Exemplifying the political distinctiveness of Zanzibar and the intensity of the tension between the two parties there – the ruling CCM and opposition Civic United Front (CUF) – which hold respectively 26 and 24 elected seats in the Zanzibar House of Representatives – was a bizarre incident which has been featured in banner headlines in the Tanzanian media.

Mr Salum Mbarouk (29) MP for Mkunazini announced on August 1 that he was resigning from parliament. He won the seat in the 1995 elections with 2,730 votes compared with 1,113 for the CCM candidate. On August 2 he appeared on television to explain why; it was because the political conflict was exacerbating ethnic tensions and his belief that the boycott of the Isles’ House of Assembly by CUF had gone on long enough, he said.

The Dar es Salaam Guardian then reported, on August 6, a lengthy story from Mr Mbarouk about how he had been taken, in mid-July, to a government house on the West coast of Zanzibar and had been offered by senior government officials (whom he named) substantial salary and allowances, a post as special adviser to President Amour and a chance to stand in the inevitable by-election as the CCM candidate if he would give up his parliamentary seat. When he refused he said that he had been forced at gunpoint to announce his resignation in front of a TV camera and forced also, with a threat that otherwise he would be thrown into the Indian Ocean, to sign a resignation letter addressed to the Speaker of the House. He said that he had been ferried to Dar es Salaam on July 26, returned to Zanzibar and again to Dar es Salaam where he had been concealed in the Agip Motel, Room 307. On August 4 he said that he had managed to escape to Magomeni where he spent the night in the Mosque; on August 5 he took refuge in the Swedish embassy accompanied by CUF officials.

CCM sources ridiculed this story and claimed that, having resigned voluntarily, he then had to take measures to protect himself from angry CUF supporters. It was the CUF which had kidnapped him.

Meanwhile, on August 7, the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced a timetable for a by-election in the Mkunazini seat even though the Union Government, which is usually reluctant to interfere in Zanzibar’s internal affairs, had promised, only two days before, to carry out a thorough investigation of the whole matter. According to the Daily News, the government spokesman was responding in parliament in Dodoma to a motion from Deputy Opposition Leader John Cheyo MP and leader of the UDP party, calling for the arrest of those responsible for the alleged kidnapping.

On August 11 Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye told the National Assembly that Mbarouk was in the hands of CUF leaders and that they would be held responsible for any harm that came to him. He said that Mbarouk had presented a typed letter of resignation on July 15; he had been asked to present it again in his own handwriting and had done so indicating that his resignation would take effect from August 1. To add to the mystery the Guardian reported that the signatures on the two letters might be different.

On August 9 the Daily News reported that the CUF would file an application in the Zanzibar High Court seeking to stop the Mkunazini byelection as Mr Mbarouk was still the MP for the constituency. On August 15 the Daily News reported that three top CUF leaders including Mr Mbarouk had been summoned to the office of the criminal investigations department.

Clearly, one side or the other is not telling the truth. Political analysts can see a clear motive for the CUF to be bringing the case into the public eye and particularly to international attention and for not wanting to lose one of its MP’s. In the case of the CCM the motivation for kidnapping is difficult to understand, but CCM’s determination to retain control in Zanzibar is apparent. The unaccustomed speed of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission in announcing the date of the by-election, gave grounds for some observers to have their suspicions about the ruling party’s intentions.

In a rapidly moving situation, as this issue of TA went to press, the police were said to be looking for Mr Mbarouk.

POLITICAL DEADLOCK CONTINUES

The political deadlock in the Isles continues as the CUF still refuses to accept the last election results and is boycotting the House of Assembly in the Isles (though not the Union National Assembly in Dodoma).

Many in Zanzibar must have had high hopes when it was announced that an international conference on democracy would be held in Zanzibar in July and that the UNDP had been involved in preliminary planning with Speaker of the National Assembly Pius Msekwa. But the UNDP subsequently withdrew.

Among those who spoke at the conference, which was chaired by Judge Joseph Warioba and attended by President Chissano of Mozambique, was Zimbabwe-based journalist David Martin who said that the original cause of the divisions in Zanzibar had been the internal election which had immediately preceded Zanzibar’s independence in 1963. At that time the party then representing African interests had won a clear majority of the popular vote but that parties largely representing Arab interests, ‘with British collusion’ won most of the constituencies and formed the government. The situation then had been like it was now he said but the result had been the violent revolution of January 12,1964.

Martin said that he did not want to be drawn into a debate about the rights or wrongs of the 1995 elections in Zanzibar (which precipitated the present deadlock) and went on to attack the attitude of Western diplomats in Dar es Salaam (two High Commissioners were said to be leaving shortly – he hoped their successors would be more open minded) and the former colonial power in particular, for its ‘intemperate negativism’ in refusing to deal with Zanzibar President Salmin Amour and for giving the CUF the impression that it still had the support of the West in its refusal to reach a compromise with the government.

Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Secretary General Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, who said that his father was from Pemba and his mother from Unguja, appealed for political tolerance in the isles during a visit to Tanzania in January. party politics should not be allowed to divide the people, he said. If the simmering political crisis was left unchecked it would jeopardise the unity of Zanzibaris and ultimately of Tanzania too. But as this issue of TA goes to press there is no sign of any resolution of the problem.

