NYERERE – THREE BOOKS

Nyerere Book

MWALIMU – THE INFLUENCE OF NYERERE. Edited by Colin Legum and Geoffrey Mmari. Mkuki Na Nyota, Dar es Salaam; Africa World Press, Trenton USA; and, James Currey, London. Published in association with the Britain-Tanzania Society. 1995. Clothbound £35. Paperbound £11.95. Special offer price to readers of ‘Tanzanian Affairs’: Clothbound – £10 from James Currey, 54B Thornhill Square. London NI IBE.

The British Empire had many achievements. One which is rarely cited is the remarkable group of leaders who led its colonies to independence. Had these colonies been fortunate enough to inherit power at the same time they would have been among the tallest on the world stage. Liberation movements attracted many intellectuals who might otherwise have taken careers other than politics. The quality of British education at home and in the colonies contributed to their formation. When history is written Julius Nyerere will rightly occupy one of the foremost places in this galaxy along with Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Kaunda, Lee Kwan Yew and others.

This book is neither a biography nor the orthodox collection of eulogy produced on the retirement of an eminent figure. It is a scholarly compilation of some 14 essays covering his ideas, the policies that followed from them and their application to Tanzania during the 30 years of his leadership. It merits attention as one of the few attempts to analyse in depth and with objectivity the achievements of a very poor country immediately after it assumed control of its own destiny.

Nyerere has many qualities of heart and head. Huddleston, in his contribution places stress on his humility, austerity and dedication. Mmari reminds us that he did not lack determination. His attachment to his Catholic faith is an important factor in his life. Above all the theme is repeated that he is a thinker and a mwalimu (teacher) hence that honorific has been bestowed on him permanently uniquely among political leaders who have generally preferred to emphasise their power and leadership. Gandhi, Nehru and Mao were Asian leaders of an earlier generation who also had a vision of creating a New Society and of moulding a new man. Needless to say they differed in the essentials of that vision. Nyerere had a vision of building a more perfect society and a better individual in Tanzania based on African roots and socialism which encompassed Fabian humanist Marxist ideologies. Some day it is hoped that a study comparing Nehru and Nyerere will be made as these charismatic leaders had much in common. Nehru died in harness. Nyerere, having retired from office is still with us, active in the public service. Among their achievements, as Green points out in his contribution, is that much of the political engineering they accomplished continues to survive – a rare occurrence in post independence societies.

The gaining of independence from colonial rule was seen by the leadership as a new dawn when everything could be achieved. In the euphoria they believed that the same enthusiasm and the same willingness to sacrifice that enabled the ouster of foreign rulers would continue indefinitely. This would provide the motivation for the revolution to be brought about in the social structure and the economy. It was soon discovered that human nature and habits cannot be radically altered nor can vested interests be removed without enormous effort and education over a period of time. Too often unable or unwilling to confront this task the post-colonial leadership has moved back to authoritarianism. In many cases this was the penultimate stage before military rule. Nyerere realised he could not achieve his goals by using the system left by the British. As Kweka explains he believed a one-party state would better serve the entire nation. Democracy would be preserved by ensuring freedom of discussion, a policy debate and a choice of candidates for Parliament. In reality the party became all powerful and power and decision making were centralised. The one-party state instituted in 1965 was eventually dismantled in favour of a multi-party system in 1992. By that time Green states that sturdy institutions, a plural society and faith in the system had been firmly implanted. Legum, while acknowledging the achievements, prefers to remain sceptical about the future.

The overall thrust of Nyerere’s philosophy is enshrined in the Arusha Declaration of 1967. This emerged after much debate but it was essentially the distillation of Nyerere’s own thinking over a long period and was largely imposed from above. Its facets appear in most of the chapters of the book. Irene and Roland Brown sympathetically spell out the reasons behind the perceived need for planning, for education for self-reliance and for community formation in the ‘ujamaa’ village. They and other contributors recognise that it was not so easy to implement these policies. Legum points out that, although some people had to be forced, what has been achieved with very limited coercion is indeed remarkable. India, with her partly successful Five-Year Plans and community development programmes in various forms, knows very well that revolutions in agriculture and economics do not come overnight. But they do come slowly at different speeds in different places. Enthusiasm for rural modernisation can be generated. Ultimately awareness grows with decentralisation, grassroots democracy and especially education. All this needs adequate resources. Groups and individuals have to feel that they too benefit from the revolution in the quality of life and being able to acquire goods unobtainable earlier. That is why socialism and planning do not succeed if they neglect to inject a sufficient measure of market forces. Nyerere may not have realised this till the 80’s and 90’s. But he has never lost sight of the importance of self-reliance and its relevance to independence in policy formulation. It is only in the post cold war era that this reality has been forced on many developing countries which had relied on aid-driven development.

Svendsen, writing on the economic sphere, explains how, after the shocks of the 1979-81 period, the costs of implementing the Arusha Declaration became impossible to sustain. Pride had to fight with need. As countries like India had discovered 15 years earlier, altruism does not exist in international finance and commerce. Tanzania fought a spirited battle with the World Bank and the Fund but the inevitable compromises had to be reached.

‘The development of a country is brought about by people and not by money’ as Komba asserts. To do this in Tanzania required an initial revolution which most other countries did not need. There were no rural communities. People were gathered into villages with the intention that these would eventually evolve into full-fledged cooperatives. Unlike in the soviet union and China this was done mainly by consent. It is however not clear from the book how Tanzanian society has evolved; in the desire to emphasise the unity achieved, the normal process of emergence of group identities is not clearly analysed.

The book is somewhat weak on Nyerere’s international achievements. Ramphal’s contribution highlights the Commonwealth role and touches upon Nyerere’s contribution as Chairman of the South Commission. The Commission’s contribution to the economic reform now going on around the world might not be fully appreciated in the pain of ongoing structural adjustment. Self-reliance is being accepted. Just now this is being done at the national level rather than at the multilateral level as the Commission had hoped. It is perhaps utopian to hope that the new rich will be any more altruistic than the old rich.

Nyerere was always a Pan Africanist as Ramphal points out in his reference to Nyerere’s offer to delay Tanganyikan independence to help preserve the East African Union. His outspoken statement that Tanganyika would not share the Commonwealth table with South Africa after it achieved independence in 1961 prompted the latter’s exit from the Commonwealth. Decisions on Southern Africa were not without cost to the Tanzanian economy. But they were borne bravely.

Legum explains the rationale behind the final ouster of Idi Amin and the incorporation of Zanzibar into Tanzania and how this was motivated by the same philosophy of African solidarity. The TANZAM railway may not have been a success but it was another effort in the same direction.

For anyone interested in Julius Nyerere and Tanzania this book is essential reading. It suffers from the defect of people on the inside writing about their special subject. Almost every contributor has worked for the Tanzanian Government or the University of Dar es Salaam. outsiders may feel that they have not been provided with the adequate foundation of facts and data on which the analysis is based. There is also no attempt at any comparative study of neighbouring African or other developing countries. This would have provided some benchmarks against which judgements can be made. These are however minor points against the carefully drawn and relatively objective picture that is projected and is retained by the reader. The Mwalimu’s legacy is indeed that of his ideas. Maybe some of them need to be updated. But the basic thrust which comes through loud and clear still remains valid for Tanzania and indeed for many other nations.
Eric Gonsalves

UONGOZI WETU NA HATIMA YA TANZANIA. Julius K Nyerere.
Published by Zimbabwe Publishing House. 1994

This is a short book but one which seems to be of exceptional significance. Its launch in the late Autumn of 1994 created such interest that the first printing became unobtainable in a matter of days. When the author addressed a meeting of the Press Association in March this year, at which he was to return to its major theme, over 800 people are reported to have attended.

Readers in the UK might wonder what all the fuss is about. We have become accustomed to the attacks of Edward Heath on his successor and on the seeming reluctance of Margaret Thatcher to show much enthusiasm for hers. But this is of a different order. Nyerere is the ‘father of the nation’; he led the movement for independence; he presided over a Party which, whatever its internal di visions, presented to the public a sense of unity in building a peaceful nation, free from racism, tribalism and religious intolerance, a nation seen as an example to the rest of the world, even if its economy ran into major problems. Moreover, Nyerere retired voluntarily with the status of a world statesman. Ten years later, though the economic framework to which he had committed himself is fast being dismantled, and though there are those in Tanzania who dismiss him as a figure of the past, he retains great influence among large sections of Tanzanian society.

The thrust of the book is a passionate defence of the united Republic and the main features of its constitution. Nyerere believes there are those working to split the Union into the two constituent parts that existed in colonial times. He points out that the present borders of Tanzania represent virtually the only example of a post-colonial state which has borders different from those determined by the colonialists and borders which have reunited people of the coastal area and the islands who had been divided by imperial force. He argues that, once the Union were split into two parts, there would be a danger of a descent into regionalism and into divisions based on religion. which of us in Europe, looking at events in the former Yugoslavia, can confidently say this is wrong?

But Nyerere goes much further. He accuses the then Prime Minister and the then Secretary General of the CCM – both since moved to posts of lesser importance – of conniving in these moves. They are alleged, with much documentation, to have defied the policy of their own ruling Party, undermined the authority of the President and done this to further their own personal political ambitions. He says that this would not worry him so much if he could see signs of an effective opposi tion party. As it is, without such an opposition, he thinks it even more important that the CCM should look to the strengthening of its internal democracy. Failing that, he sees the danger of dictatorship of the kind he observed in a neighbouring country.

The book is of importance in the lead up to the first multi-party general election. It must be of interest to all students of Tanzanian Affairs. I understand that an English translation will be available shortly.
Trevor Jaggar

THE DARK SIDE OF NYERERE’S LEGACY. Ludovick S Mwijage. Adelphi Press. 1994. 135 pages.
It is common knowledge that a secret intelligence service was very active in Tanzania during the Nyerere years and, as a result, a number of people were detained and some were ill-treated. Most of this book is devoted to the I exciting’ (as the publisher describes it) story of these detainees. The author made no secret of his opposition to the one-party state and in 1983 fled, first to Kenya and then to Swaziland when he knew that he was in danger of arrest. He describes in dramatic detail how he was then abducted, treated very roughly, and taken back to Tanzania via Mozambique and how he was then detained there.

Part of the book skims hastily over scores of other cases of injustice, reported at the time by Amnesty International, and perhaps inevitable in a system in which democratic differences of opinion were suppressed and in which, as in the case of Zanzibar, violent revolution seemed to be the only way of bringing about change.

The author began as a teacher in Bukoba. After his release from detention he fled to Rwanda I then Portugal and is now, apparently, in Iceland studying for a degree in social sciences with Britain’s Open university! – DRB

LIMITED CHOICES. THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALISM IN TANZANIA. Dean E McHenry Jr. Lynne Rienner Publishers. 1994. 283 pages. £33.95.

This book looks at the endeavour by the political leadership in Tanzania to establish a socialist state. Its coverage is wide and quite good in my opinion, and it includes some developments almost as recent as its year of publication.

One thing which impressed me was its tile ‘Limited Choices’. The author was clearly trying to tell something impressive about Tanzania but at the end of it I felt that he still wished to tell a bit more than he actually did. The theme of the work is very much like the experience of Tanzania and the Tanzanians; they tried to achieve something significant by pursuing socialist policies but in the end they do not have much to show for it.

McHenry shows that Tanzania had few logical options other than pursuing the strong appeal of the socialist ideals which had been opted for through the Arusha Declaration. He isolates a number of factors essential either as the vehicles to achieve socialism or define its objectives in Tanzania. These include a standard of socialist morality in the leadership, democracy, equality, rural cooperatives, the parastatal sector and self-reliance. The author’s finding is that at the end of the period under study, none of them had been achieved to any commendable standard. Socialist morality, and even commitment by the leadership had been virtually abandoned. But McHenry does not indicate that the choice of socialism should be regretted.

He does not blame the socialist option for the country’s economic failure; he puts the blame on the agreement with the IMF’ and the conditions attached to it. As evidence he points to the fact that Tanzania did make some progress after the Arusha Declaration. But serious decline came in with alarming consistency after the signing of the agreement with the IMF’ in 1986. He shows further that the trend in Tanzania’s development has been just like that of other countries in subSaharan Africa, including Kenya, which never contemplated a socialist option.

McHenry’s work is very rich in its factual account of Tanzania’s political and socioeconomic development. But somehow it leaves you with the impression that the author has been too uncritical of the country generally. While blaming the IMF’ can be justified, it is not easy to understand the author’s total reluctance to try and apportion blame to local factors like mismanagement, corruption and other factors which may not necessarily concern policy, but which may nevertheless affect economic performance, irrespective of whether the policies have been socialist or not, and irrespective of the IMF conditions.

In fact the author has sometimes appeared to be too sympathetic to Tanzania. Thus, while showing quite graphically the overall decline in incomes even before the IMF, he makes no attempt at all to explain that decline. Instead he tends to view it rather positively because there was, simultaneously, an apparent decline in income inequality!

Most writers about Tanzania have found the dominance of Julius Nyerere extremely difficult to avoid. McHenry’s work, while not being an exception, must be commended for its reasonably successful attempt to draw attention to the role of persons other than Nyerere. In fact he even asserts rather boldly that, shortly after initiating socialist policies, Nyerere surrendered his ‘proprietary rights’ over socialism to the party as a collective unit. Unfortunately, the author does not assess whether indeed the party ever accepted socialism as an objective. That assessment is necessary in view of the virtual abandonment of the Arusha Declaration (through the Zanzibar Resolution of February 1991) barely six months after Nyerere’s exit from party leadership.

McHenry categorises Tanzania’s socialists, particularly in the political leadership, into ‘ideological’ and ‘pragmatic’ socialists, each struggling for control, while Nyerere maintained a midway position between the two. I find this categorisation rather disturbing. Some of the people categorised as pragmatic socialists and most of the things they have stood for are not considered as socialist, at least not in Tanzania. They may have been pragmatic but certainly not socialist. Perhaps the author made a misleading assumption that, because of Tanzania’s commitment to socialism, the entire leadership consisted of socialists only.

There are a few inaccuracies but they are negligible as far as the main thrust is concerned. But while commending the author for the effort he made to authenticate his sources he could have done a little better if he had tried to cross check what he read in the government-owned Daily News with other sources including the independent papers which emerged after 1990. Some of them are in Kiswahili, which could be a limitation to some researchers, but not to McHenry; each chapter in the book opens with its own all encapsulating Swahili proverb.

All in all this is a work well worth reading. Even if you disagree with the author’s views, arguments or conclusions his work will certainly tell or remind you about things concerning Tanzania which you may have overlooked.
J T Mwaikusa

ARMED AND DANGEROUS. MY UNDERCOVER STRUGGLE AGAINST APARTHEID. Ronnie Kasrils. Heinemann. 1993. 374 pages. £6.99.

MBOKODO. INSIDE MK – MWEZI TWALA. A SOLDIERS STORY. Ed Benard and Mwezi Twala. Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg. 1994. 160 pages. South African Rands 19.99.

These two action-packed and well-written books tell parts of the same story – what it was like to be involved in the armed struggle against South African apartheid. And, as Tanzania was an early headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) to which both main authors belonged, Tanzania gets more than a mention.

Ronnie Kasrils was head of ANC military intelligence. He was, called the ‘Red (because he was a dedicated communist) Pimpernel’, South Africa’s most wanted man. He is now Deputy Minister of Defence in the South African government. For him his period in Tanzania (he was also in the Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany for training and in Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa on active service) was a generally happy one, and followed an escape over a ladder on the South Africa/Botswana border. He arrived in Tanzania in a six-seater chartered plane. He started by licking stamps, and answering the telephone at the ANC’s ‘shabby office’ in Dar es Salaam. The ‘romantic town’ reminded him of Durban. He married there – ‘The colonial registrar, who was still in place in 1964, stuck by the book and refused to marry us because we did not have our divorce papers (left behind in S. Africa) but we knew the Tanzanian Attorney General, who wrote a curt note ordering the registrar to stop being obstructive!’. Later, Kasrils had to say his traditional Judaic incantation at the Israeli Embassy in Dar es Salaam when he heard that his father had died back at home.

Tanzania in the 1960’s was the centre of much radical political activity. ‘An unforgettable event’ Kasrils wrote ‘was an address to 200 people by the legendary Che Guevara at the Cuban Embassy …. I met him later as I was sitting on the harbour wall. He was smoking a large Cuban cigar; it was his striking features, almost feline, that set him apart from ordinary mortals’.

Kasrils also met, sometimes on the verandah of the New Africa Hotel, such personalities as Oliver Tambo, the Shakespeare-loving Chris Hani, Joaquim Chissano, Jonas Savimbi ‘the gentle Malcolm X’ and many others. For Mwezi Twala, the person whose experiences are described in the second book, (‘Mbokodo’ is a Xhosa word for a grinding stone and was used to describe the security branch of the ANC’s armed wing – ‘Umkhonto we Sizwe’) Tanzania was a very different place. As was the ANC. Mr Twala is now an organiser for the Inkatha Freedom Party in South Africa.

He was a dissident from an early age having organised a strike in his primary school! And when, as a training officer in the ‘Umkhonto we Sizwe’, he sometimes disagreed with policy, he was inclined to say so. The result was that he was brutally punished in ANC detention camps in Angola and later transferred, as a prisoner to Tanzania.

His first stop was Dakawa camp where some 700 South Africans were housed in two villages and a large tent community called ‘Hawaii’. Here the author was happy at first. He was elected as a camp leader and made responsible for brick making and the manufacture of prefabricated walls for the growing settlement.

But, according to the author, Chris Hani and other senior ANC officials came to the camp. Chris Hani, ‘strutted with all the arrogance of a cockerel, while barking orders like a dog. He proceeded to issue banning orders on all of us’.

He and eighteen of his friends decided to plan an escape. And their chance came when the Tanzanian contractor with whom they had been working, apparently without the knowledge of the ANC authorities, invited them for a two-day New Year break in Dar es Salaam. Conditions had not been good at Dakawa. On the way to Dar somebody pushed a coke into his hand. ‘It was the most beautiful coke I have ever tasted in my life’.

Chapter 9 of the book describes the following period in early 1990 – imprisonment in Dar es Salaam, hunger strike, appeal to foreign embassies – and Chapter 10 describes the escape, helped considerably by friendly Tanzanians, to Malawi and eventually, after the release of Nelson Mandela, to South Africa. I After fifteen years absence, the changes that had taken place in Johannesburg were mind boggling’ the author concluded. ‘Everything I saw exuded wealth’.

Quite a lot of other things in these two exciting to read books are also mind boggling!
David Brewin

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT: A TREASURY EXPERIENCE. J P Kipokola. Institute of Development studies Bulletin. Vol. 25. No 3. 1994 Sussex university. 5 pages.

The evaluation of structural adjustment (SA) is a growth industry these days. This article however has two merits – it tells the story of Tanzania’s SA remarkably concisely and it tells it from the point of view of the recipient treasury.

The lessons which have been learnt include:
– the value of an inter-ministerial technical group;
– the importance of timely action – something which Tanzania was slow to accept;
– the need to prioritize those resources with the most rapidly visible recovery impact; in the case of Tanzania agriculture, industry and transportation;
– not to postpone financial sector reforms;
– avoiding over-emphasis on exchange rate policy and interest rate structure;
– not to accelerate privatisation and thus create new monopolies owned by foreign enterprises;
– the need to continue to protect local infant industries;
– the need to be patient – DRB.

PARADISE. Abdulrazak Gurnah.
This book reached the Booker Prize Short List for 1994 – Ed

This book is about many things; the growing up of a young boy, the disintegration of traditional society under colonialism, the nature of freedom, and even a tragic love story.

At the age of twelve, Yusuf, the central character, is torn away from his family for reasons he does not wholly understand. It quickly becomes clear that his parents have become indebted to a wealthy trader – ‘Uncle’ Aziz – and that Yusuf is the payment. Khalil, who is older than Yusuf, has already suffered the same fate as him and thus attempts to protect Yusuf from his youthful naivety and vulnerability. Yusuf’s confusion is understandable as he faces up to the contradictions of his new situation. On the one hand Yusuf is forced to understand his new position in terms of a masterservant relationship; he is told that his ‘uncle’ is not his uncle, he should now call him Seyyid. On the other hand Khalil emphasises the honour of their ‘master; ‘He buys anything … except slaves, even before the government said it must stop. Trading in slaves is not honourable’.

The whole area of slavery, bondage and freedom is thus introduced into the book at an early stage and is pivotal to Yusuf’s transition to adulthood. Yusuf is presented to us as an innocent. He is passive, things happen to him, not because of him.

‘It never occurred to him …. that he might be gone from his parents for a long time, or that he might never see them again. It never occurred to him to ask when he would be returning. He never thought to ask ….. ‘

He is frustrating in his passivity; one finds oneself demanding, along with Khalil ‘Are you going to let everything happen to you all the time?’ Of course this passivity is bound up with him coming to terms with this position of bondage, and it is this that he realises that he must ultimately challenge. Yusuf cannot understand why Both Khalil and the gardener, Mzee Hamdani, have refused to take their freedom when offered. He accuses them of cowardice and impotence respectively. But of course Yusuf’ s greatest challenge comes when he realises he himself is free to go – like Khalil and the gardener he is freely n the service of the Merchant. This forces him to reconsider his position and face up to his own inability to control his life.

Yusuf’s final action is to attempt to take control and deliver himself from ‘slavery’. Of course the fact that he left one slave-master relationship for what was clearly another, means that his liberation was obviously limited. Nevertheless it was clearly a progression and was reflective of the lack of choice that someone in Yusuf’s position would have had.

The style of ‘Paradise’ is poetic. Gurnah attempts a fusion of myth, dream, religious tradition and realism. He succeeds in this, although it must be said that he comes nowhere near the poeticism and magic realism of Okri’s ‘Famished Road’. Gurnah is most successful, however, in providing a sensitive portrayal of one young boy’s transition to adulthood in a society where a legacy of slavery and an ever increasing colonial presence complicate notions of honour, freedom and bondage.
Leandra Box

“DRIVE SLOW SLOW – ENDESHA POLEPOLE”. Carlotta Johnson. !994. 91 pages. Obtainable @ £6 from Jane Carroll, Britain-Tanzania Society (which will receive receipts from sales) 69 Lambert Road, London SW2 5BB.

An account of a six-month’s return to Tanzania, Uganda and (briefly) Kenya after 17 years. Carlotta Johnson allows us to dip into her journal. And it makes evocative reading. I wanted to ask questions, to know more, to ‘see round the edges’ as one often does with the television screen. It is not an easy book to categorize, being neither a reference book for prospective travellers to East Africa, nor yet a guide for ornithologists – although it has something of interest for both. It is a very personal account of belonging and not belonging: of stranger-ness after many years away from a much loved country. It is both a questioning and an understanding of the clash of cultures. The poems between the chapters are an added bonus; this from “So, what did you go out in the world to see?”: ‘To try and understand about distance,/ separation, homecomings, here and there,/ to see what far is, discover/ if I can be at home away.’

Archbishop Huddleston has said that this book should be read by anyone who knows and loves Tanzania. It should also be read by anyone who recalls their own youthful contribution to that fascinating country, how little they learned at the time and how much they have realised since.
Jill Thompson

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

TRADE ROUTES IN TANZANIA: EVOLUTION OF URBAN GRAIN MARKETS UNDER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT. Sociologia Ruralis. 34 (1) 1994. 12 pages.

ACCUMULATION, INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE PEASANTRY: A REINTERPRETATION OF THE TANZANIAN EXPERIENCE. Journal of Peasant studies. 21 (2) January 1994. 34 pages.

PREVALENCE OF HIV-1 INFECTION IN URBAN, SEMI -URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN ARUSHA REGION. K Mnyika and others. Aids. 8 (9). september 1994. 4 pages.

