AFRICA – MY SURGERY. Leader Stirling (former Minister of Health in the Tanzanian Government). Churchman Publishing Ltd. Worthing and Folkestone. £4.95.

Leader Stirling’s story spans a period from his pre-first-world war childhood until 25 years after Tanzanian independence. His autobiography makes compulsive reading.

After sewing up the burst abdomen of his teddy bear while still in the nursery, we proceed through student days to his qualification as a doctor in 1929. The rigours of giving birth ‘on the district’ i.e. in the homes of the East End of London, are graphically described. The early chapters are slightly tedious, but once Dr Stirling reaches his training in clinical work and qualification the narrative has the quality of a novel by A.J. Cronin, both in content and writing. The reader is not spared clinical detail. Technical terms are used freely – eg .. the child “who developed sceptic thrombosis of his lateral sinus, and so pyaemia … ” This may prepare us for the more gory details of the animal injuries he later encountered in Tanzanian rural hospitals.

Descriptions of his early days in Africa in the Southern Province of Tanganyika are hair-raising. The operating theatre “was an open-work bamboo building with a grass roof and every gust of wind filled it with dust and dead leaves. A hen had also found its way in between the bamboos and was nesting quietly in the corner. There was no running water and no lighting except for oil lamps”. Many of the conditions he had to treat were horrific due to the distances patients had to travel to get medical help. The accounts of his journeys on foot or bicycle; sometimes at night, in response to emergency calls bear witness to his incredible stamina.

“The Dirty Game” heads the first chapter about Dr. Stirling’s entry into politics and here I have to part with him. Whatever one thinks about colonialism, in fact, most Africans accepted it without rancour at least until the middle fifties. It is true that it was due to the “…political dedication and consummate skill of our leader Julius Nyerere … that independence was secured peacefully” but an important part was played by the last Governor Sir Richard Turnbull, who is not mentioned, but who was chosen by the British Government with the purpose of working with Julius Nyerere to being about independence.

Two matters regarding registration of nurses and doctors require comment. On page 37 we read of Indians with “unregistrable qualifications”. These were, in fact, Asian doctors, of whom there were many in Tanganyika, qualified in India but whose degrees were not recognised in Britain or her colonies. Soon after Tanzania became independent they were fully registered as doctors. They were experienced men from whom more than one green young fully registered English doctor learnt much.

The Grade B nurses are described on page 153 as “..second class nurses simply because they were trained in their own country …” Any difference in the syllabus apart, no mention is made of the fact that their basic education was to middle school level only whereas the English nurses had GCE or its equivalent. Maybe it is not important but lack of basic education applies, of course, also to the “upgrading scheme” described on pages 130-131.

The later chapters are perhaps the most important in the book. Dr. Stirling presses for proper care for some of the cinderellas of the African medical services; patients with mental illnesses, leprosy etc. Then there is a chapter on primary health care, the “in thing” for the past 15 or 20 years, which Dr. Stirling rightly points out “we had been giving in Tanzania for the last 50 years or more”.

Altogether this is an excellent book. If parts read to those of us who were in Tanzania at the time like the writings of a politician, well, that is what the author acknowledges them to be.
Ursula Hay

TREVOR HUDDLESTDN. Essays on His Life and work. Edited by Deborah Duncan Honore. Oxford University Press. £14.95.

The Oxford University Press have produced this book of personal reminiscences and essays covering the main spheres of Trevor Huddleston’s life and work on the occasion of his 75th birthday in June 1938. Of course it cannot be a full biography of his life, for he is as strenuously active as ever in the leadership of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Defence and Aid Fund, not to speak of his active chairmanship of the Britain-Tanzania Society and much more. But the man shines through these essays encompassing the areas and materials of his major concerns – in South Africa as priest in Sophiatown, so movingly pictured by Desmond Tutu, in Tanzania as Bishop of Masasi, in Stepney, in Mauritius, and now in the continuing struggle for justice in South Africa.

Those in the Britain-Tanzania Society will of course be drawn by the chapters on Tanzania by Julius Nyerere, Roger Carter (on Anglo: Tanzanian Relations Since Independence) and Terence Ranger (on Trevor Huddleston in Masasi). But the book should draw us as a whole if we are to grasp his courage and his integrity and his power to discern the heart of the matter in each of these situations and understand their background so vividly described and the problems so well discussed in these essays.

Here is Trevor carrying his Christian faith into the thick of the struggle for human dignity and respect against the powers of racialism, poverty, class, even of competing churches and faiths which so disastrously divide and may lead to violence. And unlike many prophets and campaigners he carries a power of friendship for us all, of every race, creed and age, and the abounding sense of fun (most of it at his own expense), which we have all joyfully experienced at our meetings and beyond.

At the centre is Trevor’s urge to break through the barriers that divide (see the delightful pictures of him enjoying the company of children in Masasi and Stepney). And if we need a bit of stretching of our horizons try the chapter by Pauline Webb on ‘The New Ecumenism’ in which through experience beginning with tribal beliefs in Tanzania and coming to flower in Mauritius he turns from the traditional exclusiveness of the Church to find in other faiths, tribal, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist not only a respect but a bond in the search for spiritual and human values and a new light on his own Christian belief. Bernard de Bunsen

SOLOMAN AND THE BIG CAT. A play presented at the Young Vic. June 8-25,1988.

Soloman and the Big Cat is about a schoolboy called Soloman in Tanzania. People thought that there were no leopards there but Soloman found two leopards, a mother and a baby while he was running his usual five miles to school. The rest of the story tells how Soloman and the Game Ranger try to protect the African poachers.

I thought the acting was very good especially as there were only six actors to take the parts of the many animals and characters that were in it. The costumes were also very good and the masks for the leopards were brilliant.

I thought the play was very exciting and worth watching. Harriet Benton (aged 9)

This play was given such an outstanding review in the Independent (“It is, quite simply, the best children’s play I have seen” – Alex Renton) that we asked Christine Lawrence, who also saw it, to give us a second opinion. Here are her comments – Editor.

It was exciting to find this very Tanzanian children’s play in the middle of London. Before the performance the cast were able to sit on the edge of the stage and chat informally with the children so that a link between performer and audience was established from the start.
There was practicaly no scenery but clever use was made of lighting and a large screen at the back of the stage. At one point the Serengeti migration of thousands of animals moved across the scene and while Soloman had a nightmare about poachers a kaleidoscope of coloured patterns swirled dizzily around.

The play was made topical and true to Tanzanian tradition by the inclusion of a refugee schoolgirl from Mozambique and by giving Soloman a ‘big brother’ who is an Olympic marathon runner. (Two Tanzanian marathon runners, Juma Ikangaa and John Bura have recently qualified for the Olympic Games in Seoul). Big brother does not actually take part in the play but is a constant inspiration to Soloman as he runs to school and elsewhere.

The simplicity of the production, something like a superior game of charades, made it easy for children to follow but in no way did it detract from the creation of atmosphere. Our emotions were constantly stirred. We worried about the two leopards, (first caught in snares and later pursued by poachers); we loved Soloman and agonised or rejoiced with him and prayed that he would resist the bribery and threats of the poacher’s boss, a slick, sun bespectacled city-type. At various points we laughed, especially during the first school scene with Soloman repeatedly trying to tell about the leopards and being repeatedly ‘squashed’ by the school mistress; when various animals appeared (played by people); and, at the sight of a remote-controlled toy Landrover journeying across the stage (recalling to my mind those home made toys made by African children).

The climax was superb. Soloman discovers that the poachers know the whereabouts of ‘little Africa’ (the smaller leopard) who has become pregnant. He does a marathon run to fetch Ranger Filbert from the Serengeti but they arrive back too late to save both leopards from being shot dead. There is a terrible moment of despair but this is turned to joy when two tiny living cubs are taken from little Africa’s dead body, The poachers, of course, are caught. Soloman is a hero.

NYERERE OF TANZANIA: THE LEGEND AND THE LEDGER. UFSI Reports 1987/No 3. pp13. US$ 3.50

In the mid-Sixties Gus Liebenow found Dar es Salaam one of the cleanest cities in Africa, its port charming, and its citizens honest and industrious. He expands on this romantic view by describing the University at that time as a modern Camelot where Tanzanian scholars met with a host of radical expatriate academics. At the Round Table they set about constructing a new development strategy based on the concept of African Socialism in what is described as one of the most intellectually stimulating campuses in Africa.

Gus Liebenow was shocked when he returned to Tanzania in 1986. He observed dilapidated taxis; decaying streets, pavements and buildings; uncleared garbage; sanitation and water supply inadequacies. He noted reports in the Daily News of cholera outbreaks, neglect of duties by Government employees; increasing incidence of AIDS; food and cash crop smuggling; striking sugar cane workers killed by Field Force Unit police; public sector inefficiency, laxity and dishonesty.

What went wrong? According to this highly readable and concise survey, pretty much everything. The problems are judged to have begun with pre-Colonial Arab influence on the mainland followed by 70 years of German and British rule. Adverse economic factors beyond the control of the Government such as climate, falling commodity prices and higher oil bills in the 1970’s are cited. Then there were costly political events such as the break-up of the East African Community and the war with Uganda. Much of the blame is placed on the Socialist development strategy, which is considered ill – judged and disastrously implemented. While the Left seeks to explain the failure by claiming that the strategy has not really been socialism at all, Gus Liebenow observes that in June 1986 the remarkably open, self-critical and pragmatic Tanzanians moved to begin winding up the great experiment in African Socialism.

It’s tempting to continue Gus Liebenow’s imaginative Morte D’Julius analogy. Much of the time in Camelot was spent in organising a fruitless search for the Holy Grail. The downfall of the fellowship and high i deals of the Round Table came about when the trusted Sir Lancelot betrayed King Arthur by kissing Queen Guinevere. Who should be cast in these roles – is Lancelot the state bureaucracy and Queen Guinevere inefficiency and petty corruption – or is Lancelot Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Queen Guinevere the IMF?
Michael Hodd

LABOUR AND POVERTY IN RURAL TANZANIA. Ujamaa and Rural Development in the United Republic of Tanzania. Clarenden Press: Oxford, 1986. pp 143.

