arusha in 1990 (Thank you Donald Wright for this information – Editor).

Professor ABDULRAHMAN MOHAMED BABU (72) who died at the London Chest Hospital London on August 5 was a celebrity. At one time a formidable political force who first struggled against colonialism, then introduced communism and finally became an advocate of multiparty democracy. He could be described as one of the founding fathers of Tanzania. His fiery rhetoric, incisive mind, analytical methodology and his prominence in international left wing circles made him a well-known figure on all continents. His friends included Che Guevara, Chou en Lai, Lord Brockway, Malcolm X and Pakistan’s Zulfikar Ali Butto.
He was born of mixed parents whose origin was in the Comoro’s and the Middle East. It was a distinguished religious family. He acquired a number of degrees in politics and economics and his first job was with the Zanzibar Clove Growers Association in the 1940’s. In 1957 he became Secretary General of the Zanzibar National Party (ZNP). After publishing an editorial alleging that the British had turned Zanzibar into a police state he was imprisoned for sedition. He came out a hero but in 1963 broke away from the ZNP and formed his own Marxist Umma Party which joined in seriously challenging the power of the then Sultan. After his party merged with the stronger Afro-Shirazi Party he became prominent as an organiser of the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution.
There followed several high positions in the Zanzibar and Tanzania Union governments until 1971. In April 1972 Zanzibar President Abeid Karume was assassinated. Although Babu was out fishing when the deed was done, he was tried in absentia and sentenced to death. By detaining him in a mainland prison away from Zanzibar Mwalimu Nyerere saved his life. After his release in 1978 he went to the USA to teach at university and then moved to Britain as a journalist. He entered the political arena in Tanzania again in 1995 when he was chosen as Vice-Presidential candidate for the NCCR party until he was banned because of his previous conviction. He had intended to spend his final days in Tanzania. But this was not to be. At his funeral in Zanzibar – his family obtained special permission for him to be buried at his home in Stonetown – political rivalries were forgotten as President Amour joined leaders of NCCR and other opposition parties and thousands of other mourners to bid him farewell. Babu was a man of great charm and he remained youthful in spirit. His death leaves a void in both Britain and Tanzania.

PARLIAMENTARY MATTERS

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The budget session of parliament began on June 18. Some 600 questions had been tabled by MP’s. The following information comes from the Daily News reports on the session:

Because of increasing cases of BANDITRY AMONGST RWANDAN REFUGEES IN AND OUTSIDE REFUGEE CAMPS in Kasera, 400 policemen had been sent there equipped with 20 Landrover Defenders and a number of lorries. 628 refugees had been arrested in connection with crimes. 169 guns had been seized. Out of 52,640 BURUNDIAN REFUGEES in Kasulu, Kibondo and Kigoma, 257 had been granted citizenship.

There had been a delay in swearing in Zanzibar President Amour as a member of the Union cabinet due to problems in interpreting the constitution. He had now been sworn in.
Some 4,160 people, mostly businessmen, had been arrested under the March 1993 operation against ECONOMIC SABOTEURS. Many had been cleared subsequently and those who were keen to follow up their cases had been compensated.

The government had saved Shs 11.1 billion under the civil service RETRENCHMENT SCHEME. 56,727 workers had been laid off since the programme began in 1972. All workers had received retirement benefits.

Persons wishing to become CITIZENS of Tanzania had to be proved to be beneficial to the nation, be conversant with English or Swahili, have good conduct and have stayed in the country for five years.

165 patients had been TREATED ABROAD between 1993 and last year at a cost to the government of Shs 1.9 billion. The acquisition of a computerised scanner at the Muhimbili Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam would reduce the number of patients for that particular diagnosis facility.

Measures being taken to ease the problem of SHORTAGE OF MAGISTRATES included the recruitment of retired magistrates and the opening in October of the Judiciary Department’s new Lushoto Law School.

The government had increased SECONDARY SCHOOL FEES in boarding schools from Shs 15,000 to Shs 40,000 and in day schools from Shs 8,000 to Shs 20,000 per year. Primary school contributions had been increased from Shs 200 to Shs 1,000. Next year boarding school fees would go up to Shs 60,000 and in day schools fees would be Shs 30,000.

Tanzania had earned over Shs 1.8 billion from its diplomatic missions between 1990 and 1994 from VISA FEES. The receipts were used for economic development. Tanzania now had 25 embassies.

AND IN THE ZANZIBAR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES it was stated
that 127 teachers including 3 headteachers had ordered their pupils to participate in the boycott of classes in March in Pemba. The Deputy Minister of Education said that the boycott, which had affected 52,000 pupils, had been politically motivated; the three headteachers had been removed and the cases of the other teachers were being examined.

HESELTINE IN TANZANIA
British Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine chose Tanzania for his holidays this year. He arrived on August 2 and spent almost three weeks visiting a number of game parks and Bagamoyo.

BOOK REVIEWS

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In the last issue an appeal was made for help in reviewing books. Many thanks to the six persons who responded. From the next issue, book reviews will be organised by Michael Wise who will be helped by John Budge especially on article reviews. Michael Wise was at the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam from 1962, shortly after its establishment, until 1969 and has maintained contact with Tanzanian colleagues in the library profession throughout subsequent years. He has also worked in Library Science in Nigeria. He can be contacted at Fronhaul, Llandre, Bow Street, Ceredigion SY24 5AB. Tel: 01970 823351. John Budge has begun reviewing articles in this issue. He has been a journalist for many years and was Lecturer in English and Social Studies at Dar es Salaam Technical College from 1966 to 1970. For the following two years he was Journalist Training Officer at the Dar es Salaam ‘Daily News’. Thomas Ofcansky in Washington DC has also kindly offered to keep TA informed about new US publications on Tanzania – Editor.

BEYOND CAPITALISM VS SOCIALISM IN KENYA AND TANZANIA. Ed: Joel
D Barkan. Lynne Reinner Publishers. 293 pages. 1994.

This is an important book. There is very much in it which is instructive and it incorporates valuable statistical information to back up the arguments in eight generally well written articles. Perhaps inevitably, the articles do vary in quality, although most show evidence of good background knowledge and research. However, the considerable political bias of almost all the articles (and especially of the editor’s) needs to be recognised and borne in mind. Unfortunately, while each author (or group of authors) draws conclusions on the basis of just one aspect of the two nations’ development, there is none which looks at the total effect of their different policies on the lives of their peoples.

But perhaps this is to complain about something which was never intended. The first article, by the editor, sets out what appears to be the real purpose of the book – to present the argument that despite different policies in the past, both countries are now seeking to become some kind of capitalist economy and society – which (two years after the book was published) it is possible that the new government in Tanzania might dispute!
Nonetheless, this book could be very helpful to those concerned about, or having responsibility for shaping the future of Tanzania and East Africa generally. Much of its factual information is a painful but useful education for those who try, without full knowledge, to defend the policies of ujamaa na kujitegemea against allegations that they were an an unmitigated disaster for Tanzania in practice. Thus, valuable lessons about avoidable mistakes can be learned by socialists and others generally concerned for the well-being of the commonality of people; at the same time, factual ammunition is provided for anti-socialists! This book deserves to be read.

