TA 39 cover
The Mrema Phenomenon
The Great Debate on Multipartyism
New High Commissioner
The Zanzibar Declaration
New Banking and Cooperative Laws
My Father and the ‘Useful’ Plants of Zanzibar
The Gulf Conflict and Tanzania
Eleven Book/Article Reviews
Newspaper headlines about Mrema
MASSIVE ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE
There is little doubt about who has been the best known person in Tanzania during the last few months. It is Mr Augustine Mrema, Minister for Home Affairs, variously described as ‘TANZANIA’S ROBIN HOOD’ and the ‘MINISTER WHO IS WILLING TO BARK AND BITE’. His name has been in the press almost every day as he has travelled from end to end of the country in a massive government anti-corruption drive.
A few examples of the press reports follow (with the dates of publication):
Home Affairs Minister Augustine Mrema has ordered the immediate arrest of four directors of a local company selling non-Tanzanian textiles labelled’ From Tanzania’. The clothes, which originated in Taiwan, were relabelled in Dubai and then exported to the USA as Tanzanian-made. (December 14,1990). Ndugu Mrema has ordered t he number of shops at the Namanga border post with Kenya to be reduced from 300 to 10. The number was far too great for a Namanga population of 3,000 he said. A businessman was quoted as saying that a number of the shopkeepers had been able to buy themselves BMW’s and Mercedes Benz cars hardly four years after opening shops on the border (January 15).
Police action has been ordered by the Minister against people involved in the Shs 51 million theft at the Building and Hardare Supply Company (BHESCO) in Dar es Salaam (January 27). Immediate arrest and prosecution of people for allegedly defrauding the National Milling Corporation (NMC) of Shs 237 million has been ordered by the Home Affairs Minister. Fourteen of these are senior NMC officials while the rest are directors of private companies alleged to have colluded with them (February 11).
“Police stations are not torture houses” stated Minister for Home Affairs, Augustine Mrema. “Police must not victimise innocent people. They must thoroughly investigate cases and advise higher authorities objectively. Even orders from me must not be executed blindly, because I am a human being and may have been told lies” (March 22).
Plain clothed policemen, led by the Minister for Home Affairs, on Thursday night arrested a Detective Sergeant of the Police Force at a bar. Safari Beer was being sold to her at Shs 260 instead of at the official price of Shs 199. Hundreds of Kurasini resident s gathered at the bar to witness the law enforcement official facing the music and some started chanting ‘Safi Mrema’ … ‘Endelea kuwanyoa’ (Well done Mrema; keep it up). The Police officer was subsequently fined Shs 6,000 and the barman Shs 1,000. 19 other people were fined later for similar offences (March 23).
The entire management of Rajani Industries left Dar es Salaam for Lindi yesterday to clear its accounts with the Lindi Regional Cooperative Union after the Minister for Home Affairs had ordered the arrest of businessmen who he was told were owing the cooperative money.
Minister Mrema apologised on behalf of his Ministry for the wrongful arrest of Dodoma resident Salome Mazengo and for the loss of her fish worth Shs 70,000. He presented her with a cheque for Shs 20,000 as part compensation and said that any officer causing such a loss to a person would have to bear the costs. The victim said that she had persuaded fellow passengers in a lorry to refuse to bribe the traffic police en route. She was later arrested by the Police for obstruction to Police on duty.
Addressing thousands of Singida residents. Minister Mrema revealed a major scandal, exposed with the help of Interpol Canada, and involving some US$ 3.9 million through unpaid telephone calls to Canada. The loss was expected to grow when pending bills for international calls to Britain and the Middle East were added, he said (March 28).
Ndugu Augustine Mrema has given the Tanzania Cotton Marketing Board and one foreign company seven days to give a detailed explanation on the importation of restricted pesticides worth Shs 96 million. He named a Swiss company and explained that the order was for DDT which was against the code of conduct of the Agro-Chemicals Association of Tanzania (March 31).
Minister Mrema has ordered the arrest of a prominent Mtwara businessman for alleged involvement in the theft of lubricants worth Shs 3.0 million from a Finnish-funded water project (April 1).
Speaking in Mtwara on banditry, Home Affairs Minister
Augustine Mrema said he was surprised to learn that the town was threatened by a group of gangsters popularly known as ‘Tule wapi’ (‘Where shall we eat’). “Tell them that from July they will be eating at Keko Prison” he said amid ululatlons (April 2).
