JOSEPH NYERERE, younger brother of Mwalimu Nyerere, described in the Daily News as ‘an outstanding nationalist’. He resigned from his post as Secretary-General of the TANU Youth League in 1970 to become the first national leader to opt for life in an Ujamaa village.
I K PATEL, banker and philanthropist, held various posts in Barclays Bank including director of banking operations at Dar es Salaam in the sixties before moving to Britain.
ADJUSTMENT IN AFRICA. LESSONS FROM COUNTRY CASE STUDIES. Eds: Ishrat Husain and R Faruqee. World Bank. 1994. 436 pages.
It is difficult not to feel sympathy with Tanzania on the sheer amount of economic experimentation the country has been subjected to since independence. This second World Bank volume on structural adjustment (the first was reviewed in Bulletin No 48) in its Chapter 8 – ‘Tanzania – Resolute Action’, although some might question the appropriateness of the title, is comprehensive in outlining the economic history of Tanzania during the last thirty years. First there was the socialist period when left-leaning academics from around the world came to Tanzania to add their ideas to Julius Nyerere’s determined efforts to create a model socialist state. Then there are the last ten years when advocates of ‘structural adjustment’ tried out their ideas and learnt a lot of lessons.
The socialist period and the lessons to be learnt from its economic failure have been thoroughly thrashed out in many earlier issues of the Bulletin and are described succinctly in this book.
When the book goes on about the ‘economic recovery’ and ‘structural adjustment’ period there is much more detail. The authors write about the tentative steps taken from 1982 to 1985 – ‘but the background, orientation, hardened attitudes and ingrained habits of those entrusted with implementing the reforms clearly meant that the reform process would be difficult and slow8. And that is how it has been. The World Bank persisted in its efforts to persuade an often reluctant government to push ahead with more radical structural adjustment policies. Many would say, after the economic collapse of the early eighties, that there was no alternative.
Now, eight years later, we have two kinds of verdict. A group of increasingly militant NGO’s are launching an international campaign against World Bank structural adjustment policies. Early indications are that this opposition will need to marshal its facts and figures better than it has done so far, if it is to be successful. This book might be used as a model of the way in which it might be done. The Bank claims only modest success in Tanzania. Ghana is the success story. Tanzania is praised for rapidly turning round its economic performance and moving towards a more liberal, market-based economy. The evidence that this process was, in part at least, experimental, comes from the very extensive list of lessons which the Bank has learnt from what happened. The book reiterates that ‘greater attention should have been paid to …..’ ‘the reform programme should have been more strongly focused on. …..’ and so on. Table 8A summarises the picture in nine sections including fiscal policy, financial sector reforms, exchange rate management, wage policy reform, social sector policies and, in each case, compares the original situation with an assessment of the progress made in reform.
The book is essential reading for all interested in Tanzania’s economic affairs – DRB
THE NEW LOCAL LEVEL POLITICS IN EAST AFRICA. RESEARCH REPORT NO. 95. Ed: Peter Gibbon. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Uppsala, Sweden. 1994. 119 pages.
The Tanzanian third of this book (it also covers Kenya and Uganda) written by Andrew S Z Kiondo, contains insights into a relatively new phenomenon in Tanzania – the rapid growth of formally organised community development activity (CDA) and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s). In 1993 there were 224 NGO1s registered compared with only 163 in 1990 – roughly two thirds of the latter had been formed since 1980.
During the era leading up to independence there had been a brief flourishing of independent trade unions, parents’ associations and youth organisations but, as the author puts it, ‘Independence saw a suppression of voluntary organisations and activities of all kinds as the state systematically penetrated/dissolved civil society and remoulded it in the image of the state itself1. The author goes on to describe the delicate relations now existing between local NGO’s – varying from the self-reliant to the ‘GONGO1s’ (Government organised) to those which are foreign supported – and the government. Taking into account recent political changes and the rise in racial and religious tensions, the author points out the lack of information on NGO1s and CDA1s. He tries to remedy this, in the most revealing part of the paper by a detailed study in a number of districts of Tanzania. For example:
– Ilala, Dar es Salaam – Muslim education/private health provision/religious based NGO1s/ Women CDA’s…. .
– Hai – day-care centres/religious and foreign NGO1s/the Hai Education Trust Fund/animal production NGO’s… .
– Pemba South – upsurge of economic CDA groups/an NGO run by OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim. ….
The author concludes by indicating how the Hai trust funds have all but displaced the local state and wonders whether this means privatisation of local government; he discusses in some depth the extent to which these new organisations are accountable – DRB
PEASANT SUPPLY RESPONSE AND MACROECONOMIC POLICIES: COTTON IN TANZANIA. Stefan Dercon. Journal of African Economies. Vol. 2 No. 2 October 1993. 38 pages.