True as I believe that statement to be, the book would have been more helpful if its underlying and guiding assumption had not been along the lines that both Kenya and Tanzania made a mess of things in their different ways, but both have ‘seen the light’ and are in the process of reform. Even so, acknowledging the advantages of hindsight, and the paucity of educated and trained citizens in the 1960’s, might have been appropriate. Nor was it enough to mention only once or twice – and in passing – the important differences between the two neighbours.

The economic geographies of Kenya and Tanzania are and always were very different. There was considerable difference in the levels of human, infrastructural and industrial development which the newly independent governments inherited. And the dissimilar political configurations of the early postindependence administrations resulting from those facts, together with the different pre-independence policies of the colonial power in the two countries, had clear relevance to the success or otherwise of the policies they adopted after independence.

Further, it is only in the final article that the book really takes any account of the effects of external events on the development of the two countries. That, however – except for the instructive sections dealing with the IMF/World Bank as well as their operating tactics – is the weakest of the eight articles. The author’s experience is in international economics and the US State Department, but he has written also on political matters without sufficient research or care. For example, he refers at one point to the ‘low key approach to foreign policy’ by both countries from independence to the mid 1970’s; this is an astounding statement in the light of Tanzanian policies during those years. He also talks on page 237 of a Tanzanian ‘initiative’ in invading Uganda in January 1979, while on page 245, talking about the aftermath of October 1978 when ‘Amen’s forces invaded and occupied the Kagera salient. .. declaring it to be part of Uganda’!

Despite such irritations, the book is thought provoking and worthwhile. The article on the Politics of Agricultural Policy by M Lofchie, for example, is well written, well argued and factually supported: its being presented solely in economic terms, divorced from the countries’ stated social and political objectives, is probably the result of the brief given by the editor. It should be noted, however, that the author’s assertions of political and budgetary bias in Tanzania appear to be contrary to the conclusions of the article on urban policy by R Stern, M Halfani and Joyce Malombe.

The article on Education is also extremely important, albeit the participation of three authors (B Cooksey, D Court and B Mkau) is noticeable and perhaps accounts for its unevenness. The most recent figures given, for the time of writing, are frightening. This is especially true for Tanzania, where it is asserted that the primary school enrolment now covers only 50% of the children of the relevant age group; that is about the percentage in 1961. The article also gives evidence of a collapse (and in the past ten years even of abandonment) of endeavours to equalise educational opportunities among regions and among all income groups and religions. The dangers of this for a country committed to the principles of equality and justice and to safeguarding national stability, are very clear: they are recognised by the authors. It seems rather odd, therefore, that their conclusion should include the statement that ‘pluralistic politics and market economics are the two most important factors’ offering hope for ‘further educational decline being arrested’!

But despite all possible criticisms, the information and arguments of this book need to be studied and learned from. It is a pity therefore, that its price is high (more than £25 in UK) and that its print is so small and light that it is quite difficult for anyone with imperfect sight to read. Perhaps a Tanzanian publisher might be able to consider applying for permission to reprint – assuming that the authors would be willing to forego royalties for the purpose?
Joan E Wicken

THE DETERMINANTS OF INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY IN TANZANIA. A J Mturi and S Curtis. Oxford University Press.

In contrast with other developing countries, infant and child mortality in Tanzania after independence did not vary in accordance with the relative wealth or poverty of the parents. In demographic jargon there was ‘a unique lack of socioeconomic differentials’. Searching for a reason the authors concluded that it was due to the country’s post-independence development strategy, which began in 1967 with the ‘radical shift’ in policy when the government ‘changed the capitalist oriented development it had inherited to a socialist, centrally planned economy’ with special emphasis on rural concerns. Although communal production was disappointingly low ‘notable success’ was achieved in the provision of education, health and water supply to the villages. Another surprising consequence of their research is the importance they place on the presence in the household of a radio, ‘relatively widely used and valued in almost all parts of Tanzania’. They claim that it acted as an ‘economic indicator’ which in turn was likely to influence access to health services and the ability to provide adequate nutrition for the children’. They link this with the ‘enlightened education policy’ which, from the mid-1970’s resulted in Tanzania’s efforts and achievements in adult literacy being ‘lauded the world over and recommended as a model for developing countries’.

The authors believe, however, that in the process of building up and maintaining the rural health system, urban health services were neglected, especially in the provision of adequate staff, particularly nurses. The mortality levels in the coastal region, including Dar es Salaam, are among the highest in the country.

They conclude that although Tanzania’s child survival patterns may be different from those in other countries because of its development approach, infant and child mortality remain too high; they add: ‘It is difficult to predict the future due to the recent changes in policies and economic hardship among the people.’ John Budge

ADVENTURES IN EDUCATION. Bernard de Bunsen. Publisher: Titus Wilson, Kendal. 153 pages.

This book is a personal document written with informality of style. Although, in places, de Bunsen’s own feelings and reactions shine through, it is other people who loom large in his account of his life, written almost as though he was no more than an interested observer of the achievements of others.

de Bunsen writes about education in Britain, Palestine, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal and, of course, Makerere in Uganda where he went to make this institution of higher learning into a University College. It is surprising to read that the letter of appointment to the principalship of Makerere was written by himself. de Bunsen writes about the difficulty of dealing with people at the College who did not want change, in making it autonomous, in seeing subjects and the college itself though African rather than British eyes, and about problems with the Art School and in the introduction of social studies.

The author then involves himself in the genesis of the University of East Africa and talks at length on the stages culminating in its beginning. Avoidance of unreasonable duplication and maintenance of common standards in the region were the factors that gave rise to the University. Politics, kept away from the British mode of education, was glaringly present in the East African countries. To the politicians the Africanization of important posts went a long way to speak of freedom of the black man. But Africanization of the content of education was being implemented very, very slowly. The University, a recipient of government funds, cannot sequester itself from the state. This was made very clear in Tanzania by the appointment of a ruling cadre , Pius Msekwa, as the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

It is advisable to read de Bunsen’s book and see the transitory nature of Man’s activities. The author himself writes: ‘….the most humanly absorbing job a man could be given, in the centre of a community, is transformation’. I believe that Prof. Geoffrey Mmari of the Open University knows better. Like de Bunsen he has been at the centre of Tanzania higher education transformation for decades. He owes the state a book of the calibre of ‘Adventures in Education1. It is a challenge directed at him to show us that we have our own de Bunsen’s in our midst. Edwin Semzaba

EXPERIENCE OF WOMEN IN TANZANIA. THE RIGHT TO ORGANISE AS THE MOTHER OF ALL RIGHTS. Nakazael Tenga and Chris Maina Peter. Cambridge University Journal of Modern African Studies. 34 1 (1966) 19 pages.

Nyerere’s declaration that “women in the villages work harder than anyone else in Tanzania but the men are on leave for half their lives” is at the heart of this excellent study. Nakaziel Tenga is a Dar es Salaam advocate and Chris Peter is Head of the International Law Department at Dar es Salaam University.

Women have always been a formidable force in Tanzania and after independence it soon became clear that although politics may have been traditionally regarded as a man’s domain, mothers, wives and daughters could not be ignored. The radicalism of TANU, the ruling party, appealed to a lot of women, not least to those who were Muslims active in the ngoma dance groups that characterised the highly-organised lelemama societies.