This is a small book with great pretensions. Aiming to provide an up-to-date assessment of Tanzania’s experience in rural development (a big subject) it claims to provide “a basis on which many of the current controversies can at last be solved empirically”. This it certainly does not do, even if it provides some interesting statistical results worthy of further investigation. Its claim to superiority is its application of econometrics, based on a sample here of 600 households drawn from over 8 regions in a range of different ecological situations . One might say that the results demonstrate both the advantages and the limitations of the approach. As far as the sample is concerned, it is nevertheless concentrated in a curve along the East and Centre of the country from Tanga through Dar es Salaam to Dodomaa : Sukumaland and most of the West and the South East are omitted. At the same time there are problems associated with bringing together households taken from villages within agro-ecological zones which vary greatly and considering them as a group.

The core chapter is on peasant differentiation which is found to be substantial – not in itself an original finding . The interesting result here is that, despite the range of conditions from which the sample is drawn, only 15% of inequality is accounted for by inter-village variation, 85% being due to variation within villages irrespective of location. Looking at the cause of this variation in income per adult equivalent, this turns out to be differences in non-labour endowments. Of the total variation 44% is due to crops, 21% to livestock and 30% to non-farm income. To illustrate the criticism made earlier, there are difficulties here in analysing the livestock factor since livestock play very different roles in different areas of Tanzania, being virtually absent, for instance, in the South East. Access to crops such as coffee is important in respect of cash crop income and here the results may disguise differences in the quality of land owned, coffee land being a very different kind of asset from that in the lowlands. There is no discussion in the book of correction for land quality. The variation in crop income is ascribed to differences in the use of inputs , associated itself with greater income, which also is thought to generate a greater willingness to assume risks, rather than any difference in land or labour availability.

There is some useful hard data on the economics of the communal plot, which is the focus of Ujamaa. As much as 20% of total labour time is spent on the communal shamba, although output yielded per household is only some 28 shillings from individual plots, implying a substantial opportunity cost.

The authors summarise with a strongly negative view of the Tanzanian economy in which “Rural isolation is compounded by a poor transport system and limited availability of even the most basic goads. In this way, Tanzania’s economy is in sharp contrast with many other peasant economies which are characterised by a dense network of market transactions and a wide variety of economic activities”. The implication is that this is largely the consequence of rural and development policies adopted, including Ujamaa. It is probably an exaggerated picture which fails to take adequate account of regional variations within Tanzania and the handicaps of infrastructure and climate with which it has to contend.

Nevertheless the statistical vigour of the approach followed, the hypotheses put forward for testing, and the variety of individual findings derived present a challenge first to establish a broader statistical base to the data, along the lines of Kenya’s Integrated Rural Surveys, and secondly, to explore them in more detail at the level of each agro-economic zone.
Ian Livingston

TANZANIA AFTER NYERERE: ed. Michael Hodd, Pinter Publishers, London and New York. 1988.

This book presents in abbreviated form some of the papers submitted at a conference under the same title held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in June 1986. At the time of the conference it was fully expected that the chapter of Tanzanian history coinciding with the influence and leadership of Julius Nyerere would come to a close in the following October on his final retirement from the Chairmanship of the Party. But his unexpected re-election to office for a further five years means that this collection of essays must now be regarded as an interim report rather than an epilogue. From the title one would have also expected a tinge of prophesy, but mercifully nearly all the contributors have wisely avoided any such endeavour. Only one, taking his life in his hands, has concluded that ‘an authoritarian state, gravedigger of democracy, is appearing’. Well, we will see.

As an account of various facets of the Tanzanian experience during the years of Nyerere’s presidency the book has much to commend it. All the essays are short and most of them reproduce in summary form the gist of accumulated knowledge without too much partisan treatment. There are, however, two aspects of the history of the period that, though not entirely absent, might profitably have received greater emphasis.

One is the issue in which the evolution of policy reflected a learning process. An example is to be found in the changing attitude towards legislation. In the sixties there was certainly a naive belief that Government had only to issue an order and the desired result would ensue. Today there is a clearer perception of the limits of Government power and of the importance of a longer perspective. The relaxation of price controls was not simply obedience to the IMF, but a recognition of their futility in times of dire scarcity, when the alternative market takes over. It would be unfair to attribute these changing perceptions solely to a learning process in a young democracy. Some aspects of policy, such as the belief in capital intensive agriculture, at the time was conventional wisdom, shared by so-called experts everywhere. We must not overlook the fact that we, too, are learning.

The other feature of the period under examination was the personality of Nyerere himself. This is touched upon by one or two writers, but deserves wider recognition. Nyerere is after all a giant of a man, not only in his own country, but also the world over. His utter incorruptibility, his frugality amidst poverty and above all his readiness to admit mistakes, failures and shortcomings were certainly part of the secret of his great moral influence. As a factor in the history of the period it is characteristically difficult to assess, but it is nevertheless undeniably an important component.

It is a pity that the book retains quite a number of printing errors, a few of them significant, such as a statistic that accidentally loses the word ‘million’. The use of initials and acronyms without explanation is also unfortunate. But there is good stuff in this book and I commend it to your readers.
J. Roger Carter

TANZANIA CRISIS – NORDIC VIEWS

Tanzania: Crisis and Struggle for Survival. Edited by Jannik Boesen, Kjell J. Juhani, Koponen and Rie Odgaard, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden. 1986. (distributed by Almqvist and Wiksell Ihternational. Stockholm) 325pp. Sw Crowns 185 (approx. £18.50)

This is an important book. It provides key insights to the underlying causes of the crisis, especially how different policies could have shielded the country from the worst effects of the world economic recession which has affected all countries – the less developed countries more than most.

The book consists of 16 papers written by Nordic scholars with many years of experience working in Tanzania, covering population growth, macro-economic policy, various aspects of agriculture (including agro-pastoralism and pastoralism), manufacturing industry (both. large and small scale), rural water supply and health services. They criticise the aid policies of Nordic governments (and other external advisers and aid agencies) as much as Tanzanian policies, wrong decisions of the one often supporting those of the other. However, they explicitly distance themselves from ‘much of the latterday criticisms of Tanzanian policies’ and their claim to share ‘a basic sympathy with Tanzanian aims and ideals’ was clearly demonstrated in their approach. Thus, their criticisms are of the practical and constructive kind that can provide the basis for developing new policies to solve current problems and avoid similar crises in the future.

In fact, the overriding cause of the crisis (or the degree of its Intensity) brought out in virtually all the papers was the extent to which the Tanzanian Government, during the years following the Arusha Declaration, went in almost the diametrically opposite direction to the declared policy of socialism and self-reliance. Thus, the industrialisation programme was almost totally dependent on outside support and imported inputs . To keep industries running, even the bulk of the small industries established during this period, required ever more foreign exchange. Unfortunately, the world recession, with the declining prices of primary commodities upon which Tanzania was dependent for its foreign exchange earnings, together with the dramatic rise in interest rates, coincided with the time the accumulated debts from this exercise had to start being repaid. Meanwhile, the administrative apparatus, and other parts of the managerial and service sectors had expanded vastly, which increased the demand for financial resources at state level. At the very time the Government needed the peasants to produce more, every incentive had been taken away, through low producer prices to pay for the tasks the state had taken on. The increasingly overvalued exchange rate also went against self-reliant solutions, making imports of goods (technology, industrial and agricultural inputs and consumer goads) cheaper than they otherwise would be , which undermined local supplies of these or substitutes.

Similarly, the approach to solving problems peasants faced was to make them more dependent on the state rather than more self-reliant. The excellent paper on rural water supply by Ole Therkildsen, For instance, showed how the Government committed itself to provide water supplies – a commitment in the end it could not fulfil – rather than supporting villagers to do it themselves. The technocratic approaches of Nordic and other agencies assisting the Government further undermined any steps towards self-reliant solutions. Recipients were the last people to be consulted, which itself is the antithesis of socialism.

Many of the papers showed that when the country had to be more self-reliant because there was no foreign exchange and a dearth of goods, it was the peasants and ordinary people rather than the policy makers who had the greater capacity to improvise and innovate in order to survive, developing their own local network of trade and barter to substitute for the unreliable and unrewarding state system. If socialism and self-reliance is to be put back on the agenda, the Government has to trust ordinary people to develop local solutions to local problems, and to create a stimulating macro-economic environment to enable them to do this. A start has already been made in the form of better producer prices. It is the organisation of production that has now to be tackled. The key to this is the newly created village structure. Unfortunately, most of the authors were rather negative about villagisation, blaming the policy for such things as environmental degradation, fuel shortages and long distances from fields. However, one may criticise the means used in some places, it is only by bringing people close together that true advantage can be taken of cooperation in production. Through cooperation, all those problems, and many others besides, such as financial support for village health workers, a crucial factor noted by Harald Heggenhougen, can be solved. But, above all, given the right sort of support to those who lack political and economic power, cooperation forms the basis for gradually increasing productivity and diversifying production, thus creating new financial resources in the hundreds of rural communities, Neither the authors of this book, nor the Government seem to have a very clear idea of the forms cooperation should take. Perhaps it should be left to the peasants and workers to work it out for themselves for a change – with a little help from their friends.
Jerry Jones

WILD FLOWERS
Collins Guide to the ‘Wild Flowers of East Africa. Michael Blundell. 1987. £12.95

Faced by a book describing 1,200 wild flowers, an amateur scarcely knows where to begin a review. However, when the three volumes of the Flora of Tropical East Africa are completed, this will probably cover about 11,000 species so one cannot but congratulate the producer of this present book on making a selection of plants which can be contained in a large pocket sized book. No doubt it will become essential to plant loving travellers and residents in East Africa.