Cotton is the second most important export crop in Tanzania (after coffee). It is mainly grown in the West – Mwanza and Shinyanga regions in particular. Production increased from about 25,000 tonnes of raw cotton in 1950 to a peak of 243 tonnes in 1966/67. It reached a low of 108,000 tonnes in 1985/86, the lowest level since 1961.
The main purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence of the importance of various government policies on cotton production since the 1950,s. It undertakes an econometric analysis of the cotton supply function which includes such variables as cotton pricing, marketing policies, exchange rates, export taxation policies, prices for competing crops (maize and rice), inflation, taxation and availability indexes. The reasons why certain agricultural variables (such as input prices for seed or fertilizers) and climatic variables (such as rainfall) are excluded from the analysis are explained.
The main conclusions reached by the author are:
(1) That cotton producer prices have been adversely affected by government policies towards marketing, export taxation and the exchange rate. These prices have in turn affected cotton production through a significant supply response. The response to prices is a relative one: the relative cotton and food prices are the relevant variables; this implies that all increases in cotton production as a result of price changes will be at the cost of food production.
(2) Pricing policy resulted in a reduction in cotton production in the 1070’s and early 1980’s.
(3) The macroeconomic breakdown in Tanzania in the early 1980’s also had important consequences for cotton production. The effect of rationing was a large reduction of production and consequently of foreign exchange earnings from cotton.
(4) There was a striking difference of experience between the 1960’s and the 1970’s and 1980’s with a large trend increase in production stopping around the end of the 1960’s. These production increases were mainly caused by large yield increases, suggesting changes in technology used. This would suggest that the change in the policy environment after the Arusha Declaration in 1967 (including discouragement of cash crop production and villagisation) may well have had other effects than those working through pricing policy, but these were just as (if not even more) costly for peasant crop production and export earnings.
This is an interesting paper and the author has obviously put in a lot of work on the analysis and interpretation of results. I can’t however get over the impression that this was essentially a ‘desk study’ and that the author has little experience of either cotton or Tanzania.
There is not a mention of ginneries; the pivotal role they play in the cotton industry and how their nationalisation was disruptive. And I cannot agree with the statement that ‘while cotton cultivation was probably not forced upon farmers, extension officers often received premiums when large amounts of cotton were produced, therefore putting pressure on individual farmers’ (Page 167).
But my main bone of contention with this paper is that I don’t know how anyone can adequately write ‘Explaining Cotton Production in Western Tanzania’ (pages 165-69) over the years without reference to the multi-disciplinary research work carried out from 1934 to 1974 at the Ukiriguru Research Station, near Mwanza, by the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation (later the Cotton Growing Corporation). The Corporation was responsible in the 1940’s for the release of jassid resistant varieties without which cotton would never have become a major crop in Tanzania. The subsequent inclusion of bacterial blight and Fusarim wilt resistance added to the prosperity of the cotton industry. The continuous issue of new varieties from Ukiriguru, together with improved farming practices, is without doubt the underlying reason for yield increases up to the 1970’s.
A K Auckland
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
THE CONTINUING TRIAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: POLICIES, PRICES AND OUTPUT IN TANZANIAN AGRICULTURE. Jan Kees van Donge. Journal of International Development. Vol. 6, No 2.
1994. 27 pages. This article sets out, through a review of literature and with the help of an analysis of output patterns in Tanzanian agriculture, to challenge traditional views on the influence of national economic and political factors on agricultural production. The effects of government intervention are said to be much more ambiguous than usually assumed and many ‘erratic ‘ patterns are quoted. Does the author give enough importance to climate in causing such patterns? Stress is placed on regional differences and especially on social changes – migration, labour shortage, the changing status of women, the struggle between the old and the young or, as the author puts it, the shift from government policy to the politics of the household.
CEREAL MARKETING LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Jonathan Coulter and Peter Golob. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 10 pages. This paper points out the success which has attended Tanzania’s cereal market liberalization.
TRADING RESPONSES TO FOOD MARKET LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Anita Santorum and Anna Tibaijuka. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 11 pages. This paper examines market places and storage, credit and transport costs.
HYDROPOWER IN TANZANIA. K Dodman. International Power Generation. Jan. 1994. 3 pages. Tanzania has an installed electric generating capacity of 410 Megawatts of which 330 MW is hydropower. This informative short article brings us up to date on the £125 million 66 MW hydropower plant at Pangani Falls which is scheduled for completion in January 1995. Four of the five hydropower plants constructed there in 1934 are still operating (providing 15 MW) and further upstream there are plants at Hale (21 MW), Nyumba ya Mungu (8 MW) and Kikuletwa (1.2 MW). The article also explains the importance of water management to avoid the situation in 1992 when the reservoirs were so low that load shedding of up to 130 MW had to be imposed.