Nyerere ensured that TANU’s first constitution provided for a women’s section and that their leaders occupied various positions in the government. The authors mention that in several less tolerant communities, such as Bukoba, the women’s sections were closed down by the men, and in others women were only invited to take part when there was work to be done! When a single national organisation Umoja wa Wanawake wa Tanganyika (UWT) was set up Bibi Titi became the first chairman, with Kanasia Mtenga as her deputy and President Nyerere as patron. When later amalgamated with Zanzibar’s Afro-Shirazi party it became Jumuiya ya Wanawake wa Tanzania. To all intents and purposes a branch of the government in a one-party state dominated by men, it nevertheless managed to record some positive achievements. The authors state that it played a part in burying for ever the colonial myth that African marriage was equated with ‘wife purchase’; the 1971 Law of Marriage Act combined all forms of marriage in ways that comfortably accommodated Christians, Muslims, Hindus and others. There was powerful support from the judiciary in reforming the divorce and custody laws and an old lady in Bukoba, who took her husband to court over land inherited under her father’s will, is aid to have caused a judge to comment that “it had taken a simple old rural woman to champion the cause of women, not the elite women in town who chant jejeune slogans years on end on women’s lib without delivering the goods”.

Another judge was said to have decreed that domestic chores, looking after a home and bringing up children were valuable contributions which had to be taken into account when considering family assets which might be the subject of division if the marriage were dissolved.

During the marriage law debate the authors report that there were complaints that men were losing long-established customary rights and one parliamentarian pronounced that if a man had to get his wife’s consent to a second marriage the African tradition “where a man has always been superior to a womant” would be endangered.
The UWT was also in the forefront of the struggle to change
labour laws so that all working women would receive paid maternity leave and not just those who were married, and to ensure that young women were equally entitled as men to university entry.

Things changed with the introduction of the multi-party system in 1992 when the UWT’s affiliation to the CCM meant that it no longer spoke for all women, so a women’s council, the Baraza la Wanawake Tanzania (Bawatu) was set up. The new constitution continues to acknowledge the marginalisation of women by reserving a number of special seats for them in the National Assembly, but the authors acknowledge that, although women are no longer taken for granted, ‘a great deal of progress needs to be made.
John Budge

MIRADI BUBU YA WAZALENDO. (THE INVISIBLE ENTERPRISE OF THE PATRIOTS). Gabriel Ruhumbika. Tanzania Publishing House. 1995. 168 pages.

When the history of Tanzanian literature of the 20th century comes to be written, the small islands of Ukerewe in Lake Victoria will hold a place of honour quite out of proportion to their size and economic significance. For these islands have produced some of the most significant authors of the century, notably Aniceti Kitereza (1896-1981); E Kezilahabi, who pioneered the ‘free verse’ forms of Kiswahili poetry and introduced the critical realist novel into Kiswahili fiction; E Musiba, whose significance lies in the direction of ‘popular’ fiction; and now, Gabriel Ruhumbika. They all, except Musiba, belong to the Abasilanga clan, the traditional ruling family of Ukererewe.

Miradi Bubu is a sweeping and chilling tale covering 50 hectic years of Tanzania’s recent history i.e. the 1930’s to 1980’s. This is the first Swahili novel to portray this period of drastic socioeconomic changes and struggles. It is an attempt to recapture history as experienced by the various social forces – the rural proletarians, the ordinary office workers, the women, the youth and the nascent state bourgeoisie.

The novel’s structure is based on a simple narrative principle: that of parallel life profiles. Characters include Saidi, a government messenger who becomes a chief messenger; Nzoka, the up-start who benefits from the post-independence Africanization policy who becomes a parastatal executive, a tycoon and a polygamist into the bargain; and Munubi, a rural proletarian-cum-overseer whose yearning for justice eventually lands him at the gallows. Others who interact with them include politicians such as Julius Nyerere, white settlers such as Tumbo Tumbo, Indian shopkeepers, women petty traders such as Mama Ntwara, office girls, the wives, children and grandchildren of the main characters.

Miradi Bubu is not the kind of novel that one reads for mere entertainment or sheer excitement. Although it does have some humorous bits, the novel is, on the whole, serious business that demands some intellectual effort from the reader. It starts at a slow, leisurely pace, but manages to pick up momentum as we enter the exciting sixties, the frustrating seventies and the desperate eighties. At the end, the reader is left angry and depressed, critically reflecting on our chequered history and our inhuman condition.
M. M. Mulokozi

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN TANZANIA (AFTER THE 1995 ELECTIONS). FACTS AND FIGURES. Max Mmuya. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. (In English and Swahili). 44 pages plus 32 pages of maps, pie charts and tables. 1996. Shs 5,000. This extremely useful guide is what it says it is – a publication filled with facts and figures on the political parties, the structure of the two governments and parliaments and related institutions. It also includes a brave attempt at the difficult task of identifying policy differences between the parties. One criticism – its very detailed analysis of the election results in 1995 is based on the regions. How much more useful it would have been if it had been based on parliamentary constituencies. Its summing up of the kind of people which the policy of each of the main parties appeals to, could form the subject of many debates. Highly recommended – DRB.

60 YEARS IN EAST AFRICA: LIFE OF A SETTLER 1926-1986. Werner Voigt. General Store Publishing House, 1 Main St. Burnstown, Ontario, Canada KOJ IGO. 1995. 178 pp. Canadian dollars 24.95. The author, a German, was a settler initially in Deutsch Ost- Afrika and then Tanganyika. He worked on numerous plantations during his career. His memoirs, which are largely impressionistic, nevertheless provide an important insight into this period of Tanzania’s history. The book is illustrated by numerous photographs. (Thank you Thomas Ofcansky for letting us have this notice – Editor).

DONOR INTERVENTIONS IN TANZANIA 1989-94. A Report by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Dar es Salaam. 1996. This fact and figure-filled report analyses in great detail donor aid by region and by donor. It shows how overall aid flows are shrinking and how Mbeya Region, for example, has had most aid and Singida Region has had least during the years covered.

TRAWLING FOR TROUBLE. B S Sekento. African Farming. Jan/Feb 1996. 2 pages. Overfishing, weeds and ecological changes are threatening Lake Victoria; but this article lacks statistical information.

ROTATIONAL WOODLOTS FOR SOIL CONSERVATION, WOOD AND FODDER. R Otsyma, S Minae and P Cooper. Tanzania-ICRAF Agro-forestry Project in Shinyanga and the Southern Africa Development Community Project in Tumbi Tabora. In the coastal and western regions of Tanzania, where deforestation has been acute, farmers have to travel up to 15 kms in search of firewood and poles for construction. Many are using animal dung and crop residues for fuel, which means that valuable soil nutrients are going up in smoke. Pressure on land leads to long fallow periods giving way to intensive but short-duration fallows and even to continuous cropping affordable by small-scale farmers which do not provide the benefits that come with traditional fallows. The authors look at ways of reintroducing trees into existing crop and shrub land, in the form of ‘rotational woodlots’ established by villagers mobilised by local organisations such as women’s and youth groups – JB.

SOIL FERTILITY DECLINE UNDER SISAL CULTIVATION IN TANZANIA.
A E Hartemink. Technical Paper No 28. International Soil Reference and Information Centre, Wageningen. 1995. 67 pages. The dramatic decline of the sisal crop in the first few years of independence is statistically presented. When attempts were made to revive the industry in the late 1980,s little notice was taken of soil fertility problems despite the evidence. The author recommends an intensive production system including the application of sisal waste and the use of legumes and fertilisers – JB.