The Aga Khan and President Amour have inaugurated the Stone Town Cultural Centre housed in the ‘Old Dispensary’. President Mkapa has opened a new 51- room luxury Serena Hotel which has been converted from the colonial style Old Extelcoms Building and the Chinese Doctors Residence which once housed David Livingstone and later the British Consul – East African. President Amour announced on March I that the Isles’ government will in future have a fourth element in its security system. Vigilantes are to be given training, uniforms and special allowances to motivate them. The other security units are the Jeshi la Kujenga Uchumi (JKU), prison staff and coastal security guards (KMKM) – Sunday News.

Licenses have been issued to 43 journalists to allow them to work in Zanzibar. Those who have not yet applied for licenses, which cost Shs 6,000, risk being fined Shs500,000 or put in prison for up to five years – Daily News. A seaweed company in Pemba is offering free trips to Mecca for people able to sell more than 13.5 tons of seaweed to the company within six months. Zanzibar seaweed sales in 1994 totaled Shs 492 million – 27% of the Zanzibar GDP – Business Times.

An Italian and three South Africans have been fined $300 each and deported for working illegally in a Zanzibar hotel. People wanting work permits must apply for them while still abroad – Daily News

Tanzania’s leading politicians – Union President Benjamin Mkapa, main opposition leader Augustine Mrema and the feuding leaders in Zanzibar – President Salmin Amour and opposition leader Seif Shariff Hamad have all had reasons for satisfaction and disappointment during the last few months of Tanzania’s rapidly developing multi-party democracy. On the mainland multi-partyism is working well; a by-election under way in Dar es Salaam will help to indicate how the main parties stand after almost a year of this new system of government. In Zanzibar, by contrast, it is becoming increasingly difficult for TA to present an accurate and unbiased report on what is happening because of the conflicting information received. The opposition continues to refuse all cooperation with the government elected under questionable circumstances last year and the ruling party is resorting to strong arm tactics in its determination to maintain law and order.

MKAPA

Popular President Mkapa’s dominant position was consolidated on June 20 when he was elected Chairman of his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party by an overwhelming 1,248 votes out of 1,259 at an emotional ceremony in Dodoma. Former President and Chairman Ali Hassan Mwinyi handed over the CCM Constitution, 1995 Election Manifesto and Chairman’s gong midst deafening chants of ‘CCM’, ‘CCM’, ‘CCM’, dancing, ululation and music by the party’s cultural troop ‘TOT’. The new Chairman said that he would maintain earlier policies of socialism and self-reliance and would continue to fight tribalism, discrimination and religious bigotry. He would cleanse the party of immoral and corrupt elements and would enhance discipline, efficiency and integrity in the government and party.

The next day President Mkapa’s position was further strengthened when the entire CCM leadership secretariat resigned so that the President could arrange for his own people to be elected by the National Executive Committee. The new party leaders are:

Vice-chairman (Mainland) John Malecela (no change)
Vice-chairman (Zanzibar) Salmin Amour (no change)
Secretary General: Phillip Mangula (previously Kagera Regional Commissioner) Deputy Secretary (Mainland): Ukiwaona Ditopile-Mzuzuri (previously Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner)
Deputy Secretary (Zanzibar) Ali Ameir (no change)
National Publicity Secretary: John Mgeja MP for Solwa.
Mr Ngombale-Mwiru (who had been Publicity Secretary) was later appointed Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and Dr. Lawrence Gama (who had been Secretary General) became Regional Commissioner, Morogoro.

President Mkapa has continued to surprise people by the number of changes he is making in senior posts. On May 6 he announced the appointment of Mr Omari Iddi Mahita, the Arusha Regional Commissioner of Police as Inspector General even though Mr Mahita had previously been two ranks below. The President sacked five other top officers. On June 30 he appointed Mr Onel Malisa as the new Principal Commissioner of Prisons and retired in the public interest 15 police, prison and immigration officers.

CITY COUNCIL DISSOLVED

One of the reasons for President Mkapa’s popularity is the decisiveness with which his government deals with signs of bad governance. An example of this is the case of the Dar es Salaam City Council. Prime Minister Sumaye had warned the Council when he addressed them on January 4 about its low 30% collection of revenue, poor levy system, outright corruption and poor administration of the Council’s by-laws. On June 28 he announced that the Council had been dissolved and been replaced by a Commission that would run the city for one year (later changed to 10 months) while a new management structure was established.

The government’s next step was to abolish regional development directorates and replace them with small secretariats to be under the Regional Commissioners. In districts also, District Commissioners would be overall supervisors of all government functions to reduce bureaucracy. But there are still remnants of the intolerance of opposition typical of earlier Tanzanian governments. When the long established Swahili biweekly ‘Heko’ published a letter claiming that there hadn’t been a proper government in Tanzania since independence it was promptly banned.