THE COST OF DIFFERENTIAL GENDER ROLES IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF SMALLHOLDER BANANA-COFFEE FARMS IN THE KAGERA REGION, TANZANIA. Anna Tibaijuka. Journal of Agricultural Economics Vol. 45 No 1. 1994. 12 pages. In 1982/83, due either to economic pressure or profit motivation, 30% of the men in a random sample of 200 smallholder banana coffee farms in the Kagera Region had adopted a more liberalised division of labour, and engaged in operations and horticultural farm enterprises that traditionally are the responsibility of women. Using a linear programming model, the author states that, by liberalising sex roles, cash incomes could increase by up to 10% while the productivity of labour and capital would improve by 15% and 44% respectively. The author measured 56 activities in crop production, 4 in animal production, 5 in farm processing, 9 intermediate activities like seed production, 20 consumption activities, 18 selling activities and 22 buying activities.
TANZANIA’S GROWTH CENTRE POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. M B K Dar Koh. Pub: Peter Lang, Frankfurt. 1944 Price: 89 DM. In 1979 a Growth Centre Strategy was initiated by government aimed at limiting the industrial growth of Dar es Salaam and spreading development to other regions. This book analyses the lessons to be learnt from the failure of the policy.
LIBERALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA AND ZAMBIA. J M Due. World Development Vol. 21 No 12. 1993. 7 pages. This paper reviews early experience with, the short-run effects of and the way in which these governments are initiating post structural adjustment policies being advocated by the World Bank, IMF and donors.
CLEANER PRODUCTION IN TANZANIA. M Yhdego. UNEP Industry and Environment. Vol. 16 No 3. Sept. 1993. 2 pages. The author calls for legislation to bring about waste prevention and cleaner production instead of the more common ‘end-of-pipe1 pollution controls in Tanzanian industry. He gives the example of a study of a textile factory which recommended the installation of automatic shut-off valves on hoses, optimising rinse water usage, substituting certain chemicals and increasing the fixation rate of textile dyes.
ESTIMATING WOODY BIOMASS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. A C Millington and three others. World Bank 1994. 191 pages. This volume describes itself as a first attempt to map the vegetation and assess the stock and sustainable yield of wood resources. A 12-page section on East Africa describes the main land cover classes and the summary table on Tanzania estimates that the country has a sustainable yield of 111.7 million tons per year.
AFRICA: GROWTH RENEWED, HOPE REKINDLED. A Report on the Performance of the Development Fund for Africa 1988-92. USAID. 1994. 68 pages. This uncritical evaluation report has little to say on Tanzania but what it does say is significant. Writing about the US$ 40 million Agricultural Transport Assistance Programme (ATAP) it reports on a dramatic shift from using ‘moribund government capacity to reliance on private contractors’ – the increase was from nil in 1998 to 80% in 1992 of contractors engaged in road rehabilitation in the ATAP regions. There had been in Shinyanga a decline in vehicle operating costs of 37% and a decline in passenger fares of 18%
USING SITUATION ANALYSIS DATA TO ASSESS THE FUNCTIONING OF FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS IN NIGERIA, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. Barbara Mensch and others. Studies in Family Planning Vol. 25 No 1. January/February 1994. 13 pages.
THE FISCAL IMPACT OF TRADE REFORMS IN TANZANIA IN THE 1980rS. W Lyakurwa. World Economy Vol. 16. No. 5. September 1993. 17 pages
PORTFOLIO MODELS AND PLANNING FOR EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION: MALAWI, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. J Alwang and P B Siegel. Journal of Development Studies Vol. 30 (2). 1944. 17 pages.
THE NAME OF A MOUNTAIN
Re the article in Bulletin No 48 about the mountain, I thought you might wish to know that between 1943 and 1961 I was able to gaze from four different houses over Morogoro and the Wami plains and the three northern outcrops of the Uluguru mountains: Mindu, Igala and Nguru ya Ndege. The last was the name given to the most northerly of the three by the local people and by the 1:50,000 Ordanance Survey map; not Mguru as in Maxwell Cooper’s fascinating letter.
‘Nguru’ could have slipped into use by association with the Nguru mountains, about 60 miles North of Morogoro. Or it could be a Kiluguru form of ‘Nguu’ (Summit in Swahili) which would probably be pronounced ‘Ngulu ya Ndege’. Or again a variant of ‘mguu’ (foot).
I never heard tell of Cooper’s stories but there was, among hill Waluguru and townsfolk alike, a strongly believed tradition that Mindu, the hill nearest to Morogoro and itself well over 3,000 feet, was the home of a large and malignant snake. There was no enthusiasm for an expedition up Mindu, although so near, mainly because by the dry season, when the hill could be more easily tackled, the area was defended by ‘upupu’, the Macuna bean. Those of your readers who have been attacked by this beast will understand the general reluctance. But full marks to Maxwell Cooper for his initiative.
Patrick Duff
Thank you for including my son’s letter ‘The Name of a Mountain’ in the May issue of the Bulletin. However, you omitted the all important word ‘ndege’ (Mguu Ndege) from the name of the mountain. You also gave our Rwandan address and it will not be possible to contact us in Rwanda for some time. Our current address is 8 Sotchel Green, Pewsey, Wilts SN9 5AU. Also please note that the letter was from three persons – Maxwell Cooper, Livio Zill and John E Cooper.