BRIDGING THE ‘MACRO-MICRO’ DIVIDE IN POLICY-ORIENTED RESEARCH: TWO AFRICAN EXPERIENCES. David Booth. Development in Practice. (15) 4. November 1995. A discussion about how to combine rapid-appraisal methods with inputs from more conventional styles of research. Case studies are taken from Tanzania and Zambia.

COMPARISON OF PRIVATISATION ECONOMIES OF EASTERN AFRICA AND EASTERN EUROPE. Jean M Due and Stephen C Schmidt. African Development Review. Vol. 7. No 1. June 1995.

ASSESSING HEALTH OPPORTUNITIES: A COURSE ON MULTI-SECTORAL PLANNING. M H Birley and others. World Health Forum. Vol. 16. No 4. 1995. An account of a type of planning, tested in Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, which can yield major benefits for health, especially in water resource development projects.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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SPELLING
Regarding the spelling of my book ASANTE MAMSAPU reviewed on page 34 of Tanzanian Affairs No. 54 by Ben Rawlence, I would be grateful if you could print a correction in your next issue pointing out that the title was spelled wrongly and should have been as above and not Asante Masapu. E Cory-King
Apologies for this error – Editor. (Corrected in online version)

THE MUSIC CONSERVATOIRE OF TANZANIA
Since the unexpected death of Mrs Crole-Rees on May 3 the Music Conservatoire of Tanzania has been without means of support. Her earnings were meeting the entire costs of keeping the Conservatoire running.

The service offered by the Conservatoire is a serious and greatly needed one. From the beginning one of the aims was to further music knowledge. The Conservatoire’s Theory of Music exams Grades I to IV are now sat at every secondary school with a music curriculum in the country – over 80 institutions have used them. The Conservatoire makes arrangements for external practical exams and orders music and books for teaching which are available nowhere else. One of its first pupils, Senior Music Lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam Dionys Mbilinyi, was knighted by Pope John Paul I1 in recognition of the music he wrote upon the occasion of the Pope’s visit.

Another aim of the Conservatoire has been to preserve local music. It has published a book – ‘Traditional Musical Instruments in Tanzania’ – many of these instruments and the music played on them are history now, existing only in the memories of a few and in the book.

The Conservatoire has never emphasised profit-earning, recognising the earning capacity to be severely limited by the number of tutors and the availability of musical instruments, particularly pianos, and has been dependent on grants and donations. In the past, the Ministry of Education and Culture gave a grant-in-aid but this has not happened recently for obvious economic reasons.

With the passing of Mrs Crole-Rees, need the Conservatoire also come to an end? Surely not. We must find some means to keep the doors open. We require Shs 100,000 (about £100) per month to retain the premises on Sokoine Avenue and meet other costs. The Board of Directors would welcome your support.

Mrs Nancy Macha
Music Conservatoire of Tanzania
P 0 Box 1397, Dar es Salaam.

EBONY CARVINGS
Brian Harris in TA No. 54 throws doubt on the correctness of using the word ‘ebony’ in connection with Makonde carvings. I am sure this word has been traditionally used for many years but no doubt a botanist might be more particular. J Anthony Stout in ‘Modern Makonde Sculpture’ (1966) consistently writes of ebony carvings. The Makonde carvings exhibition held in Oxford in 1989 refers to ‘African blackwood (a type of ebony)’. The Standard Swahili Dictionary translates ‘Mpingo’ as ‘the ebony tree – Diospyros ebenum and Dalbergia melanoxylon’ .

However, it does seem that the Mpingo tree has not been properly studied and this may account for some ambiguity in using the term ‘ebony’. Now steps are being taken to investigate the tree, particularly because the makers of clarinets and such musical instruments have become alarmed at the dwindling supply of Mpingo wood. In November 1995 Flora and Fauna International organised a workshop in Maputo to discuss the plight of the tree and as a result, a Cambridge University expedition is now under way in Lindi Region. They are researching all aspects of the tree with a view to producing a management plan for its sustainable commercial development. They have formed a charity called ‘Tanzanian Mpingo ’96’ and still need financial help. If readers are interested they should please contact Huw Nicholas. Christine Lawrence

CHUMBE ISLAND CORAL PARK (CHICOP)

With much interest we have read your well informed issue No. 54 but one note on page 19 needs correction. While we welcome and appreciate any progress made by the Mafia Island Marine Park Project (which enjoys a lot of donor support!) we would like to inform your readers that the Chumbe Reef Sanctuary in Zanzibar was finally gazetted as such on December 24 1994 and has thus become Tanzania’s first marine park.

Our project unfortunately receives little publicity through the government and donor community as it is based on a private initiative and is still to a large extent funded privately. Though our work is non-commercial, CHICOP had to be registered as a Ltd. company as there existed no legal base for NGO’s in Zanzibar before the end of 1995. We now try to get much needed donor support but may be affected by most donors1 reluctance to get involved in Zanzibar at this stage.

Visitors are welcome on Chumbe island to enjoy the nature trails in the forest, climb up the historical lighthouse built by the British in 1904 and, above all, snorkel in one of the most amazing and well preserved reefs in East Africa! Sibylle Riemiller (Managing Director)
CHICOP. P 0 Box 3203. Zanzibar.

BILHARZIA
On page 18 of TA No. 54 you mentioned TANNOL HOLDINGS and their Mr. John Mole in connection with bilharzia. I know quite a lot about bilharzia and would be obliged if you could let me know how to get in touch with him.
E G Pike. Oxford

Regret have mislaid address. Over to you Mr Mole – Editor.

MORE EXCITEMENT THAN ANTICIPATED

Two parties of British visitors had unpleasant experiences during recent visits to Tanzania. Founder of a school link between Cumberland and Rungwe, Roger Shipton-Smith, told TA that while his group were staying at the Lutengano Secondary School near Tukuyu the adult leaders of the group were awakened at 1.30 am by a loud crash when four men armed with a sawn-off shotgun, a pistol and knives invaded the room. “Give us money” they demanded. While each victim was forced to lie in bed the robbers then helped themselves in a leisurely way to money, wallets, boots, hats, and cameras. Mr Shipton Smith praised the action of the police who rapidly put up a roadblock and within the hour three of the raiders had been caught; later they got the fourth one too. Next day people walked in from all over the district to offer sympathy. Mrs Josie McCormack who is connected with the Redditch ‘One World’ link with Mtwara told TA that she was bruised and lost her handbag and glasses when she was knocked down by a mugger while walking in Mtwara in broad daylight.

NEIGHBOURS ENVY, TANZANIA’S PRIDE

This was the heading of an article by Ajay Jha in the ‘Express’ on July 25. It began: ‘What does one get when vision, capital, state of the art technology and good administration are blended in the right proportions? Serengeti beer of course.

Way back in 1988 when Tanzania was still experiencing hangover of the socialist brew … a local businessman responding to the name of Meghani was dreaming of setting up a private sector brewery …. the fermentation of the dream took nearly six years. And when it ultimately hit the market as Serengeti Lager Beer about a month ago it was lapped up by connoisseurs like the proverbial hot cake. … the investment is something like $6 million and the installed capacity is 70,000 bottles per day. The plant is in Changombe. The beer is pure barley which is fermented at specific temperatures. No alcohol or sugar is added. Malt comes from France; hops come from Germany ‘.