Identification of plants is intended to be mainly from the beautiful colour photographs of which there are 864. Descriptions are given in reasonable botanical terms (there 1s a glossary and a guide to leaf and flower forms at the back of the book) and grouped together in families. Grasses and sedges are not included but flowering trees are. I was at first surprised to open the book and find the Baobab tree included but it does have a lovely white flower worthy of notice and quite unlike the tree’s massive form.

We must not expect to find in this book the ornamental flowering bushes which we are so familiar with, such as frangipani, Chinese hibiscus or jacaranda, as these are not classed as ‘wild’. Nevertheless, there are very many beautiful flowers to be found; some spectacular ones lie the Flame Lilly (Gloriosa superba) and others with fascinating form and colour.

Incidentally, the African Violet (Streptocarpus), I discover, actually does look like a violet when growing wild in East Africa (mostly in Tanzania)
Christine Lawrence

RAILWAY ENGINEER – GEOGRAPHER
Gillman of Tanganyika 1882 – 1946. The life and work of a pioneer geographer. B.S. Hoyle., Gower Publishing Company, Aldershot, 1987. 448 pp

This book has the unmistakeable feeling of a labour of love about it. The life and work of Gillman clearly has a consuming interest for the author, and, although it is Gillman’s contributions as a pioneer geographer which was perhaps uppermost in the author’s mind as he wrote the book, there is no doubt that he has succeeded in writing a book of wider appeal. Gillman was, after all, an engineer by training and spent much of his professional life working in railway construction and administration in Tanganyika. In addition, Brian Boyle is keen to place Gillman’s life and work in the social context of the time, and does this successfully at a number of places by quoting from Gillman’s diaries on his thoughts and Observations on colonial Tanganyika.

Like most of the pioneer geographers in the early part of this century, Gillman received no formal training in the subject, but like many, he had a good eye for landscape observation and an enquiring mind, especially on the question of man-land relationships. Hoyle attributes the start of Gillman as a geographer to his ascent of Kilimanjaro in 1921, which provided the basis for a paper which he presented to the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1922. From this eventually developed his three main geographical interests, which went on to dominate his writing in the future, namely the problem of soil erosion; the provision of reliable water-supplies; and population issues, especially interrelationships with the first two. Indeed, probably his best known contribution to geography was the population map of Tanganyika published in 1935, although Boyle maintains that the vegetation map published in 1949, years after his death, was probably the finest of his achievements. But Gillman’s geographic interests were wider than man-land relationships however: for example, Gillman, the railway engineer, recognised the importance of the railway in promoting regional economic development, and not just simply as an exploitative mechanism.

As his reputation as a geographer grew internationally. Gillman did not, however, forget his Tanganyika roots. He was heavily involved in the establishment of Tanganyika Notes and Records in 1936, and in the establishment of what was then the King George V Memorial Museum, opened in 1940, the fore-runner of the National Museum of Tanzania. However, more significantly, Gillman was of the view that knowledge should be of practical value; in Tanganyika’s case, it should therefore contribute to what we would today call the development process. Indeed, it is this and especially his consuming interest in man-land interrelationships which make Gillman a geographer ahead of his time. Perhaps where his weakness lay was in not developing new methods for geographic enquiry which might have given even greater insight into some of the issues he raised.

This reviewer enjoyed the book, and not just as a geographer. Some of the old photographs and re-drawings of old maps were fascinating; the book is well-referenced and well-indexed for those wishing to go further; and the text is generally interestingly written, although the density of type-set on some pages seems daunting. A weakness was perhaps the feeling that the picture of Gillman the man was still a little hazy. For instance, how did a complex set of personal circumstances (born of a British father and German mother, educated in Germany, but English by nationality (sic)) influence his attitudes towards life in a country which was first German and subsequently British. At the very least, it would seem that there must be some confused loyalties. Perhaps Gillman was too private a man to put any such thoughts into his diaries.

Overall, this is a worthwhile read, and this reviewer is sure that many of the Society’s members will enjoy it.
John Briggs.

RURAL MEDICAL AIDS
The Effects of Finnish Development Cooperation on Tanzanian Women. Report 2 – 1985 B. Finnish Aid to the Tanzanian Health Sector. Paivi Kokkonen. University of Helsinki, Institute of Development Studies. 1986.

In the early 1970’s Finland made a major contribution to the health sector in Tanzania by constructing eleven training schools for Rural Medical Aids (R.M.A.’s), which have been responsible for training three quarters of this grade of health worker in the country. Each R.M.A. is based at a dispensary, which provides primary health care for an average population of 6-7,000. The R.M.A. is assisted by a Mother and Child Health Aide (M.C.H.A.), a Health Assistant, and in come villages by unpaid Village Health workers. The R.M.A. is supported by the District Medical Officer, who is based at the District Hospital and is responsible for up to four Health Centres (each with a few beds, and a Medical Assistant in charge), and up to 20 Dispensaries. The work of the dispensary health team is directed mainly towards preventive measures, which include adequate water supplies, sewage disposal, and nutrition. In addition to home visits, maternity and child health clinics, the R.M.A’ s provide simple treatment for the diarrhoeal diseases, for common conditions such as malaria, and for the relief of pain. More serious clinical problems are referred to health centres or hospitals.

This report attempts to evaluate the effect which this provision of R.M.A.’s has had on the health of a few selected communities; and particularly on the health of the women. Whilst conclusions are necessarily subjective, the report does focus on some of the reasons why, in spite of the provision of buildings and training schools, the level of health care remains less than satisfactory. The reasons include lack of resources and problems connected with the social and cultural environment.

Lack of money has limited supplies of books, and fuel for reading Lamps, refrigerators and transport. Consequently, vaccines and drugs are often in short supply. Since this report was written, the introduction of the Extended Programme of Immunisation (E.P.I.), and of the Essential Drugs Programme (E.D.P.) both of which are funded externally. has improved this situation in some areas. Shortage of cash in the family means inadequate clothing to protect children in the wet windy weather of the Southern Highlands where the temperature sometimes reaches zero and where open fires all too often result in horrifying burns in babies and in epileptics. Lack of money has also contributed to the difficulty of implementing the practical period of training which is spent in a village community. Whilst the proportion of funds allocated to the primary health care sector in Tanzania is said to have increased in 10 years from 20% to 40%, more than half of the recurrent health expenditure in 1980 was devoted to the maintenance of hospitals. The author states that the cost of building one 200 bed hospital is the equivalent of building 15 health centres, and that the cost of training one doctor (physician) is the equivalent of training 24 R.M.A.’s.

The author believes that the R.M.A. school curriculum has instilled a suitable emphasis on preventive as compared with curative activities. Most R.M.A.’s who were questioned appeared to be well motivated to participate in the Maternity and Child Clinics, and to supervise public health and health educational activities in the villages. However, she suggests that the curriculum should include an introduction to the social and behavioural sciences. Oddly, there is hardly any reference in the report to the influence of the traditional healers and birth attendants in the community; nor to the large volume of psychological and psychosomatic illnesses, of which the R.M.A. should be made aware, and whose treatment the R.M.A. may with advantage share with traditional healers.

The report suggests that the relatively poor health of women (as indicated by out patient attendances) is a consequence of the status of women in the village community. In addition to the burden of raising a large family, women are said to be responsible for 70% of food production, 100% of food processing. and 80-90% of fetching fuel (wood) and water. Except where women earn money for themselves by brewing beer, the man handles money earned from the sale of cash crops. He may, (and often does) spend it on himself (in the form of alcohol) rather than on food and clothing for his children. The author describes the disturbing paradox that, in such families, malnutrition is more apparent than in those families that grow subsistence crops. It is suggested that the health team should play their part in promoting family spacing, projects which would save women’s labour and ways in which women could earn money for themselves – other than brewing beer.

The status of women in society is also partly responsible for the small proportion of women R.M.A.’s (4-25% in different training schools).

Many of the villagers who were questioned about their perceptions of the health workers’ functions, stated that they looked to the M.C.H.A. for preventive services (clinics, immunisation, etc.), but to the R.M.A’s for curative services. However, I was delighted to read that “overall R.M.A.’s hold a positive perception of women”!

On the whole therefore, the project found that Finnida’s contribution to the health of women through the development of R.M.A. training schools, has produced the necessary infrastructure in the form of buildings and suitably motivated personnel, but that implementation of the objectives has been hampered by lack of funds and by the prevailing negative status of women in the community as a whole. P.M. Weston, FRCS.

“ENERGY FOR ALL”. Researched, written, designed and produced by Martin Bibby and colleagues. Published by the Development Education Centre, 38 Klrkgate, Cockermouth CA13 9PJ

The Britain-Tanzania Society has recently received a series of booklets from the Development Centre in Cockermouth, Cumbria. The booklets are basically intended for use in secondary schools in Britain but because the intention is to take a global view of energy requirements there are many comparative references to the developing countries, including several references to Tanzania, which will be of interest to readers of the Bulletin.

The various types of fuel in common use in Tanzania are described and their advantages and disadvantages are analysed. An interesting comparison between charcoal making in Cumbria (which continued until 1945) and in the developing world is made, together with descriptions of three stone cooking and a wood burning stove constructed by students of Whitehaven School during a visit to Tanzania in 1986. Many members will remember the accounts of the students’ activities during that visit. Apparently the stones in the three stone cookers are heated to 400 degrees centigrade. Of interest, too, is a table of “Wood as % of total energy consumption” by countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Tanzania at 94% is easily the heaviest consumer of wood which means that electricity, coal, kerosene and petrol only account for 6% of the total energy consumed. However, various new developments are discussed including a biogas plant at Moshi.

AI though the Tanzania references occur in several different booklets, the general impression is of a very well organised global survey of the various types of energy and its associated problems of food production, diet and conservation which involves equally the industrial as well as the non-industrial countries.