Sixty four businessmen and telephone operators have been arrested for collusion in making international telephone calls without paying Shs 2.7 million, the cost of the calls; they were caught following the introduction of a computerised device recording all data on international calls.
The Minister for Home Affairs has demanded an urgent explanation of the alleged Shs 286 million tax evasion racket by the Tanzania Bottlers Ltd and Customs and Sales Tax Department officials. The officials were instructed to meet the Minister two days hence in Dodoma at 8.00 am (April 11).
ENHANCED SECURITY
The Government will enhance security around Home Affairs Minister Augustine Mrema to ensure that criminals do not have access to him – President Mwinyi speaking in Zanzibar (January 4).
Asked by Business Times what special precautions he was taking Minister Mrema replied “I rely heavily on the help of God. The Almighty God …. has immense powers to protect me from both internal and external enemies . .. I want my friends and foes to understand that what I am undertaking is a social revolution I am ready to die for Tanzanians”
He went on: “Some of my colleagues will not like me for what I am doing … Some have said I am driving too fast, that I will fall early. When President Mwinyi gave me this job he did not tell me what speed to drive” (December 28, 1990).
“No! I’m not resigning”. Home Affairs Minister Augustine Mrema yesterday dispelled rumours that he intends to resign because President Mwinyi is frustrating him. “These are but outright malicious and nonsensical artful whims by a few individuals … the President is giving me full support” he said (March 8) – Daily News, Sunday News, Business Times.
H.E. Mr Ali S. Mchumo
COURT CIRCULAR BUCKINGHAM PALACE
May 21: His Excellency Mr Ali S. Mchumo was received in audience by the Duke of York and The Prince Edward, Counsellors of State acting on behalf of The Queen, and presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Commission as High Commissioner for the United Republic of Tanzania in London. His Excellency was accompanied by the following members of the High Commission: Mr lli Kapangala Mwambulukutu (Minister Counsellor), Brigadier Waziri Simba (Defence Adviser), Mr Simon Mlay (Minister Counsellor), Miss Fatma Abdullah (Minister Counsellor), Mr Juma Ameir Juma (Counsellor) and Mr Waziri Lukanza (Administrative Attache). Mrs Mchumo was also received by Their Royal Highnesses.
The first of three State Landaus arrived at Buckingham Palace just before 12 o’clock pulled by four horses. If it had been an Ambassador inside there would have been only two. But this carriage was carrying His Excellency Mr Ali S. Mchumo, a new High Commissioner and Tanzania is a member of the Commonwealth not a mere foreign country. Accompanying the High Commissioner was the Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps Lt Gen. Sir John Richards KCB KCVO resplendent in a much decorated uniform. Two more carriages followed with staff from the High Commission. And then came a car carrying the High Commissioner’s wife. Had there been a King rather than a Queen ruling Britain things would have been slightly different. Mrs Mchumo would have not been there at all. She would have had a separate meeting with the Sovereign in the afternoon of the same day. Queen Elizabeth created a new tradition when she decided to combine the two ceremonies into one.
The ceremony took place in what is described as the 1844 room in the P a lace. 1844 because that was the year when the room was refurbished prior to its occupation by the Emperor Nicholas of Russia on a State visit to Britain. There are two paintings in the room – one of George, Prince of Wales and the other of Frederick, the second son of King George III.
Mr Mchumo was transferred to London recently from the post of Ambassador to Japan after the sudden and unexpected elevation of the previous High Commissioner, Mr John Malecela, to the post of Prime Minister (Bulletin No 38).
Mr Mchumo has also served (from 1983 to 1988) as Ambassador to the Republic of Mozambique, with concurrent accreditation to Swaziland and Lesotho. Previously he had held various positions in the Government in Dar es Salaam including Junior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (1975- 1977), Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (1977-1981) and Minister for Trade (1981-1983). Earlier in his career he was Political Education Officer and later Chief of Personnel in the National Service and later a Major, then a Lt. Colonel and then a Colonel in the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces . Mr Mchumo has an LLB which he obtained at the University of Dar es Salaam in 1970. He went to school in Rufiji, Kilwa and Tabora.