TA ISSUE 54

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ta_54-1

PRESIDENT MKAPA’S AUSPICIOUS START
ELECTION RESULTS ANALYSIS
ZANZIBAR – TOTAL DEADLOCK
THE NEW TOURISM POLICY – WILL IT WORK?
MAROONED ON MAFIA ISLAND

REVIEWS : BLOOD, MILK AND DEATH
MARKETING JAPAN IN TANZANIA
ALARMING ADULT MORTALITY

PRESIDENT MKAPA – AN AUSPICIOUS START

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President Mkapa has made an auspicious start to his Presidency. Almost everyone is now aware, because of the many actions that he is taking, that there is a new administration in Tanzania. People are said to be working again. Newspaper readers have been seeing headlines such as ‘President-Premier Appear Like a Tough Double Act’, ‘Foundation Has Been Set’, ‘A Sure Touch in Tanzanian Foreign Policy’, ‘A Fair Start’. But not all is well. The state of the economy is still very gloomy and there is a crisis in Zanzibar.

Parliament on the mainland under the new multi-party system has got off to a good start. Members of the government and opposition parties attended an instructional seminar together and, at the first brief session of Parliament members of all parties were appointed to parliamentary committees. Speaker Pius Msekwa has favoured opposition MP’s in time allocations for speeches which has contributed to a state of harmony. In Zanzibar, by contrast, the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) boycotted the Assembly and refused absolutely to recognise the Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM) Dr. Salmin Amour as President.

President Mkapa’s appointment of a new and ‘clean’ group of Ministers to his cabinet (TA No. 53) proved very popular but must have upset many of ‘the old school’ in his CCM party who now have much less influence as they sit ‘on the back benches’ of Parliament.

President Mkapa’s modesty has also been widely welcomed. He has indicated that he does not want to be addressed as Mtukufu or ‘Revered Person’, does not want his photograph on currency banknotes and does not wish to be on the front page of newspapers when all he has done is to send greetings to other Heads of State.

CORRUPTION

The President knows however that the success of his presidency will be determined by the way he tackles corruption and the economy.

As part of the new policy of transparency, following the publication of a list of his assets by President Mkapa (TA No. 53) Vice-President Dr. Omar Ali Juma has declared his. They comprise a four-roomed house in Mpendae which he started building in 1978 and part of another family house in Pemba. He was in the process, he said, with his wife, of building a house at Kiembe Samaki; he has an undeveloped plot at Mazizini given him to him by the Zanzibar Government, a six-hectare farm and Shs 3 million in banks. Other leaders are declaring their assets but these have not yet been published.

On January 17 the President appointed a nine-man Task Force under the Chairmanship of former Prime Minister Joseph Warioba to look into the whole area of the law, rules and regulations, and the government’s and the public sector’s working systems in order to better fight corruption. The team was instructed to report back to the President within nine months. Critics of this move have pointed out however that some members of the team have questionable qualifications, that no members of the opposition were included and that setting up a committee is not the way to tackle corruption.

The long-standing deportation order against controversial businessman V G Chavda (the case about which former Deputy Prime Minister Augustine Mrema left the government) was finally carried out in January 1996 and Mr Chavda left the country. He was alleged to have been the principal culprit in the misuse of $3.22 million of Debt Conversion Funds. So much determination is being shown in revenue collection after the 1995 scandal (TA No. 52) that many businessmen are complaining of undue harassment by tax inspectors. Transport operators have been reminded that they must not issue travelling tickets to Tanzanians if they are not in possession of a tax clearance certificate.

There are signs of renewed devotion to duty by customs officers after ten were compulsorily retired. Strict monitoring of transit cargoes is making it more difficult for owners to evade customs duties. During a recent tax compliance exercise 16 trucks and 50 taxis were seized. Checkpoints have been reinforced to stop the unloading in Tanzania of goods destined for elsewhere.

A revamp of the much-criticised Investment Promotion Centre is under study by a newly appointed 12-person team. Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye gave big debtors of the National Bank of Commerce, who owe the bank some Shs 184 billion and have brought it to the edge of bankruptcy, one month to reconcile their accounts and agree on terms for the settling of debts.

In a situation in which 98% of Tanzania’s gemstones are reported as being smuggled out of the country the government suspended gemstone mining in certain areas and banned charter planes from landing near the mining fields so as to give it time to complete new procedures for gemstone sales.

BIG CHANGES AT THE TOP

There area also indications of a much tougher line on public appointments than Tanzania is accustomed to. On January 8 it was announced that the Chairman of the Tanzanian Licensing Authority (TLA) Mr Juma Mkama had been relieved of his post and seven other TLA officials had been transferred to other departments.

On March 13 President Mkapa took his boldest step yet when he ordered the reconstitution of 19 Boards of Directors of state-owned financial houses, corporations, agencies and authorities and said that he wanted to streamline their operations and enhance their efficiency. And on March 26 he announced that he had revoked the appointments of the Chief Executives of the Pyrethrum and Tobacco Boards and the Tea Authority also.

On April 1 the Minister of Finance appointed new commissioners to head the three main taxation departments in the Ministry – Income Tax, Customs and Excise and Sales Tax and Internal Revenue University Professors have been appointed to chair the National Bank of Commerce (Prof. Haidari Amani, an economist) and the National’ Insurance Corporation (Prof. Josephat Kanywanyi, a Lawyer).

The Daily News reported on March 18 that the Director General of the Capital Development Authority had been suspended.

THE ECONOMY

On the economy, a major step forward was the announcement on March 19 by the IMF that it had reached agreement with Tanzania on an economic monitoring programme. This would determine if Tanzania’s performance warranted the release shortly of Structural Adjustment Funds of $200 million which were frozen last year following revelations about extensive tax evasion.

In anticipation of this, foreign aid has begun to flow again. Sweden has granted $7.7 million to help Tanzania pay part of its debt to the World Bank. Tanzania’s total external debt is $6,800 million. Norway announced in January that it would release 50% of $7.2 million balance of payments support allocated for 1995. The remaining 50% would be released after the implementation of sound budgetary practices. Japan has made a grant of $19.6 million for import support and road maintenance and Britain has granted £4.25 million for balance of payments support.

FOREIGN POLICY SUCCESS

President Mkapa has been widely praised for his success in bringing together the previously quarrelling Presidents of Kenya and Uganda and thus enabling the new East African Secretariat to be officially launched at a big ceremony in Arusha on March 14. Observers noted however that there were many less Tanzanian businessmen at the celebrations than those from Kenya and Uganda. The latter clearly expect to benefit from any trade liberalisation which might follow from this new spirit of East African Unity.

THE STATE OF THE OPPOSITION

The four-party opposition in the Union Parliament (TA No. 53) has entered into the spirit of multi-partyism and achieved some success in causing the government to make changes in its January 1996 mini-budget; it has also strongly attacked the National Intelligence and Security Agency for ‘operating illegally and harassing people’.

At the beginning of Parliament’s first session it faced a problem because of its composition. According to the rules, for an opposition to be recognised as such it has to have at least 30 MP’s. The main opposition NCCR-Mageuzi had only 19 and was put out when the 28 CUF MP’s, all from Zanzibar, joined with the four UDP members from the mainland and established a shadow cabinet under the leadership of CUF’s Mrs Fatma Maghimbi. There is logic in the new opposition alignment however because the CUF and UDP would be regarded in Western terms as ‘right of centre’ whereas the NCCR is clearly on the ‘left’. The ruling CCM party is vague in defining its new political ideology but the word ‘socialism’ is rarely heard nowadays.