TANZANIA. Jens Jahn (Ed) • Fred Jahn, Munich. 527 pages in German and Swahili. 1994. £57.00. This is described in the ,Art Book Review Quarterly’ as a superbly illustrated (b & w) catalogue of traditional sculpture in Tanzania. It shows ceremonial works, figurative wood carvings, ornate staffs, furniture and masks. The text indicates the similarities in the aesthetics of Western Tanzania and southeast Zaire.

MINING AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT. C S L Chachage et al. Sweden. 1993. 107 pages mostly about Zimbabwe but with a section on mining and gold in Tanzania.

CONSERVATION OF ZANZIBAR STONE TOWN. Abdul Sheriff (Ed). 1994. 224 pages. £12.95. Essays on culture, history and architecture.

THE ORGANISATION OF SMALL-SCALE TREE NURSERIES. E Shanks and J carter. Overseas Development Institute. 1994. 144 pages. £10.95. This is designed for policy-makers/professionals and includes case studies from six countries including Tanzania.

TEACHING AND RESEARCHING LANGUAGE IN AFRICAN CLASSROOMS. C M Rubagumya (Ed). 1994. 214 pages comparing experiences in four countries including Tanzania. £14.95.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? UNAITWAJE?: A SWAHILI BOOK OF NAMES. S M Zawawi. 1993. 86 pages. £6.99.

ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION, REAL MARKETS AND THE (UN) REALITY OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN RURAL TANZANIA. sociologia Ruralis. 34 (1). 1994. 17 pages.

SOCIAL CHANGE AND ECONCMIC REFORM IN AFRICA. Ed: P Gibbon. Scandinavian Institute of African studies. 1993. £12.95. 381 pages. Contains three papers on Tanzania – on the effect (or lack of effect) of structural adjustment on the growth of NGO’s, on education and on agriculture.

ECONCMIC POLICY UNDER A MULTIPARTY SYSTEM IN TANZANIA. Eds: M S D Bagachwa and A V Y Mbelle. Dar es salaam university Press. 1993. 218 pages. £14.95.

THE DEMISE OF PUBLIC URBAN IAND MANAGEMENT AND THE EMERGENCE OF INFORMAL LAND MARKETS IN TANZANIA. A case of Dar es salaam City. J W M Kombe. Habitat. Vol. 18. No 1. 1994 20 pages. Management of urban land can be undertaken by either state-led or market-led instruments. This paper explains, through four case studies, the extent to which the infonnal market-led sector is growing largely because of deficiencies in allocation under the old system.

SOME LESSONS FROM INFORMAL FINANCIAL PRACTICFS IN RURAL TANZANIA. A E Ternu and G P Hill. African Review of Money, Finance and Banking. 1/94. 26 pages. This paper, which is full of interesting insights, explores in some detail informal financial practices in the Kilimanjaro Region. These include the keeping of cattle for emergencies, borrowing from friends and relatives, borrowing livestock and using money lenders; it points out the lessons bankers can learn from this informal sector.

BEYOND DEVELOPMENTALISM IN TANZANIA. Geir Sundet. Review of African Political Economy. No 59. 1994. 10 pages. ‘The Arusha Declaration is arguably the most influential policy paper to came out of Africa’ this writer states and goes on to analyse theories of political economy and the nature of the ‘African state’. He questions present modes of analysis of African political systems.

RECENT DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE IN TANZANIA: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. A J Mturi and P R Andrew Hinde. Journal of International Development. Vol. 7 No 1. 1995. 17 pages. Fertility in Tanzania is very high by world standards – a woman bears on average more than six children (it used to seven in the early 1980’s). The population growth rate is around 3%. These writers argue, in a fact-filled paper, that a further decline in fertility will depend mainly on the family planning programme.

DOCTORS CONTINUING EDUCATION IN TANZANIA: DISTANCE LEARNING. S S Ndeki, A Towle, C E Engel & E H 0 Parry. World Health Forum. Volume 16. 1995. 7 pages. This a description and evaluation of a programme of distance learning for 150 medical personnel in the Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Tanga and singida regions. The most popular module was the one on obstructed labour; the most difficult was on epidemiology. Costs were $341 per trainee or $0.38 per person in the region. The paper points out the lessons learnt.

TANZANIA DEVELOPS GAS. T land. Southern Africa Economist. October 1994. 2 pages.

ESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF HIV TRANSMISSIONS THROUGH REUSED SYRINGES AND NEEDLES IN THE MBEYA REGION. M Hoelscher. AIDS. Vol. 8. No. 11. 1994. 7 pages.

POLITICAL COMMITMENT, INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY AND TAX POLICY REFORM IN TANZANIA. 0 Morrissey. Univ. of Nottingham. 1994. 25 pages.

THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL BANKING IN RECOVERY FROM ECONOMIC DISASTER IN GHANA, TANZANIA, UGANDA AND ZAMBIA. Charles Harvey. Institute of Development Studies. May 1993.

In this paper Charles Harvey examines the deterioration of the banks in four African countries and the slow progress of reform. He provides a lucid discussion of the economic and historical context and identifies a number of key themes which explain the enormous obstacles to creating sustainable and efficient banking systems.

Harvey focuses on three different types of banks. In Tanzania the expatriate banks were effectively nationalised after independence and it is only in the last year that commercial banks have re-entered the market. The first two, Standard Chartered and Meridien are dwarfed by the 100% government-owned National Bank of Commerce (NBC) and the smaller but substantial Cooperative and Rural Development Bank.

The author suggests that the colonial period did not leave any effective legacy of banking supervision and that the lending policies of expatriate banks in the countries where they continued to operate, still largely exclude most businesses aimed at and managed by Africans. At independence it was scarcely surprising that governments became closely involved in the direction of bank credit towards the needs of the newly created parastatal companies.

As a mechanism for directing credit, each of the four governments created new 100% owned government commercial banks. The intention was to provide more credit than before to borrowers previously neglected. This was bound to be hazardous because the new banks were pushed into the riskier and more marginal lending business. In Tanzania, for example, the banks built up significant exposure to the marketing boards and cooperative societies.

In African economies trying to build economic growth a major part of the economic strategy is to rely much more than in the past on the private sector which, in turn, will need a banking sector if that strategy is to succeed. The author suggests that to meet this role a banking sector must provide efficient financial intermediation and a payments mechanism. He concludes that in the countries under focus the banks have failed to perform these basic functions. In part defence, it is worth pointing out the constraints to performing these functions in a country such as Tanzania. These include the lack of a securities market (which would provide alternative and additional sources of liquidity to banks and operations) and the problems created by the lack of properly functioning telecommunications at a national level.

In the period since their formation most of the government owned banks allocated credit using non-commercial criteria; for example to loss making parastatals according to instructions from the government, or to their own directors and their businesses. Government pressure on the new commercial banks to lend to politically favoured customers created significant problems. The fact that the loans were made under pressure from governments or simply under orders, meant that the banks felt little need to evaluate the loans or to press for loan servicing. Failure to service bank lending was regarded as the government’s, not the bank’s problem. This led to reckless lending and borrowing.

The effect of this was to create an increasing government liability. Governments had either to create grants to repay their commercial loans, or to recapitalise their commercial banks after writing off their loans to parastatals. One way or another it became impossible to reform the banking system without at the same time doing something about the parastatals. Meanwhile, the quality of lending to parastatals reduced the credit available to the rest of the economy. Harvey picks out Ghana as being furthest along the way to banking reform and Tanzania as being at the earliest phase.
The main features of banking reform that he identified are:
– the transfer of non-performing assets to an assets recovery trust with interest bearing bonds being issued on these to the originating banks;
– replacement of the senior management and boards of directors of parastatal banks, while giving a mandate to the replacements to improve lending policy and practice, with the main emphasis on profitability;
– the establishment of new banking laws covering licensing, capital requirements, capital adequacy ratios, and portfolio concentration, to be enforced by central bank supervisory departments; and,
– the introduction of international accounting and audit principles.
The author sees Tanzania’s position as being particularly difficult due to the extreme concentration of the banking market in the hands of the NBC, the precarious economic situation of the parastatals and the legacy of subversion of the credit process away from commercial criteria and towards other goals. In the period up to 1992 NBC’s lending effectively became an extension of the government budget, with the banking system failing to direct lending to those who could make productive use of credit.

He describes the reform of Tanzania’s banking system as an impressive attempt to sort out an impossible mess, depending on the simultaneous reform of the commercial banks and the parastatal sector. He is less optimistic about Tanzania than the other countries, primarily because government did not just interfere but completely took over the allocation of credit. As a result employees have had little or no experience of commercial lending decisions for twenty years or so. Effective change will therefore depend on significant cultural change and a substantial investment in training a new generation of staff .

The author concludes that the transition to self-sustaining recovery from recovery strongly dependent on aid will take a very long time, much longer than was thought by the donors when structural adjustment programmes were first agreed. The slowness of commercial bank reform is not the only reason for this but the paper argues convincingly that it is an important contributory factor.
Chris Darling

THE ANTICLIMAX IN KWAHANI, ZANZIBAR. PARTICIPATION AND MULTIPARTISM IN TANZANIA. M Mmuya and A Chaligha. Fredrich Ebert Stiftung/Dar es Salaam University Press. 1993. 145 ps.

The first parliamentary by-election under multi-partyism was held in the Kwahani constituency in Zanzibar on April 18th 1993. It was an anti-climax because all the eleven opposition parties except one (the small Tanzania Peoples Party – TPP) boycotted it because of what they described as an intransigent and belligerent CCM regime in the Isles.

But the book itself is far from being an anti-climax. One cannot but be impressed by the sheer quantity of facts and figures and the skillful analysis of the political scene in Tanzania which is squeezed into this modest little publication; about the tangled politics of Zanzibar and how people still tend to be categorised as either supporters of the revolution or supporters of the former Sultan; the ideological vacuum; the Union issue; the powerful influence of the main opposition party the CUF: the religious factor; the effectiveness of CCMrs well-organised campaign; the part played by flags/dress/poetry/dance/music/gifts in the election; the details of the electoral process (including government funding) which had been laid down in the Political Parties Act No. 5 of 1992; the determined and successful efforts of the Electoral Commission to ensure a free and fair election; and, a lot of sound advice to aspiring opposition politicians.

Above all, the book gives an analysis of the significance of the 205 different ‘Maskani’ (neighbourhood meeting places which have become associated with the traditional and radical CCM at the grassroots) and how they are becoming a problem both to the CCM leadership and the new opposition parties. And the result of the by-election? The CCM candidate won with 89.3% of the votes cast. This is an essential read for anyone interested in politics in Tanzania in 1995 – DRB.

A COORDINATING AND PARTICIPATORY APPROACH TO MANAGING CITIES: THE CASE OF THE SUSTAINABLE DAR ES SALAAM PROJECT IN TANZANIA. Francos Halla. Habitat International. 18. (3) 1994. 12 pages.

This paper begins by demolishing the supporters of the ‘Master Plan Approach’ to town planning. The author quotes approvingly another writer’s criticism of it – ‘misleading in stated objectives, unrealistic in expectation of future conditions, invalid in diagnosing underlying causes of the most pressing problems, irrelevant in choice of major professional concerns, inflexible and static in methods and procedures, ineffective in influencing the direction of public resources or interventions …. We learn that Dar es Salaam has been ‘master planned’ (‘futile preoccupation’) in 1948, 1968 and 1979.

By contrast, after only two years, the pilot ‘Sustainable Dar es Salaam Project’ (SDP) with technical assistance from UNCHS (Habitat) is pronounced a success. The SDP seeks to ‘coordinate the development activities of all the key actors and promote their participation in all sector’s of the city’s community – popular, private and public’. The procedure involves four stages:
– preparation of the city’s environmental profile;
– consultation on environmental issues;
– preparation by working groups of action plans;
– strategic planning framework as a policy document for an increasingly effective management of the city;
The paper records achievements to date but indicates also some of the practical and institutional constraints. For example, unsuitable offices, the bureaucracy of both central and local governments, lack of funds, the dominance in working sessions of the public sector, the tendency for some of the actors to be entrenched in the orthodoxy of urban planning, and, most disturbingly, the author’s statement that ‘the continued existence of the approach has to a greater extent depended on the determination of the technical support team and financial support by international donors. Is this another imported project destined to disappear when the funds run out? – DRB

INSECT MAN: A FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA IN AFRICA. Alec Smith. Radcliffe Press. 1993.

This is one of a series of a dozen very personal memoirs of the lives of British expatriates in Africa at the end of the colonial era. Alec Smith spent the decades before and after independence in Tanzania working on the mosquitoes which carry disease and on insecticidal methods of controlling them. In 1950 he went to Ukara island in Lake Victoria to work on the mosquitoes which carry filarial worms, the cause of elephantiasis. There he first acquired the nickname Bwana Dudu from which the book’s principle title is derived. He then went to the Pare district to participate, during the late 1950ts, in the important Pare-Taveta scheme, in which residual deposits of the insecticide dieldrin were sprayed on the inside surfaces of the walls and roofs of houses to kill mosquitoes as they rested before or after biting. It is rather shaming to present-day medical entomologists to note that the Pare-Taveta scheme, with 1950’s technology, did a better job in suppressing malaria and the child mortality which it causes than anything which has been achieved in recent years anywhere in tropical Africa.

Around the time of Tanzanian independence Alec Smith and his wife moved to Arusha where he was on the staff, and later Director, of the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute. This Institute is intended to act as a base for evaluating insecticides, herbicides etc. for use throughout Africa, and beyond, against insects of medical importance, as well as agricultural pests of all kinds. Among his other achievements Alec Smith developed ingenious designs of experimental hut for the thorough evaluation of insecticides which repel and/or kill mosquitoes. Groups of these huts were built at Magugu, beside the road from Arusha towards Dodoma, and at Taveta on the Tanzania-Kenya border. These huts, built in the early 1960rs, are useful to researchers to this day.

Despite the book’s subtitle ‘a fight against malaria in Africa’, these important achievements are dealt with quite briefly and most of the book is devoted to an often very detailed account of what it was like for a young British couple to live in upcountry stations and in Arusha in colonial Tanganyika and in newly independent Tanzania. Matters such as amateur theatricals and tennis tournaments which apparently occupied much of the spare time of the hard-working British expatriates of yesteryear, are given much prominence. After leaving Tanzania in 1973 Alec Smith took up W.H.O. postings in southern Africa, Nigeria and Geneva. The period was very productive – the still current W.H.0 manual on chemical control of vector insects was compiled at this time by Alec Smith. He also claims credit for the idea of impregnating mosquito bednets with pyrethroid insecticides, which is the currently most popular, and rapidly spreading, method of protection against malaria mosquitoes. The roots of this idea can (as with most good ideas) be traced to several sources (repellent treated clothing in the USSR and USA , DDT treated bednets used in the Second World War, pyrethroid treated clothing in North America and insecticide treated bednets in China and in francophone Africa). However, Alec Smith certainly deserves credit for presenting the idea to a W.H.O. meeting and having it endorsed and propagated through widely-read W.H.O. manuals.
Chris Curtis

LAND TENURE REFORM IN EAST AFRICA: GOOD, BAD OR UNIMPORTANT? T C Pinckney and P K Kimuyu. Journal of African Economics. Vol 3. No 1. March 1994. 28 pages.

Despite its ambitious title this 1991/92 study was based on only about 115 households each in similar coffee-growing communities with very different historical backgrounds in Kenya and Tanzania. The authors compare the individual smallholder property rights developed in Kenya, which they conclude were cost ineffective, with the policy of abolition of private land titles by Tanzania after independence. Coffee had been developed in Tanzania as an African cash crop from about 1905, with its greatest expansion after 1920 whereas in Kenya it was developed as a ‘European’ crop, with prevention by the ‘settlers’ of ‘African’ development pre-1946 except in the remote districts of Meru and Kisii. Thereafter expansion was inhibited by the Mau Mau Emergency and the government’s programme of consolidating the numerous fragmented smallholdings.

The surveys were chosen from clusters which had been sampled in national surveys in the late 1970’s and again in 1982-83 in the Kenya district of Murang’a and above Moshi in Tanzania. The land holdings averaged two acres in Murangfa and four acres on Kilimanjaro, half in the coffee/banana zone and half below where annual crops are grown. The purpose of the study was to compare the individual land tenure under Kenya’s programme of consolidation of fragmented smallholdings, which was aimed at encouraging effective crop husbandry through possible access to credit and better security of investment, with Tanzania’s nationalisation and prohibition of purchase, sale or rental of land. While the Kenyans appreciated land consolidation, the authors consider that the funds needed for the subsequent land registration could have been much better spent because land titling did not lead to any increase in land-secured credit, partly because of failure to develop it. The authors did not examine the issue of indigenous tenure systems versus individualisation. The argument is about small farm tenure. Kenya embarked on its programme of consolidating densely fragmented smallholdings and the registration of land titles in 1956 and the prograiame has continued to this day, .even in remote areas. They started in areas with good potential for cash crop development – coffee, tea, pyrethrum and export of horticultural crops. The study does not consider or evaluate the benefits of economic crop development.

The authors find that densely populated communities as in Kenya may lead to landlessness and poverty. In Tanzania, the emphasis was on equity which demanded that land should became state property leaving a situation of laissez faire. In fact, in the area of Tanzania under study, land under permanent cultivation (coffee/bananas) was personalised for people to cultivate as long as they wished and land was still inheritable by sons, thus the tenure was as good as freehold. So, while the two countries have pursued extremes in land policy, the authors have come down on the side of Tanzania!
R J M Swynnerton

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE NGUMI HILLS: IRON AGE AND EARLIER CERAMICS.
Carolyn Thorp. Azania. Vol 27. 23 pages. 1992 DRIVE SLOW SLOW – ENDESHA POLEPOLE. Carlotta Johnson.1994. 91 pages. £6. Obtainable from Jane Carroll, Britain-Tanzania Society (which will receive receipts from sales), 69 Lambert Road, London SW2 5BB. An account of a return to Tanzania after 17 years. The author describes it as a very personal account of belonging and not belonging and recommends it to anyone who recalls their own youthful contribution to the country, how little they learned at the time and how much they have realised since.

STYLISTIC APPROACHES TO E KEZILAHABI’S NOVELS AND POETRY.
Elena Bertoncini-Zubkova. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. Vol 31. 1992. 62 pages.

MOSQUES, MERCHANTS AND LANDOWNERS IN ZANZIBAR STONE TOWN.
Abdul Sheriff. Azania. Vol 27. 1992. 20 pages.

DECENTRALISATION, PARTICIPATION AND SPATIAL EQUITY IN RURAL
TANZANIA: A COMMENT by Joseph Semboja and Ole Therkildsen. World Development. Vol 22. No 5. 1994. 4 pages.

THE SOUTHERN AFRCIAN ENVIRONMENT: PROFILES OF THE SADC
COUNTRIES. P O’Keefe and others. Earthscan Publications. 1993. 354 pages. Environmental problems faced by nine countries including Tanzania.

CHANGES IN BLOOD TRANSFUSION PRACTICES AFTER THE INTRODUCTION
OF CONCENSUS GUIDLINES IN MWANZA REGION. J Vos and others. AIDS Vol 8 No 8. August 1994. 6 pages.

A COMMUNITY MODEL OF AFRICAN POLITICS: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
NIGERIA AND TANZANIA. G Hyden and D C Williams. Comparative
Studies in Society and History. 36. (1). January 1994. 28
pages.

EAST AFRICA: A TRAVEL SURVIVAL KIT. G Crowther. Lonely Planet.
1994. 32 pages.

COMMUNITY NUTRITION FOR EASTERN AFRICA. Ann Burgess and
others. African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). 286
pages. 1994. f 4.65 + p&p from TALC, P 0 Box 49, St Albans,
Herts AL1 4AX. A short up-to-date low-cost practical nutrition
manual for community-based workers.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LAND REFORM IN ZANZIBAR. I F Shao.
Dar es Salaam University Press. 1992. 106 pages. £6.50.

AIDS EDUCATION FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN TANZANIA: AN
EVALUATION STUDY. Knut-Inge Klepp. AIDS 9 (8) August 1994. 6
pages.

INDIGENOUS FARMER-MANAGED IRRIGATION IN SONJO, TANZANIA.
Geographical Journal. 160 (1). March 1994. 15 pages.
COST-EFECTIVENESS OF CHEMOTHERAPY FOR SPUTUM SMEAR-POSITIVE

PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS IN MALAWI, MOZAMBIQUE AND TANZANIA.
Eric de Jonge and others. International Journal of
Health Planning and Management. 9 (2). April-June 1994. 30 ps.

(Tanzanian Affairs has information about many more recent publications but due to pressure on space these will be listed in the next issue – Editor)

ADJUSTMENT IN AFRICA. LESSONS FROM COUNTRY CASE STUDIES. Eds: Ishrat Husain and R Faruqee. World Bank. 1994. 436 pages.

It is difficult not to feel sympathy with Tanzania on the sheer amount of economic experimentation the country has been subjected to since independence. This second World Bank volume on structural adjustment (the first was reviewed in Bulletin No 48) in its Chapter 8 – ‘Tanzania – Resolute Action’, although some might question the appropriateness of the title, is comprehensive in outlining the economic history of Tanzania during the last thirty years. First there was the socialist period when left-leaning academics from around the world came to Tanzania to add their ideas to Julius Nyerere’s determined efforts to create a model socialist state. Then there are the last ten years when advocates of ‘structural adjustment’ tried out their ideas and learnt a lot of lessons.

The socialist period and the lessons to be learnt from its economic failure have been thoroughly thrashed out in many earlier issues of the Bulletin and are described succinctly in this book.

When the book goes on about the ‘economic recovery’ and ‘structural adjustment’ period there is much more detail. The authors write about the tentative steps taken from 1982 to 1985 – ‘but the background, orientation, hardened attitudes and ingrained habits of those entrusted with implementing the reforms clearly meant that the reform process would be difficult and slow8. And that is how it has been. The World Bank persisted in its efforts to persuade an often reluctant government to push ahead with more radical structural adjustment policies. Many would say, after the economic collapse of the early eighties, that there was no alternative.

Now, eight years later, we have two kinds of verdict. A group of increasingly militant NGO’s are launching an international campaign against World Bank structural adjustment policies. Early indications are that this opposition will need to marshal its facts and figures better than it has done so far, if it is to be successful. This book might be used as a model of the way in which it might be done. The Bank claims only modest success in Tanzania. Ghana is the success story. Tanzania is praised for rapidly turning round its economic performance and moving towards a more liberal, market-based economy. The evidence that this process was, in part at least, experimental, comes from the very extensive list of lessons which the Bank has learnt from what happened. The book reiterates that ‘greater attention should have been paid to …..’ ‘the reform programme should have been more strongly focused on. …..’ and so on. Table 8A summarises the picture in nine sections including fiscal policy, financial sector reforms, exchange rate management, wage policy reform, social sector policies and, in each case, compares the original situation with an assessment of the progress made in reform.

The book is essential reading for all interested in Tanzania’s economic affairs – DRB

THE NEW LOCAL LEVEL POLITICS IN EAST AFRICA. RESEARCH REPORT NO. 95. Ed: Peter Gibbon. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Uppsala, Sweden. 1994. 119 pages.

The Tanzanian third of this book (it also covers Kenya and Uganda) written by Andrew S Z Kiondo, contains insights into a relatively new phenomenon in Tanzania – the rapid growth of formally organised community development activity (CDA) and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s). In 1993 there were 224 NGO1s registered compared with only 163 in 1990 – roughly two thirds of the latter had been formed since 1980.

During the era leading up to independence there had been a brief flourishing of independent trade unions, parents’ associations and youth organisations but, as the author puts it, ‘Independence saw a suppression of voluntary organisations and activities of all kinds as the state systematically penetrated/dissolved civil society and remoulded it in the image of the state itself1. The author goes on to describe the delicate relations now existing between local NGO’s – varying from the self-reliant to the ‘GONGO1s’ (Government organised) to those which are foreign supported – and the government. Taking into account recent political changes and the rise in racial and religious tensions, the author points out the lack of information on NGO1s and CDA1s. He tries to remedy this, in the most revealing part of the paper by a detailed study in a number of districts of Tanzania. For example:
– Ilala, Dar es Salaam – Muslim education/private health provision/religious based NGO1s/ Women CDA’s…. .
– Hai – day-care centres/religious and foreign NGO1s/the Hai Education Trust Fund/animal production NGO’s… .
– Pemba South – upsurge of economic CDA groups/an NGO run by OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim. ….