President Mwinyi has launched a nationwide debate on multipartyism (‘Mfumo wa Vyama Vingi’ in Swahili) and a very large number of people clearly wish to participate in it. He has appointed a 22-member Commission (13 from the mainland and 9 from Zanzibar) to collect the views of the people on the possibility of introducing a multi-party political system. The Commission began its work on April 24 1991.
The Chairman of the Commission is Chief Justice Francis Nyalali and the member ship comprises many well-known names including former Zanzibar Chief Justice A. Masoud Borafya (Deputy Chairman) : Mr Lawi Sijaona; Mr Pius Nsekwa; Ambassador Dr Wllbert Chagula; Prof Haroub Othman; Mr Chrispin Tungeraza; Mr Juma Mwapechu and Ambassador Tatu Nuru. Asked by journalists if members of the Commission would act impartially, since most of them were CCM members, Justice Nyalali said that it was the tradition of CCM members to criticise themselves and there were diverse opinions within the Party.
The exercise is to be conducted in two phases. From April to July this year the Commission is touring part of the country hearing peoples’ views. In July these views will be reviewed, evaluated and synchronised.
During Phase 2 from October 1991 until March 1992 the Commission members will visit regions not visited during Phase 1 and consider views expressed in the mass media and at seminars. The Commission’s Report will be presented to President Mwinyi in March 1992.
So much has been printed in the media in Tanzania during recent months that this Bulletin can give only the briefest summary of the points being made:
SOME OF THE ARGUMENTS PRESENTED FOR A CONTINUATION OF THE ONE-PARTY SYSTEM
– multipartyism can only work in countries where the people have developed a culture allowing them to sort out their differences using proper political channels and not violence;
– peace and unity are rare commodities in Africa; to preserve them in Tanzania it is essential to maintain the present one-party state;
– multipartyism is being imposed on us from outside, particularly from financiers who want to link their aid with multi-party conditionality; ;
– in view of Tanzania’s poor economy the country needs unity and stability more than ever before;
-there is a danger of regional, tribal and religious differences being exacerbated under a multi-party system;
– ‘the CCM Party’s roof has been leaking but it can be repaired; it isn’t necessary to abandon the house and move elsewhere’;
– Zanzibar’s turbulent political history indicates that introducing a multi-party system would soon ‘ create chaos’ and weaken the Union Government;
– a two-party system can only be justified when the parties are divided over some fundamental issue; otherwise parties only encourage divisive factionalism;
SOME OF THE ARGUMENTS PRESENTED IN FAVOUR OF MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY
– The CCM has outlived its usefulness and needs a challenge from another party; there are too many self-interested leaders in the Party;
– Freedom to express oneself without fear is the very essence of democracy; this opportunity has not been available to the majority of Tanzanians for the last 27 years of a one-party state;
– you cannot liberalise the economy without liberalising the political system;
– the country’s poor economic situation has been partially caused by ‘illiterate’ unqualified Party leaders occupying strategic posts in government;
– there has been discrimination against non-Party members; why must 2.5 million CCM members dictate to 25 million Tanzanians?
– the army should be depoliticised and not continue to serve the ‘ruling class’; it is being ‘bought’ by the introduction of a host of allowances not available to ordinary workers;
– the recent Zanzibar Declaration (see below) has deviated from the original objectives of TANU and the CCM parties; leaders, having aqcuired wealth which they cannot account for, now try to legalise their deeds by allowing Tanzanians to engage in capitalist practices;
– “Even God has allowed opposition by allowing Satan to live among His people!” – Extracts from the Daily News and Business Times.
My father, Robert Orchard Wi11iams, known as ‘RO’, who lived from 1891 until 1968, was the son of a Dorset fisherman. His grandfather’s main living had come from crabs, lobsters, mackerel, whiting and other fish. During fifteen years of his life RO was involved with agriculture in Zanzibar, first, until 1948, as Director of Agriculture and then, until 1959, as General Manager of the Clove Growers Association.