Meanwhile the opposition NCCR-Mageuzi, CHADEMA, TADEA and TLP parties are all facing internal tensions connected with leadership disputes or the use or misuse of funds provided by the government for election expenses. Ubungo (Dar es Salaam) NCCR-Mageuzi MP Dr. Masumbuko Lamwai and NCCR Executive member Prince Bagenda are said to be preoccupied with the choice of party presidential candidate for the year 2000 while NCCR Leader Augustine Mrema is trying to persuade the party to concentrate on more important issues.

ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTION RESULTS

A detailed analysis of the Parliamentary election results by Geir Sundet (in a 53-page paper obtainable from the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, Greensen 18, 0159 Oslo) reveals that the failure of the opposition parties to come to a pre-election agreement probably cost them 18 seats where CCM obtained less than 50% of the vote. He shows how much the ‘first past the post ‘electoral system favoured the larger CCM party and indicates how disproportionate was the number of MP’s from Zanzibar who were elected to the Union Parliament:

Party No of elected seats in Parlament (elected + women) Total number elected seats Share of seats Share of votes Seats per % of vote
CCM 186+27+1+5* 219 79.9% 59.2% 3.7
NCCR-M 16+3 19 6.9% 21.8% 0.9
CUF 24+4 28 10.2% 5.0% 5.6
CHADEMA 3+1 4 1.5% 6.2% 0.6
UDP 3+1 4 1.5% 3.3% 1.2
Others 0 0 0 4.5% 0
Total 232+36+1+5* 274 100% 100% 2.7

* Includes Attorney General and five Zanzibar House of Representatives members.

Revised final voting figures for the 1995 presidential election are:

Benjamin Mkapa CCM 4,026,422 votes 61.8%
Augustine Mrema NCCR-Mageuzi 1,808,681 votes 27.8%
Ibrahim Lipumba CUF 418,973 votes 6.4%
John Cheyo UDP 258,734 votes 4.0%

Some 134 petitions to courts against the election results, which threaten the position of several cabinet ministers, had been whittled down to 66 by early April after the dismissal of the first three cases with costs.

As this issue of ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ went to press, election petition cases had started against Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Dr. Juma Ngasongwa, Ukonga (Dar es Salaam) CCM MP Paul Rupia and Temeke (Dar es Salaam) CCM MP Ally Kihiyo.

ZANZIBAR – TOTAL DEADLOCK

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While multi-partyism on the mainland is working well the political crisis in Zanzibar arising from widespread scepticism about the recent election results, age-old differences between communities, economic factors and personality clashes between the main protagonists grows worse. Dr. Salmin Amour was declared elected as President of Zanzibar by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission by a majority of 1,565 votes (out of a total of 328,977) but the vast majority of his votes came from the main island Unguja. His CCM party was unable to win a single parliamentary seat in the island of Pemba. Geir Sundet’s paper referred to above quotes from another detailed analysis of the election results (Republic in Transition; 1995 Elections in Tanzania and Zanzibar, International Foundation for Election Systems, 1101 15th St. NW Washington DC 20005) which states that in the controversial election in the Mlandege constituency in Unguja, international observers found that while the official result gave CCM victory by 871 votes a recount indicated a victory for CUF by 17 votes.

Mr Seif Shariff Hamad’s Civic United Front (CUF) won every seat in Pemba with ease. However, had Mr Hamad been declared elected as President, a similar crisis could have arisen given the equal support and determination to win of both sides in the contest. Mr Hamad however might have taken a less rigid stand than is now being taken by the tough President Amour. For outsiders (and large numbers of Tanzanians including Father of the Nation Julius Nyerere) the obvious solution for Zanzibar would be a government of national unity. But President Amour continues to insist, quite correctly, that in a multi-party system the one who gains the most votes wins the election and is therefore entitled to rule.

The President has made his position quite clear on several occasions. At a rally on March 17, which was organised to protest against acts of sabotage (see below), he said that the Zanzibar Government would never hold a dialogue with CUF and there was no need to form a government of national unity because CUF leaders ‘did not have good intentions’… There was no person inside or outside Tanzania who would force the Government to have dialogue. There were external forces using the opposition as camouflage to recapture Zanzibar. At another very large rally on March 26 he stated that he would not resign despite the bad press he was getting from tabloid newspapers.

Mr Seif Shariff Hamad gave his opinion in a letter to Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, the Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU):
‘CUF shall never accept Dr. Salmin Amour as President of Zanzibar. He was never elected. He, in cooperation with the Chairman and members of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, imposed himself as President. We do not buy the idea that Dr. Salmin should incorporate two, three or even five CUF members as members in his own government … because this would undermine the whole democratic process ….I CUF offers two options in tackling the problem. First, the ‘Haiti option’. Dr. Amour . . . must be pushed to step down and the person undersigned who won the election should be installed as the lawful President of Zanzibar … I promise to form a government of national unity. The second option is that Dr. Amour steps down and an interim President, a person of high integrity, is appointed. The President should review the Zanzibar Constitution and the Election Act….and organise a new election within three months.. ..I – Seif Shariff Hamad. The division in voting preference between the two islands was further reinforced on March 31 when in Ward (local government) elections (with very low poll turnouts) CCM won all 17 seats in Unguja, the main island, and CUF won all six in Pemba .

FAVOURING UNGUJA

Well known Zanzibar journalist Salim Said Salim, just before he was prevented by the government from continuing to operate as a journalist in Zanzibar (which aroused much criticism outside the Isles), wrote an article in the ‘Business Times’ in which he spoke of President Amour’s ‘revenge1 against Pemba where his CCM party had scored only 10% of the votes.

He noted that President Amour had appointed only one Minister from Pemba in a Cabinet of 18, one junior minister out of five from Pemba, one Pemban Principal Secretary out of 14 and one Pemban Deputy Principal Secretary out of 21. He then appointed four Regional Commissioners, all from the main island of Unguja. He had previously broken the unwritten rule that, if the President comes from Unguja the Vice-President should come from Pemba. Both now come from Unguja. Zanzibar’s House of Representatives is operating with difficulty as all the 24 CUF representatives are boycotting its proceedings.

ARSON AND VIOLENCE

In this situation isolated acts of violence, arson and sabotage began. Some people from Pemba resident in Unguja complained that they have been harassed and intimidated and some are said to have fled to Pemba.

In Pemba itself the Daily News has reported a number of incidents. Two petrol bombs were thrown at the Zanzibar House of Representatives Hall in Wete on January 28. A primary school was set on fire on February 1. Some 8,000 secondary and large numbers of primary school pupils are reported to have been engaged in a strike since January. Faeces are said to have been smeared on the walls of two schools to discourage any return. On February 3 a secondary school laboratory was set on fire. A CCM supporting businessman in Pemba has had his godown burnt down as a ‘punishment for backing the wrong party’. On February 29 the house of the CCM Assistant Secretary for Pemba South was set on fire. On March 3 some 400 people attacked three security officers, their vehicle was destroyed and their weapons were stolen.