The author concludes by indicating how the Hai trust funds have all but displaced the local state and wonders whether this means privatisation of local government; he discusses in some depth the extent to which these new organisations are accountable – DRB

PEASANT SUPPLY RESPONSE AND MACROECONOMIC POLICIES: COTTON IN TANZANIA. Stefan Dercon. Journal of African Economies. Vol. 2 No. 2 October 1993. 38 pages.

Cotton is the second most important export crop in Tanzania (after coffee). It is mainly grown in the West – Mwanza and Shinyanga regions in particular. Production increased from about 25,000 tonnes of raw cotton in 1950 to a peak of 243 tonnes in 1966/67. It reached a low of 108,000 tonnes in 1985/86, the lowest level since 1961.

The main purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence of the importance of various government policies on cotton production since the 1950,s. It undertakes an econometric analysis of the cotton supply function which includes such variables as cotton pricing, marketing policies, exchange rates, export taxation policies, prices for competing crops (maize and rice), inflation, taxation and availability indexes. The reasons why certain agricultural variables (such as input prices for seed or fertilizers) and climatic variables (such as rainfall) are excluded from the analysis are explained.

The main conclusions reached by the author are:
(1) That cotton producer prices have been adversely affected by government policies towards marketing, export taxation and the exchange rate. These prices have in turn affected cotton production through a significant supply response. The response to prices is a relative one: the relative cotton and food prices are the relevant variables; this implies that all increases in cotton production as a result of price changes will be at the cost of food production.
(2) Pricing policy resulted in a reduction in cotton production in the 1070’s and early 1980’s.
(3) The macroeconomic breakdown in Tanzania in the early 1980’s also had important consequences for cotton production. The effect of rationing was a large reduction of production and consequently of foreign exchange earnings from cotton.
(4) There was a striking difference of experience between the 1960’s and the 1970’s and 1980’s with a large trend increase in production stopping around the end of the 1960’s. These production increases were mainly caused by large yield increases, suggesting changes in technology used. This would suggest that the change in the policy environment after the Arusha Declaration in 1967 (including discouragement of cash crop production and villagisation) may well have had other effects than those working through pricing policy, but these were just as (if not even more) costly for peasant crop production and export earnings.

This is an interesting paper and the author has obviously put in a lot of work on the analysis and interpretation of results. I can’t however get over the impression that this was essentially a ‘desk study’ and that the author has little experience of either cotton or Tanzania.

There is not a mention of ginneries; the pivotal role they play in the cotton industry and how their nationalisation was disruptive. And I cannot agree with the statement that ‘while cotton cultivation was probably not forced upon farmers, extension officers often received premiums when large amounts of cotton were produced, therefore putting pressure on individual farmers’ (Page 167).

But my main bone of contention with this paper is that I don’t know how anyone can adequately write ‘Explaining Cotton Production in Western Tanzania’ (pages 165-69) over the years without reference to the multi-disciplinary research work carried out from 1934 to 1974 at the Ukiriguru Research Station, near Mwanza, by the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation (later the Cotton Growing Corporation). The Corporation was responsible in the 1940’s for the release of jassid resistant varieties without which cotton would never have become a major crop in Tanzania. The subsequent inclusion of bacterial blight and Fusarim wilt resistance added to the prosperity of the cotton industry. The continuous issue of new varieties from Ukiriguru, together with improved farming practices, is without doubt the underlying reason for yield increases up to the 1970’s.
A K Auckland

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

THE CONTINUING TRIAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: POLICIES, PRICES AND OUTPUT IN TANZANIAN AGRICULTURE. Jan Kees van Donge. Journal of International Development. Vol. 6, No 2.
1994. 27 pages. This article sets out, through a review of literature and with the help of an analysis of output patterns in Tanzanian agriculture, to challenge traditional views on the influence of national economic and political factors on agricultural production. The effects of government intervention are said to be much more ambiguous than usually assumed and many ‘erratic ‘ patterns are quoted. Does the author give enough importance to climate in causing such patterns? Stress is placed on regional differences and especially on social changes – migration, labour shortage, the changing status of women, the struggle between the old and the young or, as the author puts it, the shift from government policy to the politics of the household.

CEREAL MARKETING LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Jonathan Coulter and Peter Golob. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 10 pages. This paper points out the success which has attended Tanzania’s cereal market liberalization.

TRADING RESPONSES TO FOOD MARKET LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Anita Santorum and Anna Tibaijuka. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 11 pages. This paper examines market places and storage, credit and transport costs.

HYDROPOWER IN TANZANIA. K Dodman. International Power Generation. Jan. 1994. 3 pages. Tanzania has an installed electric generating capacity of 410 Megawatts of which 330 MW is hydropower. This informative short article brings us up to date on the £125 million 66 MW hydropower plant at Pangani Falls which is scheduled for completion in January 1995. Four of the five hydropower plants constructed there in 1934 are still operating (providing 15 MW) and further upstream there are plants at Hale (21 MW), Nyumba ya Mungu (8 MW) and Kikuletwa (1.2 MW). The article also explains the importance of water management to avoid the situation in 1992 when the reservoirs were so low that load shedding of up to 130 MW had to be imposed.

THE COST OF DIFFERENTIAL GENDER ROLES IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF SMALLHOLDER BANANA-COFFEE FARMS IN THE KAGERA REGION, TANZANIA. Anna Tibaijuka. Journal of Agricultural Economics Vol. 45 No 1. 1994. 12 pages. In 1982/83, due either to economic pressure or profit motivation, 30% of the men in a random sample of 200 smallholder banana coffee farms in the Kagera Region had adopted a more liberalised division of labour, and engaged in operations and horticultural farm enterprises that traditionally are the responsibility of women. Using a linear programming model, the author states that, by liberalising sex roles, cash incomes could increase by up to 10% while the productivity of labour and capital would improve by 15% and 44% respectively. The author measured 56 activities in crop production, 4 in animal production, 5 in farm processing, 9 intermediate activities like seed production, 20 consumption activities, 18 selling activities and 22 buying activities.

TANZANIA’S GROWTH CENTRE POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. M B K Dar Koh. Pub: Peter Lang, Frankfurt. 1944 Price: 89 DM. In 1979 a Growth Centre Strategy was initiated by government aimed at limiting the industrial growth of Dar es Salaam and spreading development to other regions. This book analyses the lessons to be learnt from the failure of the policy.

LIBERALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA AND ZAMBIA. J M Due. World Development Vol. 21 No 12. 1993. 7 pages. This paper reviews early experience with, the short-run effects of and the way in which these governments are initiating post structural adjustment policies being advocated by the World Bank, IMF and donors.

CLEANER PRODUCTION IN TANZANIA. M Yhdego. UNEP Industry and Environment. Vol. 16 No 3. Sept. 1993. 2 pages. The author calls for legislation to bring about waste prevention and cleaner production instead of the more common ‘end-of-pipe1 pollution controls in Tanzanian industry. He gives the example of a study of a textile factory which recommended the installation of automatic shut-off valves on hoses, optimising rinse water usage, substituting certain chemicals and increasing the fixation rate of textile dyes.

ESTIMATING WOODY BIOMASS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. A C Millington and three others. World Bank 1994. 191 pages. This volume describes itself as a first attempt to map the vegetation and assess the stock and sustainable yield of wood resources. A 12-page section on East Africa describes the main land cover classes and the summary table on Tanzania estimates that the country has a sustainable yield of 111.7 million tons per year.

AFRICA: GROWTH RENEWED, HOPE REKINDLED. A Report on the Performance of the Development Fund for Africa 1988-92. USAID. 1994. 68 pages. This uncritical evaluation report has little to say on Tanzania but what it does say is significant. Writing about the US$ 40 million Agricultural Transport Assistance Programme (ATAP) it reports on a dramatic shift from using ‘moribund government capacity to reliance on private contractors’ – the increase was from nil in 1998 to 80% in 1992 of contractors engaged in road rehabilitation in the ATAP regions. There had been in Shinyanga a decline in vehicle operating costs of 37% and a decline in passenger fares of 18%

USING SITUATION ANALYSIS DATA TO ASSESS THE FUNCTIONING OF FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS IN NIGERIA, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. Barbara Mensch and others. Studies in Family Planning Vol. 25 No 1. January/February 1994. 13 pages.

THE FISCAL IMPACT OF TRADE REFORMS IN TANZANIA IN THE 1980rS. W Lyakurwa. World Economy Vol. 16. No. 5. September 1993. 17 pages

PORTFOLIO MODELS AND PLANNING FOR EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION: MALAWI, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. J Alwang and P B Siegel. Journal of Development Studies Vol. 30 (2). 1944. 17 pages.

ADJUSTMENT IN AFRICA: REFORMS, RESULTS AND THE ROAD AHEAD.
Part of a Series of World Bank Research Reports. Oxford University Press. 1994

This recently published report has put Tanzania among the best performing adjusting economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 26 countries which the study ranked by macroeconomic policy performance, Tanzania was among the six which had shown a significant improvement in policies. The others are Ghana, the Gambia, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. These countries also had the largest improvement in per capita GDP growth. The study points out that countries which suffered a deterioration in macroeconomic policies also had the poorest growth record.

The report, which is designed to lead to a better understanding of the relationship between policies and growth in Africa, found that the extent of policy reform varied widely. On the whole, countries did better in improving macroeconomic than financial sector reform or the reform of public enterprises. Almost two-thirds of countries managed to improve their macroeconomic policies between the beginning and end of the 1980’s. The economies that have liberalised their pricing and marketing of agriculture and, in general reduced taxation and discrimination against agriculture (Tanzania is one of these) have experienced a resurgence in domestic production of both food and export crops. The adoption of more realistic exchange rates has also helped to provide incentives for domestic activities and discouraged excessive dependence on imported goods. The study also demonstrates that devaluation does not necessarily result in higher rates of inflation where correct measures accompany such devaluation. The countries which followed devaluation with complementing policies of wage, fiscal and monetary restraint did not experience inflationary pressures. Tanzania, for example, has managed to reduce its inflation from over 40% in the mid- 1980’s to just over 20% currently. This is a significant achievement but is still far below what is expected of those economies which are performing well.

The study shows that where policies have improved, renewed economic growth has taken place. In particular, improvements in exchange rate policies were strongly associated with faster growth. It points cut that 14 countries have shown improvement in macroeconomic policies and a positive change in per capita income growth rates. The six countries that improved their policies the most (Tanzania included) had the biggest improvements in the rate of GDP growth per capita – an increase of about two percentage points per annum in the period 1081-86 and 1987-91. During the same period, countries which did not improve their policies experienced falls in per capita growth rates of over two percentage points per annum.

One of the main conclusions of the study is the responsiveness of exports to policy reform; despite declining terms of trade, the study indicates that there has been a substantial increase in export volumes in most adjusting economies that have combined exchange rate and agriculture price and marketing liberalisation policies.

Although the study paints the picture that sub-Saharan Africa’s economic decline may have been arrested, and in most cases modestly reversed, the performance of the many adjusting economies still poses cause for concern. Apart from the fragile social and political environment which is likely to adversely affect the sustainability of the adjustment process in the long term, current growth rates among the best performers are ‘still too low to reduce poverty much in the next two to three decades1. Also, although inflation rates have generally declined, they are still by far too high compared with the best performing economies in other regions of the world. There is an urgent need to implement policies that consistently bear down on inflation and to bring it to single figures, if sustainable growth is to be maintained.

The report indicates that, with today’s policies it will take 40 years before sub-Saharan Africa returns to its income per capita in the mid-1970’s. This is a very bleak scenario indeed.

For Tanzania, which embarked on the adjustment process in 1986, after the failure of the socialist policies enshrined in the Arusha Declaration, the task which lies ahead is formidable. Many low-income earners have suffered from the escalating prices which have accompanied the price and exchange liberalisation. For long-term benefits to be derived, it will be necessary for the government to press ahead with the policy reforms and, in particular, keep on board the IMF and the World Bank. Recent slippage in policy reform and the criticisms that have been expressed by the IMF and some donors, is a matter of serious concern for the future sustainabilty of Tanzania’s reform programme.
E J Kisanga

THE UKIMWI ROAD: FROM KENYA TO ZIMBABWE. Dervla Murphy. John Murray Publishers. 1993. 265 pages. £16.99.

Imagine pedalling 3,000 miles on a bicycle, alone up and down the hills and across the savannah from Kenya through Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Add that you are a sixty-year-old Irish woman who never visited the area before. Then enjoy the fresh, perceptive and sensitive impressions of travel writer Dervla Murphy, and her vivid descriptions of the countryside – lush, barren or drenched with torrential rains. Query her judgements.

Murphy intersperses her travel tales with vignettes of history and conversations with local residents at village hotels and bars where she ends the day. In Bukoba, for example, the costly Tanzanian war with Uganda comes to life as the author ponders relationships between socialism, selfreliance, personal reserve and ‘economic disaster’.

The narrative returns time and again to ‘ukimwi’ the slim disease – AIDS. The author faithfully reports a diversity of beliefs about its causes – Europeans, women, witchcraft? She admires people like Janet, whom she met in Mbeya, as the source of hope: ,Those exceptional African women whose response to AIDS is imaginative and courageous, who know that their feminist hour has comer.

Criticism is apportioned equitably. At one moment the blame for conditions of poverty is put on colonialists, at another on the independent government and yet another on the International Monetary Fund. ‘Malfunctioning western imports’ such as phones that don’t work, banks that have no currency left, schools without textbooks and hospitals without medicines are despised, as are ‘hundreds of vehicles carrying one or two expatriates’ that ‘zoom around rural areas’ (197). She hears educated Tanzanians questioning the appropriateness of a current western import: multi-party democracy. African governments fail to put priority on food production over the cash crops grown by western consortia, she says, because they ‘seem befuddled by the miasma rising from the swamp of IMF and World Bank calculations and arguments (175). Yet, ‘parallel to this world of pretence, the ordinary people survive somehow (183).

Murphy’s conclusion is devastating: that the west ought to ‘quit Africa’ (263). She partly explains that abrupt proposal by saying ‘we still treat Africa as our forebears did in the 1890rs, operating behind a different screen with the same (or worse) greed’. The donors1 approach, she says, ‘denies African civilisation its own dignity and integrity’.

In that scenario of abandonment by the West, MS Murphy, what shall Africa do about an international debt that in 1992 equalled 93% of its GDP – a debt that was accrued by leaders, many now displaced or dead? Do you really think it possible –
or desirable – today to insulate Africa and the West from one another environmentally or economically? Might another scenario be envisioned, with justice and respect on both sides?
Margaret Snyder

GUIDE TO ZANZIBAR AND PEMBA. D Else. Bradt Publications, 1993
164 pages. £8.95.

The Daily Telegraph (February 19th 1994) wrote about this book ‘The publication coincides with a more welcoming approach to visitors to this island off the coast of Tanzania’. It is, of course, more than one island – the book mentions the two largest, Unguja and Pemba and several smaller ones. The Telegraph goes on to write that ‘the Pemba Channel offers perhaps the finest deep-sea fishing along the whole East African coast’. As in the case of the parallel book ‘A Guide to Tanzania’ by the same publishers, which was reviewed in Bulletin No 47, this is an eminently practical, up-to date, ‘how-to’ guide which is surely essential reading for visitors to what it describes as this ‘unspoilt’ place. Zanzibar is described as a good example of tourism as it should be – low-key, not too obtrusive and providing some benefits for the local people without destroying their culture or environment. Visitors are advised to see the island as a community and not as a theme park – DRB.

NEWS FROM MASASI. J Russell and N C Pollock.
Veroffentlichungen der Institute fur Afrikanistik und Agyptologie der Universitat, Vienna. 1993. l60 pages. A few copies are available from Joan Russell, 18 West Bank, York Y02 4ES at £10.20 (including p&p).

At first sight the proposition in the title of this book may appear to be misplaced but the reader soon realises that it has been chosen deliberately. The preface tells us that the motivation for writing it came from twenty-one letters written at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries by an African woman living near Masasi. ‘They are one of the earliest surviving bodies of prose texts written in Swahili, in the roman script, by a woman’. Extracts from them (with English translations) are quoted extensively and illustrate how ordinary people in that part of Africa reacted to some of the outside influences affecting them at the turn of the century.

Ajanjeuli was born into a pagan family in 1883 and baptised Agnes in 1897. She was an intelligent and observant girl who came in contact with Anglican missionaries and through them with the congregation of St. Agnes’ Church, Kensington Park. London, who were the recipients of her letters. The correspondence continued over several years: the earliest one quoted is dated October 1898 and the latest September 1912. Fortunately they have been preserved in the archives of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and fortunately too they came to the notice of Russell and Pollock. Agnes grew up to be one of the first teachers in what would now be called a village primary school. She married another teacher, Francis Sapuli, who later became an Anglican priest and a highly respected canon of Masasi cathedral. Agnes died shortly before the end of World War I in 1918.
The book has not been written for specialists in any particular branch of learning, although the authors do express the hope that it will interest students of the Swahili language. They might remember that for Agnes too Swahili was a second language and they will gain encouragement from comparing the Swahili of her letter of February 1905, which appears as a frontispiece to ‘News from Masasi’ with that of her later letters and discerns a noticeable progress. Mention of some of the subjects discussed must include: life in East Africa under the German occupation; trading in slaves and ivory which was rampant in the second half of the nineteenth century; witchcraft; frequent droughts and food shortages; the arrival and reception of the early missionaries; the first schools and the use of the Swahili language leading to its adoption as the national language of Tanzania in the 1960’s; the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905. The last chapter is a bonus, being a careful record (with map) of World War I as regards its impact on Southern Tanzania and Mozambique.

The authors acknowledge their debt to earlier writers, with a list of more than fifty titles (German and English) to which they have referred. The great value of ‘News from Masasi’, as one person sees it, is its lucid and very instructive coverage of so much ground in 160 pages. It would be an ideal handbook for students and others who are hoping to work in the Mtwara/Lindi regions. Almost inevitably, they will find themselves impelled to pursue their studies in some of the books listed in the bibliography and former residents will find much to refresh and delight their memories. Copies would surely be useful and welcome gifts to the libraries of local secondary schools
George Briggs

TOWARDS A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LITERACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. K. Mundy. Comparative Education Review. November 1993. 22 pages.

This is a very valuable review of developments in the field of literacy in three countries of the region: Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Mundy makes clear that the evaluation of literacy efforts in sub-Saharan Africa has relied mainly on ,an ideological belief in literacy as an absolute value (a basic human need and right) combined with the faith that literacy is a causal agent in economic expansion and political modernization.’

Mundy suggests, however, a very different framework for evaluation – ‘one that situates literacy in the context of Africa’s unequal and worsening position within the world system and that relates literacy policies and their outcomes to shifting patterns of resistance, reaction, compliance and accommodation…at the national, local and individual level’. His comments on Tanzania are especially instructive and well argued. He emphasizes, of course, that the Tanzanian programme was specially geared to adults, following Nyerere’s highlighting of the importance of adult literacy in the First Five Year Development Plan. One consequence of this was that Tanzania did not try to make great strides in primary education that many other countries of the region attempted.

It is extremely interesting to discover that despite Tanzania’s path of social development, ‘learning continues to be viewed instrumentally by the majority of Tanzanians as preparation for success in a hierarchical and competitive market system’. Recent studies have shown fairly conclusively that in Tanzanian villages, literacy is achieved and maintained in those communities that are economically prosperous. People interviewed from the two most impoverished villages in which research was conducted, could quote the government official line about the great importance of literacy, but when the discussion was opened up on what hopes they had and what problems they faced, it became very clear that their literacy skills were simply not put into practice. In short the people felt that literacy skills in general could do nothing to change their present circumstances.

Mundy concludes that ‘the Tanzanian case in particular illustrates the fact that, when national literacy efforts are viewed in a historical and world system framework, few general rules of a positive linear nature about the impact of literacy or the most efficient ways of achieving it can be deduced. Illiteracy is a fundamental manifestation of the unequal relationships integral to capitalism, and no amount of social engineering can alter this’. I believe Mundy has argued well, has few blinkers on the subject, and his conclusions, though politically unpopular in some quarters, seem to me to be very sound.
Noel K. Thomas

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL IN NORTH-EASTERN TANZANIA 1840-1940. J L Giblin. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1992. 209 pages. USS24.95. £21 hardback. In a critical review in the Journal of the Royal African Society, Jan Kees Van Donge of Chancellor College, Malawi questions one of the main elements in this book which was based on recent oral evidence – a belief in a golden age in agriculture amongst the Wazigua of Handeni District which was subsequently destroyed by colonialism. He writes: ‘This (golden age) is probably factually wrong and may also be harmful as it can lead to scapegoating and diverting attention from pressing contemporary problems like deforestation and soil exhaustion’.

LANDMINES IN MOZAMBIQUE. Human Rights Watch. 104 pages. £5.99 from 90 Borough High Street, London SE 1. This book contains only one paragraph on Tanzania but this paragraph is significant in view of the seriousness of the problem Mozambique is facing at present in clearing landmines left during the liberation war all over the country. The paragraph reads: ‘A force of some 5 – 7,000 Tanzanian soldiers assisted the Mozambican government in the fight against Renamo. They laid defensive minefields around their bases in Zambezia Province. ……… no maps of these minefields were left behind when the Tanzanian forces returned home in December 1988’.

TECHNICAL COOPERATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER; SOME EVIDENCE FROM TANZANIA. S Rugamamu. European Journal of Development Research. 4 (1) 1992. 15 pages.

PRIVATISATION IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT: THE CASE OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA. J S Henley and G B Assaf. Industry and Development 32 (1) January 1993. 16 pages.

THE CREATION OF IDENTITY: COLONIAL SOCIETY IN BOLIVIA AND TANZANIA. R H Jackson and G Maddox. Comparative Studies in Society and History 35 (2) April 1993. 21 pages.

FURTHER RESULTS ON THE MACRO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF AIDS; THE DUALISTIC, LABOUR SURPLUS ECONOMY. J T Cuddington. World Bank Economic Review, 7 (3). 14 pages. September 1993. Tanzanian data suggest that the macroeconomic consequences of the epidemic are about the same as those obtained using a singlesector, full-employment model; GDP is 15-25% smaller by 2010 than it would have been without AIDS and per capita GDP is O- 10% smaller.

AVANT LES PAYSANS: AGRICULTURE ET ECOLOGY DANS UNE SOCIETE AGRAIRE: L8EXA?4PLE DES WALUGURU (TANZANIE). J-L Paul. Tiers Monde 34 (134) April-June 1993. 27 pages.

TANZANIA: THE LIMITS OF DEVELOPMENT FROM ABOVE. K J Havnevik. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies 1993.

DISABILITY, LIBERATION AND DEVELOPMENT. P Coleridge. 1993. 160 pages. £6.95. This book makes the case for regarding disabled people as partners in development. It is based on interviews with disabled people in five countries including Zanzibar,

THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT. PROFILES OF THE SADC COUNTRIES. P O’Keefe, M Sill and S Moyo. Earthscan. 416 pages. 1993. £35. This book is drafted by local environmental experts and includes an up-to-date description of Tanzania’s geography, environmental problems, institutional structures and issues.

GUIDE TO TANZANIA. Philip Briggs. Bradt Publications. 304 pages. £9.95.

This new guide is eminently practical. The first part tells how to deal with red tape, which airlines you can use, how to travel by road from all neighbouring countries, what to wear, how to avoid diarrhoea and also casual theft and so on. The constant reference to current costs (with the cheapest solution in each case) is particularly useful but the guide will need to be updated regularly. Tanzania’s history is dealt with perhaps too concisely in 14 pages.