SECURITY CHIEF KILLED

Then came what could become a setback to the government’s reputation for probity. On June 30 the former Director of Intelligence and Security, Lt. General Imran Kombe, was shot dead in his car in a hail of bullets by five police detectives and a civilian who were said to have mistaken him for a notorious car thief. The owner of a similar car had offered Shs 1.5 million reward for the arrest of the thieves and recovery of the car. But, the police account of the incident differed from that of the General’s wife who was with him and had escaped. She said that her husband had stopped the car and put his hands in the air before he was shot. People began to wonder whether this was Tanzania or Kenya and what secrets the General was holding. The police were promptly arrested and charged with murder but the press became suspicious again when they were barred from the court when the police appeared before it. On July 20, under mounting pressure from press and public the government set up a high powered judicial enquiry under Justice Damian Lubuva to report within a month. The Commission immediately appealed to Britain’s Scotland Yard for assistance but this was refused. Responding to criticism the Attorney General later assured the National Assembly that there was nothing wrong in appointing the commission while murder proceedings were going on in court. The Commission’s proceedings would be in camera.

MREMA

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the NCCR-Mageuzi Party, Augustine Mrema, has been busy setting up a strong nationwide party apparatus. Somewhat reluctantly his party has set up a system similar to the 10-cell CCM party system believing that this is the only way to counter CCM’s strong grass roots organisation. The blue flag of the NCCR can now be seen flying in villages from end to end of the country – almost as many as the green flags of the CCM. And Mrema himself has bravely taken on a major political risk by putting himself up as candidate in a by-election which few believe he can win. Mrema had earlier accused CCM of being a sick administration suffering from ‘Acquired Anti-Democracy Syndrome’ (AADS).

AN INTERROGATION IN COURT

A petition filed by two defeated candidates (from NCCR-Mageuzi and CHADEMA) in the Temeke (Dar es Salaam) parliamentary constituency occupied several weeks of High Court time. The case revealed much of what was alleged to have happened in at least one Dar es Salaam constituency during the last elections and resulted in the convening of the first byelection of the new parliament.

During the case there were allegations that the successful candidate, CCM’s Ramadhani Kihiyo, bribed voters with money and T-shirts, provided a free supply of water from a bowser two days before the second round of the elections (the first round in Dar es Salaam constituencies was cancelled because of irregularities and several opposition candidates boycotted the second round on November 19 where the turnout dropped to 39% of the 143,749 registered voters) and that a CCM councillor had threatened traders supporting the opposition that they would lose their licenses. Mr Kihiyo got 37,303 out of the 57,152 votes cast in the second round of the elections. The location of several polling stations was said to have been changed because of the high rents charged by owners of the buildings where voting took place – this was alleged to have further confused voters and there were also allegations that ballot papers were bought and sold. But the court reached a pitch of high drama when NCCR MP and lawyer Dr. Masumbuko Lamwai, tackled Kihiyo on the qualifications he had told the electorate he held (as reported in the Daily News):

Lamwai: You say you graduated from the Dar es Salaam Technical College in 1986. Is that right?.
Kihiyo: Yes, of course.
Lamwai: Do you know that man? (pointing to former Technical College Students Council Chairman)?
Kihiyo: No, I don’t know him.
Lamwai: What is a foundry?
Kihiyo: I don’t know (laughter from the packed public gallery).
Lamwai: How many sub-departments are there in the Mechanical Department of the College?
Kihiyo: An engine room, an injection pump and repair (laughter).
Lamwai: Do you have any paper indicating what marks you got?
Kihiyo: I think I have it somewhere.
Lamwai: Do you know who the Principal of the College was when you were there?
Kihiyo: I don’t know.
Lamwai: Who was the Registrar?
Kihiyo: Mr Kuhanga.
Lamwai: No. Mr Kuhanga was my Vice-Chancellor at the University of Dar es Salaam at that time.
Lamwai: When did you start your studies there?
Kihiyo: I don’t remember.

Dr. Lamwai told the court that Kihiyo had used the title engineer during the campaign in relation to his ability to solve water problems affecting the constituency. The Judge asked Kihiyo to bring his certificate to court.

Kihiyo: (Next day). Your Honour, can you please give me two more days to look for the document.
Lamwai: Do you still maintain that you graduated from the College?
Kihiyo: Yes.
Dr. Lamwai then asked about the stream he had been in, his Head of Department’s name, who had presented the certificate to him, what were the entrance requirements but in every case Kihiyo either did not know or gave the wrong answer.
Lamwai: What does VTC stand for?
Kihiyo: It is National Committee Centre (laughter).
Lamwai: I ask you to step down as MP for Temeke

On May 29, following a month in the High Court, Mr Kihiyo announced through his counsel that he had written to the House of Assembly Speaker resigning as MP for Temeke on medical grounds.

On June 26 in the National Assembly Mr Christiant Mzindakaya (CCM MP for Kwela) said that Dr. Lamwai was a ‘bad comrade’. He was bent on unseating his fellow MP’s rather than using his talents to defend them (loud laughter).

Satirist Wilson Kaigarula in the Daily News wrote about a friend of his Uncle Tamaa who had been hovering about the disbanded Dar es Salaam City Council trying to get a job as Garbage Collector-in-Chief. He swore before the God of the Vingunguti dump yard that, if offered the job, he would make the City as clean as Paris. He said that the scientific exposure he had received at the Municipal Sanitation Technical College in the Kalahari desert would ensure that he could do the job!

