Inadvertently, last week’s article kind of ‘jumped the queue’ to discuss the army mutiny of January 1964; when there were other momentous governance events in President Nyerere’s first year in office, 1963, which are worth putting on permanent record. Hence, for the purpose of orderly chronological presentation of events, we will go back to those momentous events of President Nyerere’s first year in office; which was, coincidentally, also my first year in office as Clerk of the National Assembly, becoming the first Tanzanian chief executive officer (CEO) of that highly respected Constitutional establishment.
The first term of President Nyerere in office.Even though President Nyerere assumed office in December, 1962; but he served in that capacity only for the remainder of the stipulated five-year leadership period, which was counted from the general elections of 1960, and was therefore scheduled to end in 1965. Hence, for the benefit of the current generation of young Tanzanians, we will describe, in greater detail, those momentous, history- making, formative first three years (1963-1965) of Mwalimu Nyerere’s Presidency, actually year by year.The following were the major momentous events of that period:
(i) The resettlement of the rural population into new, well organized, village settlements. (ii) The making of a new Constitution, ( that made provision for a democratic, One-Party State). (iii) The formation of a long lasting Political Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar. (iv) The 1965 general elections, (which demonstrated to the whole world that “Single-Party Democracy” was, indeed, a viable political option). I am a credible witness to all of these events; because of my personal involvement in the administration of the relevant Legislative processes that had to be undertaken for their finalization.
The beginnings of the Villageization programme.
The “villageization policy” was first announced by President Nyerere in his inaugural address to the National Assembly on 10th December, 1962; wherein he said the following: “ukiniuliza Serikali yetu imepanga kufanya nini katika miaka michache ijayo, jibu langu ni rahisi sana. Ni kwamba katika miaka michache ijayo, Serikali itafanya kila liwezekanalo, ili kuwezesha wakulima wa Tanganyika waishi katika vijiji, utartibu ambao utaiwezesha Serikali kuwapatia kwa urahisi zaidi, mahitaji ambayo ni muhimu kwa ajili ya kuboresha maisha yao”.
The implementation of that policy started immediately, with the establishment of the “Rural Settlements Commission Act, 1963”, which was tasked with the responsibility for establishing new, properly organized, ‘village settlements’; wherein the rural residents would enjoy the modern life styles, similar to those enjoyed by their urban counterparts; such as the availability of electricity, piped clean water supplies, and within- easy- reach primary education facilities, for their children. Unfortunately, this initial experiment of ‘Village Settlements’ ended in total failure, as a result of the administrative blunders committed by the relevant implementing Agency, the Rural Settlement Commission, of making them too ‘capital intensive’ investments, which went far beyond the capability of the Government to fund their establishment throughout the country.
The making of a new Constitution.
President Nyerere took the earliest opportunity, at the first meeting for that year of the TANU National Executive Committee, which was held in January 1963; present his cherished proposal for the country to have a new, democratic, One-Party State Constitution. The meeting unanimously adopted his proposal, and also authorized him, in his capacity as President of the country, to appoint a ‘Presidential Constitutional Commission’, which would be tasked with the responsibility to prepare proposals, and recommendations, for the Constitution of such a democratic, One-Party State. And because he wanted to get the process started as quickly as possible, he fast-tracked the appointment of the said Commission, and announced its members towards the end of the same month, on 28th January, 1963.
In view of the general understanding that is now prevailing in the world, which tends to equate democracy with multi-party politics, Mwalimu Nyerere’s desire for a Constitutional ‘One Party democracy’ needs to be explained.
Basically, it was based on the search for a practical solution to what he considered to be a failure of multi-party democracy in Tanganyika at that time; arising from the results of the two multi-party general elections which were held in Tanganyika before independence, in 1958/59; and in 1960. In both cases, the majority of the voters country wide had become disenfranchised, for the reason only that because of TANU’s huge popularity, most of its candidates were elected unopposed. For example, in the 1960 parliamentary elections, TANU candidates were elected unopposed in 58 of the seventy-one constituents that were available, thus no voting took place in all of those constituencies.
In such circumstances, Mwalimu Nyerere felt that this disenfranchisement of voters was undemocratic; and therefore a problem that required a solution. He also felt that the best solution lay in creating democratic competition within TANU itself, by crafting a Constitution which would make provision for that to happen.
The Presidential Constitutional Commission took two years to complete the task that had been assigned to it, and presented its final report to the President on 22nd March, 1965. And that, is what gave birth to the One-party Tanzania Constitution of 1965.
The momentous events of 1964: The birth of a new country, and a new nation.
The momentous events of 1964: The birth of a new country, and a new nation.
“The Peoples’ Republic of Zanzibar, and the Republic of Tanganyika, shall upon Union Day, and forever after, be united into one sovereign Republic”.
These are precise words of section 4 of the a statute titled “The Tanganyika and Zanzibar Union Act” (no. 22 of 1964); which was enacted by the Parliament of the Republic of Tanganyika on 25th April, 1964. I would like to draw our younger readers’ special attention to the specific words shall be united upon Union Day “and forever after”; which partly accounts for the continued stable existence of our Union, so many years after half a century since its establishment; and still going strong.
This action by the Tanganyika Parliament, was preceded by the passage of an identical legislation, titled “The Zanzibar and Tanganyika Union Law, 1964”; by the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council on the morning of the same day, 25th April, 1964; and was subsequently published in the Union Government Gazette as GN 243 of 1964.