Part two goes into more detail by city, town or region (including 17 pages on Zanzibar) under such headings as ‘Where to stay’, ‘Where to eat’ and ‘What to do’.

Invaluable to anyone visiting the country for the first time and wishing to keep expenses to the minimum – DRB

GUIDE TO ZANZIBAR. H.S.P. Publications (7 Highgate High st. London N6 5JR> £5.95.

The appearance of a guidebook devoted exclusively to Zanzibar is an unusual event. The Director of National Archives (Mr Hamad Omar) and his colleagues of the Zanzibar Task Force are to be congratulated on their achievement. The Guide is attractively produced, with a striking cover photograph of a dhow seen through an Arab archway, and very reasonably priced for a booklet of 114 pages, eight in full colour.

There has never been any doubt about Zanzibar’s potential as a tourist resort, with its pleasant beaches and fascinating history; but visitors have been deterred by difficulty of access, absence of good hotels and lack of practical information. The last official guide book was published as long ago as 1949. Long out of print, some of its useful historical facts have been incorporated in the new publication.

It is good to read once again the story of the gilded ring on the domed roof of the Law Courts, which is traditionally said to be there to enable the Archangel Gabriel to carry the building to heaven on the last day.

A visitor to Zanzibar in the 1990’s will be interested in more mundane matters such as where to stay. Fourteen hotels are listed and some idea of the in facilities can be gauged from the fact that six these opened in the last three years. The Zanzibar Tourist Board might consider the introduction of some form of grading system for the guidance of visitors, with an indication of facilities available e.g. swimming pool or rooms with private bathrooms. It would also be interesting to know how many of the 23 ‘guest houses’ listed are really up to international tourist standards.

The English text is excellent and includes amongst many other things a cheerful advertisement for Holiday Bungalows on the inside front cover; the reader is invited to ‘Come and fall apart in our back yard’ – as in the Jungle Book!.

One particularly welcome feature of the Guide is the Index; this compensates for the fact that the order of the various sections is rather haphazard. However, the two maps, of Zanzibar Island and stone Town, are a disaster. Although based on the excellent maps produced by the British Directorate of Overseas Surveys for the Zanzibar Tourist Bureau in 1983, they are illegible when printed in black and white in small type. Perhaps the publishers, who in other respects have done a good job, could work with DOS to produce better versions for the next addition – or even charge a little more for the Guide and include the DOS map in a pocket at the back.
John Sankey

A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON ADULT LITERACY PROGRAMMES IN TANZANIA: SOME LESSONS FROM DODOMA REGION. L Buchert. African Adult Education and Literacy (AALAE). Vo1 7. No 1. 17 pages. 1993.

This paper attempts some measurement of the achievement of adult literacy programmes in the Dodoma region. In the late 50’s, with the aid of UNICEF, this was a core area for such programmes; and by 1961 the two regions of the then Central Province had more registered adult literacy learners than all the country’s other nine provinces combined.

From 1967 the Government sought to make education a major component in transforming Tanzania economically, politically and socially. Literacy programmes were linked with political, community and agricultural education. Officially, illiteracy rates nationally are said to have fallen from 90% to 10% during 1961-86. But illiteracy rates may have been increasing again since 1986, as dropouts from primary schools have increased and government has lessened its attention to adult literacy.

In Dodoma, education officials indicate that adult education has deteriorated since 1985, when responsibility for it was transferred to regions and districts. Less money is available, and, at village level, leadership support is patchy. The enthusiasm, efficiency and performance of the 1970’s has markedly declined. The author says that some of the statistics may have been constructed at lower level to ‘look good’.

The conclusion is that if adult education is to act as a ‘tool of transformation’ it must be given higher priority again at national level. For women, in particular, it needs to be tied to their being given control of the income from cash-crop production.
David Semers

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AS A POLICY PROCESS: THE CASE OF TANZANIA. Goran Hyden, University of Florida and Bo Karlstrom, Centre for Business and Policy Studies, Stockholm. World Development. Vol 21. No 9. 9 pages.

‘It may well be unique in economic history that an already poor country, without suffering from prolonged drought, war or climatic deterioration, experiences such a dramatic reduction in living standards’ write the authors in this graphic description of the recent economic history of Tanzania. They point out that between 1965 and 1985 Tanzania had an average annual decline in real GDP per capita of 0.5% and that analysis of household surveys suggests that real income might have fallen over the 15 year period to 1985 by as much as 50%.

The paper traces the long conflict between the World Bank and IMF on the one hand and Julius Nyerere on the other. Many missions were sent from Washington to press the case for adjustment of economic policies – adjustment of the exchange rate, adjustment of interest rates, adjustment of agricultural producer prices. But Nyerere resisted – he insisted that the conditions attached to IMF prescriptions were an infringement on Tanzania’s national sovereignty, devaluation would mean political suicide, and that a major devaluation would lead to riots in the streets. The Government called upon academic advisors who were ready to take a position contrary to that of the IMF. The authors state that Reginald Green from Sussex University and Prof. Ajit Singh from Cambridge argued sternly for not giving in to the Fund’s pressures for devaluation and the Scandinavian countries and ILO took Tanzania’s side. For Nyerere, structural adjustment was entirely a question of policy and ideology.

As the debate continued the economic decline worsened and, as the authors point out, those people Nyerere wished to protect from a fall in living standards – the urban population – became the prime victims of his policies.

‘Beginning in 1983 and following the ill-conceived campaign to lock up “economic saboteurs” – literally anybody with above average private capital – opposition to Nyerere emerged first in Zanzibar and later on the mainland’. The paper then goes on to describe how the Economic Recovery Programme began under President Mwinyi and how this brought encouraging results.

The main message of the paper is the importance of grounding structural reform on political reality – ‘the policy context as an explicit and independent variable … the notions of “ambiguity” and “conflict” in policy situations help us better to understand the opportunities and constraints for action on structural adjustment issues’ – DRB.

SIGNAL ON THE MOUNTAIN. Elizabeth Knox. Obtainable from M E Punt, 11 Wolsey Court, London Road, Bromley I Kent BRl 3ST. £8.50. 276 pages.

In this book the author records the courage and devotion of missionaries and Tanzanians who first took Christianity to the Uplands of Central Tanzania. She covers in meticulous detail the forty years from 1876 to the outbreak of the First World War, obtaining her material from careful research in England and Africa. She shows how the church took root in spite of limited missionary personnel and limited finance, situations which often meant that the early Christians themselves became evangelists. She has given us a valuable history of the roots of the church in central Tanzania and insight into the methods and people used by God to plant this church which even today continues to grow vigorously.
Mary E Punt

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

INNOVATION IN ADULT EDUCATION: THE CHANGING PERSPECTIVES OF POST-LITERACY CURRICULUM IN TANZANIA. Philemon A K Mushi.
AALAE Vol 7 No 1. 1993. 4 pages. This paper describes the efforts made to develop a post-literacy curriculum designed to empower people and to create the conditions for life-long education. The author criticises the ‘top-down’ approach used.

A FANFARE OF TRUMPETS. John Lewis-Barned. Obtainable from The Rectory Farmhouse, Church Hanborough, Wi tney ,Oxon OX8 8AB. 1993. 120 pages. This is another in the increasing flow of memoirs of administrative officers who served in Tanganyika in the 1950’s and 60’s. It has been described as ‘full of people and all about people’.

A MEDIUM TERM FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING THE REAL EXCHANGE RATE, WITH APPLICATIONS TO THE PHILIPPINES AND TANZANIA. Kathie L Krum. The World Bank Economic Review. vol 7 No 2. 36 pages. May 1993. This presents a methodology for estimating the appropriate real rate and helps to work out the extent to which the prevailing rate is misaligned.

INTELLECTUALS AT THE HILL: ESSAYS AND TALKS 1969-1993. Issa Shivji. Dar es Salaam University Press. Professor Shivji describes his ideas during the 25 years from his early days as a student of law. The book covers such areas as economics, education, sociology, politics and history.

FUELLING CHANGE. Clive Sowden. Geographical. September 1993. 3 pages. In this review of energy resources in sub-Saharan Africa using Tanzania as an example the author states that the most striking feature of energy demand in Tanzania is that 90% of the demand is met from biomass – fuelwood and charcoal.
This is above the average figure of 66% for the sub-Saharan Africa region as a whole. The country is fortunate in that 66% is covered by forest and woodland. The author indicates the unsustainablity of consumption in the long term and mentions measures being taken to alleviate the problem.

REFLECTIONS ON DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA. Richard Dowden. African Affairs. Vol 92. No 369. October 1993. 4 pages. In pointing out that in Britain only the Financial Times and the Independent have full-time Africa correspondents for the 40 sub-Saharan countries excluding South Africa the author rightly suggests that academics could produce a much needed guide to the constitutional theory and practice of democracy in Africa. It should describe not what Marx or Lenin, who had never been to Africa, thought about the place but what such people as Mandela and Savimbi think about it. Writing about democracy in Tanzania the author refers to the rogues amongst the leaders of Africa Shaka Zulu, Kabaka Mutesa, Kwame Nkrumah, Hastings Banda, Bokassa, Idi Amin, but notes that Nyerere, one of the serious leaders , argued that Africa could not afford multi-party democracy. It needed unity above all else. But his one-party model failed. The people did not ‘own’ the concept. ‘Nyerere could still summon thousands of cheering people to national day rallies but there is little evidence that the people ever understood Ujamaa or picked up the idea of self-help. The system was imposed from above …. ‘

SHORT-TERM RESOURCE MOBILIZATION FOR RECURRENT FINANCING OF RURAL LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN TANZANIA. Ole Therkildsen and Joseph Semboja. World Development. Vol 20 No 8. August 1992. 12 pages.

MARKET REFORMS AND PARASTATAL RESTRUCTURING IN TANZANIA. M S D Bagachwa and others. 7th National Economic Policy Workshop. University of Dar es Salaam. December 1992.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LITERACY IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: ACTORS’ VIEWS FROM ONE VILLAGE IN TANZANIA. V Mlekwa. AALAE. Vol 7. No 1. 1993. 16 pages.

THE TANZANIAN ECONOMY. INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. E S Bukuku. univ. of Dar es Salaam. Praeger Publishers. 240 pages. 1992. The author shows how changes in industry, agriculture, income, taxation and education impacted growth and distribution from 1967 to 1990. State policies disrupted markets, destroyed incentives and hurt growth and distribution. Bukuku recommends growth oriented policies favouring small farmers.

TRANSFORMING SOUTHERN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE. Editors: A Seidman, Kamima Wa Chimika, N Simelane and D Weiner. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press. 266 pages. 1992. Highlights structural changes needed and includes a case study from Tanzania.

MODELLING THE MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF AIDS, WITH AN APPLICATION TO TANZANIA. John T Cuddington. World Bank Economic Review. Vol 7. No 2. May 1993. 16 pages.

USE BY THE CHAGGA ON KILIMANJARO. Alison Grove. African Affairs. Vol 92. No 368. July 1993. 17 pages. A lot has been written on what the author describes as one of the most impressive systems of water management in Africa. This paper describes the original system and brings us up-to-date on the effects on it of population growth, the arrival of piped water supplies and the continued importance of the furrows especially in the lower regions.

ANGELS IN AFRICA. A MEMOIR OF NURSING WITH THE COLONIAL SERVICE. Bridget M Robertson. Radcliffe Press. £17.95. Describes the life and work of a nursing sister in Queen Elizabeth’s Overseas Nursing Service between 1947 and 1964. Part of the author’s service was in Zanzibar.

BEING MAASAI: ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY IN EAST AFRICA. James Currey. 336 pages. £35 (cloth) and £12.95.

AFRICA MISUNDERSTOOD OR WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE RURAL-URBAN GAP? V Jamal and J Weeks. Macmillan Series of ILO Studies. 1993. 180 pages. The book looks at ten African countries including Tanzania and asks whether a ‘labour aristocracy’ has ever existed in Africa.

NKRUMAH’S GHANA AND EAST AFRICA. 0 Agyeman. Associated University Presses. 1992. 234 pages. £32.00. This book describes in considerable detail the great influence brought to bear on East African, including Tanzanian, political development by Kwame Nkrumah and his frequent disagreements with Julius Nyerere.

PRIMARY TECHNICAL DICTIONARY ENGLISH-SWAHILI. R Ohly. Institute of Production Innovation, University of Dar es Salaam and GTZ. 246 pages. This unique dictionary contains some 10,000 English technical terms and phrases which translate, because they are based on various technical publications I into some 30,000 Swahili technical terms. The book is particularly useful for scientists, technical personnel and students.

PARTNERS AND COMPETITORS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME: THE CASE OF SUNGUSUNGU, THE VIGILANTE GROUPS, AMONG THE SUKUMA AND NYAMWEZI OF TANZANIA. Sufian Bukururua. Paper presented at the Symposium on Youth and Authority, SOAS, December 11, 1993. Sungusungu groups came into existence in the early 1980’s at the initiative of male elders and they rely on rituals and divination for the performance of most of their acti vi ties. The rural community gives them credit for the restoration of borderland security. The youths do the work – tracking stolen cattle, arresting cattle rustlers, transmitting messages but they have recently expressed concern over the basis for election to leadership and the safety of the funds collected through fines.

THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL IN NORTHEASTERN TANZANIA, 1840-1940. J L Giblin. 232 pages. 1993.

THE TANZANIAN PEASANTRY: ECONOMY IN CRISIS. Edited by P G Forster and S Maghimbi. Avebury. 1992. 287 pages. £39.95.

This book of sixteen papers is perhaps over-ambitious in endeavouring to cover the whole country through case studies in six regions; included are papers on: the historical dimension of the attempts by pre- and post-independence governments, with their different ideologies, to influence the peasantry; the cooperative movement (three papers); and, the relationship of academic disciplines (social anthropology and economics) to issues of rural development.

In their introduction, the editors ask whether there is an underlying message in the papers and then say yes, there is an underlying message in most, if not all of them. It is to the effect that there has been a general tendency to disregard peasant knowledge. In practice, if not in theory, ‘modernity’ and ‘science’ has been upheld in opposition to peasant ‘ignorance’ and ‘superstition’.

The editors state that this might have been pardonable if the result had been a major success in transforming the peasant economy so that peasants had clearly benefited. Anyone familiar with the country knew that this had not happened. The papers repeat many of the by now well-known causes – faulty advice from ‘experts I, misappropriation of funds, peasants I existing knowledge often treated with contempt, villagisation, failure to consult and so on. One contributor points out how successful ‘Sungusungu’ – a movement which responded directly to problems of social control – had been. Wisely the editors point out that the peasant is not necessarily always right and the expert always wrong. It would have been useful if this issue had been developed further.

For those not familiar with rural development in Tanzania the book is a mine of information. For others it makes a very good read but may add little to existing knowledge – DRB.

EXTERNAL AID: A LEVER FOR SOCIAL PROGRESS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES? A CASE STUDY OF SIDA SUPPORTED EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS IN TANZANIA, 1970-1990’s. A G M Ishumi. International Journal of Educational Development. Vol 12 No 4. 1992

EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN PRE- AND POST-INDEPENDENT TANZANIA: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH CASES. L Buchert. Part of a thesis presented for the award of the degree of PhD in the University of London. 1991.

Both of these articles are concerned with the impact of education in the broadest sense on social development. Ishumi’s article is very informative about the origins and development of SIDA, the Swedish International Development Agency and provides an admirable review of the agency I s work in Tanzania. The range of projects is wide, yet, as Ishumi points out, is based on consistent principle – ‘to strengthen the productivity of poor people in order to raise their standard of living’. Areas of assistance include adult/nonformal education; vocational training; primary education; teacher training; and, support for a girls secondary school.

Folk Development Colleges appear to have proved highly successful initially (1975-80) but by 1990 there were signs of a falling off in enrolment. The establishment of Vocational Training Centres during the 1980’s followed the failure of the attempt to set up successful secondary technical schools in the 1970s, and is justified from the work of Lauglo (1990) who suggests that ‘institutional vocational training works best when it occurs in specialised training institutions’ and that ‘the extension of training into industry does not work well’. These are conclusions that might well give us all pause for thought.

Buchert’s article needs to be read in its context as part of a thesis with wider political concern than education alone. However it is a very well documented and researched piece. In some ways, the focus on pre- and post-independence in the title is misleading. Saba Saba 1961 would seem to be less significant than grass-roots or bottom-up change in society as against expert/imposed or top-down change.

The cases chosen by Buchert are, first, the setting up of the Nyakato Agricultural Training Centre (1933-39) – top-down, encountering resistance/pressure for change and subsequently running out of steam; second, the Singida mass literacy/education campaign (1959-61) – bottom-up, utilising existing social structures and having a SUbstantial impact as evidenced by such things as the increased number of wells and latrines, the growing of new kinds of vegetables and the establishment of more community development groups. It might be significant that the first of these projects was undertaken in what might be called the ‘colonial’ period of British Trust Administration, while the second was just prior to independence when the concept of preparation for selfgovernment informed much of what was happening in Tanzania. This is a perspective which Burchet seems to have missed.

Buchert’s third case study is the Kwamsisi (1971-75) -topdown- and more particularly the Kwalukonge (1975- the present) bottom-up Community Schools. Kwalukonge has for more than ten years won the first prize as the most successful ‘ujamaa’ village in Tanzania; the school is seen as belonging to the villagers. The Kwamsisi school was established under the aegis of MTUU (MNE, 1973-89 and 1978) with the Principal of the Korogwe Teachers Training College in overall charge.

The fourth case study is the Dodoma Rural District Mass Literacy Programme (1975-86) top-down. This functional literacy programme combined pure literacy with practical work. It involved heavy inputs and was dramatically successful, with illiteracy rates falling from around 70% to less than 40%. By 1986 illiteracy was estimated at around 10% of the adult population. What is particularly interesting is the difference in literacy achievement between the more urbanised village and the two ‘rural’ villages. In the former relatively fewer people achieved literacy. It would be interesting to hear speculation on why this might be so.

Buchert concludes that none of the schemes had any deliberate exploitative function – even though many of them were imposed from above. On the contrary, all the schemes studied had a ‘liberating’ effect on at least some of the individuals who participated, though it is doubtful if this included the politicisation which was a strong element in the original community school idea and of the thinking behind adult functional literacy.
C. P. Hill

SECTOR AID AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT: THE CASE OF SUGAR IN TANZANIA. Netherlands Development Cooperation. Evaluation Report 1992. 183 pages.

This report provides an assessment of the impact and economic/social value of Netherlands development. assistance to the sugar sector in Tanzania. It also offers a readable and valuable account of the history of the sugar industry. At the time of independence in 1961 the only two sugar mills in Tanzania were at Arusha Chini (TPC) and at Bukoba (Kagera). Shortly thereafter two new estates and mills were developed at Kilombero and Mtibwa. An increase in sugar production from 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes per annum followed in the 1960’s.

In the 1970’s to the mid-1980’s the policies of the Government and its intervention (in the form of NAFCO and then SUDECO) through the fixing of consumer and ex-factory price levels plus the imposition of quotas for the distribution of sugar weakened the commercial drive of the existing estates and deflected foreign interest from further investment in the sugar industry. Nonetheless, in 1990 sugar production reached 110 million tonnes. However, this was less than 50% of the projected production and rated capacity of the four mills. The main causes of the disappointing performance related to the shortage of foreign exchange, the unfavourable internal pricing policy and deficiencies in management.

That the sugar industry progressed at all was largely as a result of the commitment of the Netherlands in supporting it. The total value of this support from the late 1960’s to 1991 was more than US$ 130 million. These funds were utilised for the expansion of production (1970’s), a period of consolidation (1980’s) and then of rehabilitation (1990’s). Support was also provided for the institutional development of the industry and for commodity imports, namely the purchase of machinery, transport, spare parts and agricultural inputs.

The report makes it clear that, over the period reviewed, both the production and financial performance of the sugar estates resulted in significant financial losses. The reasons for this are identified. The difficulties of making economic comparison with the import parity price of sugar are also discussed. In this section more emphasis could have been placed by the authors on the adverse impact of the highly protected and subsidised European beet sugar producers whose governments continue to ‘dump’ their surplus sugar onto the international markets.

In determining the efficiency of Netherlands aid the report focuses on three points – the choice of sector, the choice of technology and the quality of management. The conclusions support the choice of sector and technology but are critical of the focus on expansion in the 1970’s, a policy which was subsequently altered to one of consolidation.

The impact of the aid is also assessed on three policy issues economic self-reliance the aid is seen as successful in increasing Tanzania’s economic self-reliance; poverty alleviation – not stressed at project implementation and was not achieved as the outgrower programme was only fitfully implemented and sugar remains an expensive good in Tanzania; and, sustainability – while the industry is far from being self-reliant, recent changes have enhanced its sustainability.

As for the future the commercialisation of the estates and mills is seen by the authors as the only sensible way forward. The Netherlands’s position is that this can best be achieved by privatisation. At present the Tanzanian Government rejects the idea of privatising the entire sugar industry. Private management arrangements with incentives to reduce costs and raise productivity and the utilisation of existing capacity appears to be an attractive alternative.

The important role of Netherlands aid in successfully supporting the sugar industry has gone largely unrecognised. This report corrects this in a straightforward and undramatic manner. It also, with commendable honesty, identifies both the successes and shortcomings of the Netherlands aid policy in Tanzania a fact which contributes to the value of the document.
Keith Armstrong

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

REPRODUCTIVE KNOWLEDGE AND CONTRACEPTIVE AWARENESS AND PRACTICE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN BAGAMOYO AND DAR ES SALAAM. S Kapiga, D J Hunter and G Nachtigal. Central African Journal of Medicine. Vol 38. No 9. 1992. 5 pages. Some 490 pupils from four schools were interviewed for this study which found that 61% were sexually active, 68% knew of at least one method of contraception (mostly the oral contraceptive pill) and the majority approved the use of contraception. However, only 17% knew the ‘safe period’ within the menstrual cycle and only 15% had ever used a contraceptive method.

WOULD AGROFORESTRY AND AFFORESTATION RISK TSETSE REINVASION ? R 0 Otsyina. Agroforestry Today. 3 pages. This paper explains how, between 1930 and 1970 about 20,000 square kilometres of Shinyanga district were cleared of existing vegetation in order to declare a tsetse fly free area. However, the result had been that Shinyanga, once a dense forest, is now a semidesert. The study found that some 84% of farmers felt however, that tsetse would return if conditions were made more favourable by planting forests. What was needed was agroforestry technologies including boundary planting of trees, windbreaks, woodlots, fodder banks and mixed intercropping.

ACTION-BASED LEARNING TO IMPROVE DISTRICT MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM TANZANIA. Elizabeth Barnett and S Ndeki. International Journal of Health Planning and Management. Vol 7 1992. 9 pages. The paper describes this increasingly fashionable approach to management training as it was applied in the health sector in Same District. The strategy involved a process of problem analysis, action-research, problem solving and review. Among the achievements was the development of good team spirit but, when the methodology was spread to eight other neighbouring districts, although there was enthusiasm for the initial workshops, the follow-up work failed to take place on time and effective monitoring was not done.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF BONDE 1920-60. A STUDY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INDIRECT RULE IN TANGANYIKA. J willis. African Affairs. Vol 92. No 366. 1993. 14 pages. This paper explains how for a number of years the administration avoided not only the invention of a Chief in Bonde but also any meaningful degree of indirect rule. In the 1940’s and 50’s however, the sisal industry interfered in local politics and, for a time, things changed

THE CONSERVATION OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO. IUCN Switzerland.1991. 148 pages. £10.

PEASANT RESPONSE TO PRICE INCENTIVES IN TANZANIA: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGA’I’ION. G Eriksson. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. 1993. 85 pages.

TANZANIA RESTORES ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SPEEDS STRUCTURAL CHANGE WITH IMF SUPPORT. R Nord and M Saal. IMF Survey. Vol 22. No 4. 4 pages.

OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPING INDIGENOUS SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT. B Levy. World Bank Economic Review. Vol 7. No 1. 1993. 18 pages. Field surveys in Sri Lanka I s leather industry and Tanzania I s furni ture industry.

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES’ PERFORMANCE IN TANZANIA’S MANUFACTURING SECTOR. L Rustayisire. East African Economic Review. Vol 7. No 1. 1991. 17 pages.

PRODUCTION OF EDIBLE OILS FOR THE MASSES AND BY ‘I’HE MASSES: THE IMPACT OF THE RAM PRESS IN TANZANIA. E L Hyman. World Development. Vol 21. No 3. 1993. 14 pages. The ram press is a low-cost, manual technology for extracting edible oil and animal feed from oilseeds.

TRADE AND EMPIRE IN MUSCAT AND ZANZIBAR: THE ROOTS OF THE BRITISH DIMENSION. M R Bhacker. Routledge. 1992. 224pages. £40

DANCING WITH THE DEAD: A JOURNEY TO ZANZIBAR AND MADAGASCAR. Helena Drysdale. Hamish Hamilton. 1991. 273 pages. £16.99.

ZANZIBAR: HISTORY OF THE RUINS AT MBWENI. Flo Liebst. Publisher: CUT of Africa. 63 pages. The author, a Tanzaniaborn British artist, was helped by Anglican church workers in writing this book which traces the history of Mbweni since it was established in 1874 as a village for freed slaves.

STATE AND INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO PARASTATAL GROWTH IN TANZANIA. J W Makoba. Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives. Vol 11. Nos 3-4. 1992. 21 pages.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE 1976-77 COFFEE BOOM ON THE TANZANIAN ECONOMY: A TEST OF THE DUTCH DISEASE MODEL. F M Musonda and E Luvanda. East Africa Economic Review. 16 pages. This study tests (and finds not proven by the data) the Dutch Diseases Hypothesis that a boom in a single export commodity may affect adversely other export commodities. However, the Government was a major beneficiary from the boom and this was translated into ambitious development. expenditure programmes.

MAINTAINING HANDPUMPED WELLS IN TANZANIA. M Mtunzi and N Lombardy. Waterlines. April 1993. Vol 11. No 4. 3 pages. This paper describes a successful initiative in putting maintenance into the hands of the community.

ALWAYS SERVING. A PORTRAIT OF THECLA GRACE MCHAURU. A Nkya and A Anduru. Publishers Association of Tanzania. 1993. 65 pages. Now in her old age, Thecla Mchauru was the first Tanzanian woman to qualify as a teacher, nurse and social worker and rose to be the first Secretary General of the Tanzanian Womens Organisation (UWT).

YEARBOOK OF COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISES 1993. Plunket Foundation. 130 pages. This book contains a short concise summary of Tanzanian cooperative history.

TANZANIA IMPROVES LIVES
Tanzania has been mentioned as one of the few countries which have done well in translating their incomes into improving peoples’ lives. The UN Human Development Report 1993 has noted that, while Tanzania ranked 172nd in GNP its position in the World Human Development Index was 138.

CAN THE POOR AFFORD ‘FREE’ HEALTH SERVICES? A CASE STUDY OF TANZANIA. B Abel-Smith and P Rawal. (London Shoo I of Economics and Political Science). Health Policy and Planning. Vol 7 N04. 1992. 12 pages.

This study, based on interviews of nearly 900 outpatients and over 1,800 households, points out that, because of inadequate supplies of drugs and of food at hospitals, many patients have to incur substantial costs to use the ‘ free’ services. Information was collected on travel time, travel cost (84% of rural patients had to walk; only 7% used a bicycle) ) and waiting time (an average of about one and a half hours); which health facilities were chosen (18% of the poorest people used mission services; 42% used government services) and why; the cost of using them (average total cost of admission to hospital varied from Shs 500 to Shs 5,000) and difficulty in finding the money to pay and willingness to pay user charges.

Other useful statistics: there are 6 referral hospitals; 17 regional hospitals; 129 district hospitals; 266 health centres; 2,205 dispensaries; and, 1800 village health centres. (3% of the population is within 10 kms of a health facility). However, the level of government financing is not sufficient to provide for this substantially expanded service and even the poor often have to resort to the private sector and pay.

Is there a case for charges in government hospitals? The following represents a much abbreviated summary of the authors’ conclusions:
– To stop frivolous use? No, as government service are far from free and waiting time discourages unnecessary use.
– Because the mission health services make a charge? No. The government and non-government services are perceived as serving separate markets. Those using government services do so primarily because they are cheap. Those using mission services primarily because drugs are available.
– To improve services for all users? Yes, if the money can be used to improve the services, especially the provision of drugs.
– To lighten the burden on the poor? Yes. As the poorer section of the population are the main users of the government services they would be better off if drugs were always available, free only for the poor and at modest charge for other users.

But the administrative problems of collecting the charges, exempting the poor and ensuring that charges are used in improving services points to the need for any change in policy to be very carefully planned – DRB.

AID TO AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: LESSONS FROM TWO DECADES OF DONORS’ EXPERIENCE. Uma Lele (Ed). Johns Hopkins University Press. 627 pp. $52.95.

This book is a result of a study launched by the World Bank in 1984 under the title, “Managing Agricultural Development in Africa” (MADIA), in a collaborative project between the Bank and seven other donors and six African governments – Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.

Between 1970 and 1987 Tanzania received the highest level of official development assistance; this peaked at US$ 684 million in 1987. During this period donors contributed a total of US$ 8.1 billion; Sweden was the largest contributor. A substantial amount of the aid was directed to agriculture, which is responsible for 58% of the GDP and 86% of the employment, but it grew at only 1.45% per annum, while population grew at 3.1%.

Several authors from the major donor countries describe the successes and failures of their aid programmes in Tanzania, including valuable comments on the lessons learned. The Danish aid programme devoted about 30% of its resources to agriculture in which livestock and co-operatives were the major recipients. An interesting lesson from this programme was that poverty-oriented projects, focused on marginal producers, were neither replicable nor sustainable.

African socialism, as defined by President Julius Nyerere, had great appeal to the Swedish aid constituency. Initially a substantial part of this aid was concentrated on agriculture and rural development; the latter had a very large component of rural water supplies. By 1984 nearly 40% of the rural population had received supplies but only about half were functional because of lack of attention to operation and maintenance. The review concludes that it is essential to quantify the recurrent costs when designing an aid project and it emphasises that Sweden must improve its understanding of the macro-economic issues if it is to be a more effective donor.

Unlike Sweden, the UK was not strongly in favour of the political system and consequently its aid programme had not the same long term commitment. After a period of project aid with substantial investment in agriculture, it decided that these resources could be more efficiently used in programme aid, directed to agricultural inputs and policy reform. The review notes that agricultural research, which was strongly supported in the colonial era, had deteriorated, but concluded that long term support like that given to cotton research had left the most useful legacy.

The descriptions of the German, EEC, US and World Bank aid projects show that they too have had mixed success in their attempts to help Tanzania.

This book provides an excellent review of several important lessons that must be incorporated into future development programmes if they are to fulfil both the country and the donors’ expectations.
John K. Coulter

DONKEY’S GRATITUDE. THE PENTLAND PRESS. Tim Harris. 1992. 478 pages. £21.95 (hardback).

When Tim Harris arrived in Bukoba, as D.C., I was then a standard VII pupil at Ihungo Secondary School some three miles north of the district headquarters. My status then could allow only a glance of him from a distance during rare occasions such as Empire Day celebration. When I joined the Tanzanian Civil Service in Dar es Salaam in 1963, Harris had already terminated his term of office though his memories in the capital were still fresh. In more recent years when visiting my daughter at the University of Bristol, I was reminded that Bristol was his birth place. All this background enabled me to read with exceptional enthusiasm and pleasure Donkey’s Gratitude.

The book narrates a lifetime from the cradle to the grave and presents, in a palatable prose full of humour, the experience of an unusual colonial administrator. It provides a deep insight into the emotional, physical and intellectual elements of which a colonial career is made as well as the circumstances which might influence the choice of colonial service as a calling.

Harris’ journey from Cornwall to Tanganyika and his arrival in Dar es Salaam was marked by traumatic experiences which might have discouraged anyone with a weaker will power. It is, however, the details of the daily chores in Korogwe, Singida, Iringa and other places, which provide captivating scenes. Overall, the book reveals a rare Cornish character undaunted by the debilitating climate, hostile environment and unsympathetic hierarchy in Dar es Salaam.

Equally revealing is the account of the district administrator who became a scapegoat of the higher echelons of the bureaucracy on the one hand, and the disenchanted natives, on the other. The fact that on many occasions he had to defend the interests of the subjects against the demands of the colonial structure, elevates his status to that of a good philanthropist.

The painstaking details of the places, individuals and communities tend to enhance the wide application of the book. The episodes relating to roads, ravines, streams, animal trails, and so on, appear to breathe life into what would otherwise have been spots on a map. Narratives on goats, trout, gazelles, elephants confirm the author’s love for nature and demonstrate his highly observant and analytical mind.

His interactions with domestic servants, the sick, litigants and social groups reveal a rich, humane heart committed to the advancement of the African.

Inadvertently or otherwise, the author has provided an interesting insight into the culture of a number of communities including the Barbaig, the Kwavi, the Hehe and the Haya. His analysis covers tribal idiosyncrasies with respect to such traits as honesty, discipline and work attitude.

There are a few shortcomings however. Foremost, the narrative has not ben able to identify specific themes so as to highlight how certain targets were formulated and pursued. While the reader can appreciate the coherence generated by adherence to chronology, one encounters unnecessary repetitiveness.

Secondly, the dating of some events and the identification of the actors is regrettably subdued, most likely in order to minimize controversy. However, the overall effect of this, which involves the use of pseudonyms, is to reduce the value of the account as an historical reference.

Lastly, the chapter on specific philosophical themes such as religion, Nilohamitic Bantu conflict, witchcraft, etc., should be presented in the annex because they do not fit into the flow of the narrative. They constitute significant digressions which are amateurishly presented.

However, this book is a rare narrative on colonial experiences and contrasts with the accounts produced by historians, anthropologists, and other categories of theorists. As an account of personal experience it is unexcelled and should be a good reference for any student on Tanzania.

The language considerably enhances the value of the book. The softness of the style that is seasoned by cynical humour makes the book an ideal accompaniment in a good English course for Tanzanians. The local setting of the narrative enhances the readability of the book which is a must for anyone aspiring to the civil service of Tanzania as well as jurists.

One cannot doubt the disappointment experienced by the author on the day of Independence following the action of an angry and mocking mob. One ought to remember I however, that ingratitude being one of the earliest sins of man is bound to be encountered by those who inherited the reins of government and who, after some three decades of leadership, ought to have discovered already that a donkey’s gratitude is a kick in the stomach.
Dr. C.M. Tibazarwa

(Sadly, Tim Harris died before completing the book and the final chapter was written by Geoffrey Bullock – Ed)

BEING MAASAI. ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY IN EAST AFRICA. Eds: T Spear and R WaIler. James Currey. Cloth £35. Paper £12.95.

This book is about the several peoples who speak Maa, the Maasai language, and not only about the proud and photogenic, red-caped and red-ochred pastoralists who tourists travel to East Africa to gawk at. It includes the camel herding Ariaal of northern Kenya, the Okiet of the forests, the cultivating Arusha, the Parakuyo and others who are often not thought of as ‘proper Maasai’. ‘Maasai society is seen as encompassing a triangle of economic forces – pastoralism, hunting-gathering and agriculture – within which the complex cultural structures were both highly differentiated and complimentary’. The myths which have come to surround, and partially obscure, Maasai ethnic identity are questioned in order to understand: firstly, the cultural mixes which compose that identity; secondly, how that identity has endured, so remarkably and so persistently, despite all the gloomy prognostications that it was doomed. Hinde published a book in 1901 entitled ‘The Last of the Masai’ about the Kenyan Maasai, and Merker, their first serious ethnographer, forecast in 1910 that in Tanganyika they would soon cease to be Masaai. Both authors, of course, were quite wrong. Reasonably enough, neither had realised how resistant to cultural swamping so many African cultures were to prove themselves to be.

The book is divided into five titled sections: an ‘Introduction’ which is a prospectus; ‘Becoming Maasai’ which has one linguistic and five historical essays; ‘Being Maasai’ which has four essays on contemporary negotiations of identity; ‘Constraints & Redefinitions’ which has three essays on changing perceptions of identity in response to modern developments such as market forces, emergent social class and politics; and a brief ‘Conclusion’. Including the editors there are fourteen contributors but nevertheless the book is a triumphant unity. Prehistory, linguistics, history and social anthropology are used to complement each other and produce that rarity, a real interdisciplinary study written in accessible prose. The book is both a major contribution to Maasai studies and to African studies as a whole. There is hardly a redundant word, so summary in a brief review would only be misleading. I can only point to those essays which may be of most interest to the general reader.

Students of Tanzania will particularly enjoy Spear’s essay ‘Being Maasai’ but not ‘People of the Cattle; Arusha agricultural Maasai in the Nineteenth Century’; but they should certainly not restrict themselves just to that. The short essay by Sommer and Vossen on dialects is original and, unlike so much linguistics, reasonably comprehensible to the non-specialist. ‘The World of Telelia’ is the mature and touching reflections of a woman who is the senior of seven wives, the mother of two daughters and four sons and the grandmother of thirteen grandchildren. Her words (accompanied by an unobtrusive commentary) were recorded by Paul Spencer, whose knowledge of Maasai is unmatched, as his own essay on maturing into becoming a proper man demonstrates. ‘Aspects of “Becoming Turkana'” by John Lamphear demonstrates how, the Turkana were able to displace and/or assimilate their Maa-speaking neighbours in the nineteenth century, by a rather subtle territorial drift, but punctuated by interactions, borrowings, adjustments, conflicts and assimilations (p87). The essay is a salutary corrective to the myth that the Maasai were so terrifying that they overcame wherever they went. It also complements Sobania’s fine essay on the defeat and dispersal of the Laikipiak. Both those last two essays add to the current revaluation of the “permanence” of East African tribal and clan names which has been initiated by Gunther Schee and David Turton.

Finally, the essay by Donna Klump and Corrine Kratz on Okiek and Maasai perspectives on bodily ornamentations is itself a gem. The data are new. So are the insights into the ways in which girls and women construct individual ethnic identities and reinterpret, through appropriation and modulation, the symbolic content and patterns of the beadwork adornments they make for themselves and their friends.
P T W Baxter

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

STATE AND INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO PARASTATAL GROWTH IN TANZANIA. J Wagona Makuba. Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives. Vol. 11. Nos 3 and 4. Sept-Dec 1992. 21 pages.

TRAINING MICROENTREPRENEURS: DOES IT PAY? Irmgard Nubler. Small Enterprise Development. December 1992. 10pp. This paper describes an ILO evaluation methodology.

AGRICULTURAL CREDIT IN TANZANIA: THE POLICY AND OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS OF THE COOPERATIVE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT BANK. Anacleti K Kashuliza. savings and Development. 1992. Vol. 16. No 4. 25 pages

ZUR DISKUSSION: IMPORTHILFE STATT EXPERTEN EINE BETRACHTUNG AMFALL TANZANIA. In German. (‘For Discussion: Import Aid Instead of Experts: Reflections using the Example of Tanzania’). Helmut Zell. vierteljahresberichte. December 1992. This short paper argues that growth arises from development aid is often hindered by shortage of foreign exchange. The solution is to use savings in project aid for the importation of the means of production.

SOUTH ASIANS IN EAST AFRICA. An Economic and Social History, 1890-1980. Robert G Gregory. 402pp. 1992. westview Press.$65. Chapter headings include ‘The Primary Occupations’ – Commerce Transport, Clerical etc.: ‘The Secondary Occupations’ – Law, Medicine, Teaching etc. and ‘The Exportation of Savings and Profits’ .

SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT: MANUFACTURERS IN THE
INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR. S Folke and others. MacMillan. 1992. 267 pages. Case studies from seven countries including Tanzania.

LIBERALIZING TANZANIA’S FOOD TRADE. Deborah Fahy Bryceson. James Currey. 1993. £35 (Cloth) £ 12.95 (Paper). The author shows why and how Tanzania liberalized trade in staple rice and maize and how the process has affected 197 grain traders and 188 houseolds in five Tanzanian towns.

ADUI MBELE (Enemy in Front). John pitt. 95 pages. £5.00. Obtainable from the author, Flat 20, Parklands, Eynsham Rd., Farmoor, Oxford OX2 9NL. The book contains the recollections of a young Tanganyika Forest Officer on Kilimanjaro who joined the Tanganyika Battalion of the King’s African Rifles in 1940 and subsequently served in Somali land, Abyssinia and Madagascar.

SAFE MOTHERHOOD IN TANZANIA. K Kanda and R Landy. World Health. May-June 1992. 2 pages.

TRYING ANIMAL TRACTION. G Mwakitenge and W Beijer. ILEIA Newsletter. Vol. 8. No 3. 1992. 2 pages. The authors describe how the animal traction component of an integrated agricultural project in Mbozi district in Mbeya Region was developed in collaboration with local services.

IS DIABETES MELLITUS RELATED TO UNDERNUTRITION IN RURAL TANZANIA? A B Swai and others. British Medical Journal. Vol. 305. October 1992. 6 pages. This paper is based on a study in eight villages in four regions. The short answer to the question posed in the title is no. Diabetes is not more common in the most undernourished members of the population and is much less common in Tanzania than in well nourished Western populations.

A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMY OF AFFECTION AND THE UNCAPTURED PEASANTRY IN TANZANIA. T Waters. Journal of Modern African Studies. Cambridge Univ Press. Vol. 30. No 1. 1992.

UNESCO GENERAL HISTORY OF AFRICA. Vol. Ill. AFRICA FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. Editor: I Hrbek (from Czechoslovakia). James Currey. 1992. £5.95. The latest volume of this excellent (and remarkably reasonably priced) series contains, unfortunately, very little about Tanzania and what it does contain is, necessarily, tentative e.g.: ‘some of the Southern Cushites appear to have known of iron as early as the period of Bantu settlement’ … ‘among the proto-Chaga there arose a new kind of chiefly position in which the chief was not tied to a single clan .. this development appears to coincide with the emergence of mature highland planting agriculture’ …. ‘trade appears not at all to have penetrated the East African interior … ‘

PASTORALISM, CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE GREATER SERENGETI REGION. International Institute for Environment and Development Issues Paper No 26. M S Parkipuny. 1991. 31 pages. Indicates how wildlife conservation affects rural development in the Serengeti.

STRATEGIE DE DEVELOPPEMENT ET AJUSTEMENTS STRUCTURELS, UNE ALTERNATIVE A LA POLITIQUE DU FMI: APPLICATION A MADAGASCAR ET A LA TANZANIE. G Blardone. Canadian Journal of Development Studies. Vol 13. No 1. 9 pages. 1992. Analyses the impact of IMF structural adjustment programmes.

LOCAL AGRO-PROCESSING WITH SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY: SUNFLOWER SEED OIL IN TANZANIA. E L Hyman. International Institute for Environment and Development Gatekeeper Series No 33. 1992. 15 pages.

CROSS-CONDITIONALITY, BANKING REGULATION AND THIRD WORLD DEBT. E Rodriguez and S Griffith-Jones. McMillan. 1992. 347 pages. Contains case studies from six countries including Tanzania.

REVENUE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE TAX SYSTEM IN TANZANIA, 1979-1989. N E Osoro, Univ of Dar es Salaam. Journal of African Economies. Vol 1. No 3. 21 pages. This paper mentions some of the tax reforms which have occurred in Tanzania and points out, with mathematical formulae, how an elastic tax structure is appropriate in a developing country since it implies that tax collections will grow automatically with growing income without the need for resort to politically sensitive tax rate increases.

ZANZIBAR – OLD BUILDINGS AND OLD AND NEW SKILLS. S Holmes and M wingate. Appropriate Technology. Vol 19 No 3. 1992. 3 pages. An analysis of small-scale lime production is followed by recommendations on surveying buildings in Stone Town so as to arrest the decay and protect the lives of the inhabitants.

THE TANZANIAN PEASANTRY. P G Forster and S Maghimbi (Eds). Avebury. 1992. 287 pages. A dozen contributors write on such subjects as anthropological research, cooperative policy, peasant production, marketing, the environmental crisis.

THE BUSINESS GUIDE TO TANZANIA, 1992-1993. 120 pages. Available from IMI Ltd, 56 Upper Berkeley St., London W1H 7PP, f12.00

IMI, Initiative Marketing International, and members of the Tanzania-UK Business Group have prepared this Guide with the Tanzania Trade Centre in London, the Board of External Trade and other government ministries and departments. It is aimed at easing the path for British businessmen into Tanzania in rapidly changing circumstances. Basic economic facts are given to show the scale of Tanzanian trading opportunities, including free market exchange rates to May 1992. The population charts show projected increase according to Regions (although the column giving the percentage increase is not clearly described).

The core of the Guide is an account of the Government’s reform of the national economy, starting in 1985 and leading to the work of the 1992 Commission for Parastatal Reform. The extent of privatisation proposals, from Air Tanzania, Arusha and Kilimanjaro coffee cooperatives to the great Tanzania Tourist Corporation hotels, must shake those who knew Tanzania and its pattern of institutions in the sixties and the seventies. Is nothing sacred? The Guide further lists some hundred investment opportunities, from construction of a brewery in Mwanza, to a mini cement plant in Shinyanga or a language teaching institute.

Agents in the UK offering to supply goods from Tanzania are listed, The variety of wares they specialise in ranges from beeswax, cashewnuts and cloves to sapphires and sisal. Among them are a number who specialise in ‘handicrafts’, ‘giftware’ and ‘tourist curios’. This is an area of trade yet to be fully realised. ‘Airport art’, the outcome of a commercial debasement of Tanzanian traditions and expertise, is the usual stock in trade of these agencies. It may be in the future that Tanzania will, following the current examples of Zimbabwe and Kenya, treat these products as a significant element in overseas trade and how they will become an object of serious promotion by the Board of External Trade.

The visiting businessmen may wish to enjoy Tanzania beyond the industrial estate and the Ministry anterooms, and the Guide devotes pages to the major and the lesser national parks, although there is little detail on the costs that the visitor who is not on package tour might meet. From its nature, the Guide does not warn of all pitfalls, but it does provide an outline of visa and immigration rules and some of the hurdles of registration that are required jumps for the visiting businessman or anyone hoping to carry on work under the 1972 Business Licensing Act.

Advertisers in the Guide are not only well-known multinationals but also leading Tanzanian companies, manufacturing, banking, including the British High Commission in Dar es Salaam reminding us that ‘British is still best’ and a substantial notice encouraging membership of the Britain- Tanzania Society. The Guide presents an encouraging picture of the nation in change.
Warren Shaw

THE TRADITIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF TANZANIA. Compiled by G W Lewis and E G Makala. Edited by J C Bangsund. Published by The Music Conservatoire of Tanzania. 1990.

The main section of this book comprises 68 pages, and lists the various musical instruments found in Tanzania, giving brief descriptions of them and their mode of manufacture, the manner in which they are played, and their uses in the context of the social life of the people. The introduction is excellent, and has much to say about the all important aspect of the place of music in society and the part that the instruments play in social occasions. Mention is also made of the various different cultures involved, including Arabic, “Modern African”, and Western, although the influences of these are not discussed in great detail, the purpose of the book being to concentrate on the ‘traditional’ music and its instruments. In Tanzania, music and dance is still very much a part of people’s lives, in spite of outside influences.

The instruments are classified according to the Hornbostel- Sachs system, which places them in four main groups;
1. Idiophones (“self-sounding” instruments), sounds being produced by, for instance, shaking, as with maracas, or striking, as with xylophones,
2. Membranophones, such as drums using a stretched skin.
3. Aerophones, which comprise (a) horns and trumpets, (b) flutes, and (c) reed instruments.
4. Chordophones: stringed instruments, whether plucked or bowed, with or without resonators.