AN ANIMATED BY-ELECTION

The by-election in Temeke, which is under way as this issue of TA goes to press, has attracted intense interest because NCCR leader and presidential candidate last year Mr. Augustine Mrema, who was also Deputy Prime Minister in the previous government, decided to take a great risk by putting himself forward as the candidate of his party. Few observers believe he can win. He is a Chagga fighting an election a long way from his power base in Moshi and standing against a local man, Mr Abdul Cisco Ntiro who represents CCM. He is a Christian in a predominantly Muslim constituency and has had difficult relations in the past when Muslim fundamentalists started attacking pork butchers’ shops and he had to bring the full force of the law down against them. The opposition vote is badly divided with possibly 11 other candidates. One of these is the previous NCCR candidate who was so bitter at his removal as candidate that he joined CUF and now campaigns against Mrema. The date of the by-election is October 6.

OTHER PETITIONS FAIL

Another electoral petition involving 45 prosecution witnesses against the election of CCM House Speaker Pius Msekwa in Ukererewe and a petition against NCCR-Mageuzi MP for Arusha, Mr Charles Makongoro Nyerere (the son of Mwalimu Nyerere) failed in the High Court.

A hotly contested electoral petition began in Bunda, Mara Region, where NCCR MP Stephen Wassira had beaten former CCM Prime Minister by a wafer thin majority of votes; there was much debate on whether Wassira had bribed voters with offers of sugar, salt and meat. At one stage in this case Judge Kahwa Lukingira ordered the former election supervisor for the constituency to appear before the court immediately. Told by the State Attorney that the supervisor was on tour with the Regional Commissioner, the judge asked if this meant that he had disregarded the on-going court session; had he opted to loiter with the RC?; other witnesses had come from as far away as Mtwara, Dar es Salaam and Mwanza.

In Zanzibar the High Court dismissed four election petitions contesting the election of CCM MP’s in Unguja on the grounds that, under the 1990 Elections Act, membership of the Isles House of Representatives could not be challenged without the consent of the Attorney General – this had not been obtained by the CUF petitioners.

HOPE FOR ZANZIBAR SETTLEMENT?

There is no problem in Zanzibar, only a few individual trouble makers, according to Zanzibar President Dr. Salmin Amour. Many observers question this interpretation of the situation (see TA No. 54). As far as can be ascertained by trying to sift fact from rumour or propaganda it appears that positions have hardened in Zanzibar during recent months. Tanzania is blessed with a remarkably free press and the following attempt to explain what has happened recently is largely derived from items already published in Tanzania’s press.

As the ruling CCM has the support of only half the population, there is a long history of political division in the islands and the word ‘compromise’ is as popular amongst leaders in Zanzibar as it is amongst those in Northern Ireland, President Amour’s CCM government has taken to strong arm tactics to try and control the situation. The President does not conceal his determination to deal with dissidents – see below. The leader of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) Seif Shariff has reacted by stepping up his relentless local and international campaign to denigrate the President – saying that he was not properly elected – and criticising the injustices which he claims are occurring regularly in the Isles.

HUMAN RIGHTS

There is no longer very much doubt that there have been cases of infringement of the human rights of opposition supporting Zanzibar citizens, particularly those from Pemba (where people voted overwhelmingly for the opposition in the elections) but it is very difficult to get at the whole truth. Many people have been beaten up by the police; some Pemban born staff in the civil service have lost their jobs; hundreds of houses have been demolished; CUF is not allowed to hold meetings in Unguja – the latest one to be cancelled ‘for security reasons’ was on August 3.

Visitors to Zanzibar come away with mixed impressions. Tourists find Zanzibar very attractive; they meet warm and friendly people. There is an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. Few tourists know that there might be something amiss in the islands. Many (but not all) Dar es Salaam and foreign newspapers can be bought freely. Opposition supporters seem to be free to talk to strangers. But other visitors, who perhaps dig more deeply, speak of an atmosphere of fear.

An example of an incident in which it is difficult to obtain a clear picture is the case of the Zanzibar citizens who are said to have started to destroy their own homes in the middle of the rainy season this year and made themselves homeless. According to reports, on April 14, the government issued an eviction notice to all houses within a densely populated area of Mtoni in Unguja. The occupants had to move as their houses would be destroyed within seven days. Few heeded the warning. A week later a government bulldozer and a force of fifty police began the task by force. The bulldozer started by flattening concrete block houses – these were not temporary shacks. It worked. People rapidly began destroying their own houses trying to rescue doors, windows and roofing materials. The affected area contained hundreds of houses and many thousands of people of whom a large number are alleged (by some) to be immigrants from Pemba. The evictions apparently arose from an incident at the main power station on April 1 which denied electricity to the whole of Zanzibar for four days. The eviction order was issued the day the power was restored. The government says that the power station was sabotaged by opposition party supporters. Others maintain that the explosion was an accident caused by a chronic failure to maintain the plant properly. CUF claims that the government sabotaged the installation to raise the political tension and thus show that the CUF comprises anti-democratic troublemakers. The official statement on the destruction of the houses says that the houses were dangerously situated under high voltage cables and that people had occupied the land illegally.