J E Cooper
THE NEED TO KNOW MORE
There were a number of items in the last issue on which I think readers would like to have known more. For example the recall at short notice of Mr Anthony Nyakyi from his post as ambassador to the United Nations. One wonders what the reasons could have been. The fascinating article on John Okello leaves us in midair. What happened to him eventually? On the issue of mines laid by Tanzanian troops in Mozambique you wrote that no maps were left behind when Tanzanian forces left the country. Surely Tanzania was not so irresponsible as to sow land mines in a foreign country without making a record of where they were positioned. In the article on child labour and in other articles earlier I notice your tendency to convert sums given in Tanzanian shillings into US dollars. Would it not be more appropriate, as this is a publication of the Britain-Tanzania Society, to give the equivalents in pounds sterling?
Paul Marchant
Concerning Mr Nyakyi the Tanzanian High Commission tells us that his contract ended in April this year and he returned home at that time. Stories to the contrary in the media were incorrect. Perhaps readers can help on the later career of John Okello. No information is available on the mines. On the matter of currencies, your point is taken but the Bulletin is read in more the 20 countries around the world, in many of which the dollar is the better understood currency – Editor.
FISHING SMACKS
You recently published an article by my son Benjamin on his Rufiji expedition. He is now back in Tanzania researching into the use of sail compared with power for fishing as so many of the fishing boats are unable to be used because of lack of spare parts etc. They are just starting to build their first wooden boat – English fishing smack design…. If you were to know of anyone going to Tanzania who could take things out to them (unusual things connected with the work) I would be most grateful.
Clare Freeth, Woddgate Farm, Borden,
Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8JX
MINI-BUDGET SHOCK
MASSIVE REFUGEE INFLUX IN NGARA
CCM WINS TWO BY-ELECTIONS
BUSINESS NEWS
WHAT DID JOHN OKELLO ACTUALLY DO?
RE-NAMING OF STREETS
Newspaper headlines
Finance Minister Professor Kighoma Malima shocked Tanzanians on January 2nd 1994 when he announced a series of drastic measures in a mini-budget designed to balance government income and expenditure and deal with a serious shortfall in revenue. He proposed to cut expenditure by no less than 40%.
In the following article Roger Carter explains the background to the financial crisis and the measures the government is taking.
LONG TERM INTERESTS AND SHORT TERM NECESSITIES
In common with other Countries at a similar stage in development, Tanzania is faced by a continuing conflict between important long term interests and urgent short term necessities. There can be little doubt that the expansion and enrichment of primary education and the extension of primary health care are among the prerequisites of rapid economic growth. The road and rail systems need radical improvement, the telephone network to be more reliable and responsive. Much capital investment of this kind, for example on schools, health centres, or roads, brings in its train new charges on the recurrent budget for the purposes of operation and maintenance. But it is these costly services that are being starved of resources on account of the pressing need to balance the budget and to bring down inflation.
CONTROLLING INFLATION
Inflation has immensely damaging consequences. As wage increases lag behind price rises, inflation impoverishes the wage earning section of the population and may well cause social unrest. As an indicator of the government’s inability to fund its expenditure out of revenue, inflation undermines investor confidence both at home and abroad. Inflation introduces uncertainties into all forward planning and complicates the task of exporters. As inflation means that the value of the currency is falling, bank balances and contracts denominated in local currency lose some of their value and saving is discouraged.
The importance of controlling inflation has been acknowledged in successive budgets. One major cause of inflation has been the willingness of the government and the National Bank of Commerce to finance the deficits of lossmaking parastatals, notwithstanding warnings by the government that the practice must end. Having no idle surpluses, the government and the Bank have been obliged to rely on inflationary measures involving the creation of new money to meet this need. There are of course circumstances in which a parastatal is providing an essential service and cannot be replaced in the short run. In the case of some crop parastatals the first step has been to remove their monopoly powers and to expose them to competition. Survival then depends on the ability of these parastatals so to reorganise themselves as to operate efficiently without government subventions. The government has set up a Parastatal Sector Reform Commission to advise on the future of parastatals generally, whether by reorganisation as joint venture companies, outright sale to the private sector, or in some cases liquidation. In this matter the government is guided by the intention in the medium term to divest itself of direct responsibility from all productive enterprises.