The book covers an extremely wide range of instruments from most of Tanzania’s ethnic groups. In view of this, I wish that the authors/compilers had envisaged a much larger volume than that produced; there would then have been scope for more detailed descriptions of the instruments and the ways in which they are played. It is difficult to describe accurately the intricacies of playing some of the more complex stringed instruments; for example in the case of the ndono, a musical bow, there is little hope of giving an adequate account of how it is played in the short space allotted.

Another criticism I have concerns the layout; it is not at first obvious exactly where an account of a particular instrument actually begins. It might have been better if each new instrument (or group of instruments) had begun on a fresh page, or had been headed by the name of the instrument in bold type, rather than (in most cases) by the illustration.

The drawings, by J Masanja, are most beautifully done. There are one or two instances where an extra drawing of somebody playing the instrument would be useful, especially in the section on Chordophones, but the instruments themselves are very clearly drawn.

The book also contains two very useful appendices, the first of which lists the various ethnic groups, their locations, and the instruments used, The second acts as an alphabetical index, containing over 100 names of instruments referred to in the text.

I strongly recommend this hook as an introduction to those interested in pursuing the subject further, and hope that the Music Conservatoire will, in due course, publish a much more detailed survey of traditional music and instruments in Tanzania,
John Brearley

ORTHINOLOGICAL WINTER SURVEYS ON THE COAST OF TANZANIA 1988-89, T . Bregnballe et al. International Council for Bird Preservation Study Report No. 43. 1990.

The Tanzanian and Danish Sections of the International Council for Bird Preservation jointly carried out this bird survey covering approximately 10% of the Tanzanian coastline, which lies on the major migration routes for waders. Birds were counted from the end of January to the beginning of March 1988189 along a 200 km stretch of coast centering on the Rufiji Delta and in Zanzibar and the Lindi Region with the aims of :
1. describing the occurrence and distribution of birds, especially waders, along the coast during the northern winter;
2. evaluating the importance of possible threats to the coastal ecosystem;
3 , including Tanzanian students and Game Officers in practical field ornithology.

The report is clearly laid out with maps showing migration routes, counting sites and types of coastal morphology (e.g. barren sandflats, mangrove, flats of fossil coral), followed by tables giving exact locations of counting sites each with a brief description of the habitat, state of the tide and time spent and method adopted for counting. Then follow the tables of actual counts including density per kilometre in chosen areas.

There is a physical description of the regions visited and a discussion on the accuracy and interpretation of counts, the importance of sites, threats and impacts and recommendations for future research.

The most numerous groups of birds counted were waders, terns and egrets, but the coast of Tanzania constitutes an important cover for populations of several species. Ornithologically speaking, it has not been comprehensively described – the team discovered a previously unknown wintering area for the Lesser Black-beaked Gull, Herring Gull and Caspian Tern. As the report makes clear, only if counts are made regularly and widely will the importance of areas for wintering, breeding and stopovers become apparent, so telling us more about which areas have priority for conservation and how they contribute to the annual world migration pattern.

At the time of the report, the team say ‘…the present extent of exploitation of resources as well as the extent of disturbance had few and only small-scale negative effects on waterbirds nesting and foraging’. They describe the effects of mangrove reduction on habitats and disturbance to birds by humans and rats; the effect of fishing on bird food supply is unknown, but presumably minimal in these parts.
However, the effect of illegal dynamite fishing is inimical to the marine ecosystem and inevitably can be effectively controlled only by the Tanzanian authorities: the report points to the lack of resources and destruction of local fisheries.

The birdwatcher in Tanzania can use the report (with allowances for shifting sandbars etc.) to visit the sites covered by the report. Note that the team fulfilled their aims without problems – visas causing lost time in 1988 and a sunk yacht in 1989, but birdwatchers do not lack perseverance and time waiting is usually put to watching,..
Cherridah Coppard

TANZANIA AND THE IMF: THE DYNAMICS OF LIBERALIZATION. Morace Campbell and Howard Stein, eds. Westview Press. Colorado. 1992. 211pp.

Since the late 1970s the economic crisis has thrown Tanzania into turmoil. Severe balance of payments problem, rising inflation, falling production and living standards meant that the country could not continue on this path and something had to be done. Adjustment of the economy was inevitable, but what kind of adjustment and with what consequences, and at what cost to the population? This book 4s one of the first comprehensive attempts to address these questions.

The most important contribution of the book is that the authors take a historical approach to the economic and social problems of Tanzania and try to locate the debate on adjustment po1icj.e~ in the dynamics of social change in Tanzania. With regard to the latter point the book goes beyond the usual analysis that puts all the blame for the adoption and impact of the adjustment on the IMF and the World Bank, The book is divided into nine chapters dealing with the political and social implications of economic liberalization in Tanzania.

Kiondo (ch. 2) argues that the nature of economic reforms in Tanzania is shaped by external as well as internal forces in the private sector – commercial interests and the ‘nouveau riches’ of the smuggling cum export/impost business – who support the full reform programme and those – mainly in the productive sectors of agriculture and industry – who want a limited and controlled reform. The latter group has some measure of support from those within the sector whose interests are threatened by the reform project, While the battle is fought between these groups over the shape and timing of the restructuring programme the masses of the Tanzanian people are kept out of the discussions. The ‘demobilizing’ character of the political structure in Tanzania (Campbell, ch. 5) which had brought all forms of political and trade union activities under the umbrella of the one party rule with its one class populist ideology had meant that the opposition to the restructuring of the Tanzanian economy remained fragmented.

The theme of struggle between different fractions of the ruling class and the changing political alliances is repeated throughout the book. In the final chapter Samoff argues that over time the governing class (as opposed to the ruling class) has tilted towards its external allies. As the “free market’ ideology takes root in the wake of the structural adjustment programmes, creation and nurturing of a ‘modernizing middle class’ (which in my view is already there) will lead to the formation of the other alliances between the governing class and the emerging class interests.

The ending of the populist nationalist ideology also means the restructuring of its social and economic policies that for three decades emphasized the meeting of the basic needs of the people, The commitment to this objective came out of the struggle for independence and had remarkable results. But these gains are in jeopardy now because of the cuts in social expenditure.

As far as education is concerned, Roy-Campbell (ch. 8) points out that the return of school fees is undermining the universal primary education (primary school enrolment dropped by 10 percent between 1984 and 1988). This has come on top of poor working conditions and very low salaries, over-crowded classes and limited access to secondary schools that has in turn led to the mushrooming of private tuition classes and schools. Roy-Campbell also draws our attention to the broader issue of the relationship between knowledge, language and state legitimation. In her view the 1987-91 project (funded by British aid of £1.46 million) to improve the teaching of English in secondary schools was yet another manifestation of a fundamental shift in an educational policy that for three decades promoted Africanisation of the curricula and the use of Kiswahili as the medium of instruction.

The crisis in the social services is not confined to education. The inevitable outcome of the free market approach to the provision of social services is the emergence of a two tier system with all its inequitable consequences. It is easy to blame the economic crisis on the egalitarian policies of the past. But it is important to note that, as this book successfully demonstrates, the ideological shift followed the gradual shift of power away from peasants, workers, students and radical sections of the ruling party, and towards the business interests.

As for the impact of adjustment on women Vourela (ch. 6) argues that economic crisis has led to a crisis of reproduction (of human labour within the family and in the society at large). Reduction of funds for the health sector, and cutting of food subsidies has increased the pressure on women who have to spend more effort on their traditional caring activities, and, at the same time, engage in petty trade and other cash earning activities to supplement family
income.

H.Stein (ch. 4) provides a good summary of the economic conditions under the IMP supported adjustment package. He shows that a number of policy measures (credit restrictions and increased prices of agricultural inputs) have in fact reduced production despite the stated objectives of adjustment. Devaluation has also reduced the final prices (producer prices adjusted for the cost of processing agricultural products for export) paid to farmers. He goes on to argue that liberalization has not led to a socio-economic shift, and ‘it has simply been a device for perpetuating state hegemony in the crisis at the expense of most of the population. (80) In his view the bureaucratic class has been able to strengthen its position, whatever the outcome of the adjustment programme.

I find the concept of a bureaucratic class problematic, as it presumes a degree of common interest which is hard to find within the bureaucracy as a whole, especially in single-party political structures in which the party has an eclectic and populist ideology. Moreover, I cannot see how we can talk of a strengthening state when the state functions cannot be performed because of lack of finance and facilities and because of the low morale of civil servants, who have to divide their time between state duties and other income earning activities.

The book is quite up-to-date with regard to statistics and issues that are currently of concern to Tanzanians. There is also much in the book that is of relevance to other countries. We need more such books if we are going to have a better understanding of the process and dynamics of the social impact of orthodox adjustment policies in developing countries.
Mahmood Messkoub

TIMING AND SEQUENCING IN AGRICULTURAL POLICY REFORM: TANZANIA. David Booth. Development Policy Review. Vol.9 no.4. Dec, 1991.

David Booth uses a field study of the Iringa area to examine the effects of timing and sequencing on the success of reforms. He looks not just at the effects of reforms, but also at unachieved potential, in a clearly explained and well integrated article.

The case study is set against a background of more general work on sequencing, particularly the usual requirement that IMF reforms of pricing structures precede World Bank measures to increase supply. Thus the much vaunted reactions to higher prices for agricultural goods are impossible or severely muted, increasing hardship for those having to pay such prices.

Booth’s study of Iringa is fascinating both to those familiar with Tanzania and as a case study. Me traces the history of liberalization from 1984, and shows that its partial nature produced disappointing results, The arguments for reform are based on the importance of pricing signals, particularly in supply, where years of inadequate returns have depressed output, especially in the agricultural sector, But if prices rise without the infrastructure necessary to produce reaction (increased output, switched demand) the price rises will merely cause hardship to consumers, including producers who must pay more for agricultural inputs. Booth argues that while reforms have brought some benefits these are less than they might have been and are still heavily dependent on overseas aid.

One encouraging result emerges from the analysis of ethnic distribution of benefits from reforms. These have been distributed across racial groups, and have accrued to new African enterprises, as well as Arab and Asian owned businesses. Booth notes the greater discretion surrounding the African businesses, but it is clear that they have benefited none the less. The Africanisation is particularly significant in a region that he describes as ‘largely European’ at independence, and the centre of a number of earlier European agricultural experiments.

On a number of fronts Booth finds that the partial nature of reforms has frustrated the full realisation of their advantages. He pinpoints remaining bureaucracies and transport as two areas which still block the full response to exchange rates and price changes. In the context of earlier aid debates (particularly given the U.K. involvement in road construction in Tanzania) it is interesting to see these needs highlighted in the wake of fiscal and market reforms. It demonstrates, as does the entire article, the interdependence of the economic system and the very importance of sequencing suggested in the article.
Most of the analysis is economic but David Booth is a sociologist, and ends by examining the social strains that this patchy reform engenders, As noted above this is not primarily ethnic in Iringa, but resentment is generated against a mixed race class of beneficiaries, including Africans. However Booth is concerned that these tensions might take on an ethnic dimension in the country as a whole, and is concerned about this. It is not entirely clear that better sequencing would necessarily imply more even benefits, since unfortunately efficiency and equity do not necessarily go together. But David Booth’s article provides a clear analysis and vivid picture of the present reforms – their success, missed potential and possible dangers.
Catherine Price

PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN THREE AFRICAN COUNTRIES: CURRENT PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES. Harry Taylor. University of Manchester. Public Administration and Development. Vo1.12 pp 193-207. Oct. 1992.

Following a brief visit to three developing countries in sub Saharan Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe) to study public sector personnel systems, the author reviews personnel practices in civil service and parastatal organisations. Harry Taylor argues that Personnel Management in LDC.s (as exemplified by his study) tends to be reactive and concentrates on house-keeping functions including maintaining of records, administering conditions of service, monitoring manpower levels etc. This is in contrast to the situation obtaining in developed countries where, he argues, the personnel management function transcends basic house-keeping activities and includes making a contribution to organisational strategic planning.

I have a number of difficulties with: (a) the author’s findings on the state of public personnel management in the countries studied and the generalisations emanating from those findings; (b) his assumptions on the state of public personnel management in developed countries; and (c) the agenda for reform proposed by the author.

The author ought to be informed that in the three countries, and one could generalise for most English speaking Africa, strategic tasks in relation to the personnel function in government/parastataIs would not be taking place at the individual ministry/firm level. In the civil service these are performed centrally by the Directorate of Personnel Management in the case of Kenya, the Civil Service Department of the President’s office in Tanzania, and by the Ministry of Public Service in Zimbabwe. Moreover, the Civil/Public Service Commissions of the three countries perform some essential strategic arrangement functions for their civil services. Since strategic direction tasks are performed centrally, the personnel function at a level of the ministry tends, of necessity, to concentrate on house-keeping functions. These central personnel agencies have been especially involved in strategic type of functions since structural adjustment reforms in the three countries began three years ago. As part of that reform process for example, the Tanzania Civil Service has undertaken a review of the size and cost of the civil service; is reviewing measures for strengthening management of personnel records as well as the upgrading of skill levels of senior and middle level civil service personnel.

With regard to the parastatals, most parastatal firms operate under the direction of holding companies and, in these circumstances, organisational strategic planning including for the personnel function, would tend to performed at the parent/holding company level. At the individual firm level, therefore, personnel managers concentrate on house-keeping tasks.

A more valid criticism of the state of personnel management in these countries would have focused on the extent to which the house-keeping functions including recruitment, administering the conditions of service, staff welfare administration etc. are not performed properly. The factors which the author cites to explain why personnel management has not bothered to address strategic issues including political interference, absence of a critical mass of personnel management experts, and the historical legacy – personnel management is a residual activity in public administration, do explain even better why house-keeping personnel management functions are performed badly.

There is evidence to demonstrate that political interference has on many occasions made it difficult to recruit public service personnel on merit; and evidence to show how political interference has made it difficult for personnel management departments to focus on strategic issues. We do not want to go into an argument with the author with regard to his important point, ie: his claim that in developed countries the personnel management function tends to focus more on strategic than on house-keeping issues. As he himself admits, even in these countries the focus on strategic issues is a recent phenomenon in public service organisations. Within the British Civil Service, for example, it can only have come to the fore since the setting up of Executive Agencies. Until recently, strategic personnel management functions were performed, if at all, in the Treasury and the Civil Service Department, for the entire civil service. At the Department level, personnel management concentrated on house-keeping functions. Some improvements have been made and there is now greater involvement by personnel managers in organisational strategic activities.

There have also been, improvements, however, in the way house-keeping personnel management functions are carried out in these countries and the positive developments have been due, in part, to reduced incidence of political interference, and the presence of a critical mass of personnel management experts which, in turn, made it possible for the development of personnel management as a profession. In the light of the foregoing observations concerning the state of personnel management, our prescription on improving the personnel function in Sub-Saharan Africa’s public sector would be somewhat different from the author’s and would include the following:

1. Upgrade the status of personnel management in government departments and at firm level in parastatals. This will involve making the function a more discrete activity than is presently the case.

2. Noting that the size of the civil services and personnel parastatal sectors are such that they may not always call for the establishment of capacity for strategic personnel management at the department or single firm level, there is need to strengthen the working of the personnel agencies in government and parent parastatal levels which are already in existence.

3. There is need to reform the entire machinery of public administration in these countries. It is only in that way that many of the problems which afflict personnel management in these countries can be addressed. If there is no overall strategic planning in the governmental machinery, why should one expect to have strategic planning for the personnel function?

4. The need for enhanced professionalism in personnel management is an imperative in these countries and leadership in this direction can come from the private sector.
Gelase Mutahaba

CRATER OF THE RAIN GOD (Channel 4 Wildlife Programme).
December 21 1992.

On 21st December Channel 4 showed an outstanding film based on the wildlife of the Ngorongoro Crater. It was indeed, as the narrator said, a ‘story without parallel’. The narrative was brilliant; the pictures of the animals and the scenery of the crater, and even more, the musical background, all contributed to a film deserving of much credit. A clear vision of what the Ngorongoro crater is all about was given. Basically, the crater (stretching for ten miles across) is a vast home that displays nearly all the species of wildlife found in the dark continent. There are over twenty thousand animals. But Ngorongoro is not just renowned for its animals; the place is full of forests, lakes, and even volcanoes can be seen.

Something worth knowing is why in that tiny land can the glory and majesty of Africa be magnified. It is said that the main secret is the fresh water which spurts from the mountains and the walls of the crater, enabling the existence of the animals all year round – they don’t even need to hibernate, The Ngorongoro is called ‘the milk and honey for the animals’. In November each year the East winds of the Indian Ocean known to be accompanied by the ‘Black God’, bring even more water to the crater.

The history of Ngorongoro goes back more than two million years. It is said to have been a home for many nomadic tribes in years past, and more recently the Maasai, who have now settled on the highlands surrounding and overlooking the crater, The ashes that gush from the volcano are later distributed on the Ngorongoro soils where they deposit abundant amounts of nutrients that fertilise the soil, thus encouraging the growth of the savannah grasses.

The animal life at Ngorongoro comprises the hunters and the hunted. Lions and spotted hyenas are believed to be the most invincible predators. It was also noted that more lions and hyenas exist in this place than in any other comparable place in Africa, Among the herbivores the dominant group are the wildebeests which account for over a third of the whole animal population found in the crater.
Perhaps the Ngorongoro is one of the greatest marvels left in Africa. What can be missed? Elephants, black rhino, buffalos, baboons, zebras, vultures and many other birds and animals can be seen.
Philip Fakudze

SURGERY IN TANZANIA. J . K . Shija. Dar es Salaam University
Press, 1991. 56 pages.

This is a historical survey from 1877 when Tanzania was first introduced to western type scientific medicine by the Church Missionary Society Hospital at Mamboya near Mpwapwa; the arrival of five German military ‘surgeons’ in 1838 at medical headquarters in Bagamoyo; the opening of the Sewa Hadji Hospital in Dar es Salaam in 1883 (following donation of 12 400 rupees by a wealthy Indian merchant of the same name); the first qualified Tanzanian medical practitioner (Joseph R. Mutahangarwa in 1940); and, Tanzania’s own Medical School in 1963.

But the most useful part of the book is the 27 tables arising from a 1982 questionnaire sent to the six main institutions undertaking major surgery including an analysis of surgical admissions, surgical beds, staff problems etc. Among current problems mentioned are the Pcinderella9ubjects anaesthesiology and pathology in medical education. Several recommendations are made for improvements so as to ensure ‘surgery for all by the year 2000′.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

FOREIGN AID NEGOTIATIONS – THE SWEDISH TANZANIA AID DIALOGUE.

Ole Elgstrom. Avebury, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 1992. 179
pages.

This book or case study endeavours to treat foreign aid negotiations in a scientific way through four approaches, contextual, organisational, cybernetic – cognitive and power approaches. The author refers to what he describes as the schizophrenic nature of Swedish Aid bargaining behaviour – from basically persuasive strategies to very tough demands.

CONSERVATION AND BIODIVERSITY OF LAKE TANGANYIKA, F. C. Roest . Bulletin of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1990. A 3-page summary of an international symposium.

NUTRITION STATUS AND THE RISK OF MORTALITY IN CHILDREN 6-36 MONTHS OLD IN TANZANIA, Olivia Yambi et.al of Cornell University. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, vo1.13, no.4. 1991.

HANGING BY A THREAD. AN ACTIVE LEARNING PACK. Leeds Development Education Centre. 1992. This learning pack is designed for use in schools by 13-19 year olds. It focuses on issues of international trade and debt using cotton production in Tanzania as a case study.

URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN TANZANIA. Michael Yhdego of the Technical University of Denmark. Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 3,No. 1. 1991. 6 pages. This fact and figure filled paper is a litany of environmental problems in Dar es Salaam – especially in the Msimbazi river – which makes depressing reading.

FISHING OUT THE GENE POOL. Brian O’Riordan. Appropriate Technology Vol.18 No.4. 1992. 4 pages. This paper mentions the damage caused in Lake Victoria by the disappearance of the small nutritious fish species belonging to the genus Haplochromis of which 200 species used to be found in the Lake.

MANUFACUTRING MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE TANZANIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY. N.A.J. Hastings and K.A.B. Msimangira of the Monash University, Australia. International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vo1.5 No.2. 1992. 8 pages.

TNE PAYOFF OF DEVELOPING A SMALL-SCALE PHOSPHATE MIME AND BENEFICIATING OPERATION IN THE MBEYA REGION OF TANZANIA. W. van Vuuren and J . G . Hamilton of the University of Guelph, Canada. World Development, Vol.20, No.6. 1992. 12 pages.

EXPERIENCES IN HOLISTIC HEALTH DEVELOPMENT AMONG THE MASAAI OF THE ARUSHA REGION, TANZANIA. Rev. Gabriel Kimirei et.al. Contact Vo1.18, No. 124. 1992, 12 pages.

CHILD MALNUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES IN TWO TANZANIAN VILLAGES. Margaret A. Wandel and Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen of the
University of Oslo. Health Policy and Planning; 7 ( 2 ) . 1992.

NEW PATHWAYS TO INDUSTIALISATION IN TANZANIA: THEORETICAL AND STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS. I D S Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 3. 1992. 6 pages.

A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE TRANSPORT SECTOR (World Bank Working Paper WPS 356). Ian G. Heggie and Michael Quick. World Bank. 1990. 32 pages.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA. Scott Tiffin &.al. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 1992. 212 pages including examples (from the extractive industries) from Angola, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

MATERNAL WORK, CHILD FEEDING AND NUTRITION IN RURAL TANZANIA. Margereta Wandel and Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen. Food and Nutrition Bulletin. Vol-14, No-1. Pages 49-54. 1992.

NON-PRIMARY EXPORTS OF AFRICAN LDC’S: HAVE TRADE PREFERENCES HELPED? D B and L J Truett. Journal of Developing Areas. July 1992. Pages 457-474. Examines the impact of the United States’ generalised system of preferences on four African economies including Tanzania.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. Biswas and S B C Agarwala. Butterworth-Heinemann. 1992. 249 pages. This has examples from four countries including Tanzania

DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE URBAN POOR: EXPERIENCE IN KENYA, TANZANIA AND ZAMBIA. Carole Rakodi. Cities. August 1991. Pages 228-243.

IMPACT OF THE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS ON AFRICAN WOMEN FARMERS AND FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS. Jean M Due and G N Gladwin. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 1991, 30 pages. Covers Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.

INNOVATION AND CHANGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. EXPERIENCES FROM TANZANIA. I. M. Omari . Comparative Education. Vol 27. No 2. 1991

Professor Omari has written a lucid and interesting account of developments at the University of Dar es Salaam from which he draws some broadly-based conclusions.

He begins by exploring the background to the 1974 CCM decision to change university admission procedures: after 1974 only those with considerable work experience qualified for admission. One result was an older student population, less equipped in some ways to cope with traditional undergraduate courses Fairly quickly, modifications had to be made to science admissions. The issue of equity of access – especially of women – also had to be addressed Professor Oman remarks that the early cracks In sciences and for women students provided a hostile staff with ammunition to point out the flaws In the innovations, and that the exemptions again gave critics an opening to point out Inconsistencies He is pessimistic about the multiplier effect for decades to come of admitting poor students Into the Faculty. of Education.

Professor Oman comments on the powers of heads of state as chancellors of universities. This underlines the importance of getting right the relationship between the state and the university. This is a sensitive issue, as current events in the University of Zimbabwe demonstrate. There, new legislation on tertiary education has run into strongly expressed opposition from the university community and relations between the Ministry and the University are not good. Tanzania early realised that the university as a sovereignty symbol is both an asset and a liability. Professor Omari quotes President Nyerere (1985) “the effects of ambition clashing with the limitation of resources” and Nahdi (1987) on the University of Dar es Salaam as “a seething cauldron of militancy and radicalism and new ideas. Academics streamed from all over, looking for the revolutionary Mecca of their dream” He draws attention to the Incompatibility of ‘the Wish of the political elite for a subservient university, closely following and obeying party and government policies Without overt contradictions’ and ‘the culture of a university which had accumulated an international reputation for being at the centre of the developmental debate.’