AMOUR

President Amour, in a ‘victory’ speech after returning from the Dodoma party conference, where the CCM had given him total support, he said (according to the Dar es Salaam Guardian) that with this reinforced support the Zanzibar government would be able to deal with all who flouted its authority. He would use all legal instruments enacted over the 30-year period of the Zanzibar revolution to achieve this. He attacked news media for portraying his image negatively. Members of the opposition had been going to Dar es Salaam to give false information – but to no avail. “The mainlanders are in agreement with their fellow Zanzibaris to defend their unity” he said. No government could be overturned by a newspaper. “Even if they insult me, shelve me or otherwise, I will remain the same President and I will pay no heed to their insults because I am President by the electorate’s mandate”. People should start to dwell on development issues instead, he said. Reacting to an appeal for him to lift the ban he had placed on the Dar es Salaam newspaper ‘Majira’ he said that if the paper would refrain from reporting ‘half-cooked and concocted stories’ on Zanzibar he would lift the ban. He would ban any newspaper, even those owned by CCM, which tampered with Zanzibar’s rule of law, he said.

The government has justified its strong-arm tactics in Zanzibar because it says that CUF has been responsible for over 40 criminal acts.

As long ago as March, President Amour had said that he would not agree to mediation with the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) which refuses to recognise Amour’s presidency and demands new elections, even if the arbiter was Father of the Nation Mwalimu Nyerere himself. When Nyerere was asked recently why he didn’t do something about the crisis in Zanzibar he replied that nobody in the Union or Zanzibar governments had asked him to do so.

Addressing 14 members of the mainland press visiting Zanzibar on May 27 Dr. Amour (as reported in the Daily News) denied that his government was abusing human rights by harassing and imprisoning people from Pemba. Zanzibar’s prisons had only 92 inmates and remandees. One of the visitors subsequently wrote an article under the heading ,Zanzibar, where fear reigns1 in the Business Times (May 31). The writer said that on one occasion, when the bus full of journalists stopped at a village in Pemba, children playing football all ran away ‘with terror on their faces1. It was explained that the children had thought that the journalists were police or government officials. According to Radio Tanzania Zanzibar, quoted in the Daily News on June 12 a Mr Hassan Khamis had been jailed in Pemba for six months for defaming President Amour. The Magistrate said that this sentence would serve as a deterrent to other people.

PRESIDENT MKAPA IN ZANZIBAR

For several months after the elections President Mkapa made no comment on the situation in Zanzibar other than that he had no constitutional power to intervene. However, during a visit to Zanzibar starting on April 21 he made what the East African referred to in a leading article as a ‘wrong move1. It wrote: ‘Finally President Mkapa has spoken (about Zanzibar) but many Tanzanians wish that he hadn’t1. His words were unexpectedly harsh. Ruling out cooperation with the CUF he had accused it of using democracy to disrupt peace; rather than restrain Amour he would prefer to control the CUF; as for donor’s protests, most of them knew the opposition was causing civil disobedience and sabotage and their statements were ‘geared towards drawing the country into civil war’. President Mkapa had clearly thrown his weight behind force rather than diplomacy the article concluded.

Some observers noted however that, under a recent amendment to the constitution, President Amour is a member of the Union cabinet and, in that sense, President Mkapa has to live with him. Another newspaper noted that President Mkapa was, at the time, facing an election for the Chairmanship of the CCM party and needed Zanzibar CCM votes if his mandate as President of the United Republic was to be convincing.

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY GENERAL ARRIVES

Into the midst of this unpromising situation Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku decided to try his hand. After very extensive discussions indeed in the first week of August (he met all the key people in Zanzibar and on the mainland; he had seven meetings with CUF) the Daily News quoted him in an article under the heading ‘Club Chief sees end to Isles Stalemate’ as saying that he was ‘positive that the wrangling political parties would find a common stand and bring an end to the political stalemate on the islands’. Both leaders were said to have made him believe that a new chapter of cooperation would soon be opened.

CUF Secretary General Shabaan Mloo said that CUF had been deeply moved by Chief Anyaoku’s admission that there was political tension in the Isles. The Chief had said that he was concerned about the situation because it implied that multiparty democracy was not normal in Zanzibar. CUF was ready to meet the CCM for unconditional talks. Because the first step had been reached by establishing that there was a problem in Zanzibar, CUF believed that efforts by the Commonwealth might succeed in tackling the problem. He was under the impression that there might be a follow up mission by Commonwealth officials. As we went to press, however Dr. Amour had made no comment. It is understood that the Commonwealth Secretary General made certain proposals and that these were being considered in Zanzibar. In his departure statement Chief Anyaoku said that he was very hopeful that a new page of cooperation in the politics of Zanzibar would soon be opened. ‘Tanzanophiles’ will add their hopes to his.

DONOR ATTITUDES

Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete, on return from a nine nation tour of Europe on May 20 said that the donor community recognised President Salmin Amour’s government but had expressed reservations about human rights in the islands. Norway has granted Tanzania $3.7 million as a sign of goodwill towards the new Tanzanian government but it stated that it was not prepared to consider aid for new developments in Zanzibar. The Swedish Director of the East African region of SIDA was quoted as saying that the problem of Zanzibar was ‘dragging Tanzania backwards’.

According to the East African, international donors have decided to maintain the ban on aid to the Isles while releasing increased funds for the mainland. The Business Times reports that in Finland both the ruling CCM and the CUF are considered to be to blame for the political instability. The Finnish Ambassador said that Zanzibaris needed to agree to disagree, using the parliamentary forum, and to begin to address other critical aspects of peoples’ welfare.