The two pieces of legislation were enacted separately for the purpose of ratifying the Agreement for uniting the two countries, which had been signed earlier by Presidents Julius Kambarage Nyerere of the Republic of Tanganyika, and Abeid Amani Karume of the People’s Republic of Zanzibar, on 22nd April, 1964. That Agreement had specified that the Union “shall be governed by an interim Constitution, pending the enactment of a permanent Constitution”; and further that “it shall come into existence on the day following that Agreement’s ratification by respectively by the Legislatures of the two countries”.
That is why 26th Aril became the birth date of our Union, or “Union Day”.
Briefly then, that is when, and how, an entirely new country called “The United Republic of Tanzania”, and the new nation of “ sisi Watanzania” came into existence; this being a proud creation of the people of these countries themselves; and not that of the colonial powers who met in Berlin in 1884, created the boundaries of African countries, and proceeded to divide these countries among themselves, for their colonial domination and exploitation.
The inauguration of the First Five-year Development Plan.
In my capacity as Clerk of the National Assembly, I was present therein when President Nyerere arrived, on 12th May, 1964, to inaugurate Tanzania’s first five-year development Plan. It may be helpful to also explain, that soon after Mwalimu Nyerere had taken over full responsibility for managing the affairs of Tanganyika, upon the achievement of independence in December 1961; he had invited Sir Ernest Vassey , a British national who at that time was serving in the colonial Government of Kenya; to become his Minister of Finance, and given him the added responsibility for developing a short-term, three- year development plan, for Tanganyika.
Sir Ernest did, indeed, produce such a Plan; but, in view of the prevailing circumstances at the material time, plus the fact that all the funds required for the implementation of that plan were expected to be provided by the British Government; the said Plan had, of necessity, relied heavily on the World Bank recommendations that had been issued in respect of Tanganyika’s economic development.
However, that was not quite satisfactory for Mwalimu Nyerere; whose aspiration was for Tanganyika’s development to be more people-centered, aimed at upgrading the people’s quality of life, plus the achievement, in the long run, of the country’s self reliance.
Thus, when he came to Parliament to inaugurate the first five-year plan, whose preparation he had closely supervised himself, he was vividly exuberant, and full of hope and confidence, that his cherished objectives would probably be achieved through the successful implementation of this Plan. His is evidenced in parts of his speech on that occasion, wherein he said the following: “Mpango huu una maana sana kwa nchi yetu. Uhuru ulitupatia nafasi ya kujiletea maendeleo yetu sisi wenyewe. Nafasi hiyo sasa ni lazima itumike, kwa kuliweka Taifa letu katika misingi imara ya kuwa na watu wenye afya bora, walioelimika, na walioondokana na umaskini Mpango huu wa miaka mitano, unaonesha njia tutakazozipitia ili kufikia shabaha hizo”. “Kupanga ni kuchagua” is one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s well known metaphors. He used it for the first time in the course of this speech. But, unfortunately, despite his enthusiastic optimism, luck was not always on his side. There were obvious constraining factors which had apparently been overlooked; the main ones being: the lack of sufficient trained manpower in many of the Plan areas; and, even more serious, the heavy dependence on foreign donors and loans for the Plan’s implementation.
For example, when Tanzania suddenly broke diplomatic relations with Britain in December 1965, on a quarrel over the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by its Southern Rhodesia colony, resulted in the suspension, or cancellation, of a substantial loan amounting to seven and a half million sterling pounds, which had been expected to be secured from Britain, for the implementation of some of the projects which had been envisaged in that Plan. The 1965 general elections: A vital test for the “one-Party democracy” argument.
Thus, when he came to Parliament to inaugurate the first five-year plan, whose preparation he had closely supervised himself, he was vividly exuberant, and full of hope and confidence, that his cherished objectives would probably be achieved through the successful implementation of this Plan. His is evidenced in parts of his speech on that occasion, wherein he said the following: “Mpango huu una maana sana kwa nchi yetu. Uhuru ulitupatia nafasi ya kujiletea maendeleo yetu sisi wenyewe. Nafasi hiyo sasa ni lazima itumike, kwa kuliweka Taifa letu katika misingi imara ya kuwa na watu wenye afya bora, walioelimika, na walioondokana na umaskini Mpango huu wa miaka mitano, unaonesha njia tutakazozipitia ili kufikia shabaha hizo”. “Kupanga ni kuchagua” is one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s well known metaphors. He used it for the first time in the course of this speech. But, unfortunately, despite his enthusiastic optimism, luck was not always on his side. There were obvious constraining factors which had apparently been overlooked; the main ones being: the lack of sufficient trained manpower in many of the Plan areas; and, even more serious, the heavy dependence on foreign donors and loans for the Plan’s implementation.
For example, when Tanzania suddenly broke diplomatic relations with Britain in December 1965, on a quarrel over the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by its Southern Rhodesia colony, resulted in the suspension, or cancellation, of a substantial loan amounting to seven and a half million sterling pounds, which had been expected to be secured from Britain, for the implementation of some of the projects which had been envisaged in that Plan. The 1965 general elections: A vital test for the “one-Party democracy” argument.
Indeed, the 1965 general elections turned out to be a vital test for Mwalimu Nyerere’s argument, that ‘One-Party democracy’ was a viable political option. For that reason, two things happened: Firstly, President Nyerere himself, being keenly aware of this fact, directed that maximum attention be focused on the need for absolute fairness in all the aspects of that election exercise. The relevant aspects included: (i) the crafting of an Electoral Law which would ensure the availability of strict fairness to all the participating parties; (ii) the management of the whole process by the TANU, particularly the selection of candidates, and the campaign stage; and (iii) the management of the entire process by the Director of Elections, (that was myself).
It was in the management of that delicate exercise, that fortune smiled on me. Will be continued next week.
piomsekwa@gmail.com/0754767576.
Source: Daily News and Cde Msekwa Himself.