More seriously, at the beginning of April, saboteurs severely damaged a marine cable bringing electricity from the mainland and the main electric plant which resulted in a four day power blackout in Zanzibar and severe water shortages. The government has reacted firmly to the unrest. It detained three opposition representatives in Zanzibar’s parliament for holding illegal meetings and inciting students to strike. They were later released following pressure from the courts.

The Government has been widely criticised for banning the Dar es Salaam newspaper ‘Majira’ from Zanzibar for articles the paper had published which were said to have ‘lowered the reputation of the Isles’ government and its leaders and exposed them to ridicule’. One man was fined when he was found with a copy.

Well-known Zanzibar journalist Salim Said Salim was banned from writing news articles while in the Isles because he was said to have been writing anti-government statements ‘aimed at disrupting peace and national unity’.

As we go to press the Daily News reported a brief police raid on the residence of Seif Shariff Hamad.

VIEWS ON THE CRISIS

Union Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye said on February 2 that the government would not allow Zanzibar to slide into bloodshed and violent political hooliganism. He reminded the people of Zanzibar how, in Angola and Mozambique, people had refused to accept election results and then been plunged into two decades of civil war.

Zanzibar-born OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim said on January 9 that his position was being made more difficult because, as a Tanzanian, he derived his strength to negotiate other nations’ conflicts because of the peace and stability obtaining at home. “The two sides must sit down and talk to each othern1 he said.
Zanzibar Chief Minister Dr. Mohamed Bilal stated on February 1 that he had ‘irrefutable evidence8 that foreign embassies were fuelling the political crisis in the Isles.

NORWAY SUSPENDS FRESH FUNDING FOR ZANZIBAR

The East African reported on April 22 that Norway had suspended aid worth $4.5 million to Zanzibar in evident disapproval of the elections and the ‘heavy-handed attitude adopted by the ruling regime since then’. The suspended aid was for the island’s electrification programme.

Canadian High Commissioner Mrs V Edelstein has expressed disappointment at the performance of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission and said that Canada remained concerned about the irregularities in the Zanzibar electoral process. “The issue should be resolved through dialogue” she said. US Ambassador to Tanzania Brady Anderson has said that claims of vote-processing irregularities were a matter of grave concern to Washington. “Very serious questions remain about the way in which the votes were counted and the results announced”.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

President Mkapa must be embarrassed as he is constantly questioned about what he is going to do about Zanzibar. He invariably replies that people should accept the election result and that he has no constitutional authority to act. His predicament is exacerbated by divisions within his own CCM party. On the mainland, a group of formerly powerful CCM leaders fully support President Amour’s position. Former Prime Minister John Malecela has stated that threats by CUF to remove President Amour represent treason. Similarly, as Mzee Hashim Ismail pointed out in an interview in the Sunday News on March 3, the ‘old CCM revolutionaries’ in Zanzibar, many of whom hold no official position but do have privileges, have little liking for democracy. Other CCM members on the mainland are said to be unhappy about the whole situation.

Mzee Hashim Ismail went on to say that CUF should realise that Dr. Amour has the guns, the police and the army, even though CUF appears to have the moral support of people inside and outside the country. CUF should get into the House of Representatives and fight from within, he said, just as Mwalimu Nyerere did at the time just before independence when the British government offered him only five seats in the Tanganyika government. Nyerere fought for more and eventually got them.

As usual when there is a crisis in Tanzania people tend to look for help to Father of the Nation Julius K Nyerere. At present he is very busy mediating the conflict in Burundi, Perhaps he now needs to go to Zanzibar – DRB.

TEARFUL TACTICS

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Pupils at the Leys High School, Redditch, Worcestershire faced some tearful prospects in the autumn of 1995. Some of the students had taken part in an onion growing competition called ‘Greenfingers’, to find out who could grow the largest and heaviest onions in their gardens. The project was initiated during a visit of Mr Mustapha Ulaya from Saba Saba Day Secondary School in Mtwara. He was one of four teachers who visited Redditch in April-May under a twinning link between the two schools.

The Greenfingers project was initiated, not only as a means of encouraging gardening skills, but also to identify in a practical way with pupils in the partner school in Tanzania. For some pupils, the reality of a dry summer and hosepipe ban resulted in a negligible crop but also a clearer understanding of the problems of drought in Africa. A year 11 pupil, Ian Jeanes, won the competition with his three largest onions. All the harvesters were awarded some chocolate ‘onions’ by courtesy of a local factory and a certificate signed by Patrons, Nick Houghton, Manager, ‘Where Next Nurseries’ and ‘fellow gardener’ Sir Cliff Richard.

David R Morgan, community Tutor, Leys High School.

MISSING VOLUNTEERS

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We have been asked to inform readers that Voluntary Service Overseas is looking for more than 10,000 people who volunteered with VS0 in the last three decades and have lost touch with the organisation to make themselves known in connection with a planned massive 40th birthday party. Contact Tel. 0181 780 1349 – Editor.

MAROONED ON MAFIA ISLAND

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“If this is paradise I’d rather be in hell”. An exaggeration perhaps, but by then we all shared something of George’s sentiments. We were sitting under the corrugated iron verandah of the Bismillah Guest House on Mafia Island watching torrential rain hammering at the steaming jungle. The four of us, on our Easter break from teaching in the Kilimanjaro Region, had arrived five days ago. A gruelling journey in a tiny wooden cargo boat from Dar had brought us there. But with no sign of any return voyage, we were beginning to wonder if we would need a miracle to take us back.

Mafia has acquired near legendary status among travellers, since so few manage to get there or so the guidebook said. That was the bait. Hooked by this promise of adventure, we had spent an afternoon in Dar es Salaam docks, clambering from dhow to dhow in the pouring rain. Eventually we found a compliant captain. Bedded down on sacks of cement in the hold, we chugged out into the Indian Ocean at first light. An angry wind and saw-toothed sea had turned what should have been a days journey into a 50-hour ordeal. When at last we sighted land, 1 could have sung.

My first sight of Mafia was at dusk. Between the grey of the torpid sea and the immense thundercloud sky, there was a ragged fringe of green. Dense jungle blanketed the island, sprawling right to the sandy shore. Dead ahead, pinpricks of lantern lights glimmered in the twilight. We drew near, and a cluster of squat huts like a smugglers nest emerged from the gloom on the shoreline.

There was no quay, so we weighed anchor among the dhows at rest in the bay, and waded waist deep to the beach. A modest crowd had gathered. Ragged young kids scurried between the groups of older youths, their shrieks swallowed by the sea and the forest. The youths were silent, watching the boatmen and us. We pulled on our trousers over wet legs, grabbed our packs and trudged up a sandy track cut through the jungle. We had reached Kilindoni, the largest settlement on the island. Kilindoni is one side of Mafia. For the first couple of days we were content just to slip into the rhythm of the place, and not to worry about getting home. Our room in the run-down Bismillah Guest house was tiny, with one single bed so we’d take turns to sleep on the floor. The electric light didn’t work, and we’d wash in cold buckets of water in the cell-like shower.