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.

In the last issue of TA the problem of the constitutional position of the Vice-Presidency was outlined. Subsequently Parliament passed an 11th Amendment to the Constitution which deprived the Zanzibar President of his automatic right to occupy the position of Vice-President in the Union Government; it was accepted however that he/she would be entitled to a senior post in the Union cabinet. The reason for the change, which House Speaker Pius Msekwa has been vigorously defending, was the fear that, under multi-partyism, it would be possible for a Vice-President to be elected who was not in the same party as the elected President.

But Zanzibar was unhappy with the amendment and remains very unhappy. One party leader has said that if elected their party’s president would not sit in the Union cabinet.

The Law society pointed out that the Amendment conflicted with the 1964 Articles of the Union. To make the change there would have had to have been a two thirds majority of all mainland and Zanzibar MP’s. If challenged in court, there could be a constitutional crisis. Surprisingly, on the same day (January 20) it was announced that President Mwinyi had signed the Constitutional Amendment a few days earlier!

As this issue went to press the government was promising a Bill in Parliament in April which would clarify the status and role of the Zanzibar President in Union affairs. The isles’ main opposition party CUF has made it clear that it opposes the 11th Amendment.

The National Assembly also rejected an earlier proposal (TA No 50) that 20 seats should be reserved in the National Assembly for persons to be nominated by parties achieving a certain proportion of the votes in an election.

1.3 million members of Tanzania’s ruling CCM party, in a consultation process or ‘internal referendum’, have reacted overwhelmingly against a previously strongly supported Parliamentary motion that a separate government should be set up for Tanganyika. 61% voted for continuation of the present two-government structure i.e. the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Government of Zanzibar; 29% for the establishment of one single government for Zanzibar and the mainland; and, only 8% for the creation of a third government for the mainland.

This decision becomes CCM party policy for forthcoming elections. It is not clear what happened next in Parliament but, according to a heading in the Swahili newspaper ‘Majira’ (August 9), the Group of 55 M.P’s who had been campaigning for a Tanganyika Government were being ‘condemned for being swallowed by the CCM party’. It is believed that there was strong support in parliament for a single government, although this would not be acceptable to Zanzibar. The CCM party did make it clear however that the ultimate aim should be a single government for the country.

TRIUMPH FOR NYERERE
These developments represent a triumph for former President Julius Nyerere who has been waging a crusade to preserve the Union in its present form. He felt that setting up a third government would mean the end of the Union.

Invited to speak at the crucial National Executive Committee meeting of the party during the weekend starting July 30th Mwalimu Nyerere delivered a passionate speech in defence of the constitutional status quo.

Because of the, for him, favourable result of the consultation process, he said that he would not now need to leave the CCM Party, something which he had been contemplating.

ZANZIBAR TO BLAME
At a subsequent press conference he put the blame for what had happened on the Zanzibar government for having ‘taken a series of actions aimed at maximising the Isles’ autonomy in flagrant breach of the constitution’. The main action had been two years earlier when Zanzibar had joined the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) without reference to the Union government (it later withdrew under pressure from Dar es Salaam). This action, Nyerere said, had been the cause of a retaliatory demand for the setting up of a separate Tanganyika (mainland) government, which had attracted the support of many CCM MP’s and senior government personalities. He was very critical of the present (Union) government for ‘first trying to cover up the matter and then taking a year to study an otherwise straightforward case of breach of the constitution’.

Mwalimu Nyerere was also reported to have said that there were some 27 problematic issues concerning the Union which should be dealt with. But CCM party and government leaders could not solve these problems because they were afraid to confront Zanzibar President Dr. Salmin Amour he said.

Some of the ‘Group of 55’ MP’s who had been leading the campaign for a Tanganyika government accused their own CCM party of rigging the results of the consultation. Nyerere hinted that if they were unhappy with the decision they should leave the party. He seemed to almost welcome such an outcome because, only in that way, he said, would Tanzania acquire an effective opposition watchdog in parliament.

FOURTEEN AREAS OF CONFLICT
Minister of Constitutional Affairs Samuel Sitta has admitted that there are fourteen areas in which the 1977 Union Constitution and the 1984 Zanzibar Constitution are in conflict.

On August 10 one of the factors which had aroused the wrath of many Tanzanians – the need for Tanzanian mainlanders to carry passports when visiting Zanzibar – was corrected. In future mainlanders would need only an identity card or letter from an administrative location.

Other administrative problems facing the Union would be the subject of a report to be presented to parliament in the very near future. There had been seven consultative meetings between the two governments recently on Union problems.

The first person heard on Zanzibar radio after the bloody revolution of January 12th 1964 was virtually unknown. His name was John Okello. He soon became very well known indeed in Zanzibar and around the world. But, after a short period in the limelight, he disappeared back into obscurity.

The Dar es Salaam ‘Express’s Samwillu Mwaffisi has been asking whether John Okello was the hero of the Zanzibar revolution or the villain. According to his article this is what happened.