Professor Omari quotes Cote, who wrote in 1973 that, of the three primary functions of a university (teaching, research and training), it is research which is the essence of scholarship and a necessary condition for the existence of a university. However, since then increasing stress has been placed on the vocational aspects as a fundamental part of university education. Perhaps, therefore, Professor Omari might have acknowledged that it is not only in developing countries that ‘the pressures on universities to redefine themselves so as to be more responsive, practical. … and the locus of change have been particularly severe.’ Professor Omari charts the course of the ‘University as a Workers’ Institution’. He criticises the lack of consultation with the university when the Party introduced changes in 1974. He makes the point that it is easier to innovate in a multi-university system. Tanzania – like most of Africa – has lacked the capacity of countries in the North.

The lessons of the Tanzanian experience do not all take the form of cautionary tales. There has been a growth of interest in university-sponsored work experience. Although Professor Omari finds no evidence that such experience if leading to a long delay between secondary and tertiary education, produces persons better equipped to play their role in national social and economic development, he concludes that the policy debate regarding the relationship between work experience and university education should not cease.
I do not wholly go along with professor Omari in his view that ‘university first-degree programmes take the form of liberal education designed to give broad analytical skills different from vocation-specific skills’ or that’ it is a misconception to conceive the role and objectives of universities in developing countries primarily from the perspective of specific skill training while they have multiple roles and functions to deserve the claim’. He suggests that other post-secondary institutions whilst being flexible enough to filter a few for university should prepare people for specific occupations. He shares with others the view that this would allow universities to concentrate on producing high-level personnel with broad, flexible, imaginative conceptual frameworks and attitudes consistent with management capabilities and tasks that would cut across sectoral confines. However, there are countries in Africa where the demand for people with such skills is beginning to be satisfied There are limits to the expansion of the public sector, and some of the future emphasis in African universities must be on producing people for self-employment.

For those who wish to follow the debate started by Professor Omari a stage further I recommend a study of the recent work on cost effectiveness and efficiency of universities by the Association of African Universities. Next year should see the production of a report by the Higher Education Working Group of the Donors to African Education that will cover in depth issues raised by Professor Omari as well as some of the more recent developments in African higher education than those brought out by the Tanzania case study.
John Theakstone

THE FACADE OF PRECISION IN EDUCATION DATA AND STATISTICS – A TROUBLING EXAMPLE FROM TANZANIA. Joel Samoff. Journal of modern African Studies. 29, 4 (1991). pp 669 – 689.

To the educational planner, the first essential on which to base any development or projects, is to have a firm and reliable base from which to start Two of these, namely a) the number of students in the system by grades; and b) the expenditures Involved, are examined by the writer of this article. Dealing first with educational statistics, the writer found some years back, that in one region in Tanzania (Kilimanjaro), “there were nearly twice as many children in primary schools as the official reports indicated”. An error of this magnitude when totalled by all regions, gives a completely false picture and could produce major distortions and misjudged development as a consequence.

Unfortunately, the writer does not develop these possibilities but concentrates the bulk of his theme on governmental expenditures on education. He then proceeds to demonstrate how widely differing conclusions can be drawn from identical pieces of data. His arguments and reasons are important and are worth summarising. To evaluate accurately how much is actually spent on education, the planner or developer must check whether :-

i) official financial figures deal with budgeted or actual expenditure;
ii) all expenditures by government are covered; some may be covered by local councils in addition;
iii) other voluntary bodies contribute, eg: churches or community groups;
iv) local currency values have changed over the periods being compared ;
v) the periods being compared are really comparable; and,
vi) the periods being used for comparative purposes are long enough to yield valid conclusions.

Having made these points, the second half of the article concentrates on showing exactly what has been happening to recurrent expenditures on education over the two decades in Tanzania as a whole. The overall conclusions reached are that a) official statistics must be treated with great caution; b) apparent changes must be watched over a longish (several year) period before public policy is changed and, c) pinpoint accuracy IS impossible (though often claimed) and only general trends are worth’ considering.

These are all valid points and are supplemented by the writer stressing that generalisation must be checked by on-the-spot sampling, because officialdom in the country’s capital may be ignorant of what is actually happening in the localities.

This last point was all too clearly discovered by your reviewer when he spent some days in the Mtwara region and found serious lack of co-ordination in more than one respect between locality and headquarters.
The article performs a valuable function in drawing attention to basic discrepancies and the need for careful qualification before generalisations are made. It concentrates over-heavily on recurrent expenditures to the neglect of other areas such as teacher qualification and supply, which are not mentioned. Greater emphasis could have been placed on the error liable to arise if the numbers and grades of pupils are inaccurate. However, overall, the article makes its points firmly, and alas, With validity
Bernard Braithwaite

THE CHALLENGE FACED BY THE BUILDING MATERIALS INDUSTRIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE 1990’s WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TANZANIA. A.U Kisanga. Habitat International. Vo1.14. No.4. (1990). pp 119 – 132.

This is a technical and academic article. You have to dig for them but the author has the right ideas. Much of what he says applies also to other industries, but the building materials industry is of special interest since we all use its products. The reporter’s themes are that:

a) In Tanzania there is excessive dependence on imports, and even locally produced building materials have a high import content.
b) local building materials industries are inefficient and high cost, so leading to low utilisation which makes matters worse; and,
c) import substitution alone is not the answer. Throughout the article the author tends to confuse two separate sectors. They both use building materials but there the resemblance ends. One is the large scale modern construction sector, and the other is the small scale traditional domestic sector.

To use the term “modern” defines the problem. The construction industry is truly traditional. Technology and design for large buildings are now world-wide. City centres everywhere are locked into this technology. Who can tell apart a skyline in America, Africa or Asia? Some of this building upwards is a necessity but some is merely fashion . Not all cities have space problems, yet many choose to build high mainly for reason of prestige. The other sector is domestic and local – essentially low rise as opposed to high, what we describe a ‘traditional’ People pay lip service to this but rarely build.

The essence of traditional styles the world over is to use local materials. But architects trained in high technology do not accept these limitations and involve their clients in expensive imports. And local people, building for themselves, copy what they see and also use imported products.

It was not always so. The author refers to colonial days and implies that Tanzanians were taught expensive habits. Yet in the 1920’s the Tanganyika PWD Issued a technical guide which became famous as “Longland’s Field Handbook”. As late as the 1950’s it was issued to all British Colonial Service Cadets, and It was recently reprinted by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITOG) It had all the right ideas, advocating the use of local materials (because there were no others) and described how to improve their quality. It even encouraged Technological Co-operation among Developing Countries (TCDC), as now advocated by the United Nations, by quoting from Indian and West African equivalents.

As the author argues there is a need for education, training and guidance, and here the government should give a lead But it may be that government officials Will need to be re-educated first to understand that local is best. And the government must show support in its own building work. People copy what they see
It was unfortunate that the decade of African independence was the 1950’s and 60’s, when Soviet central planning appeared to be highly successful, and Western countries too had faith in the ability of governments to plan prosperity. Hence the series of problems experienced not only by Tanzania but familiar to Eastern and Western countries alike. Here they are described as:-

a) Excessive protection which has fostered uncompetitive behaviour;
b) Inefficient public sector industries;
c) State controlled monopolies;
d) Development determined by political rather than economic criteria; and,
e) Wage regulations raising the cost of unskilled labour, coupled with a lack of training creating skill shortages.

The author’s solutions are to:
– Remove barriers to growth and encourage local and small scale enterprise;
– Develop a building materials industry protected from eX1ernal suppliers but with effective internal competition to encourage productivity and innovation;
– Encourage the selection of appropriate technology; .
-Support small companies with technical services, including spare parts and repairs, and training for skills and management;
– Protect the environment
He becomes a little over-optimistic when he ends by writing about a regional export trade, but if his ideas were applied, the improvement within Tanzania would be reward enough.
Mel Crofton

“THE MPINGO – TREE THAT MAKES MUSIC” Programme on BBC 2 at 8 p.m. on Sunday 3rd May 1992. Presented by David Attenborough.

Mpingo wood is the only possible material from which you can make clarinets The instrument makers at Buffet Crampon in Paris insist that this is so. Professional clarinettists, jazz and classical, agree.

Mpingo is African .Blackwood, Dalbergla melanoxylon, a small Leguminous tree of savannah woodland. It is now the traditional tree of Tanzania which is at the centre of its natural range To a reader familiar With trees In Britain I would describe its stature as resembling a hawthorn, inclined to be shrubby and crooked, and its leaves and flowers somewhat like the introduced Robinia or False Acacia. Its heartwood is at first sight black, though really grained in shades of very dark brown, contrasting with the light fawn outer sapwood.

The timber is described as the finest of all woods for carving fine detail. It can be machined almost like metal on a lathe, and the precise bore and fine screw threads that are worked in it are amazingly stable in the extremes of moisture and temperature to which a Wind Instrument is exposed. It is so dense that it sinks in water and so hard that the tools and the sculptor’s chisel – need constant re-sharpening Selected seasoned billets of the right size for woodwind instruments and keys and fingerboards of other Instruments are exported from Tanzania at 10,000 dollars per cubic metre.

You might expect a full forestry system to have developed around this tree – planting, weeding, thinning, pruning and harvesting in rotating compartments – but this is not so. It is more like hunting than forestry. The skill lies in finding the best trees in their native habitat. Poor specimens are quite common, good ones increasingly rare, and the journey to the sawmills can now be as much as 200 kilometres to keep up the rate of felling of 600 per week. The best trees are at least 60 years old and still only as thick as the waist of the woodcutter we saw felling One. Being so small a tree, awkwardly shaped, often cracked internally it is not surprising that the waste from the sawmills greatly exceeds the product in spite of the skill of the operators. “Ninety per cent of the tree” is not good enough for export.

To many in Tanzania the mpingo is known better for the “ebony” carvings which are the speciality of the Makonde people. A good tree would provide enough wood for a family to work with for six months, and make a living. A particularly intricate sculpture, perhaps fetching one hundred dollars in Dar es Salaam, could take one man the whole of six months to complete.

The message of the programme was that mpingo will soon be unobtainable if nothing is done about its proper management, and that the importers should invest money in the necessary research and development.

One man, at least, is trying to do something about it: Sebastian Chuwa, a Tanzanian botanist. He now has 2,000 seedlings growing in pots in various locations by courtesy of his friends around Dar es Salaam. Starting from scratch, he must have a formidable task ahead. It takes a long time to experiment with trees, and the final proof that you have been doing the right thing only comes when they reach commercial dimensions. Sebastian Chuwa’s plan is to grow the trees in their natural habitat complete with their usual associated plant communities. The experimental areas would need protection against the increasing encroachment into savannah woodland by the ‘slash-and-burn’ agriculture of the increasing human population, in fact it would have to be recognised as a resource by and for the local communities. The loss of mpingo at present is being hastened by excessive burning that destroys the seedlings before they develop the protective bark that makes older savannah trees fireproof against moderate grass fires.

The success of Chuwa’s work will depend on many other people. The ultimate production of sound timber with less waste starts right now with seed selection and control of growing conditions. Perhaps biotechnology can help in genetics and vegetative multiplication. It all costs money, but it is a resource that Tanzania must not lose.
John Leonhardt

FLIGHT TO FREEDOM. A TRUE HIJACKERS’ STORY. Yassin Membar. Publisher Tanzania Youth Democratic Movement. 16, Maddock Way, London, SE 17. £4.50.

‘A questionable new type of book has appeared: the skyjacker autobiography’. So began an item in the July 23 issue of the DAILY TELEGRAPH which was describing how, ten years after the author had been arrested at Stanstead airport, having hijacked (with four other young men) an internal flight from his native Tanzania, he had now burst into print with an account of the adventure. And adventure it seems to have been. They were armed with two wooden grenades and half a dozen waxed candles wrapped in wire and brown paper. As the author says: ‘It was one of the great ironies of the whole affair that, once in control of the plane, our search of passengers turned up a real handgun brought on board by one of the passengers for his own protection !” This gun subsequently went off, accidentally it was claimed, and slightly injured the co-pilot.
The plane landed at Nairobi, Jeddah, Athens and Rome before the crew were eventually arrested and, after receiving much help from former Tanzanian Foreign Minister, Oscar Kambona, were sentenced to relatively light terms of imprisonment in Britain.

The book or booklet – there are only 28 pages of text about the actual hijacking and subsequent time in prison – is disappointing. It tells us little beyond what is in the newspaper cuttings of the time which are included in the book. Nothing about the character and personalities of the hijackers; how their political activities in Tanzania drove them to take such drastic action; little about the precise nature of the Kambona intervention and the Government’s reaction to it; even less about an apparent coup d’etat which was being planned; and who was the ‘spy’ in the British prison? The mystery about the Captain of the plane and his part in the hijacking remains a mystery.

The author does write about his emotions on leaving Wormwood Scrubs: “This was a hateful place. A squalid Victorian hovel. Yet there I was, lump in the throat and tears in my eyes as I read the ‘Best Wishes’ cards …. and shook the hands of fellow inmates who I would never see again”- D R B.

WILDE TALES FROM AFRICA Jack K. H. Wilde. Castle Cary Press, Somerset. £5.95 plus £100 postage and packing.

Jack Wilde, described in Professor Brockleby’s introduction to this highly entertaining book of reminiscences as an ‘extrovert personality with a sense of humour’, spent several years In Mpwapwa working as a veterinary officer. Despite the remoteness of his station and the absence of the many comforts and facilities we now take for granted, Jack Wilde does, indeed, emerge from the pages of the book as a likeable, amusing and very life-loving individual

Thrust, like so many young men of the time, into considerable responsibility – the running of a veterinary laboratory and the overseeing of large numbers of men and their huge cattle herds – he soon seems to have taken to the work and, despite the undoubted difficulties and occasional poor health, he writes of the pleasures and sheer fun of the place and the job, barely mentioning the frustrations and the disappointments

He was Joined for his second tour by his Wife. She, poor woman, suspected that her husband was responsible for the vile odours in his bedroom when in fact it was the remarkably flatulent dog under the bed.
Inevitably, wild life features in the book There are also the usual scary snake stories – a ‘dead’ cobra suddenly coming to life in the living room – and once Wilde was tossed by a bull His African staff used to sing of him as ‘Bwana Waildi who was banged up the arse by a bull’.

At the end he describes his painful ascent of Kilimanjaro and even more painful meeting with an American religious crank who believed that Hitler had been sent by God. Fortunately, by a strange coincidence, the two men met years later in the Ngorongoro Crater and the American had modified his views. Perhaps Wilde’s arguments and sheer warmth had had a part in the conversion. Certainly one would have liked to work with a man whose enthusiasm and sense of the ridiculous side of life never seemed to flag.
Peter Barratt

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

ISSUES IN AFRICAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT 1991. Editors C R Doss and C Olson. Winrock International I nstitute for Agricultural Development 1991. Four of the 24 articles in this book concern Tanzania and cover such specialised topics as the economics of tractor use,mobile saw milling and village forestry

DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY TO MEET THE HOUSING NEEDS OF THE URBAN POOR. Carole Rakodi. Cities. August 1991 . pp 228-243. Sites and services and upgrading projects have been implemented in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia mostly with World Bank assistance. The paper analyses the extent to which the components and institutional mechanisms developed during these projects have been sustainable.

BRITISH OVERSEAS AI D. 1991 Annual Review. Overseas Development Administration.
This lavishly illustrated book includes comparative figures of aid provided to 140 countries in 1991 . In Africa, Kenya was the largest recipient (£44 million) and Malawi came second (£37 million). Tanzania was sixth (£23 million) but it was by far the largest recipient of debt relief (totalling £7 million) amongst African countries.

RETHINKING THE ARUSHA DECLARATION. Edited by Jeanette Hartmann. Centre for Development Research . Copenhagen. 1991.
This book is a collection of articles which were first presented at a conference in Oar es Salaam in December 1986 but also contains eight articles commissioned later. (It is understood that the editor of these papers died in Norway on May 2nd 1992 during leave of absence from her post as Senior Lecturer in the University of Dar es Salaam – Editor)

FIFTY YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL TRAINING AT MATI, UKIRIGURU. 1939 -1989. AS Mosha, E 0 M Mlay. A K K Ibrahim, J R K M Mayanja and T B Mnyema Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Development and Cooperatives. 1990.
This book is a half-century account of Tanzania’s first agricultural training Institution – the Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute (MATI) . Ukiriguru, whose origins go back to 1931 when a Mr. WC Clarke. Agricultural Assistant, pitched his tent on the site and established a seed farm there.

POST ABOLISHED. Laetlcia Mukurasi. The Women’s Press. 1991 . £15. 00 This is an autobiographical account of the author’s two-year struggle to protect her employment rights after she was the only woman and the only manager to lose her job during a redundancy exercise at Fibreboards Africa Ltd. She was eventually reinstated after being replaced by an expatriate on eight times her salary.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SADCC COUNTRIES. A BIBLIOGRAPHY. VOL 7. TANZANIA 1990. C T A Netherlands/Sayce Publishing UK.
This vast 700- page book contains 6,159 items, each with a summary of the key words. Items vary from a Brazilian paper on Tanzanian coffee dated 1927 to a paper on plant nematode pests of bananas dated 1986.

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, OUTPUT AND PRICES IN TANZANIA. A Sepheri. World Development. Vol. 20. No. 2. 1992.
This paper examines the relationship between changes in international reserves and in output, prices and monetary balances from 1962 to 1986.

TACKLlNG OBSTACLES TO HEALTH CARE DELIVER Y AT DISTRICT LEVEL. A M Ahmed, E Mung’ong’o and E Massawe. World Health Forum . Vol. 12. 1991 . . pp 483-488.
Low staff motivation is the main problem limiting the quality of health care according to this survey undertaken in the urban district of Dodoma and the main problems in the rural areas are poor transport and poor supervision. The survey covered six urban dispensaries and two health centres and three health centres and three dispensaries in the rural areas.

MUST DIABETES BE A FATAL DISEASE IN AFRICA? STUDY OF COSTS OF TREATMENT. S S Chale, A B M Swai, P Myinga, 0 G Mc Larty. British Medical Journal. VoL 304. 1992. pp 1215-1218.
This concisely written study of over 900 patients at Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam determined that the average annual cost of diabetes care in 1989-90 was $287 per patient requiring insulin and $1 03 for a patient not requiring insulin. Thus around 0.2% of the population aged 15 years and over used the equivalent of 8% of the total government health expenditure, which was $47,408,382. The paper concludes ‘Diabetes places a heavy strain on the limited resources of developing countries If African patients with diabetes have to pay for their treatment, most Will be unable to do so and Will die .’

CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY IN SMALL AND LARGE FIRMS GRAIN MILLING IN TANZANIA MS D Bagachwa. World Development. Vol 20 No 1 pp 97-107.
This paper evaluates the performance of small and large grain milling techniques based on data from 49 maize and 16 rice milling units. The author demonstrates the economic Viability of the small-scale custom milling sector and is encouraged by the restoration of cooperatives which could operate such machinery and thus reduce the monopoly power of the National Milling Corporation In terms of access to raw grain. He is critical of the marked differences in milling machine characteristics which have evolved In Tanzania over the years.

CONSERVATION AND BIODIVERSITY OF LAKE TANGANYIKA F C Roest Bulletin of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. Netherlands.
This report is a follow-up to a seminar held in Burundi in March 1991 which listed the dangers – excessive suspended sediment following clearing of 40 – 100% of the surrounding forest land, overfishing and pollution – and makes recommendations on possible improvements.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Mr MICHAEL BALL, an ecologist, recently spent 26 months as an Agricultural Extension Officer in Nzega, Tabora Region.

Mr PETER BARRATT has been a Lecturer in English in three countries of Africa – Malawi, Rhodesia (as it then was) and Swaziland.

Mr BERNARD BRAITHWAITE has served as Chief Education Officer (East Sussex), Director of Education (Bahamas) and as an Education Planner in the World Bank. In 1979 he advised on improving basic education in Tanzania.

Mr ROGER CARTER is Vice President of the Britain-Tanzania Society.

Mr MEL CROFTON was, until recently, Industrial Training Advisor in the British Council. He has visited Tanzania several times in connection with transportation projects.

Ms JUDITH HOLLAND was a VSO teacher in mathematics in Tabora 23 years ago. For many years she organised the Britain-Tanzania Society seminars; she plans to re-visit Tanzania in November.

Mr JOHN LEONHARDT who works at a field studies centre in Hertfordshire was in Tanzania as a biology teacher from 1965 to 1969.

Mr JOHN THEAKSTONE is Head of the Africa Section of the Higher Education Department of the British Council.

Mr PETER YEO who works at the International Cooperative College, Loughborough, was a District Officer and Regional Local Courts Officer in Tanzania until 1964. His book ‘Cooperative Law in Practice’ was published in 1989 by Holyoake Press.

ONE WHITE MAN IN BLACK AFRICA. From Kilimanjaro to the Kalahari 1951 – 1991. John Cooke. Tynron Press. Obtainable from Gazelle Book Services Ltd. Lancaster. £9.95 (paperback).

Although I did not think the title of this book particularly apt or attractive on first hearing about it, when I read it I found most of the chapters quite absorbing. Unlike other recent books by expatriates who served in the previous administration, this one is well produced, is singularly free of printing errors and contains some excellent colour photographs.

As the author himself writes in the Preface, this is ‘not a heavyweight commentary but a simple straightforward tale by one who was there’. It is a thoughtful and honest book covering a vast amount of ground geographically, exploiting a wealth of experience.

In the first chapter Cooke demolishes the line often taken by hostile critics of the British system that the generalist class of administrative officers ‘came from the English aristocracy and felt that they had a mission to rule the rest of the world’. Neither Cooke, nor any of our former colleagues with whom I served ever remotely fitted this image.

The author was a District Commissioner at the time of independence but then, his doubts dispelled by a letter from Julius Nyerere urging expatriates to stay on in such roles as magistrates and teachers, he decided to switch to the Education Department and served as a teacher in different schools in Tanzania for eight more years. He was awarded a PhD by Dar es Salaam University for his scientific study of the outcrop Of Tanga limestone, until then totally unexplored. After leaving Tanzania Cooke spent 20 years in Botswana where he became Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Botswana.

In the Tanzanian part of the book there are accurate accounts of important regions like Bukoba depicting very clearly the complicated land tenure arrangements and the effects of strong local government system. There is a feast of information on the problems, frustrations and delights of climbing all the well known East African mountains – often following routes never before taken. The chapters are interspersed with telling thumb-nail sketches such as that of the Masai herdsman explaining to the author the dignity and simplicity of his life-style.

The book has an Epilogue in which the author has courageously set out a number of his own conclusions, free from dogma and ideology, after trying to assess the progress, or lack of it, made since independence in the context of enhancing the welfare and real freedom of the African population at large. Cooke uses harsh words to describe the activities of modern aid workers while adamant that Africa needs aid desperately. And no one will challenge the disgust he feels about the expensive armaments fed in ‘to stoke the fires of internecine African struggle and warfare’.

I believe this book was worth all the effort and thought given to it by the author. It can be thoroughly recommended.
R. W. Neath

HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA. Chris Maina Peter. Studies in Human Rights, No. 10 . Greenwood Press, Connecticut. 1990. 94pp. + (Appendices and Index) 51 pp . £35.95.

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA. Issa G. Shlvji. CODESRIA Book Series, London. 1989. 110 pp + ( Appendix and Index) 16pp. £15.00 (hardback), £8.50 (paperback).

The steady flow of books on human rights in Africa through the 1980s was in inverse ratio to the actual realisation of such rights in a continent which still provides more examples of human wrongs. These two short works, totally different from each other in content and approach, are valuable, new and complementary contributions by law teachers at the University of Dar es Salaam.