Copies of the booklets can be obtained from: Cumbria Schools World Development Project,
Development Education Centre,
38 Kirkgate, Cockermouth,
Cumbria CA13 9PJ
R.C. Honeybone

SLAVES, SPICES AND IVORY IN ZANZIBAR. Abdul Sheriff. James Currey, London; Heinemann, Kenya; Tanzania Publishing House; Ohio University Press, Athens. Cased copies £25; Paper £9.95

When I was asked to review this book I pointed out that I was a very slow reader and that the time I was being given for the task was, by my standards, very short indeed. The answer was that not only did it read very easily but that the subject matter was so fascinating that I would not want to put it down. Both suppositions have proved true and I must say that everything about the appearance and format of this welcome book whets one’s appetite for what one hopes is to come: the clarity of the print, the ease and grace of the language, the range and quality of the tables and illustrations. By the time one has finished the Preface and Introduction one feels totally at home and very anxious to proceed, as the author has put his cards on the table to such an extent that one feels one can trust him. One knows that a Marxist view is being taken and can therefore make whatever allowances one needs to accommodate it in one’s own mental processes and historical background.

The cover of the book states that it provides a wealth of detail and meticulous analysis to assist in an understanding of the rise of Omani Zanzibar and its changing place in the world economy. This it certainly does.

There is an occasional overuse of jargon cliches, words and phrases: “ruthless” Portugese, “valiant” defenders, “liberated” country, “corrupt” monopolistic system, not to mention endless “social formations”. The “anti-slavery sentiments” of the Foreign Office which one would have presumed to be laudable, are, surprisingly stigmatised as “rabidly anti-slavery”; and when the author likes his source it is “stated” or “confirmed”; when he doesn’t (as on p42) it is “alleged”.

He is sometimes tautological, as on p.128 (“the commercial empire was economically vibrant but structurally fragile. Its economy was essentially commercial”); sometimes repetitive (same page: “Both the productive sector ……. and the transit trade sector were primarily dependent on international trade” ….. “Both sectors, however, were almost entirely dependent on international trade.”)

A fairly considerable amount of background knowledge is a great help. “Kimweri” appears out of the blue on p.173 and vanishes immediately, without trace; there will be not a few readers who have to pause and ask themselves who this can be. The Sangu appear for the first and last time in one reference on p.177; one wonders who they might have been. And even with a word like “Kazembe” it is not always easy to adjust promptly to the use it is being put to, whether person, position, place or people.

The organisation of the material and the marshalling of the arguments occasionally drop from the high standard of the work as a whole, as in the latter part of Chapter 2, where one is all too frequently told of the “hurricane of 1872” and the overproduction of cloves.

One would like a deeper analysis of some of the scorned slavery figures, like the 20,000 Capt. Moresby reports waiting in Zanzibar in the 1820’s.

While being willing to accept, for arguments sake , that it is movements rather than men which provide the groundswell of history, one cannot help but notice that by Chapter 5 it is individual men who make the running all the way.

In spite of appearances to the contrary, these are all comparatively small criticisms of a book which has been a real pleasure to read (and review), where the argument develops easily and is built up with a wealth and breadth of detail which adds to the general conviction. The index, notes and bibliography are excellent.
P.J.C. Marchant

William Ostberg, THE KONDOA TRANSFORMATION: COMING TO GRIPS WITH SOIL
EROSION IN CENTRAL TANZANIA. Research Report no. 76, Scandinavian Institute of Agricultural Studies, Uppsala, Sweden. 99p.

The problems of land degradation and conservation have been brought into the international limelight by the recent famines in the semi-arid regions of Africa. It is a matter of concern that there appears to be so little to show for the amount of effort that has gone into soil conservation. This is often because ‘the ideas and the techniques involved have not been taken up, or have even been actively opposed by the local farming population. It is thus very encouraging to read of a programme that has been successful because it has won the support of the farmers.

Kondoa became notorious in Tanzania for its extreme examples of soil erosion. Spectacular gullies scarred the hillsides, while broad sand rivers spilled over the agricultural land of the plains. The present soil conservation project, known as HADO (Hifadhi ya Ardhi Dodoma) began in 1973, but the transformation of the landscape dates from 1979 when cattle were excluded from the most severely eroded land; since then the vegetation has recovered rapidly, soil erosion has been greatly reduced, and formerly devastated land is being turned into productive farmland.

The author undertook a socio-economic study of the Kondoa eroded area during February and March 1955, and this report relates his findings to the history of the area and of the project. His analysis of the historical background takes us back to the 19th Century, and the demands placed on the countryside by the caravan trade. Since then the cultivated land area has increased with the growing population, and in particular, the “expansionist” agriculture of the dominant Rangi people. But perhaps the most serious problem has been the livestock that traditionally have been allowed to graze freely over all the land. Attempts at soil conservation during Colonial times led to the adoption of improved cultivation methods and rotational grazing schemes, but attempts at reducing the livestock population failed.

The HADO Project started on conventional lines. Land which was to be rehabilitated was closed to grazing. Then contour banks and check dams were built, and trees and grass were planted. Machines were used initially, but these were soon replaced by hand labour. By 1979 the project management realised that this job would take a hundred years, and it was expensive. The major benefit of all the work had been in fact the increased vegetation cover once the livestock was excluded. Therefore, why not exclude livestock from the whole eroded area for a limited period?

This was done. It succeeded despite the reluctance of the local people to part with their livestock, and there were confrontations; in one incident a HADO worker was killed. Other operations were also opposed. Plantations were sited on eroded land that had been cultivated previously; resentful farmers have burnt some of them. Gradually, however, people have come to see the advantages of the measures. Cultivators find that they can plant more land, some of which was formerly reserved for grazing, and with the improved vegetation cover and reduced runoff the lowlands have been restored to productivity. The plantations are becoming more popular as poles can be bought cheaply and firewood is free.

Now the project is considering how livestock can be re-introduced to the area without undoing all the progress that has been achieved, If this can be done there will be lessons in the HADO Project for soil conservation in many parts of Africa.

The report is well structured and easy to read. Sadly, it lacks a summary, though one can be obtained separately. As so much literature on development problems is not published by commercial publishers, it is important that work such as this is presented in a form which can be entered into the specialist databases that now cover the subject – a summary would therefore be invaluable.
A.J.E. Mitchell

WITCHCRAFT AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
When I was in Sri Lanka in November, I was very interested to learn the extent to which traditional medicine has been recognised for its contribution to society. There is a Minister of Indigenous Medicine in the Government and there are hospitals and clinics devoted to it. During the Parliamentary debate on the Minister’s budget in an otherwise deeply divided land, there seemed to be unanimity about the great value of indigenous medicine. Meanwhile in Tanzania, the Minister for Health and Social Welfare bas been underscoring the need to integrate traditional medicine into the national health care service. He was speaking at a seminar on traditional medicine in Arusha in October.
On my return to the UK my attention was drawn by my doctor brother to the following note in the British Medical Journal’s issue of 18th December 1986:
A patient brought up in a society in which medical care is provided by witchdoctors is likely to have a poor opinion of a Western physician who takes a long history. The witchdoctor “understands” and has no need to inquire – so to maintain plausibility his Western trained competitor must be intuitive and use his clinical experience to guess more than he bas been told. This and other insights come from a fascinating review from Tanzania (British Journal of Psychiatry), which emphasises that the psychiatrist must strive for empathy not just with the patient but also with his culture.
I asked Dr Marion Way if she could locate the article and review it for us. This is her review – Editor

J.S.Neki, B.Joinet, N.Ndosi, G.Kilonzo, G.J.Hauli, and G.Duvinage, “Witchcraft and Psychotherapy”, BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, August 1986 vol 149, pp 145-155.

This excellent review article describes the way in which witchcraft ideation serves a variety of social functions and is used in personal defence mechanisms. It is written by a multinational team of three Tanzanians and three expatriates (Indian, German, and French).

Witchcraft (ulozi) is defined as “mystical and innate power which is used by its possessor to harm people” and distinguished from sorcery (uchawi), defined as “evil magic against others employing herbs, medicines, charms etc.” (p. 145), although the two terms are frequently interchanged. The widely held belief in witchcraft by people of all educational backgrounds is explained as follows: ‘Witchcraft is a theory of causation: it does not deny natural or empirical causes, but seeks supernatural ones behind them. Two questions can be asked in the context of every misfortune: “how” did it happen?, and “why” did it occur at all? The ‘how’ is answered by empirical observation; the ‘why’, inter alia, by witchcraft. Even if our scientific understanding of the ‘how’ increases, it will still not be able to dispose of the ‘why’ of a misfortune. Hence the two beliefs may easily co-exist.”

Witchcraft thrives in a closed system of relationships and group values. It explains evil as coming through the malign influence of deviant or alien persons who my or my not be exercising their power voluntarily and who may not even be aware of it, as for instance if it is exercised in sleep. Witchdoctors are considered to be those with similar powers who use them to divine the source of evil and suggest remedies. Divination is used at times of disaster. Witchcraft has many sociodynamic uses: it prevents members of its community from transgressing the moral code; feigned or imputed witchcraft is used as a means of distancing unwanted social contacts: the witch is used as a scapegoat, and an outlet for repressed aggression; the witch acts as a buffer against social sanction.

Psychodynamic “uses” of witchcraft are mentioned: for example, as an explanation of weakness or failure, taking away responsibility so that feelings of guilt are unnecessary. Distrust and jealousy may be institutionalised through witchcraft, particularly where there is malice within the family. Probably the most controversial statement of the paper is that the super-ego or conscience is externalised into witchcraft so that guilt and sin are not inherently African concepts; shame occurs only after discovery, and witchcraft explains happenings, excusing all.