John Okello was born in Uganda and travelled via Mombasa to Pemba to look for work on June 22, 1959. He worked first as a bricklayer and, later, in Zanzibar, as a carpenter. He joined the Afro-Shirazi Party and became an activist in opposing the government still headed at that time by an Arab sultan. The extent to which Okello planned the revolution is still not clear. He claimed that, 14 days before the revolution, he had picked 450 freedom fighters and had taken them in groups of 150 at a time to a forest where he trained them to shoot. The Zanzibar authorities have always maintained that he took no part in the planning of the revolution and that this was done by a 14-man revolutionary committee of the Afro- Shirazi party under the chairmanship of the Late Sheikh Abeid Karume who subsequently became President of Zanzibar. It was decided that for security reasons the Sheikh should be outside Zanzibar when the revolution took place and he went to Dar es Salaam. So it was Okello who announced on Zanzibar radio that the revolution had taken place. Okello also took part in the storming of the Ziwani armoury which provided the arms used in the revolution.

According to this account the Afro-Shirazi party had faced a problem. If Sheikh Karume was to be outside the country, who would announce the revolution? The revolutionary committee decided that, for the people to believe that a revolution had taken place, it was necessary to have someone with a deep, authoritative voice to announce it. A voice with a Zanzibar accent should be avoided as people would not believe it. Thus Okello became the spokesman of the revolution.

The revolutionary committee assumed that, after the announcement had been made and Sheikh Karume had returned, Okello would step aside. But he did not want to do so and made it clear that he himself was the leader of the revolution in several more radio broadcasts.

After his return Sheikh Karume summoned Okello and, among other things, discussed the possibility of some ‘bakhshish’ for his assistance. Okello is reported to have said that his lifelong ambition had been to build a house for his mother in Uganda. The Sheikh gave him Shs 80,000 and he went back to Uganda. The revolutionary authorities then declared him a prohibited immigrant and Sheikh Karume asked President Nyerere to talk to his friend President Obote of Uganda to make sure that Okello never returned to the isles. But Okello did return. When his plane landed in Zanzibar he found most of the senior members of the new revolutionary government at the airport and was told to return back to Dar es Salaam immediately. He was not allowed to speak to anyone else in Zanzibar and never returned again.

The writer of the article concludes that Okello must have played some part in the planning of the revolution. Had he stopped after doing what he was asked to do – announcing the revolution – he would most probably have been allowed to stay in the island and might have become one of its heroes. As it was, he became the villain.

This was the title of a talk (and the question posed) on July 29th at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London by Haroub Othman, Professor of Development Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. It was a well-timed address as, only two weeks later, the matter reached the top of the agenda in Tanzania’s National Assembly when 57 MP’s signed a motion demanding the establishment of a Government of Tanganyika.

For quite some time there have been significant groups in Zanzibar questioning whether it is in the best interests of the Isles to remain in Union with the mainland of Tanzania in a United republic. A new development in recent weeks has been the sudden expression by mainlanders of their serious reservations also about the Union.

Zanzibar’s unilateral act in joining the ‘organisation of Islamic Conference’ (OIC), apparently without any objection from the Union Government, plus the subsequent Union Parliamentary (Marmo) Enquiry were described in the May 1993 Bulletin of Tanzanian Affairs.

ZANZIBAR PULLS OUT OF THE OIC – IMMEDIATE REACTIONS
Under apparently massive pressure from the mainland and with considerable reluctance on the part of Zanzibar it was eventually announced on August 13 1993 that Zanzibar would withdraw from the OIC. Prime Minister and First Vice-President John Malecela stated however that the Union Government was doing research on whether the OIC engaged purely in economic cooperation and social welfare (as had been claimed by Zanzibar) or whether it was primarily a religious organisation. There was a possibility of the Union joining the OIC at a later date if it was secular in nature.

When the estimates for the 1993/94 budget of the Office of the Second Vice-President (who is also President of Zanzibar) came up for debate in the National Assembly, MP’s were clearly disturbed and also divided in their reactions to the withdrawal. The debate was tense. Speakers received sporadic applause from crowds listening outside the Parliament Chambers.

Some MP’s commended the Zanzibar Government for the decision to withdraw saying it was a demonstration of political maturity. They called for a compromise on ‘matters which were likely to divide the 29-year-old political marriage between the then Tanganyika and Zanzibar’.

One MP suggested that the setting up of a single government could end the ‘undue bickering’.

The MP for Njombe said he believed that Zanzibar had been rejected by the OIC Secretariat, that it had never become a member, that there was no need to praise it for withdrawing and that it had been a case of cheap political propaganda. His speech was interrupted by Government Ministers on points of order.

The MP for Kongwa, proposing a cut of one shilling in the Second-Vicc-President’s budget, said that Zanzibar President Salmin Amour should apologise to the House over his request earlier in the year for MP’s to stop questioning Zanzibar’s entry into the OIC.

Prime Minister John Malecela pleaded with MP’s to start healing the wounds “Let us take confidence building measures … we have already caused a lot of wounds; let’s start dressing them now”.

MP’s eventually agreed to restore the shilling and passed the budget estimates.