The clove has for long been Zanzibar’s main cash crop. The tree was named Eugenia aromatica after Prince Eugene de Savoire-Carignan, an Austrian General who lived from 1663 to 1736 and was famed for the help he gave the Duke of Marlborough during the war of the Spanish succession . The clove originated in the Moluccca spice islands of the South China Sea where it was used to purify the breath of dancing girls, amongst other things. When brought to the West by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama it was found to mull well into wine, cure toothache and preserve meat. When the Dutch eventually took over control of the clove trade they went to the extent of felling clove trees on islands other than Amboina so as to corner the market a monopoly which continued until about 1870. They did not know that a Frenchman had captured some seeds and established a few trees in Mauritius.
In 1818 a Zanzibar Arab, Harameli bin Saleh, is reputed to have obtained some seeds from these trees and there by received a pardon from the Sultan of Zanzibar for some murder he had committed. By the middle of the twentieth century 80% of the world’s clove supply was coming from Zanzibar and Pemba – mostly Pemba.
Mature Zanzibar clove trees were 30 to 40 feet high with shiny, dark-green foliage; a full stand was about 80 trees to the acre. A plantation usually looked more like on area of wild forest for it was neglected except at harvest time when the weedy undergrowth was slashed. The trees were unshapely and ragged, the result of breaking off branches to pick the cloves. Gangs of pickers who arrived from the mainland did not care what happened to the tree and the owners regarded the damage done as inevitable. The tree would need one or two seasons to recover. After planting, trees took about five years to yield a first crop. The owner then had little more to do than sit back, engage a contractor for harvesting and collect the proceeds. The clove is the unopened flower-bud at the tip of a branch. Harvesting has to be done quickly and then the crop is sundried for four or five days. Stems and low quality buds are distilled for clove oil.
RO made a shrewd analysis of what his appointment as Director of Agriculture involved on arrival in Zanzibar. He found the clove industry largely managed its own affairs through a growers Association and that he had a member of staff, G. E Tidbury, who had made the crop his speciality and was writing what became the authoritative book on the subject. There was a worrying disease ‘sudden death’ which clearly required specialised research and the preparation of an application for funds and a team to undertake it. This was done.
RO’s offices were near the sea front on the ground floor of the main government office building which also accommodated the Legislative Council chamber. This square fantasy of some architect had been designed in the 1880’s. There were railed verandahs around each story, the whole surmounted by a clock tower. The antiquated lift, the only one on the island, was incredibly slow, but it worked and transported His Highness the aged Sultan when he attended meetings of the Council. It was the Sultan who later awarded RO the Brilliant Star Medal, the highest honour for a non- Muslim.
Office hours started early and finished for the day early in the afternoon. RO took advantage of the spare time this gave him to record, collect and make a catalogue of the plants on the islands. His well known book Useful and Ornamental Plants in Zanzibar and Pemba was published in 1949 by the Crown Agents, an impressively produced volume containing many illustrations, several of them by F. B Wilson. Wilson’s photographs of a coconut flowering spathe and a bunch of young coconuts are particularly striking.
The growing of coconuts was, to some extent, of greater importance than clove growing. The crop occupied a larger area than the clove on Zanzibar island though not on Pemba. The trees in Zanzibar were practically all of the tall type and could tower to 90ft when between 80 and 100 years old. The coconut industry was fully established and required little day-to-day attention from the Department as the marketing end tied in with the Clove Growers Association.
The coconut really seemed at home in Zanzibar particularly in its southern half where palms jutted over the beach as gracefully as anywhere on tropical shores worldwide. Scientists continue to argue as to the original home of the coconut, whether it be the Melanesian area of the Pacific or Central America. The Kon Tiki voyage did not solve the problem as ripe nuts have always floated on the sea and germinate when washed up on any suitable shore. After cloves and coconuts came the lesser crops. Rice was the most important cereal; others maize and sorghum, the former grown on low-lying land, the latter on the shallow soils of the coral-rag ‘wanda’ country. Sweet potatoes and cassava were the most important starchy food crops. Chilli peppers were a small export commodity. Oranges, mangoes and pineapples were the main fruits. The durian was a rarity but immensely popular but RO never had the courage to taste it! It smells more sickly than it tastes. A worthy description is written by Alfred Russel Wallace the famous explorer and navigator who expounded the theory of evolution at the same time as Darwin … ‘ its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich butter-like custard flavoured with almonds but intermingled with it come wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion, brown sher y and other incongruities’. ‘Best eaten by a novice while holding the nose’ another writer said.