But in Kilindoni I found something of what I had been searching for in Africa. It wasn’t all beautiful or comfortable. Days were sometimes long, spent watching the almost incessant rain. But it had offered us a welcome. We would laze for hours on a wooden bench at a market stall. An unsmiling old man in a skull cap, with a leg disfigured to resemble an elephant’s, brought us cups of milky tea. We talked, but in different languages. It didn’t seem to matter. And we gobbled mandazi, the little fried dough cakes that are delicious when warm but sit like cobble stones in the stomach. For lunch Swahili women wrapped in vivid khangas served us rice and yellowy fish soup in plastic bowls. They cooed like mothers issuing us with spoons while the local lads who joined us simply rolled the sticky rice into balls with their fingers. The younger women, hair cropped and earrings flashing, breaking into huge gleaming grins when we turned to look. They wanted us to marry them and take them to Europe.

Long evenings were spent at the beach. There the crumbling mud homes of the town gave way to huts woven from palm leaves. By day they were hives of cooking and eating. Tropical fish and rubbery squid were fried whole, and sold hot from trays by little children wandering the beach in silent orbits. Rice and tea was ladled out to fishermen returning from a mornings punting on elegant skiffs. At night it was still – the only movement the play of shadows on the sand cast by the cooking fires within and the twinkling of stars.

There was one exception. A little hostel on the edge of town stayed open past midnight. Local men would gather and swap stories. We drank more tea and munched more mandazi, listening to the same Madonna album played on a tinny tape recorder over and over again. The four of us talked about everything we could think of. And we felt at home. Only after a few days did we begin to wonder how we were going to get back in time to teach.

That was how we discovered the other side of Mafia. We ran into an English guy in one of the few bars. He was working on a conservation project on the other side of the island, and he fixed us a lift to take us to the lodge we’d heard about. Early the next morning we raced across the island in a fourwheel drive, taking the only road, little more than a rutted sand track. The jungle fringing the island subsided, giving way to marshes and patches of sandy waste ground. We splashed through streams, alive with the low trill of bullfrogs. Invisible birds hooted and tawny reptiles scuttled off the road. In the heat and wetness, Mafia was flourishing. In half an hour we had reached the Kinazi camp. It was a different world. A central club house and bar formed the hub, built in an African-hut style with thatched roof and ochre walls. But there was nothing indigenous. It was lavish and built to last. Smaller ‘huts’ were scattered throughout the lush tropical gardens, with neat paths and beds that cascaded stepwise down to the beach. And king of this little piece of paradise, was Ian.

Wealth, like poverty, is impossible to hide. The hungry, but patient eyes of the boys on the beach would not soften if you gave them proper clothes instead of rags. Even if Ian had been dressed like Robinson Crusoe, it could not have concealed his aura of wealth.

He smoked a brand of cigarettes called Winchesters and was in his early thirties. He was blond, with longish hair, a beard and blue eyes. His accent was South African, but he said the sea was his true home. We chatted a little awkwardly, conscious that we stood in his little kingdom by our own invitation only. In a few minutes of conversation, he conveyed the impression that he had seen and done it all. So we felt a little less like daring travellers, a little more like schoolboys.

Ian owned the yacht in the bay. Three-masted and magnificent, it rested on the water like a little white gull. He also owned a plane, which he flew into Nairobi occasionally to pick up luxuries for his guests. The Lodge was his as were the beach huts, the immaculate tropical gardens, and every shimmering-leaved palm.

An engine buzzed alive at the waters edge, and an orange launch loaded with whooping guests powered out into the bay leaving a white V spreading over the water. They paid one hundred dollars a night.

Ian sent us snorkelling with one of his five dive instructors, and we spent a couple of hours exploring the coral reef in the cove, for a price. But as far as getting home went, our guess was as good as his. He pointed us in the direction of his neighbour, but warned us not to mention that he had sent us.

By then it was late afternoon. Duke was having tea in the garden with two young men and a Scottish woman. We never quite worked out their familial relationships. After a tentative and apologetic entry, we were welcomed into their nascent gamefishing lodge. Kinazi was a different world. This was a different time.

Duke was an Englishman in his late fifties, clad in khaki. He was a bullish Empire-builder, tough and domineering. We gathered that there was some rivalry between him and Ian. The two younger men, in their thirties and deeply tanned, had also seen a bit of the world. Rugby, game fishing and boats were their topics. The middle-aged and wiry Scottish lady lead the welcome, and told us to help ourselves to tea and mandazi. “Hamida, lete maji moto” ordered Duke.

The hot water appeared, poured by Haida, a ghost-like servant girl. She did as she was told. I was rather pleased when Duke boasted that he could ‘knock-down’ the in-charge of the workmen who were laying the foundations of his challenge to Kinazi, but found that they would not compromise as readily as he had thought.

We sat around the table in the garden drinking tea and wrestling. For conversation with Duke was like wrestling. He would pronounce. Our objections would be brushed aside, and then he’d jump on us. Malaria is nature’s method of birth control. AIDS is not yet quite as effective. Africa is doomed. But he had no solutions to our transport problems. We slept in damp foam in tents in the garden. The moon cast a shimmering path over the opaque waters of the bay, reflected in the Milky Way above. Palms danced in the sudden wind, a refreshing breath from the ocean. Waves caressed the sand. Magical is inadequate.

The next morning we missed the daily run by the Kinazi truck to Kilindoni. In the hot light of day, it became clear that our brief liaison with the other side of the island had only been a flirtation. We crouched in the shade of an abandoned mud hut, and I meditated on the whine of crickets. After a couple of hours we flagged down a clapped-out Landrover, crammed with chattering islanders. I’d spent enough time in Africa to know that ‘full’ is a word only used by apathetic guest house proprietors. Transport is always fair game. We elbowed our way into the back, and I found myself in rather a compromising position with a young khanga clad woman who seemed oblivious to my embarrassment. It was hellish, but no worse than we were used to. We sweated, heaved and jarred. Elbows stuck into softer parts, necks craned, and still they chattered. For them, everything was as it should be. Biting curses or grinning sheepishly, we were the ones out of place. A lifetime of western comfort does not foster stoicism. Nor optimism. We crawled back to Kilindoni in an hour and a half, having failed to find a way home. The air was thick as if compressed by the weight of the thunder heads towering above us, and the vegetation seemed to sweat like we did. We reached the Bismillah just as the storm broke. Once more we found ourselves staring into the rain, watching rivulets then little streams of brown form a flowing latticework in the sandy street. Then George said what we were all thinking. It did feel a bit like hell.

We escaped Mafia three days later. By then I felt half in love, half estranged. One day when the rain cleared, leaving the air humming under looming cloud, we had gone for a walk along the scimitar shaped beach. We wandered along it for hours, skin burning, feet scorched, squinting in the glare from the white sand and cobalt sky.

I imagined the images we found there cut out and pasted on a billboard back home, advertising the Kinazi camp. The solitary palm curving over the gleaming sand, the lap of the tide. Only there would also be a beautiful girl luxuriating in the sand. Images can deceive. In truth it was one of the most desolate places I have ever experienced.

We left Mafia as we had arrived – at dusk. By chance, the Canadian Spirit, a large passenger ferry, and cargo ship that plied the route from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara was picking up passengers from Mafia. It waited a couple of miles out, bright lights blazing over the water, like an alien presence surveying a primitive shore. The sunset was unearthly, a golden furnace raging behind the thunder clouds on the horizon. A launch sped us out across the water, and Kilindoni faded back to the pinprick it had been when we arrived. George was right, paradise it was not. But we had discovered something else. Half moth, half chameleon, we had flitted between two societies. But we were members of neither, and never could be. Such is the travellers delight. And such is his curse.

Matthew Green