THE SHORTFALL IN REVENUE
The immediate goal, then, is to end support for loss-making concerns and to balance the budget without resort to borrowing from the Bank, or other inflationary devices. Unhappily, this aim has received a setback with the discovery for the second year running of a serious shortfall in revenue, notwithstanding measures announced in the budget speech to enhance collection and improve motivation among collectors. It was estimated that income by the end of the financial year on 30th June would be some 12% short of the budget figure of Shs. 235.6 billion. Expenditure was also running ahead of estimates. A major cause of the shortfall in revenue is believed to have been inadequate collection of customs duties and steps have been taken to ensure strict adherence to the customs tariff and to put an end to illegal import practices. Increases in customs duties on commodities otherwise produced locally were announced and a 10% duty on industrial raw material, lifted in the budget, was reimposed. On the expenditure side, a decision to undertake the phased closure of 12 embassies and to begin the process by a reduction of home-based and local staff was announced. Foreign visits by government officers funded by government and all transfers of civil servants were suspended. Departmental accounting officers were to see that budget provision was not exceeded; cheques and warrants not covered by balances into the Paymaster General’s account would not be honoured.
The government hopes that these measures will restore revenue collection to the level foreshadowed in the budget without significant damage to current economic reforms. Understandably the reaction of the trading community was one of shock. Some of the increases in duties, such as those on drugs from 10% to 40%, were seen as favouring the rich, while the proposed 10% duty on industrial raw materials was a setback for the domestic economy. Representatives of the Confederation of Tanzanian Industries and of the opposition party CHADEMA led by Mr. Edwin Mtei, the former Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, took the view that the budgeted revenue target would be reached if adequate steps were taken to deal with tax evasion and corruption. The government’s proposals met with a hostile reception in Parliament. Summing up for the government the Minister for Finance announced reductions in the rates of duty previously announced. Imported drugs were now to face an import duty of 15%, while duties on raw materials used for the local manufacture of medical and veterinary drugs were to be limited to 5%.
Any substantial increase in rates of duty must have two adverse consequences for the economy. First, it is likely to create difficulties for industrial concerns already experiencing cash flow problems, with a risk of insolvency in some cases. Secondly and more importantly, by increasing costs it will tend to put up the rate of inflation and in this way to frustrate a primary object of government policy. The government is aware that morale in the public service is just as important as fiscal changes. Rewards in the public service are now much too low as a result of the decline in the value of the currency and the result has been a tendency towards poor performance, absenteeism, and unpunctuality in an environment offering temptations for corruption, while overstaffing has created a financial burden well beyond the government’s means. It is planned to reduce the size of the service during the current financial year by 20,000 civil servants, taking advantage of the progressive reduction of government responsibilities in the productive sector. It is expected that it will be possible to create a more adequate salary structure when the public service has been reduced to a more sustainable size.
NOT ALL GLOOM
In spite of these problems Tanzania has been able to record some notable achievements. The administration of foreign exchange under the supervision of the Bank of Tanzania is going well. The rehabilitation of the road network is proceeding with energy. As a recent World Bank report shows, agricultural production has been increasing at an average annual growth rate of 5.3% between the years 1987 and 1991. Associated with this rate of growth has been an 8.3% real increase in producer prices between 1981-83 and 1989-91, followed by further increases in subsequent years. The ending of the marketing monopoly of the National Milling Corporation has given farmers direct or indirect access to local markets and cash on the nail instead of the long, discouraging delays in payment that previously often prevailed. An important consequence of the rise in rewards for agricultural producers has been a wider dispersal of the proceeds of production among the population in general.
So in spite of immediate problems all is not gloom. But the revenue crisis has once again illustrated the immense difficulties faced by a country at Tanzania’s stage of development in undertaking the capital and recurrent financing of vital infrastructure and services in the face of immediate demands on resources. Such crises can arise in a variety of ways. In the previous financial year, the government was obliged to resort to inflationary borrowing, as drought had undermined the electricity supply at Kidatu dam, bringing industry repeatedly to a standstill over a period of several months and seriously interfering with tax revenues. Before that, serious floods in the Lushoto and Korogwe areas forced the government to make provision for emergency relief. Over all of these unexpected demands on resources hang the increasing needs of a population estimated to be growing at about 3% per annum.
As successive finance ministers have shown, balancing the budget comes high in their lists of priorities. Some of the measures needed to be taken, such as the reduction in the size of the civil service, are inevitably unpopular. But it is clear from the budget speech and its endorsement by Parliament that the nettle has been grasped and that a fall in inflation, bringing with it important benefits both to the economy and the population in general, could now be a realistic expectation.
J Roger Carter
DAMAGE TO SCHOOLS
As a reflection of the financial situation some schoolchildren have been protesting violently about the ‘bad food’ being provided in schools – Uqali and beans every day. Ifakara secondary school students have set fire to school buildings and have caused Shs 6 million damage. Kwiru school had to be closed after serious vandalism and 46 students at Arusha school were suspended after unrest in the school.
As this issue of the Bulletin went to press reports from Ngara indicated that this district in Kagera Region had suddenly received over 200,000 refugees fleeing from Rwanda. The exodus was described as the largest and fastest the United Nations had ever seen in Africa. Every hour 10,000 refugees were said to be squeezing across the two-lane border bridge at Rusumo. The exodus followed the deaths of Presidents Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi on April 6th when their plane was attacked by gunfire at Kigali airport. This was immediately after they had attended a meeting in Dar es Salaam with President Mwinyi who had been acting as Rwanda peacemaker for many months. They had chosen to travel together in the same plane because the Rwanda president’s plane was faster.