As witchcraft is a universally accepted idea in Africa, it inevitably becomes a significant factor in psychotherapy, and the therapist is liable to be categorised as a witchdoctor. All misfortunes may be attributed to witchcraft, but it is particularly likely in emotional problems with a sexual or sensory component. If witchcraft is presumed, there will be intense anxiety and foreboding. This fear may become so malignant as to lead to death.

In Psychiatry, witchcraft as part of a delusional system in psychotic illness has to be distinguished from the beliefs inherent in the prevailing culture. Delusions are less frightening, not shared by the family, not altered by traditional divination or corrective measures. They are accompanied by withdrawal and loss of contact with reality. In psychosis, witchcraft can be likened to a delusional belief in the power of electricity or radio waves.

Much of the advice given in the paper is common to all psychotherapy, e.g. a special strategy so as not to impose too close a proximity too quickly, advice on how to avoid confrontation with different traditions and belief; exercises to build up the patient’s confidence that he has some control over his own destiny; mirroring back thoughts and making a patient feel needed and useful; family therapy, relaxation therapy, role playing, modelling and dream interpretation: loss of face must be avoided at all costs and the patient’s autonomy has to be balanced with the group’s solidarity.

A short review cannot do justice to such an interesting paper which is relevant to all those in a counselling role. It stresses the need for understanding without which a therapist’s skills would be useless. Cultural empathy can only be gained by sharing life experiences on informal as well as formal occasions. It has been well researched and has 38 references from a wide range of disciplines, including Anthropology, Psychology and Psychiatry.
Dr. Marion Way

THE MAASAI
Saitoti , Tepilit Ole. THE WORLDS OF A MAASAI WARRIOR: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 1986. London: Andre Deutsch.

This work is a moving account of a Maasai whose life has been shaped by three chance events: his father’s decision to select him from among his large family to attend school; his appointment as park guide in Serengeti, giving him the opportunity of making friends among a variety of tourists; and his selection for the title role in the television film “Man of the Serengeti”, leading him to America and further education, which had eluded him in Tanzania. The narrative is shaped, however, by the author’s determination to pursue his opportunities at each stage. It is his ability to adapt himself to western culture that marks him out from most other Maasai who have attended school. They tend to be drawn back to their families and herds, whereas he utilised the responsibility and discipline instilled as a herdboy to apply himself towards an American degree in creative writing, having leapfrogged secondary schooling. His experiences have enabled him to translate an endearing aspect of Maasai culture for non- Maasai audiences. This is their panache for portraying encounters with the world and their inner feelings in evocative terms.

It is a brief but powerful story. The author has the facility of projecting his close identification with his family and culture by constant comparison and simile. He conveys his spontaneous wonder at the world as it opens up to him, in his childhood during the first stage of the book, and then on the path to success. His impressions of western society as a Maasai voyeur constantly recreates childhood images of the herds, the game, and the colour of Serengeti that seems to accompany him wherever he goes.

The author parades his growing worldliness and his catalogue of sexual conquests as might any Maasai. It is as though writing this work is for him what creating songs are for those who remain as warriors among the Maasai, and to this extent the title of the work is a pt. Yet the emotional highlights – the warm hugs and embraces – are not with any of his girlfriends, but with his brothers and sister sat each homecoming. The Maasai idiom keeps reflecting a homesickness that wells to the surface from time to time. The theme that threads through this narrative is not an account of warriorhood or age systems so often described for the Maasai, or even of the predicamnt faced by the Maasai in modern times. The compelling narrative is not really an account of the two worlds of a Maasai warrior, but of a developing relationship between a close family of brothers and sisters dominated by their father, who becomes increasingly difficult as he ages and yet retains a striking degree of affection among his children mixed with their fear. He is the central character who looms over the work, raining blows on his younger sons for any lapse in herding, and suspected of cursing an adult son to death for his attempt to assert some independence.

It is in this setting that the death of the author’s mother early in the work and of the older brother towards the end draw the family together and draw the author back from America and from his doubts concerning his identity as a cultural half breed. At intervals throughout the book one sees the development of the family as it grows and as rivalries develop between huts, and between generations. Apart from the father, it is the character sketch of the family as a whole rather than of individuals that provides the thread of continuity. Their slender mortality as individuals is offset by their loyalty to the persistence of the family itself. It is a family familiar to those who have seen “Man of the Serengeti” or Carol Beckwith’s collection of photographs in “Maasai” (1980) with which the author collaborated, and some of these photographs are reproduced here.

The author returns home and the narrative ends where perhaps the world of new experience ends. He has encountered six years among the most powerful nation on Earth, riven with racial disharmony. What else is there to wonder at? Has he exhausted his repertoire for further works? or how will he develop this facility Re has for bridging his own culture?

Maasai warriorhood is impelled with ideals that are corrupted in middle age as family responsibilities and possessions grow. The final scene is of a quarrel with a surviving brother over the management of their branch of the family. It suggests the onset of life after warriorhood. The telling portrait will be one of the author in middle age (perhaps by one of his sons). It is such a work that will demonstrate finally whether he has remained a man of Serengeti and become a patriarch in his turn, or has fallen between two cultures after all.
Paul Spencer

COMMERCIALISATION OF MAASAI CATTLE
The Dally News recently published an item on the commercialisation of Maasai cattle. It wrote that at the 13th Scientific Conference of the Tanzania Society of Animal Production held in Arusha in November 1986 Mr George G. Hadjivayanis, an agricultural extension expert, had revealed fhe results of a study he had done in Morogoro region. “Commercialisation of cattle raised by the Maasai herdsmen is a serious threat to the tribe’s livestock economy and stability” he said. “The growth of the beef market in Tanzania is rapidly expanding and has the capacity to consume the whole Maasai flock in a brief period.” He said he found the problem of the Maasai livestock economy to be its lack of integration with the beef market and its simple herding “which has become obsolete”. Nowadays be said the Maasai herdsmen preferred to live in illusion and not to accept the reality of the fate converging on their nomadism. “Liquor has become the opium that gives the Maasai herdsmen the false confidence of their miseries” he added. Explaining the consumption patterns of the Maasai, he said the cultural aloofness of the Maasai nomads was a thing of the past and that they had developed a taste for western consumer items. “The Maasai consume the most fashionable items (such as) sunglasses, electronic watches, radios, bicycles, American caps, latest fashion shoes and all the paraphernalia of western decadence”, he added. – Editor

AFRICAN INDUSTRIALISATION
C. E. Barker, M. R. Bhagavan, P. V. Mitschke-Collende and B. V. Wield, AFRICAN INDUSTRIALISATIOB: TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE IN TABZANIA. Gower, 1986,

Very little high quality analytical work has been published in recent years on sub-Saharan economic development in general and industrialisation in particular. Sub-Saharan Africa is the least industrialised of the less developed regions of the world and only a handful of countries have the beginnings of a modern manufacturing sector – Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Cameroon. The authors of this study of Tanzanian industrialisation have differing disciplinary backgrounds and attempt jointly to develop a marxist political economy of the industrialisation process, arguing that “the particular form which industrial development takes in any country – and its dynamic role within the political economy of that country – is determined by a complex set of variables. These variables and their interrelationship, can only be understood within a historical framework of class formation in the country in question and the relationship of class to the means of production at any point in time. (p.xi)

The authors reject the once fashionable underdevelopment/ dependency perspectives and present a fair and balanced critique of the work of the late Bill Warren. They nevertheless reject Warren’s notion of the widespread development of independent domestic capitalisms in the Third World (the only exception in their opinion being India) and instead argue, although on the basis of very limited evidence, that industrial growth and diversification are occurring within the framework of capitalist relations and forces of production which “are being consolidated under the overall control of foreign capital” (p. 23). Domestic bourgeoises, backed by massive state support, are however emerging and consolidating their position in a number of countries.
In Tanzania, the authors identify a ruling class still in the making which is weak both in terms of its economic base and its management and technical capabilities in production, but stronger in its administrative abilities and control over the state apparatus. The future of this class is uncertain, however, and the authors do not speculate as to its longer-term development.

Individual chapters discuss the historical evolution of Tanzanian industrialisation, the structure of industry, the process of capital accumulation and surplus appropriation and the transfer of technology and industrial skills. There is an excellent discussion of the “class character” of consumption and much evidence is presented on the indirect transfer abroad of surplus by foreign capital in the post 1967 period. The authors accuse the Tanzanian Government of implementing an industrialisation strategy that has concentrated on export-orientated industries, and intermediate goods production with a high import content supplying mainly luxury and export production. No attempt has been made to establish a capital goods sector and few inter-industry linkages have been developed The choice of technology since 1967 has been left to the multilateral corporations with a consequent neglect of indigenous technological development The state has deliberately counteracted the practice of workers’ control of industry.

This is an excellent study that will hopefully provoke much discussion. Inevitably there are criticisms that can be made of it – it would have been useful to locate the analysis of industrialisation within a wider discussion of the overall development record of the Tanzanian economy; the bibliography is perhaps too selective; there are a number of infelicities of style – but it repays careful reading and it is to be hoped that it marks the beginnings of a new era in the study of Third World Industrialisation in general and Sub-Saharan African industrialisation in particular.
Dr Frederick Nixson

A ZOO WITHOUT BARS by T.A.M.Nash. published by Wayte Binding, 97 St James Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. £9.95 plus £l.50 p&p
On being given this book to review I wondered what made it worthy of a leatherbound edition of £55,00. Having read it I am reminded of a precious miniature portrait which is kept in a velvet lined box. It is in effect a microcosm of 5 years of one person’s life while he was Tsetse Fly Research Officer in Kondoa district of Tanganyika Territory from 1927-32. As such it is unique and a collectors item. The author says, “it is written for the reader who is interested in the living conditions, the wildlife, the peasant and the European characters who gave (him) so much to laugh at.” It is based on his 117 letters home and is generally non-technical and abounding in details of everyday life in the bush. In fact there are so many details and so many incidents that they are inclined to become overwhelming if the book is read for a long stretch. However as a lively record of bygone days it is very good indeed, and what emerges particularly is this young man’s tremendous vitality and ability to ‘get to grips’ with everything around him and enjoy most of it. I imagine that the author, writing over 50 years later, must have relived the whole experience with much the same enjoyment but far fewer physical trials!