Pulses were rarely cultivated; vegetables uncommon. Breadfruit trees were found around villages. Livestock rearing was insignificant.
None of these were particularly time absorbing or significant enough to warrant more attention than they received at the Department’s experiment station at Kizimbani. RO’s answer to his quandary on what to focus his attention was to find and develop a cash crop that might play a supporting role to the clove or substitute for it if and in areas where ‘sudden death’ became serious.
He thought he had found it in cacao, a crop with which he was very familiar. But there was a degree of apathy about anything new. It was only the discovery of small numbers of old cocoa trees in both islands that prompted the idea of developing the crop. The best of the fields was at a remote place called Dunga. In spite of their age the trees seemed remark ably disease free . After weeding and pruning the field it was established that the quality was of the best and plans were made for the establishment of trial areas. A station for the rooting of cuttings was constructed and areas selected for planting and shade trees put in. Unfortunately that was about as far as the project got because RO moved to the Clove Growers Association and there was no one of his enthusiasm to follow it up.
RO became a businessman and trader in cloves, clove oil, copra and coconut oil. But that is another story!
R.O Williams Jnr
Mr R. O. WILLIAMS JNR. spent his career in the Colonial Agricultural Service in Kenya, British Guiana and Sarawak where he was the Director of Agriculture. He now lives near Corfe castle in Dorset.
The Union Parliament met twice during the first part of 1991. During its first session in Dodoma beginning on January 29th it discussed eight papers on One-Party Democracy and the role of the National Assembly in legislation and in development planning.
Two important new Bills were debated in a second session in April 1991. A Bill to allow for private banks in Tanzania was passed with amendments after it came under strong fire from certain members who felt that it went against the Constitution. They claimed that it did so because the Constitution prohibited the amassing of wealth in a few hands and also because it laid down that all the major means of production should be owned by the government. The Bill (which will be explained in more detail in our next issue) is the result of the work of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into the Monetary and Banking System in Tanzania whose final report came out in July 1990 but was never published.
A new Cooperative Societies Act which proposes a four-tier structure was applauded by several Members of the Assembly but the Government was warned that the law alone could not help to solve all the problems facing the movement nor facilitate the attainment of the Acts objectives. Minister of Agriculture Anna Abdullah said that, among other things, the Act would take power away from the Registrar and invest decisions on Society members, a move meant to encourage democracy.
The Leadership Code and Party Membership Rules associated with Julius Nyerere’s famous ‘Arusha Declaration’ which laid out Tanzania’s political philosophy for the last 24 years were revised significantly at a meeting in February 1991 in Zanzibar of the National Executive Committee of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party. Under whet hes come to be known as the ‘Zanzibar Declaration’ Party members are now authorised to participate in private economic activities.
They can earn more than one salary, buy shares and take up directorships in private companies and build houses to let – things which were expressly forbidden under the Arusha Declaration.
Explaining the changes CCM Secretary General Horace Kolimba said they would encourage more individual participation in economic activities and thus reduce the pressure on government institutions and parastatal organisations. He said professionals were expected to seize the opportunity to apply themselves fully in income-generating side jobs, the impact of which would be to create more employment opportunities.
He admitted that many leaders and members of the CCM Party had been involved in corrupt activities and dubious accumulation of wealth contrary to the ‘Ujamaa’ policy. Many members had also started poultry schemes and housing projects in order to improve their economic conditions. He said that the trend now was for the Party to create conditions in which CCM members and Tanzanians in general could lead prosperous lives. This, he said, was the essence of the decisions taken in Zanzibar on the Leadership Code and party membership and they were not contrary to the Arusha Declaration. Mr Kolimba went on to say that when regimes are behind the times then it was necessary to ‘legitimise common sense’.
Many Party members have expressed their dissatisfaction about the changes and National Executive Committee members have been visiting the regions to explain the changes.
THE EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY
The rise in oil prices in the second half of 1990 has caused widespread disturbance to the economies of developing countries throughout the world.
In the case of Tanzania the dominant influence has been the surge in oil prices in the last five months of 1990. This has been enough to cause serious loss estimated to be of the order of £40 million, or 2.8% of the Gross National Product. In terms of the fragile Tanzanian economy, an additional cost of this magnitude represents a severe burden on the economy and a critical setback at a time when there were real signs of progress. The consequence has been an addition to the already very serious negative balance on Tanzania’s foreign trade account and a grave setback for Tanzania’s industries struggling to make ends meet.