The Times later reported (May 9th) that the world’s largest refugee camp had been established at Benako, Ngara District, and had soon become ‘a broad colourful canvas of humanity, testament to the tolerance and dignity that Africans, faced with wretched injustice, somehow muster. This seething mass of humanity passes relentlessly up and down the two roads that pass the camp, concentrated around convoys of 20-ton lorries, Toyotas and Landrovers, dispensing what the international community has to offer. Tanzanian Red Cross workers, screaming through megaphones, order the Wakanbizi (editor Wakimbizi?) -refugees-into rows 100 ft deep. In the sun the scenes are jovial but in the rain Benako’s mud oozes beneath the leaden skies and a hellish medieval misery descends’.
The paper reported that ten planes crowded with journalists had arrived at the tiny Ngara airstrip in one morning. The manager of an Italian engineering company helping at the airport watched in dismay as a huge CNN charter plane shuddered across the mud and dust strip. “This cannot go on” he said. “With all the termites, this airstrip will soon look like a gruyere cheese”.
Refugees at the camp reacted angrily when one of the journalists closed in on a semi-conscious woman who was slumped at the front of one of the long food queues. The Tanzania authorities had begun setting up hundreds of tents to accommodate extra police.
Engineers from Medecins sans Frontieres were said to be working round the clock on a pipeline to the Benako camp in an attempt to stop refugees tramping through the quagmire to get at the only source of water, a murky lake nearby. It was estimated that up to half a million gallons of water were needed per day for the refugees.
Speaking to some of those Rwandans who had escaped to Ngara, Charles Kizhiga, in the Dar es Salaam Daily News, quoted them as saying ‘We have lost faith in any form of government ..our country should be governed by a strong foreign army, not Belgians or French, and they should stay until two generations pass’.
ANGER IN MWANZA
On April 27th it was reported that 70 Rwanda and Burundi nationals in Mwanza region, who had celebrated the deaths of the two presidents at a party at the New Mwanza Hotel, had been arrested on the orders of Prime Minister Malecela. The celebrations had angered Tanzanian residents in Mwanza where flags were flying at half mast. Tanzanian Director of Public Prosecutions Kulwa Masamba later stated that it was not a crime in law for someone to celebrate another persons death.
Since multi-partyism was introduced in Tanzania there have been three parliamentary by-elections. The first, at Kwahani in Zanzibar, on April 19th 1993 (Bulletin No 45) was an easy victory for the CCM. The party took 89% of the vote. The second at Ileje on January 30, 1994, following the death of the late Minister Stephen Kibona, was slightly more difficult although the opposition reduced its chances by entering no less than six candidates; but again it was an overwhelming victory for the CCW which gained 78.5% of the votes cast. But when the Kigoma Urban seat fell vacant things were different.
CCM had chosen a wealthy Asian businessman as its candidate; the leading opposition party CHADEMA had nominated a university lecturer, regarded as a very strong candidate. The CCM knew that it had a fight on its hands.
BY-ELECTION RESULTS
ILEJE:
Gideon Cheyo, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) 14,160
Olufingo Gwalusako, Civic United Front (CUF) 1,000
Mmanyi Malan’gombe, National Convention for Constitution and Reform (NCCR – Mageuzi) 908
Stewart Mmwenisongole, Tanzania Democratic Alliance (TADEA) 510
Chawinga Mulambo, Popular National Alliance (PONA) 508
Anangisye Pilika (NLD) 275
John Tweve, Tanzania People’s Party (TPP) 119
KIGOMA:
Azim Premji, CCM 9,453
Dr. Aman Kabourou, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) 5,325
PONA 165
TADEA 114
TPP 45
NRA 36
REACTIONS
Reactions to the two latest results varied from the euphoria of the CCM to disappointment and frustration on the part of the opposition. CCM MP’s meeting in Dodoma were jubilant on hearing the Ileje result. A few days later when the victor arrived in Dodoma he was garlanded with a scarf and then mobbed and hugged by fellow MP’ S and youth wingers. But the Kigoma Urban by election campaign had by then reached what was described as ‘fever pitch8 and CCM was pulling out all the stops. It threw in most of the top leadership including President Mwinyi himself. The CHADEMA team was lead by Party leader Edwin Mtei.
OPPOSITION CRITICISM
Opposition supporters were critical of the election procedures especially at Kigoma where CHADEMA decided to petition the High Court, appealing against the result. There has been particularly strong criticism of Radio Tanzania for its alleged biased reporting – criticism shared apparently by the Electoral Commission.