Tam Nash was only 22 when he took up his appointment under a somewhat eccentric boss (C. F. M. Swynnerton) who “never slept for more than four hours a night and was always in too great a hurry to stop for food. He was a delightful person, a tremendous enthusiast but utterly exhausting. His native name was ‘Bwana Funga-Fungwa’ (Master packunpack)”. Tam does not say much about the tsetse fly experiments but what he does say indicates that they were along the same lines as those we recently saw on television in a Horizon programme about the very successful work now being done in Zimbabwe by Dr. Glyn Vale. Has progress been slow ?

Living in the African bush over 50years ago was no joke, and Tam underwent no particular training for it as recruits do today. For the first few months he had no proper house; he had no electricity, no refrigerator, no telephone; there was no airmail post until 1931; there were no insecticides as we know them and no antibiotics and only quinine for malaria. Somehow he adapted to the dreadful living conditions and delighted on the wildlife on his doorstep, his “Zoo Without Bars. ”

After 14 months a proper house was built for him out of sun-dried mud bricks by one of the interesting European characters around. This was a “stubby little man” named Tschope who had been chauffeur to Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck and later a Company Commander with the German forces, gaining the Iron Cross. I like his artistic streak: “He cut a stencil from a petrol tin and made a frieze of grey rhinos on a whitewash background, trotting along the top of three walls of the verandah, finishing at a grey pool of water.” Tam says, “it made an excellent background to show off my best antelope heads.”

This sentiment might not have been echoed by today’s animal lovers, but it must be understood that Europeans living in the reality of the African bush, shot animals as a matter of course, either for food or for self-defence and they took some pride over the way it was done. It was indeed usual for expatriate officers to shoot game to provide enough meat for themselves and their African employees, especially where there were no cattle due to the tsetse fly problem.

Tam’s encounters with animals led to many interesting observations of their behaviour. Besides being an entomologist, he was obviously interested in all aspects of the natural scene around him. Trees mentioned in the book are almost always given their latin names as well as their common ones. Kondoa district was on the edge of the Masai Steppe and the Rift Valley, and there seem to have been countless lions, rhinos, zebras, gazelles, buffaloes and such like around In 1929 Tan married a “small wife,” Wendy was only 4’10” tall but I imagine must have made up for lack of inches with courage and devotion! Her only complaint as far as I recall was that when she arrived, the doors and windows of her new home had been painted blue and it clashed with the curtain material she had brought with her. They had to stay with neighbours for a week while this was rectified.

At this time also Tam acquired a car – a model T Ford for which he himself designed a wooden box body and had it built in Dar es Salaam. This enabled them to make some enjoyable excursions, even into Kenya. Once, on the way to Lake Basuto, they “met Wa-ufiome women wearing t heir ruffs of concentric circles of highly polished brass wire around their necks, and later the Wambulu women with their soft leather shawls beautifully decorated with beads, shells and coins; in some cases the shawls contracted at the back of the waist and then widened out near ground level, looking like the tails of birds.”

On 16th February, 1931, the first R.A.F. planes landed in Tanganyika at Kondoa. There was great excitement and Tam was taken on a flight. Among the crew was Wing-Commander Harris, Pater to become “Bomber Harris” and Marshall of the R.A,F. Also that year they received their first airmail post: a letter from England took 20 days to arrive! Social life varied. Sometimes they had interesting visitors such as Dr.L.S.B.Leakey, Sir Julian Huxley, the Duke of Gloucester, and Sir Walter Johnson.
In April 1932 a son was born to Wendy and Tam, in hospital at Dar es Salaam. However, this event led to them leaving Tanganyika as Tam felt the time had come for him to seek a pensionable post. He spent the next 26 happy years in Nigeria.
Christine Lawrence

BICYCLES UP KILIMANJARO by Richard and Nicholas Crane. Published by Oxford Illustrated Press and obtainable from Brigit Plowman, J. H Haynes and Co Itd. Sparkford, Yeoville, Somerset. £9.95.
“Bike across the Sahara?”
“No good. Murph, and Tim have already done that”
“Swim up the Nile?”
“Don’t like water”
“Right. What about running somewhere. Cairo to Capetown? Up
Kilimanjaro?”
“Did running last tine”
“Bike up Kilimanjaro then !”
“Mmmmm Could be a good idea. Could be BRILLIANT! Let’s do it”
Thus the genesis of the idea culminating in the ascent of Kilimanjaro by the Crane cousins, riding up and carrying bicycles, is described in their book “Bicycles up Kilimanjaro.”

The enthusiasm, energy, and zest of the pair catches the reader and leads him on to the final ascent of Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa. The main author, Nicholas, seems to have been born on a bicycle (he is editor and author of books on the subject), and his narrative of the ascent leaves the reader feeling somewhat bruised and battered from all the tumbles that the pair take.

The book is well written, providing an interesting narrative of what is really a fairly straightforward hike (on foot!) up Africa’s highest Mountain. The Crane cousins’ desire to do something different results i n their resolve to ride and carry their mountain bikes up Kilimanjaro and to be the first people to cycle round the summit marker on Uhuru Peak at 19,340 ft, The exhilaration of attaining Gillmans Point on Kilimanjaro’s crater rim, following a 3,000 ft near vertical climb up volcanic shale from the mountain hut at 15,000 ft is well captured, as is the extreme difficulty of trying to cycle, or even think clearly, in the rarefied air at such altitudes. One has to admire the pair’s determination in trying to ride along the rim from Gillman’s Point to Uhuru Peak, gasping desperately for breath and trying to co-ordinate their movements. The ultimate reward must have been to freewheel from 19,000 ft to 7,000ft in double quick time !

The ample narrative of the book is complemented by some excellent photographs, which alone make the reader want to attempt the journey (albeit on foot !). There is little descriptive text outside of the everyday events and surroundings affecting the travellers, though one section is devoted to a visit to Wajir in North Eastern Kenya to see the site of the windmill pump to be purchased from funds raised by this expedition.

The authors have used their adventure to publicise the good work being done for developing countries by the Intermediate Technology Group, for which £20,000 has already been raised.

The book is good value, and as the authors’ royalties are being paid over to this worthwhile cause, a most pleasant manner in which to donate to charity.
Martin Burton

LOW COST TRANSPORT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: POSSIBILITIES FOR THE BICYCLE IN TANZANIA by B.J. De Wilde, Centre for Appropriate Technology, Delft University of Technology. 1983
This study for a thesis shows its academic origins, but is written by what is rare these days – a grass roots observer of everyday life who can put things in perspective as seen by ordinary people. The lapse of time since its preparation in no way diminishes the value of his conclusion.

And how right and proper that this work comes from the Netherlands, proverbially the home of cycle users. Here is the “Old World’s” appropriate technology leaning towards the “Third World’s” appropriate technology.

The well known advantages of the bicycle are set out, and are applicable in Africa too:-
Low capital costs and no running costs;
Low maintenance costs and simple repairs;
Very little foreign exchange expenditure;
Useful in both town and country;
Relatively little cost for roads and tracks;
Plus convenience, durability, simplicity, and relative safety.

The study starts with an analysis of the “misfunctioning” of the
present personal transport system in Tanzania. This gives a misleading impression. It never has been motorised, The question is whether it should be, and the photograph of Mwalimu Nyerere on a bicycle with the caption “People must learn to use bicycles instead of relying on oil consuming vehicles” indicates that it isn’t national policy. Of course buses are necessary even in countries where cycles are plentiful, and the problems of UDA and KAMATA in providing a service for city and country (mainly due to maintenance difficulties) are not over-stated.

There is a discussion on design, drawing on the known success stories world-wide in countries where cycles are the means of transport for the mass of the people. Abortive efforts have been made in Tanzania to re-design yet again. The point is that the re is no need to redesign, rather import existing models from hither and thither, as described, and try them out. People will accept new products and foreign designs if they work well, and if they are reliable. For example , the best cycle trailers in Africa are said to be found in Cameroon. Their manufacture is a genuine local industry, and both design and manufacture could readily be repeated in Tanzania.

This is where the international Appropriate Technology organisations could and should help. It has all been researched and solved somewhere. The information exists. Successful designs should be circulated from country to country. Better still, actual examples should be sent and demonstrated to show their advantages.

There is an eye popping reference to the wooden bicycles of the Kigoma Region, “which are not fitted with a braking system, so downhill trips can be dangerous, Cow hides are sometimes used to make the tyres!”

The obstacles to greater use of bicycles in Tanzania are enumerated as : –
Price (now nearly equal to a years earnings);
Safety (suffering from intolerant car users);
Roads (especially road junctions in cities);
and Status.
The latter is an endemic problem in all developing countries, and applies to the whole concept of appropriate technology – not only to bicycles. The study says “Things could change as the concept of appropriate technology catches on.” But will it? Unfortunately psychology and pride are too often against it. The suggested answer is a pilot project. There would he few better uses for “bilateral aid” from a perceptive foreign donor. Tanzania could help all of East and Southern Africa too.
Mel Crofton

“Journey through Tanzania” by Amin, Willetts and Marshall : Bodley Head,
Price £19-95, 192 pages, size 13″ x l0”.

This is a really fascinating book and long overdue, because I do not believe there has ever been a book of this large size on Tanzania. In a way it is all the more welcome because it does not dwell on Tanzania’s economic plight, or the difficulties faced by her people day by day. In the Britain-Tanzania Society we are constantly concerned about these problems and sometimes can lose sight of what sort of country lies underneath: the physical heritage, the historical background and the way of life in different parts of the country. Here the story is told in a highly informative and readable way. And, let me say now, please do not be put off by the price! If you would like to see more of Tanzania (or have not been able to get there at all) and are unable to travel for or reason or another, this is the book to buy. Count the £20 as being the cost of a trip around Tanzania and it’s a bargain!