It is a cause of satisfaction that oil prices have now fallen to approximately the level at which they stood prior to the invasion of Kuwait.
Direct trade losses are believed to be minimal; trade with the Middle East does not feature as a separate item in the trade tables published in Hali Ya Uchumi. But importers generally have had to face increased sea freight costs and steeply rising insurance premiums, though these additional burdens are difficult to quantify. What is perhaps more significant is the possible 1055 of investment capital caused by suspension of the aid activities of the oil rich countries. It appears that in March 1990 Kuwait agreed to finance the rehabilitation and improvement of the Mwanza Textile Mill (MWATEX). On account of its preoccupation with domestic rehabilitation, it seems Kuwait will not honour such obligations in the near future. Some relief has been forthcoming from the donor community and in January it was reported that the United Kingdom Government had made a grant of £4.0 million to finance all oil imports over the next three months; virtually all of this money is reported to have been paid out. While this is a welcome contribution, it will offset only a small part of the losses incurred in the latter part of 1990.
Any setback to the transport sector must be serious to Tanzania, already burdened by bad roads, rail transport in need of repair and development and an over stretched air communications system. The Gulf Crisis has emphasised once again the extraordinary dependence of Tanzania on access to fossil fuels and the sensitivity of the economy as a whole to the terms of access.
J Roger Carter
NYERERE AND MWINYI SPEAK ON THE GULF WAR
Speaking to reporters just before the end of the Gulf War, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere accused the USA of manipulating the UN for its own ends. The UN should have emphasised use of other methods to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Calling for a ceasefire to give a chance to diplomatic solutions to the conflict, Mwalimu asked “How can Saddam pull out of Kuwait while bombs are falling?”
Five weeks earlier, in Kampala, President Mwinyi reiterated his call to Iraq to immediately withdraw its forces from Kuwait to avoid further bloodshed. He expressed his sadness at the failure of the international community to avert the war – Daily News, Business Times.
CALL TO AMEND COPYRIGHT LAW
Although there has been a copyright law in Tanzania for literary and artistic works since 1966, its existence as well as its significance is unknown to most authors and artists. This was stated at a recent National Symposium on ‘Copyright’ organised by the Publishers Association of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam. Participants heard that there was rampant piracy of other people’s works especially in the video recording business. The participants also learnt that there were pirate publishers and printers who, through a ‘tender system’ used books of other publishers. The books were then sold at reduced prices.
The symposium suggested that the 1966 law should be strengthened and that Tanzania should join the international copyright conventions – SHIHATA
GOOD PERFORMANCE
A report covering the years 1979 to 1989 from the Tanzania Audit Corporation stated that the trend of performance of parastatal accounting was very good. Between 1985 and 1989 the number of clean accounts improved from 41.4% to 73.7% – a clear sign of improvement and a trend which should be maintained. Of 461 accounts audited during the year ending on 30th June 1990, 245 companies were given a clean certificate. This represented a percentage of 53.2%. – the highest percentage ever attained in anyone year.
BUT ….
The report went on to say that parastatal organisations made a loss of 5hs 4,198.9 million from 1979 to 1989. Many were becoming eaters and not creators of the national cake. During the decade 239 of the audited 461 accounts showed losses totalling 5hs 39,110.2 million as against 191 accounts which showed a total profit of 5hs 34,911.2 million. Large losses were by Industries and Trade, Communications and Works, Agriculture and Livestock, Water, Energy and Minerals, Local Government, Community Development, Cooperative and Marketing institutions Business Times.
LES AMITIES FRANCO- TANZANIENNES
The French equivalent of the Britain-Tanzania Society, ‘Les Amities Franco-Tanzaniennes’ has recently reported, in its journal ‘URAFIKI TANZANIA’, on its last Annual General Meeting. The Society has some 70 members and the last time we had direct contact (Bulletin No 29) it appeared to be thriving. Lately, however, it seems to have been passing through difficult times. The President and Secretary had apparently agreed to occupy these positions only for one year and they, together with the Treasurer, now wished to resign. Continuation of the society’s activities therefore depended on a new team taking over. The debate illustrated how attached the members were to a continuation of the society even if in reduced form.