NYERERE WARNS THE NATION
For some time before this, the press in Dar es Salaam had been reporting a succession of visits by President Mwinyi, President Amour and several other leaders to Mwalimu Nyerere’s Butiama retirement home for urgent discussions on Union matters. And on August 17th readers of the Daily News were greeted with a huge front page headline – ‘NATION WARNED. NYERERE IN DEFENCE OF TANZANIA’.

The retired President addressed first the members of Parliament and then a press conference. He said that the nation was bound to disintegrate if those in authority continued to violate the Constitution. Lawlessness would throw the nation into anarchy.

Mwalimu Nyerere said that he had been disturbed by the way the Government had handled the controversial Zanzibar entry into the OIC. The move was an outright violation of the Union Constitution and he was pleased that Zanzibar had now decided to withdraw.

“What is more puzzling” he said “is the way the Government was behaving before and after Zanzibar’s entry. The news was reported for the first time by the BBC and was later picked up by the local press. But the Government was reluctant to admit that Zanzibar had joined until the press produced more information”. Mwalimu said that such a violation of the Constitution was a difficult subject to talk about. He said however that he found it even more difficult to keep quiet.

“To all Cabinet Ministers, some of whom have now concentrated their efforts on the demolition of pork shops, I have a question. What has happened these days? Do you these days take an oath to protect pork shops? In our day we took an oath to defend the Constitution” he went on. The CCM National Executive Committee and the Central Committee, through shelving important national issues …. had contributed to Zanzibar’s unconstitutional entry into the OIC. “If there is a lack of consensus on a principle, some (people) resign. Oh Yes! And they openly explain why they’ve done so”.

ONE, TWO OR THREE GOVERNMENTS?
Mwalimu went on to say that the OIC controversy had fanned the sentiments of those demanding a different structure for the Union. Some were calling for three governments (Union, Mainland and Zanzibar) while others demanded one central Union government only.

He made it clear that he was in favour of the present two-government system (the Union and Zanzibar governments). He said that matters of national interest should not be regarded as ‘sensitive’ and should not be handled secretly. such practices would be regarded as ‘cunning tactics I which were contrary to good governance.

GOVERNMENT ADMITS ITS ERROR
This was the first time that Mwalimu Nyerere had openly criticised the government which succeeded his. Some commentators linked the Mwinyi government’s mixed signals when the OIC controversy first emerged to the fact that President Mwinyi is himself from Zanzibar and probably had divided loyalties.

Former Union Prime Minister Joseph Warioba has been among the MP’s who have consistently pressed the government to come out clearly on the OIC issue. In the tense Parliamentary debate in August he asked “Was the constitution violated or not?”

At this stage, and before replying, Minister of Legal and constitutional Affairs Samuel Sitta took a glass of water. The House burst into laughter. “The constitution was violated” he admitted at last. But he added that, although Tanzania was one united sovereign state it had two constitutions one for Zanzibar and one for the Union. This was an anomaly. There was no constitutional court to resolve issues between these constitutions. He pleaded with legislators to leave the arc issue alone before it caused further damage to the Union.

THE BACKGROUND AND THE FUTURE
Professor Othman, in his London address, threw some new light on the earliest stages of the Union. He said that the then Zanzibar President (Karume) wanted to have a total union with one government – it was Nyerere who had insisted that Zanzibar’s identity should be preserved. Zanzibari’s initially showed great enthusiasm for the Union but this was primarily because they wanted to be rescued from their own (very tough) revolutionary regime at the time.

The Professor was in favour of continuation of the Union which had brought stability and peace; a three-part Federation would mean its dismemberment. He recommended that the following measures should be taken to avoid the withering away of the Union:
– a reduction in the number of items (23) in the constitution which are now Union matters;
– the drafting of new laws by the two Attorney-Generals working together;
– Zanzibar to be free to enter into international contracts on non-Union matters and to have representatives in Tanzanian embassies abroad.

TANGANYIKA
A significant change in recent constitutional discussions is that the word ‘Tanganyika,’ long since out of use in the United Republic, was now being freely employed.

An editorial in the Business Times on August 20,1993 had this to say: ‘Every dark cloud has its silver lining …. despite Nyerere’s admirable attempts to save the present structure (of the Union) it is obvious that two governments for Tanganyika and Zanzibar will never work satisfactorily. Nyerere is probably right that a Federal three-government structure will lead to the collapse of the United Republic and that a single central government is a nonstarter … in the circumstances, the only realistic and lasting solution is to have two separate and sovereign states working in close collaboration. The end of the Union would not be a progressive step but it would also not be the disaster it is made out to be by some people …. economic necessity and geography, apart from a shared history, culture and defence needs, would all dictate close cooperation between the two countries’.

STOP PRESS
As this Bulletin goes to press the constitutional situation remained fluid. The Government announced that a report on the state of the Union would be made in Dodoma in October 1993. At a full CCM Party meeting agreement was reached on a consultation exercise in which people would be able to express their views on the future of the Union and the possibility of the creation of a Tanganyika Government within it. The 57 MP’s who had earlier demanded the setting up of such a government revised their motion in favour of a referendum on the matter for mainlanders.

In an effort to remove a long-standing bone of contention the Zanzibar Government agreed to allow mainlanders to visit Zanzibar without passports. The opposition Civic United Front promptly objected. Others complained about ‘the selling of Zanzibar to Tanganyika’ and ‘the auctioning of its statehood’.