It is altogether a beautiful book, in layout, appearance and narrative style. The photographs are by Mohamed Amin and Duncan Wiletts and the text by Peter Marshall. Mohamed Amin is now well known since making the BBC film on Ethiopia which moved us all so profoundly.*

* Since then Mohamed Amin has made a documentary film on half-a-dozen African countries called ‘African Calvary’. In it President Nyerere, President Kaunda, Mother Theresa and Willy Brandt speak. The proceeds are for the UN Water Fund.

On reading the book right through, I found that the photographs did not illustrate the text sufficiently, but I suppose that this would be inevitable even if smaller ones had left room for more. Personally I would like to have seen something of the ‘unforgettable scenic drive to the north along the Chunya escarpment’: and I looked in vain for the African Violet, which ‘grows profusely along the Olduvai Gorge (‘oldupai’ is Maasai for African violet). I also felt one did not get a proper idea of the Ngorongoro Crater from the double page photograph taken at dawn: one appreciates the aesthetic beauty of the dawn, but it disguises the reality .

As a background to this ‘Journey through Tanzania’, the book begins with a chapter called ‘The Making of Tanzania and within a few short paragraphs we grasp the extent of the scene and the period covered. ‘Tanzania is a country of stunning beauty, a kaleidoscope of landscape, wildlife and people.. . This country, where modern man may have originated, possesses a mosaic of peoples. In its long history, it has become a fruitful meeting point of African, Arab, Asian and European cultures.. Today, Tanzania is a land of great contrasts.

Somewhere in the great inland plains, a pride of lions intently watches nomads with their cattle… Life continues as it has for thousands of years. In the capital, Dar es Salaam, children in their neat blue and white school uniforms watch the traditional dances (ngomas) performed by a textile factory troupe to the beat of the coastal drums.. . A silver jet flies unheeded in the deep blue sky. Here life changes from year to year… Out of the bush and the fields, out of the villages and the towns, a new nation is being forged: a nation full of energy, beginning t o tap its wealth and map its path into the 21st. century. In so doing it draws profound lessons from a rich history and varied culture to share with materially richer but socially poorer countries. ‘

To me these phrases may sound rather romantic, but they do express a valid point of view when one stands back and looks at the total scene, and Peter Marshall obviously wants us to enjoy our journey. The whole tone of the book encourages us to enjoy everything, but there are passages describing the land, its geological formation, its climate, its vegetation and other aspects with sufficiently scientific detail. Even so, the author finds plenty to enthuse about: ‘Without doubt, Tanzania is a land of superlatives ‘. The Great Rift Valley, ‘one of the world’s most remarkable geographical features’. Lake Tanganyika: ‘Africa’s deepest and longest freshwater lake and the second deepest in the world’. ‘Tanzania in fact has 19,982 square miles of inland water more than any other African country’. ‘The remarkable Serengeti Plains which support over three million game’. The Ngorongoro Crater: ‘An unequalled caldera’. The Selous Game Reserve: ‘the largest in Africa and one of the last great wildernesses on earth’. ‘But above all there is mighty Mount Kilimanjaro’.

After this descriptive section follows the history, starting about 3.6 million years ago with the earliest ‘human’ footprints in the world, discovered by Mary Leakey in 1979 under several layers of ash, near the Sadiman volcano. Several pages of more up-to-date history follow, related in a narrative style, which proves the author a born story-teller and at the same time it is sufficiently informative to give the reader plenty of facts about the country he is exploring.

The chapter concludes: ‘A journey through Tanzania is not only one of phenomenal beauty and unflagging interest, but one that broadens horizons, deepens sensibilities and poses some fundamental questions of life’. Now we may sit back in our armchair and enjoy the journey! First, we visit the ‘Green Islands’. The old Arabic name for Pemba was ‘Green Island’, so here Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia and all the smaller islands are meant. The atmosphere of Zanzibar is powerfully evoked and there is plenty of history to relate about all the islands.

Next we explore the ‘Silver Coast’: Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam and the Kilwas with all their history. There is a pleasant interlude when we are introduced to Dhow sailing, with admirable photographs. At ‘Bustling and thriving’ Kilwa Masoko the present catches up with us: natural gas from Songo Songo Island has been piped to a new fertiliser plant and ‘will doubtless turn Kilwa Masoko into a boom town’.

Now we cross the Rufiji Delta (I was delighted with the aerial view, unforgettable to anyone who has ever flown south from Dar es salaam) and the Selous Game Reserve, with its own dramatic history, to pick up the Tanzam railway in its northern tip. We are reminded that the railway is ‘the greatest engineering effort of its kind since the Second World Wart and all the details of its building are given. 529 miles from Dar es Salaam and we arrive in Mbeya ‘to explore the great natural beauties of the Southern Highlands’. ‘South to Lake Nyasa the road passes some of the most beautiful scenery in Tanzania’. ‘But all is not well with the Lake. Water levels have risen alarmingly at a rate of 6-15 feet every 5 years, mainly because of the silt brought down by the 20 large rivers which feed it’.

From Mbeya we travel north-east to Iringa and the unique Isimila Stone Age site . The Hehe tribe live in the area and we hear the story of Chief Mkwawa’s stand against the Germans at the end of the last century. Then on to Dodoma, the new capital in the centre of the country. Dodoma wine is well known, though it may not be to everybody’s taste, and has not yet arrived in the United Kingdom. ‘Some 2,980 acres of vineyards are under cultivation… By 1985 the harvest is expected to exceed 5,080 tons, There are also 99 acres of experimental vineyards, where 168 varieties are under trial’.

From Dodoma we follow the old caravan route to Tabora and thence to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. The history of the 1,300 ton steamship “Graf von Goetzen”, renamed ss Liemba in 1924, is remarkable. Originally sent up the railway in bits and pieces, she was hardly assembled before she was hit by a bomb from a Belgian ‘plane in the First World War. Greased and scuttled by the retreating Germans, she was salvaged in 1924. ‘Beached once again in 1970, she was relaunched with diesel engines nine years later and continues to cruise along the lake, operating a cargo and passenger service from Kigoma to Mralungu in Zambia and to Bujumbura in Burundi’.

South of Kigoma lies Ujiji, where of course Stanley found Livingstone in 1871 and a monument commemorates the event. After considering fishing in Lake Tanganyika, which with 250 species of fish is the richest in the world, we continue to Lake Victoria, Mwanza and Musoma.

Finally we reach the Northern Parks. The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, the Maasai ‘Mountain of God’ (the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai), other craters, lakes and highlands are all wonderfully described together with the way of life of the Maasai.

The last chapter called ‘Kilimanjaro – Hallelujah:’ tells us all about this snow-capped mountain within 3 degrees of the equator. And ‘Hallelujah!’ is the cry of the guides ‘paying respect to the mountain they have dared to climb once more against the admonitions of their people’.

Do buy this book!
Christine Lawrence

Andrew Coulson of the Institute of Local Government Studies in the University of Birmingham has reviewed: “Resources and Industry in Tanzania; Use, Misuse and Abuse” by J.V.D. Jones (Tanzania Publishing House, Dar es Salaam, 1983). He writes:

The most common starting point for discussions of industrialisation is markets: if a market for a product can be identified, then a project to manufacture it is proposed. The industrial process is usually based on imported raw materials and equipment and all too often the proposal itself is made by someone who has a vested interest in selling either industrial inputs, or – more likely – machinery. It is not surprising that so many projects created in this way turn out badly. They give a bad taste to the whole process of industrialisation in countries such as Tanzania.

The strength of this book is that it starts not from markets, but from the raw materials available, and describes how they could be used to develop a self-reliant industrialisation in Tanzania. Both large-scale and small-scale processes are discussed, without any vested interests.

The author was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Dar es Salaam, who subsequently moved to Development Studies and worked with the university students and contacts in the parastatals to assemble the mass of information assembled in this book.

Obviously what can be developed in the future depends on what exists already. The book therefore describes the processes used in existing Tanzanian factories. But it also recognises that these are determined to a large extent by the historical origins and ownership of the companies who made the investments. A theme which occurs many times is the interrelationship between industries. If coal is to be mined, a variety of the industries are needed to use both the coal and its by-products. If a rural industry is to use hydroelectricity, then the planners need several years’ warning. If salt is to be electrolysed to make caustic soda for the soap and glass industries, then uses for chlorine must also be found, e.g., to make hydrochloric acid, PVC, or insecticides. A self-reliant industrialisation is too big and complex to happen spontaneously {n a country with markets as small as those in Tanzania. It therefore has to be planned around a small number of key industries, as the experience of socialist countries teaches us.

This is therefore a uniquely valuable book, not just one for specialists. It includes many positive suggestions and should be available for reference by anyone concerned with developing projects in Tanzania. I hope it gets the distribution it deserves both inside and outside the country. It would be tragic if shortage of a basic raw material (paper) and industrial capacity (printing) prevented widespread use of this handbook, which points to the only way in which in the long term Tanzania can avoid its present cruel dependence on imports.

Andrew Coulson

Professor Royston Jones has sent us the following review of a recent book: “Problems and Contradictions in the Development of Ox Cultivation in Tanzania” by Finn Kjaerby Research Report No.66, Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen and Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, 1983.

The message of Kjaerby’s report may be summarised as follows. The Government has given verbal encouragement to the use of oxen for cultivation, but financial aid has still gone to tractors, although the use of tractors has failed because of lack of expertise and servicing facilities. Agricultural development plans have paid insufficient regard for the peasant farmers’ customs and their intimate knowledge of their local conditions. Oxen and ox ploughs are in demand in some areas and efforts are needed to meet present demand. Demand in other areas is hampered by lack of funds and lack of knowledge about the advantages of ox-ploughing. There is still room for much field experiment in the development of the most appropriate agricultural tools for the different Regions, although much of the past experimental work away from the realities of true site conditions has not been of great value.