The CCM’s very high profile campaign at Kigoma was alleged to have used government funds, offices and officials. There were complaints about the use of the government jet for President Mwinyi’s visit; the use of substantial funds to resurface Kigoma roads; donations by the CCM candidate to the local people; the temporary arrest of the firebrand government opponent the Rev. Mtikila as he was heading to Dar es Salaam airport on his way to Kigoma.
Professor M Baregu, writing in the ‘Family Mirror ‘ pointed out that the Nyalali Report (Bulletin No 42) had identified 40 pieces of legislation which should have been repealed or revised if an environment conducive to multi-party politics were to be created but that they remained on the statue book. He wondered whether the low voter registration (23,000 registered out of an eligible 80,000 in Ileje) might be linked to this. The Nyalali Commission had recommended the setting up of three bodies – a body to oversee the transition to multipartyism by May 1992, a Constitutional Commission by July 1992, and an electoral Commission. The government had set up only the latter.
CHADEMA and CUF, the strongest opposition parties in the mainland and in Zanzibar respectively seem to have taken to heart the clear lesson that the opposition parties must unite if they are to compete effectively with the well-entrenched CCM. They had a joint meeting on January 25th and the CUF did not put up a candidate at Kigoma. Another fairly strong party – the NCCR – Mageuzi party – withdrew from the Kigoma race.
The weekly Swahili newspaper, ‘Wakati ni Huu’ reported that representatives of UMD, NCCR – Mageuzi, PONA, CUF, CHADEMA, and TADEA had met in late April to try and work out a joint political strategy but many observers regarded the possibility with scepticism.
CCM pointed out that American and Canadian observers had declared both by-elections free and fair. Some CCM officials accused the opposition of racism – the CCM candidate being an Asian – and there were allegations that the opposition had used violence during the campaign and had distributed fake voting cards.
CHADEMA – WHAT IS ITS POLICY?
CHADEMA has clearly made an impression on the voters in Kigoma and has thereby probably established itself as the leading opposition party. Its Chairman, Edwin Mtei, in an interview in the Daily News made the following points: ‘CHADEMA is not afraid of saying that the best way of running our economy is to adopt an approach that follows market forces. CCM tends to be hesitant and ambivalent. Socialism will not work in this country. We have to privatise because it is not possible to run anything efficiently with bureaucracy. Parastatals have collapsed and they are no longer of any use as they are not producing anything. The Arusha Declaration prescribed that only people within certain salary levels could invest in the private sector. Even people who got senior positions as a result of Africanisation were unable to acquire any wealth. Africans have been marginalised. We want to ensure that the indigenous people are involved in the mainstream of the economy so that we cease to be marginalised. CHADEMA’s founders are not out to make money; they are not people who are wanting to advance their careers or search for jobs; they are self-employed people in the professions or in business….’
TWO MORE BY-ELECTIONS
The recent deaths of the former Minister of Education and Culture, Charles Kabeho and the MP for Tabora North, Mr H Makololo, mean that there will soon be two more by-elections. The first, at Igunga is to be held on June 19th and the campaign is underway. The United Democratic Party (UDP) has appealed to other opposition parties to give a chance to their candidate – 70-year old veteran politician Joseph Kasella Bantu – and not to split the opposition vote. CHADEMA Chairman Edwin Mtei has threatened to boycott the by-election.
Anti-corruption crusader Augustine Mrema, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister, has been told by the Senior Resident Magistrate in Dar es Salaam, Ms Natalia Kimaro, to stop condemning before journalists people facing court charges. The Magistrate pointed out that an accused person is innocent until proved guilty by a court. The case in question has aroused immense interest in Tanzania as it involves six defendants charged with an alleged fraud of Shs 250 million of Open General Licence Funds.
– AND THEN TOLD TO CARRY ON HIS FIGHT
But Sweden’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Thomas Palme, is reported to have given Mr Mrema a ‘diplomatic push’ in his efforts to fight the theft of public funds. He hinted that Nordic countries might raise their levels of assistance if an end could be put to misappropriation of funds and the culture under which cuts were demanded when tender awards were being made to foreign companies – Express.
TAZARA MAKES 50% MORE PROFIT
The Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) realised a revenue of Shs 22 billion in 1992/93 compared with Shs 13.2 billion in the previous year. Shs 20.7 billion came from goods and Shs 1.05 billion from passenger services. The net profit of Shs 7 billion compared with a figure of Shs 3.1 billion in 1991/92. Total freight loaded was 1,238,962 tons, an increase of 18% over the previous year.
KUWAIT AND SAUDI ARABIA HELP ROADS PROJECT
Tanzania is to get loans totalling US$34 million from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund in support of the Dar es Salaam – Somanga road project. This is part of the multi-billion dollar Integrated Roads Programme (IRP). The project will include the repair and resurfacing of the Dar es salaam – Kibiti section linking it with the recently completed Kibiti- Ikwiriri section financed by the Saudi Fund for Development. The project also includes the construction of a new road traversing the Rufiji River flood plains and incorporates a 250 metre long reinforced concrete bridge across the river.