Dr. Peter sub-titles his book: “A comparative study of the African Human and People’s Rights Charter and the new Tanzanian Bill of Rights”. Both instruments came into force in the 1980s and he summarises their history: the African (Banjul) Charter, adopted at the OAU meeting in Nairobi in 1981, took effect from 1986; the Tanzanian Bill of Rights, enacted as a constitutional amendment in 1984-, came into force in 1988. The full texts of both instruments are usefully provided in Appendices. Of course, they are very different in character. This is perhaps most obvious with regard to their respective enforcement: the Charter, as an international instrument, is enforceable ultimately by the OAU Heads of State and Government but it established the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to investigate allegations and pursue settlements; the Bill of Rights is enforceable directly by the High Court of Tanzania.

Comparing the protection of individual rights 1n these two instruments, Dr. Peter critically appraises the Tanzanian human rights record in the pest, recalling a number of notorious episodes like the torture of James Nagoti (1976), forced marriages in Zanzibar (1970), the Kilombero affair (1980) etc. He also notes that more specific obligations are now imposed on individuals in Tanzania (ie, the duty to work, to obey the laws, to protect public property and to preserve national security) than under the Charter.

The most distinctive feature of the African Charter is the protection of “People’s Rights”: the rights to equality of peoples, to self-determination, to free disposal of natural resources, to development, to peace and security and to a satisfactory environment. Analysing these, Dr. Peter also contemplates how far such rights have been respected in Tanzania, in the absence of express guarantees. He concludes that peace and support for self-determination have generally been assured and sees the emergence of a coherent national policy of environmental protection since the National Environmental Management Council was set up in 1984. He is dubious about the Tanzanian record on the other People’s Rights, seeing in recent economic policies trends away from equality and from the people’s control of natural resources achieved by the nationalisations of the 1960′ s. On the controversial right to development he welcomes, as part of democratisation, the debate in Tanzania as to the meaning of development; but surely this debate started in the 1960’s.

The book is highly informative, with ample references to diverse sources in copious footnotes (Chapter 3, on “People’s Rights”, has 22 pages of text and 15 pages of footnotes) and a 12 page Bibliography; but it is very expensive. Environmental protection prompts an interesting but somewhat disproportionate study of toxic waste disposal in Africa, occupying more than 8pages. The author might have compared the Tanzanian Bill of Rights with the somewhat different Bills of Rights, in neighbouring states (Kenya, Zambia etc.), especially as they resemble the Zanzibar Bill of Rights, the restoration of which in 1985 he surprisingly ignores.

Dr. Peter cites no cases in which Tanzanian judges applied the new Bill of Rights; presumably he wrote before such cases were available. Judgments now given show the Judges ready to defend the fundamental rights guaranteed to Tanzanians, even against the will of Parliament. A recent Act of Parliament restricting the right to bail in certain criminal cases was held by Mr. Justice Mwalusanya to be invalid because it denied the right to personal liberty; his decision was upheld in the first judgment given by the Court of Appeal on the Bill of Rights, Chief Justice Nyalali emphasised that the original Swahili version of the Bill of Rights is authoritative, not the English translation (given in Peter’s book), in which he detected significant divergences. In another case Mr. Justice Mwalusanya gave an eloquent judgement of great importance to Tanzanian women: he held that a rule of Haya customary law which prohibited a woman, but not a man, from selling inherited land is now invalid as a form of sex discrimination (which the Bill of Rights forbids by implication, though not expressly).

While Dr. Peter gives a practical, legal analysis, Professor Shivji’s book is entirely theoretical. He reviews and dismisses other contributions to the “human rights discourse” of recent years: not merely are they intellectually backward but “Human rights talk constitutes one of the main elements in the ideological armoury of imperialism.” Human rights concepts come value-laden and were always part of a struggle and identified selectively (e.g. bourgeois society emphasised property rights). In an Africa still beset by oppression and exploitation, where the one-party state is merely a “fig-leaf” to cover authoritarianism (rationalised by “the ideology of developmentalism”), new priorities must be recognised. To revolutionise the human rights framework Professor Shivji urges recognition of two traditional rights as being central (though not exclusive): the collective right of all peoples and nations to political, cultural and economic self-determination and the right to organise, up to and including the right to revolution.

It follows that Professor Shivji has little faith in Bills of Rights or even in the African Charter (“woefully deficient” in enforcement provisions – under-stating the role of individual petitions of complaint, which Dr. Peter completely ignores); he prefers the Algiers Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, 1976 (reproduced in an Appendix), a political manifesto rather than an international instrument. His stimulating book bears many signs of hurried preparation.
James S. Read

DEVELOPMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION INNOVATIONS IN TANZANIA. P. Mushi. International Review of Education. 37 (3) 1991.

The Adult Education initiatives promoted in Tanzania during the late 1960′ sand 70′ s pioneered new techniques and placed Tanzania in the forefront of mass adult education. Adult education was targeted at the majority of the population with little or no formal education; a series of campaigns were intended to produce rapid and widespread increase in the abU1 ty of people to combat their poverty. The implementation of the campaigns has been well documented but little has been published on their long term effectiveness. This study is therefore very welcome.

Mushi studied three programmes. The first, functional literacy, was aimed at peasant farmers and was intended to give them the ability to read the instructions which would accompany forms of new investment in agriculture. The example most frequently quoted being advice on use, printed on packets of fertiliser.

The programme experienced difficulties in sustaining motivation among farmers when they found that the teaching was centred on farming inputs that they could not afford. All Government institutions were expected to provide tutors but, in practice, the work was done mainly by primary school teachers and leavers who had little training in adult education methods or agriculture. The tutors were also discouraged by delays or even non-payment of the small honorarium.

Despite these difficulties the programme managed a reduction in the level of illiteracy to under 10% by the mid-1980’s. Mushi does not discuss the criteria used for measuring literacy but he does refer to the difficulty of maintaining the improvement in the face of the rapid expansion of the school age population.

The second programme, Workers Education, was intended to provide not only functional literacy but also skills and participation in decision making in industrial democracy although Mushi does not use this term. There are indications that Workers Education did not have the political support given to the other’ programmes. It started slowly with managements assuming it meant professional training for managers. Even after redefinition by Kawawa in 1974 under which the emphasis was placed on literacy and general education there were no clear directives on implementation. Programmes varied between enterprises and some management s which organised proper programmes often found it not to their advantage; workers, discovering that attending classes did not lead to promotion, moved to other employment Mushi concludes that, although there has been a reduction in industrial disputes, this cannot be attributed to Workers’ Education.

Thirdly, Folk Development Colleges (FDC’s) were initiated in response to the perceived failures of Rural Training Centres. FDC’s were to teach skills that Village Councils considered they required. In practice, centrally planned courses were offered to Villages; people were sent for training without adequate plans to make use of them when they returned. Village Councils came under pressure to use FDC’s as a second chance for primary school leavers who had not obtained secondary school places. The Government’s policy of no formal grading in [‘DC’s was eroded by examination pressures.

Mushi concludes that none of these programmes fully met their original objectives but this does not mean that the programmes did not have significant achievements. He argues that the policy intention was desirable but that the problems of implementation and failures to achieve objectives resulted from a misunderstanding of adult education, the chosen instrument. Adult education was given low status and little training was provided in adult education skills. There is no explanation of the apparent contradiction between this conclusion and Mushi’s opening statement of the Nyerere inspired national political decision to use adult education initiatives as a key to rapid social and economic Change. There is a hint that the established professions were not fully committed to the adult education initiatives and that the resources required were underestimated.

Mushi concludes that successful adult education programmes require a network of trained agricultural education facilitators. Enthusiastic participation depends on careful identification of training needs and courses designed to meet local demands.

These proposals will increase costs and there is the implied conclusion that adult education initiatives are not a low cost option nor likely to produce specific results.

Mushi also suggests a more profound cause of the difficulties experienced by Tanzania’s adult education programmes. There was an inevitable tension inherent in the attempt to use for very specific objectives a method of education which relies on voluntary consent and which is intended to empower the learners.
John Arnold

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA. Thomas Pakenham. Wiedenfeld. £20.

This is a splendid book roughly covering the last quarter of the 19th century and the very early years of the 20th. Pakenham’s canvas 1 s vast. The eventual colonial powers – Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany – carved up by black Africa in about a generation and this 750 page book details almost every aspect of this unedifying scramble. North, South, East and West Africa are covered in separate chapters and an excellent chronology at the back gives details of the timetable. This whole scene unfolds like a Bayeux tapestry.

The East African segments, and in particular the German East Africa and Tanganyika sections are well documented. The role of the missionaries in early days and the focal part played by Zanzibar as the most prosperous port between the Suez Canal and Durban are clearly outlined. For example, the Abushiri Revolt in 1888, mainly centred on Pangani, was as much against the Sultan of Zanzibar as against the high-handed actions of the agents of German imperialism.

The Maji-Maji rebellion in 1905/6 mainly occuring in the Southern part of what is now Tanzania, is also dealt with in detail. Pakenham’s description of Kinjikitile as “not a true nationalist or even a revolutionary” wil1 not be agreed to by everybody. The Germans as colonialists come in for a fair amount of criticism, especially Car1 Peters, and to balance the report it might have been fairer also to emphasise many of their other activities in German East Africa – the build-up of Dar es Salaam as a port, the construction of the Central and Tanga line railways and the research station at Amani come to mind – the latter was years ahead of any equivalent in Kenya and Uganda.

The book rather peters out with an “epilogue” scrambling-out 1957- 68. There is scope here for another albeit shorter book but we shall probably have to await final developments in South Africa before Thomas Pakenham can address himself to this period.

To anyone with a deep purse or access to a really large public library end some time to spare, I can thoroughly recommend this book.
Hugh Leslie

ROBIN LAMBURN – FROM A MISSIONARY’S NOTEBOOK: THE YAO OF TUNDURU AND OTHER ESSAYS. Noel Q. King and Klaus Fiedler with Gavin White (eds). Saarbucken; Verlag Brietenbach Publishers 1991. C240pp). ObtaInable for £10 in banknotes and £2 in British stamps from Dr K Fiedler, Virchowstr 15. D – W 4030 Ratlngen 8, Germany.

This is a much awaited publication of essays by Canon Lamburn. Nowadays, he 1s well known for his work at Kindwitwi Leprosy Village in Rufiji District. However, Lamburn spent over thirty years as a priest in Masasi Diocese in southeast Tanzania, where he arrived in 1930 as a young missionary with the Universities Mission to Central Africa. It is with this period of his life that the book is primarily concerned.

Most of this publication is taken up by Lamburn’s book “The Yao of Tunduru”, which was written in the 1960′ s and previously unpublished in English. There is also a substantial essay on Islam in East Africa and two shorter essays, one on witchcraft in Rufiji District and the other on the Church and medical work. A transcript of Lamburn’s short address on receiving the Albert Schweitzer prize in 1985 is also included.

The primary importance of this book is as a historical document of a unique missionary-African encounter that took place in the Diocese of Masasi in the first half of this century. Lamburn himself played a Significant part in this. It is here that Bishop Vincent Lucas encouraged the successful establishment of Christianised versions of Traditional African initiation rites. Lucas wanted to establish a Church rooted in rural African life in which the Church offered its own Christianised versions of traditional rituals. Lamburn himself served closely under Lucas and was deeply influenced by his views. This is reflected in these essays. In fact, Lucas’s papers and notes form a Basis for much of the ”Yao of Tunduru”.

The “Yao of Tunduru” itself provides much ethnological and historical material on the Yao, especially on their traditional rituals and beliefs. This material is not analysed in any systematic way, but it will be a useful supplement to the studies of Yao society and history by Clyde-Mitchel, Alpers and others. However, it is not intended for an academic audience, but rather for other missionaries and African Christians grappling with problems of how to approach traditional African religion and Islam. The dialogue between his respect for African culture on the one hand and his Christian commitment for evangelism on the other is reflected in all the essays. While Lamburn has a deep respect for traditional Yao society he does not romanticise it to the same extent as Lucas was prone to. In his essay on Islam, Lamburn advocates that missionaries should show much Greater respect for Islam. However, he is very critical of the impact that Islam has had on the peoples of Southern Tanzania.

Noel King, one of the editors, has written a useful introduction to the book, providing a short 1ife history of Lamburn and a brief discussion on the theogica1 background to the policies of Lucas and Lamburn. Klaus Fiedler, the other editor, has written a concluding paper comparing the different attitudes to African culture found among other missionaries in East Africa but this is too brief for an adequate comparison to be made. A comprehensive bibliography is included at the end of the publication.

This is a very readable book that 101111 be of great interest to those studying both mission history in East Africa and the ethnography and history of the Yao and their neighbours. It will also, of course, be welcomed by the many people who have come to know and respect Lamburn through his work at Kindwitwi.
Andrew Clayton

DISARTICULATION AND POOR INCENTIVE PROGRAMMES IN AFRICAN ECONOMIES. THE CASE OF THE SISAL INDUSTRY. Hassan Omari Kaya. Verlag Schreiber Publishers. Berlin 1989. About £5.00.

Dr Kaya has written the sort of booklet (76 pages, including many tables) which one would expect from an academic studying the history and problems of the sis8l industry from the comfort of a University chair, rather than from the driving seat of a tractor.

The historical chapter at the beginning, stressing aS it does the reasons for the development of colonial agricultural products such as sisal, cotton, cocoa etc. at the behest of the erstwhile colonial powers is well illustrated and documented.

It is when Dr. Kaya attempts to explain away the severe decline of the sisal industry in Tanzania, after independence and nationalization, that his views become more controversial. Many of the facts he produces are selective: for example there is no mention of the private sector Amboni Spinning Mill at Pongwe, the best managed mill in East Africa, although the book was published in 1989. Furthermore it would have been interesting to have compared the development of peasant ‘Lake Sisal’ in Tanzania with the equivalent in Kenya – UHDS. At one point the rural economy of Tanzania was in such a parlous state that Tanzanian fibre was being smuggled across the border to Kenya to be brushed and bailed before being exported for U. S. Dollars, to the latter country’s financial and foreign exchange benefit.

A further example of this bias is the absence of any mention of the fact that during the sisal price boom in 1973 he Tanzania authorities arbitrarily reneged on low priced contracts and insisted on renegotiating at the higher market price. This single action, as much as anything, persuaded many European and American spinners of the long term advantages of turning to polypropylene twine using a locally available and stable priced raw material. The expensive attempt in the early 60′ s to develop ‘Nucleus’ peasant growing estates, alongside plantation estates is dismissed in one line probably because the disastrous results do not f1 t in with Dr’. Kaya’s views.

Recruitment is another area where more research would have lead Dr. Kaya to appreciate the benefit of the TSGA organization “Silabu” – disbanded as being too’ colonial’ soon after independence, but attempts were made by the TSA to revive it some 20 years later.

Even in a booklet of this short length, one would have expected to see a mention of the Tanzania developed sisal hybrid 11648, without which many plantations would have been unable to have maintained production in view of rising costs.

This is obviously a booklet written before Perestroika and Glasnost in the Soviet Union opened the eyes of socialists worldwide to the failures of over central planning. I can however certainly recommend it to those with a background and interest in the sisal industry but it would be more worthwhile if the second edition included more up to date statistics.
Hugh Leslie

‘AND SO THEY CALLED A KIVA’: HISTORIES OF A WAR by Justin Willis, Azania (British Institute in Eastern Africa). Vol XXV. 1990.

This article describes oral histories about the Kilindi ruling family’s loss in the 1860’s of the Shambaa kingdom in a uprising known as the’ Kiva’. Justin Wil11s has recently conducted fieldwork in the area between the eastern Usambara mountains and the coast, collecting more oral accounts of the Kiva war. He was told by his sources that the basis of the dispute which led to the uprising was essentially over the nature of ethnic identity. He found three widely known differing accounts of these events in the oral histories. Although one of them was already written down, this does not seem to have influenced his informants, who ignored it in the accounts they gave him.

The survey’s real interest is less in what it tells us about the Kiva rebellion but more about the nature of oral history. Willis’ informants were selective, giving accounts supporting their own Viewpoints on the rebellion. The conclusion is that the researcher’s initial task is not the unquestioning acceptance of some real historical truth in oral testimonies but the identification of self- interest which will influence the presentation by the informants.
Alex Vines.

LIBERATION THEOLOGY IN TANZANIA AND SOUTH AFRICA, A FIRST WORLD INTERPRETATION. Per Frostin, Studia Theologiea Lundensia 42 Lund University Press 1988. Pp.283. ISBN 91-7966-040-1.

Africa has become one of the most dynamic centres of Christianity during the latter half of the 20th century. Western Systematic theologians have however, on the whole, been unaware of the high level of theological contextualization which has been taking place. In choosing the South African and Tanzanian quests for a Christian theological identity, the author has highlighted but two important strands of these dynamic developments ie. a theology grown out of the experience of oppression on the one hand and that which has grown out of the search for a new social order. In both cases these developments have been determined by African as much as biblical values. The author, by using the term Liberation Theology, which in most minds has come to be identified with Latin American theological developments, has had to justify the use of the term and evolve what he calls a “new paradigm”, This he sees as a process which has evolved from local experiences, and social analyses to theological reformulations. In determining this process the author has explored the meaning of such concepts as Life-in- Community and wholeness of Life. He emphasizes that, in order for Western systematic theologians to arrive at a more appropriate understanding of “Liberation Theology” in the African context, general rules of textual analysis are of primary importance since much of Western theological work has been blighted by ethnocentricity. He emphasizes that the evolving theologies represent a new holistic paradigm in which faith in God, human liberation, economic justice and epistemology cannot be separated, but must be analyzed in relation to each other.

After an introductory chapter on the methodology of intercultural studies, the author takes up the analysis of “Theology in the Context of Ujamaa”. He begins by looking at “Ujamaa as Theological Context” where he first spells out Ujamaa as a philosophy of liberation, before noting its role within the process of liberation. This brings him to consider Ujamaa in relation to African Socialism, neo-colonialism and Marxism. In his section on “Community versus Selfishness” the author refers to the work of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) and, in particular, the writings of Charles Nyamiti, Laurenti Magesa, and Christopher Mwoleka. Of particular interest is his justification of and constant reference to Julius Nyerere’s writings. It is this “political” dimension of contextual theology which is symptomatic of Africa, for it is holistic, and not, as so often in Western theology, dualistic. Communal participation lies at the heart of this theology. It is not an anthropocentric, but an all inclusive theocentric theology expressed in Ireneus dictum, Gloria Deo, vivens homo (The glory of God is s human person fully alive). Theologically this is seen as a trinitarian model for human life in which solidarity, totality and participation reflect the triune God understood as a community, sharing in such a way that it is not a question of three gods, but One (John 17: 21), hence a humanity which is one community not divided by artificial barriers, particularly religious ones. The criterion for such a community is the common good It is in that kind of context the Church has to rethink its identity, recognize the value and strength of the small communities within the wider one, particularly in relation to the state.

The author, approaching the study from a Western perspective, by using western theogical tools, has succeeded in his aim to interpret some aspects of two Third World theologies to First World theologians. He has shown that it is impossible to understand the internal logic of the new theologies without interpreting them in relation to their overall experiential base. He has pointed out that these theologies integrate anthropology, economy, epistemology, poll tics and theology into a holistic approach. Through his work he has conscientized First World theologians to new dimensions of theology and should prove a help to Third World theologians as they continue to struggle theologically with their contexts.

The book is thoroughly documented, contains a thorough bibliography and a helpful index.
S. von Sicard

THE LARGER GRAIN BORER CONTROL PROJECT. September 1989 – Septemeber 1991. Hugh Frost. Unpub. 1992.

CONTROLLING THE LARGER GRAIN BORER. AN EXTENSION OFFICER’S EXPERIENCE AT GRASS ROOTS LEVEL. Oliver Puginier. Agriculture International 43. 7. July 1991.

These articles, both by VSO Crop Protection Officers, provide interesting new insights into what happened in the field during one of the longer term and more interesting of VSO’s contributions to Tanzanian development. Much has already been written about the Larger Grain Borer Beetle (Prostephdnus truncatus) or ‘Dumuzi’ as it is called in Kiswahili, and which has, through the benefit of human assistance in grain transport, become a devastating pest outside its endemic region in Central America.

Puginier describes how, even though pest control activities began immediately after the arrival of the pest in Africa, it remains a serious menace. He describes the research conducted to develop a variety of insecticide ‘cocktails’, their chemical composition, the hazard involved in using them, the introduction of the ‘Dumuzi Law’ in 1986 and the way in which VSO agricultural extension personnel operated in the Biharamulo district. He states that the main objective – the reduction of the status of the pest to an economically acceptable level has been achieved there.

Frost, in his final report to the authorities, describes in considerable detail the day to day extension work in Shinyanga District – the 31 village seminars which formed the backbone of the work, the demonstration of an improved version of the traditional storage structure (Kihenge cha Kisasa), the problems of insecticide distribution, the staff end farmer training and the costs (but not the cost benefit). He writes about the ‘Prevent Dumuzi’ T-shirts, the home-made posters, the transport of insecticide on the back of motorbikes, and the problems faced in distribution of credit. He stresses the importance of continuing to capitalise in the future on the work already done – DRB.

(There are 102 VSO volunteers working in Tanzania at present and, through VSO’s Sponsorship Scheme, individuals, organisations, trusts, companies etc can be linked directly with a serving volunteer. For further details please contact Anne Harrisson, VSO, 317 Putney Bridge Road. London SW15 2PN. Tel: 081 780 2266 Ext 266 – Editor)

AGRICULTURAL DECLINE IN TANZANIA. THE CASE OF THE ULUGURU MOUNTAINS.

Jan Kees van Donge. African Affairs. Vol 91, No. 362. January 1992. The author is a social scientist at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands and writes about the Mgeta Division on the western sid of the Uluguru Mountains above Morogoro. The main theme in the paper is that such distinctive areas (there are comparisons with Bukobe, Kilimenjaro and the Usambaras) do not fit in with the various explanations given in the literature for Tanzania’s agricultural decline based, as they are, on macro-economic planning and state policies. The Ulugurus are different. We learn about the disappearance of clear positions of authority, the fact that the Government’s villagisation policy hardly touched the area, the surplus of females, the decline in marriage, and that people ‘don’t grow old so quickly’ as they do in the cities.

In the last paragraph of a 1 and a half page Appendix on agronomy we learn that people in the area have accepted important agronomic changes since the 1950’s (pig keeping, compost making, irrigation and the cultivation of cooking bananas) but readers interested in the subject of the article ie: agricultural decline, need to look elsewhere – DRB.

CONTRIBUTORS

Mr JOHN ARNOLD served os on Administrative Officer in Tanganyika from 1959 to 1964. He later worked in the Adult Education Department of Southampton University and also took four study tours to Tanzania between 1975 and 1990.

Mr A. CLAYTON worked as a volunteer with the Anglican Church in Dar es Saloom and Kindwiti in 1981/82 and in anthropological fieldwork on the Makonde Plateau in 1988/89.

Miss CHRISTINE LAWRENCE worked as a Bursar of the Mahiwa Farm School in Tanganyika from 1965 to 1971. She is Treasurer of the Britain-Tanzania Society.

Mr HUGH LESLIE, whose father was a Member of the Legislative Council of Tanganyika, has spent 12 years in East Africa. He retired two years ago from the posts of Company Secretary and Managing Director of Wigglesworth, the fibre merchants.

Mr R. W. NEATH served in the Tanganyika administration from 1949 to 1962 and later moved to New York and Geneva where he was the Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

PROFESSOR J. S. READ is the Professor of Comparative Public Law with special reference to Africa in the University of London. He was a Senior Lecturer in Law in Tanzania from 1963 to 1966.

Mr ALEX VINES is the Africa Analyst for an international political risk consultancy. He has also worked as an archaeologist in Tanzania. Dr S von SI CARD is a Lecturer in the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham. He served in the Lutheran Church in Dar es Salaam from 1955 to 1968.