On the other hand, the latest edition of ‘Urafiki Tanzania’ (January-March 1991) is one of the most informative that we have seen. It features a lengthy interview with the Tanzanian Ambassador in Paris, an analysis of Julius Nyerere’s career (‘La Voix de L’ Afrique’ …. ‘Maigr e Heritage Mais Pas De Regrets’), an article under the heading ‘The Struggle For Democracy’ and a rather sad piece on the equivalent in Dar es Salaam of what has become known as the ‘Cardboard City’ in London – DRB.
BRITISH BUSINESSMEN IN TANZANIA
Fourteen British businessmen visited Tanzania in March 1991 on a trade mission to search for local markets for British goods. They included representatives of coffee processing machine manufacturers, pallet racking and shelving systems, diesel engine suppliers and others. One member of the group, Mr Conor Robinson, an export executive of a London-based steel company, said that Tanzania had tremendous investment potential but the negative response by public organisations was hampering the investment business. He refused to name the parastatals and government institutions concerned – Business Times.
A BUSINESS NEWSLETER
The Tenzania/UK Business Group which was formed in London three years ago has recently produced its Inaugural Newsletter. This 20-pege issue, in the same format as this Bulletin, contained articles on the Tanzanian Trade Centre in London, a report on a visit by a group of members to Tanzenia last year, the new Investment Code (Bulletin No 37) and the results of the elections to the Group’s Executive Committee.
The principal officers of the Group ere Dr Fidehussein Remtulleh (Chairman), Mr Aziz Nasser (Vice Chairmen), Mr Simon Mlay (Secretary) and Mr Kassim Manji (Treasurer). Mr Manji defined the primary aim of the group as being ‘to get Tanzanian business people together and also those outsiders who are interested in Tanzania’s affairs, in order to ultimately play a part in the social and economic uplift of Tanzania’.
UNIVERSITY CHANGES
It has been announced in Der es Salaam that Professor G. R. V. Mmari has been appointed to head up the proposed new Open University, under the Ministry of Science, Technology end Higher Education in Tanzania. His place as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam hes been taken by Prof Mathew Luhanga who is an engineer by profession and was previously the University’s Chief Academic Officer.
But members of the University of Dar es Salaam’s Academic Staff Assembly (UDASA) described the removal of the popular Prof Mmari as an ‘act of injustice’ and requested President Mwinyi to re-instate him. The unprecedented request was contained in a two-page statement issued after an extraordinary meeting on April 8th 1991 – Daily News.
Outbreaks of rinderpest used to occur annually in cattle and wildlife in Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya up until 1962 with the last recorded clinical outbreak in the area being in 1967. However in 1982 the disease was once again diagnosed on clinical and pathological grounds in buffalo and cattle at several widely separated localities in the north of the country. An intensive vaccination programme was started and the clinical disease disappeared once more, but the question remained was it possible for the wildlife and/or ‘shoat’ population to act as a reservoir of infection. After a couple of years research we found evidence that buffalo in the North and West of the Serengeti National Park had been continually exposed to the disease since 1982, whilst seropositive sheep and goats were found widely distributed in the north of Tanzania, especially in Simanjiro in Kitete District and Babati, Musoma and Tarime districts.
Cattle have been vaccinated in northern Tanzania annually for many years but the intensity of vaccination has been increased considerably since the 1982 outbreak. Between 1985 and 1988 a country-wide cattle vaccination programme was carried out and the immune status of the notional herd monitored. It is known therefore that the possibilities of transmission of infection between wildlife, small ruminants and cattle have been greatly reduced. Consequently the virus must be cycling separately within each population of domestic smell ruminants and buffalo. It must be assumed that this will continue unless there is intervention with vaccination of small ruminants. This, however, will not result in eradication of the virus if it continues to cycle in wildlife.
In summary, at present there is little, if any, reported clinical rinderpest in Tanzania, but the likelihood of the subclinical condition once more rearing its ugly head, particularly if the level of vaccination fa1ls, should not be underestimated.
Mark Jago
Mr MARK JAGO is a Veterinary Surgeon who spent two years from 1987 to 1989 on a project jointly organised by the Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute and the European Community looking at the epidemiology of rinderpest in the wildlife and sheep and goat populations of Tanzania.