FACTS ON ILLITERACY
The Dar es Salaam ‘Express’ has been having a very close look at the 1988 census report – particularly at the figures indicating the rates of literacy. It has found that 34% of all male employees and 56% of all female employees were illiterate in the year 1988. The figures are also said to reveal that out of every 100 employees, assuming that 60% of them are men and 40% women, the men would be characterised educationally as follows: 20% would have received no education, 10% would have had four years of primary education, 26% eight years of primary education and only in four would have O’level certificates. The newspaper asks ‘why do we boast about our high rate of literacy?’
A SHINING EXAMPLE
‘A Shining Example’, ‘Remarkable’ ‘Exemplary Road Building’ – such are the comments being made by Dar es Salaam’s 2.3 million people as they witness the first phase of the city’s road rehabilitation programme. The Japanese company ‘Konoike’ is the recipient of the praise – it has now completed the reconstruction of some 21 kms of city centre roads – Daily News.
TROOPS IN LIBERIA
Tanzania has sent 800 troops to Liberia to join the OAU peacekeeping force. During a short ceremony held at Dar es Salaam airport, the Tanzania Peoples’ Defence Force Chief of Operations and Training, Brigadier Msuya, urged the group to portray a good image of Tanzania during the entire peacekeeping mission. The troops received a joyous welcome when they arrived at Monrovia’s Springs Payne airport on a plane of Air Gambia – Sunday News.
500 TONS OF COFFEE
The Tanzania Coffee Board has announced that between 1983/84 and 1992/93 Tanzania exported 503,223 metric tonnes of coffee worth US$1,077,350,000 or an average of US$107 million per annum. Seventy one per cent of sales were to EC countries followed by Finland (11.7%) Japan (9.3%) and the USA (1-2%).
JOAN WICKEN LEAVES
The Daily News revealed on its front page on April 28th that one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s closest and longest serving assistants and advisers, 69-year old Ndugu Joan Wicken, had left Tanzania for Britain after a 34-year stay. She said that she was leaving because of poor health. She added “I came to Tanzania as a socialist and I am leaving as a socialist”. She explained that she had always been paid a local salary and never paid as an expatriate. While in Britain she will continue to help Mwalimu in his duties as head of the South Centre which has offices in Geneva and Dar es Salaam. She denied that she intended to write a book.
NYAKYI RECALLED
Tanzania’s Ambassador to the UN in New York and former High Commissioner in London, Mr Anthony Nyakyi, has been recalled to Tanzania at short notice a few months before he was due to retire. A new ambassador, Mr Daudi Mwakawago, was formally appointed to the post apparently before Mr Nyakyi left.
BEAUTY CONTESTS
The White Sands Hotel and several beauty parlours in Dar es Salaam are hoping to revive beauty contests so that Tanzania can be represented in international beauty competitions. Tanzania was said to be the only country in the region that did not have such contests.
PROPOSAL ON FUTURE OF UNION
During an address to mark the 30th anniversary of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar on April 26th, President Mwinyi said that draft proposals aimed at ironing out shortcomings and administrative problems would soon be tabled before parliament for discussion. “It is true that the Union has vexatious issues but there is a need to sort them out to enable Tanzanians to move in line with the constitution regulations and procedures” he said – Daily News.
SIX DUTY FREE SHOPS CLOSED
The government has closed down six duty free shops, leaving only three still open, in a move to plug loop-holes of foreign exchange leakage. Customs commissioner Masoud Mvuma said that duty free shops were originally intended to enable foreigners to buy items which were not available locally but, that in the wake of trade liberalisation, this was not so necessary as virtually everything was now available in shops – Daily News.
Steps taken by the Dar es Salaam City Council to rename a number of streets in the capital have been widely criticised. New names include Nyerere Road (formerly Pugu Road) and Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road (formerly Bagamoyo Road). Adding to the criticism was the action of the Coca Cola Company in donating the new Mwinyi Road sign and attaching their trade mark to it. Senior government officials have complained about ‘prostituting’ the honour of the presidency.
Mwalimu Nyerere has reportedly asked the Mayor to rescind the decision because as long as he lived he wanted to live as an ordinary citizen and rejected all schemes designed to erect monuments or relics in his honour. He complained that he had not been consulted before the change was made – Family Mirror.
AND WHO IS GOING TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?
Franklin Mziray in the Daily News has been raising a few questions:
– who from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will go to Brazzaville and Rabat to explain why we have removed these countries’ names from our streets?
– who will be making a courtesy call on former CCM Vice- Chairman Rashidi Kawawa to explain why such a narrow unworthy street as Kigoma Road has been named after him?
– who is going to alter all the hundreds of house plot names that will have to be changed?
– how many of us use the earlier list of new names? Sokoine Drive instead of City Drive? Samora Machel for Independence Avenue?