The report examines the development of animal traction for smallholder peasant farmers against a background of failures of more capital intensive technology in relation to the present energy and production crisis in under-developed countries. It is pointed out that the slow and uneven success of the ‘green revolution’ has resulted in an increasing acknowledgment of ‘the need for increasing the source of farm power in agricultural systems dependent on hoe cultivation and human energy … ‘ The report examines in detail the potential of animal traction, which is stressed in a growing body of literature. A review is made of the agricultural mechanisation policies of the Tanzanian Government during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Despite the failures of cooperative tractor mechanisation and emphasis on animal traction given in political statements, the lion’s share of funds and efforts continued to be concentrated on tractor mechanisation for the villages.

Ox ploughing by African farmers in Tanzania has had a history of only some 50 years and has depended almost entirely on the single furrow mouldboard steel plough, whereas in Ethiopia a locally made wooden scratch plough (the ‘ard’) with a horizontal fitted iron blade has been widely used for more than a thousand years. A rough estimate gives a number of some 70-80 thousand ox ploughs in Tanzania at the end of the colonial period.

Among the socio-economic factors in colonial times determining the spread of ox ploughs were the development of a profitable cash crop and the growth of wage labour, whether migrant labour in mines, employment on settler farms, or salaried employment. Savings from cash crop production and wage employment rather than credit constituted the main source of investment capital for the purchase of oxen and ploughs. Government extension and trial work played virtually no role in the spread of ox ploughing. The process arid pattern of adoption was one where the initial innovators had the opportunity to learn about profitability and skills from settlers and missionaries. They succeeded with ox ploughing in their villages, where others became interested and could learn the skills.

The distribution of ox ploughing until very recently has remained uneven and has depended upon a variety of factors, including infrastructure facilities for marketing, transport and repair services, soil conditions and the availability of grazing access for cattle, the possibility of growing suitable crops like cotton, rice, maize, wheat and coffee and the presence of settler farms and missionaries. It is probably safe to conclude that even in areas where ox ploughing has become fairly common, the ratio of those who acquired ploughs remains low in relation to the number of households. The main reason is the unequal ownership of cattle, which determines access to draught oxen.

It is rather difficult to assess the impact which the development of ox farming has had on the rural economy. It seems that the concern about lower yields has been somewhat exaggerated. In the long run the only way to overcome this problem is to intensify production through the development of ox powered comprehensive mechanisation spread more evenly over the farming population in relevant areas. Of even greater importance is the fact that comprehensive ox cultivation can relieve one of the most immediately pertinent constraints on agricultural productivity, namely, the excessive workload on the women in weeding and transport.

Recent plans for the increased production of ox equipment are criticised in terms of the choice of appropriate equipment. One of the most needed items in addition to the ox cart is an inter-row weeder, or cultivator for relieving the critical weeding bottleneck. Kjaerby suggests that the production of a tool bar should be planned, such as the proven light weight ‘houe sine’ made in Dakar, to which can be attached a single plough share, a ridger share, chisels, tines, a groundnut lifter and even an eco-seeder. Other alternatives are also considered.

The author reviews in detail the problems of research, design and production of a comprehensive range of appropriate equipment. There is criticism of the value of tests made in rather favourable experimental environments. If peasant agriculture is to benefit from the Tanzanian research institutes, it must be based on the actual conditions of peasant farming, viz., sloping fields, stone and weed problems, undersized oxen, problems of seed quality, etc.. Given the present shortage of mouldboard ploughs and the crying demand, the time would seem ripe to introduce the Ethiopian ‘ard’, which pushes its way through the soil without inverting or overturning the topsoil, especially in semi-arid areas. It is cheap, easily made and easily operated.

The author discusses the changes in land use brought about by villagisation and population growth and suggests various possible developments and modifications of ox drawn implements appropriate to the new situation based on applied research. The most serious constraints on production, he believes, are weeding and transport, pointing to the importance of ox carts and inter-row weeding equipment. As many implements as possible, including ox carts, should be capable of manufacture and repair in small village workshops.

Mr. Kjaerby concludes his book with suggestions about the use of agricultural credit and with speculations about the changes in social relationships that may be brought about by a growing use of ox technology, particularly with respect to the role and influence of women. He comments on the past tendency in design work to draw uncritically on European concepts and to go for solutions which cannot be realised under peasant farming conditions. He recommends two levels of research, which must be closely coordinated:

(1) Farming systems research to identify major constraints and adaptive testing of implements on individual peasant farms.

(2) Adaptive design and testing work at research stations simulating peasant farming conditions.

There is a great variety of peasant farming systems and agro-economic zones in Tanzania, which necessitate local specific solutions to technological problems and constraints. Mr. Kjaerby repeatedly emphasises the need for the closest possible attention to realistic feasibility studies in the field in order to avoid a continuation of past failures and the application of inappropriate technology.

Royston Jones

‘Technological Choice, Industrialisation and Development Experience in Tanzania.‘ by F.C. Perkins: Journal of Development Studies, Vol.19 No.2 January 1983

The Arusha Declaration identified the emphasis on industry inevitably dependent on foreign loans and expertise 2.S one of the mistakes of Tanzania’s early development plans. The new objectives of self-reliance and development based on agriculture were expected to be reinforced by a form of industrial development emphasising the use of labour rather than capital, providing a market for local raw materials and closely integrated with the rural economy. The Chinese-funded Friendship Textile Mill using technically outdated, but easily maintained, machinery and the establishment of SIDO (Small Industries Development Organisation) were regarded as demonstrations of the new strategy.

The place of industry in Tanzania’s development was set out in more detail in the 1977 Long-term Industrial Strategy, which defined prime objectives to be greater economic self-reliance and self-sustaining economic growth. This was to be achieved by creating links between sectors of the economy with a first priority for new public investment in basic consumer, intermediate and capita] goods industries and a stress on the importance of export-oriented industry and small-scale village enterprises.

Major investment decisions which did not conform with these policies, such as the Dar es Salaam Bakery and the Tanga Fertiliser Factory, both very expensive and embarrassing to the Government (see Coulson: ‘African Socialism in Practice’ and the Journal of Modern African Studies Vol.XX no.X 1977), were generally regarded as aberrations. This assumption is challenged by Perkins in his study of 300 industrial units in 10 industries, which suggests that Tanzania has had little success in maintaining its industrial investment policies against the pressures of foreign aid donors and international corporations.

Parkins compares the capital intensive techniques with the less technically advanced but more labour intensive methods (which he terms appropriate) actually in use in each of the ten industries. Using economists’ measures of efficiency, he calculates that appropriate techniques create more employment, produce more output for the capital invested, have either the same or higher labour productivity and use no more raw materials than the capital intensive methods. Yet despite firm political direction and economic justification, Tanzania’s industrial parastatals have avoided appropriate technology and shown a marked bias towards capital intensive and advanced methods. As a consequence, industry is still highly dependent on imported raw materials and there are few links within and between industries.

These characteristics are especially marked in the new parastatals, which choose to use more capital intensive methods than the organisations created by the nationalisation of existing private firms. Of all the parastatals studied, only 22% are calculated to be technically efficient; ‘all the rest used both more capital and more labour to produce a unit of output than did the other firms in their industries.’

Perkins concludes from the first part of his study that ‘…despite the rhetoric, Tanzania’s industrialisation programme has in general promoted the establishment of enterprises using large-scale, capital intensive, often technically and almost invariably economically inefficient techniques. Its technological choice policy in industry has in most instances failed to promote the achievement of major national development objectives …’.

Tanzania’s experience in this field is similar to that observed in other developing countries and Perkins examines the possible explanations. The orthodox economic criticism of developing countries is that their economies are distorted by regulations making labour artificially expensive and investment incentives making capital artificially cheap. These distortions exist in Tanzania, but this does not explain why high cost methods were chosen when lower cost systems were available. Nor do other possible constraints- the scarcity of skilled workers, the quality of product, or information on possible alternatives, explain the choice of methods which were not the most economically efficient.

The divorce of industrial investment decisions from clear national policy commented on by missions from both the World Bank and the ILO has probably been due to the nature of the decision-making process and the management of foreign aid. Studies in other developing countries have noted a tendency for the appraisal of investment schemes to be dominated by engineers, who are concerned to maximise output, often assuming unrealistic levels of utilisation, than by economists, who should select on the basis of cost efficiency. This factor may be present within the Tanzanian bureaucracy and a general absence of adequate staff to assess projects may have led Ministries to tend to approve projects on the oo.sis of having identified a source of funding, the usual funding agent being a foreign government, or a transnational corporation. Parastatal managers ha.ve tended to judge their success in terms of expanding output by starting new projects. Hence their preference has been for projects that can be started quickly. Their protected position means that parastatals have been little concerned with profitability and hence they have accepted the technology offered by the source of finance rather than search for the most economic or appropriate.

The existence of SIDO may even have acted as a justification for other parastatals to ignore small-scale industry ~s not being their responsibility. There are certainly examples of new large-scale investment being planned to meet total national needs even when SIDO has had plans and programmes to expand small-scale production of the product. Loom-weaving, hand-made paper. hand-tool making by blacksmiths, grain-milling, saw-milling, oil-milling. shoe-making and open pan sugar milling are in this category.

Perkins concludes that Tanzania’s rate of industrial growth and the growth of the national income would have been faster if the declared national policy had been followed. His research has given further insight into the power of the industrialised nations to influence to their own advantage the development of the economies of the Third World countries and the importance of examining with considerable care what aid, technical assistance and private investment are actually achieving for the economies of both donor and receiver.

John Arnold