What Mwalimu believed, and the Tanzania he wanted
Thirteen
years today, the Nation Tanzania still sobs and remembers the death of
Mwalimu Nyerere -- a great Leader, Teacher, and Father of a Nation.
It is fitting and, indeed, a great honour to reflect on what Mwalimu believed and wanted for Tanzania.
In a nutshell, Mwalimu believed in three
pillars of human development: Human Equality and Justice; the policy of
Socialism and, the third, Self-Reliance as a logical course of action.
He dreamed of a peaceful and just Tanzania in which all citizens were
equal and have the same rights to live and enjoy life - the gift from
God the Almighty.
The first of these three pillars -- human
development -- is beautifully outlined in the TANU Creed of 1962, which
in turn offers a nine-belief code that embodies the hopes and desires of
Mwalimu to his people. Mwalimu’s life as a national leader was clearly
demonstrated throughout his tenure in office and private affairs by
strict adherence to the Creed. On this Nyerere Day, we briefly revisit
the Creed as it was clearly drawn in the Arusha Declaration of 1967.
The Creed stated:
(1) That all human beings are equal;
(2) That every individual has a right to dignity and respect;
(3) That every citizen is an integral part
of the nation and has the right to take an equal part in Government at
local, regional and national level;
(4) That every citizen has the right to
freedom of expression, of movement, of religious belief and of
association within the context of the law;
(5) That every individual has the right
to receive from society protection of his life and of property held
according to law; (6) That every individual has the right to receive a
just return for his labour;
The last three elements of the Creed were:
(7) That all citizens together possess all the natural resources of the country in trust for their descendants;
(8) That in order to ensure economic justice the state must have effective control over the principal means of production; and
(9) That it is the responsibility of the
state to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation so as to
ensure the well-being of all citizens, and so as to prevent the
exploitation of one person by another or one group by another, and so as
to prevent the accumulation of wealth to an extent which is
inconsistent with the existence of a classless society…..
As outlined in the Creed Mwalimu lived the
code because he openly opposed treating others less favorably for
whatever reason -- be it political, financial power, religion, tribe of
race. For every citizen, he sought equal access to education, health,
wealth as well as the right to live in freedom in this country.
In many ways, Mwalimu sought to
demonstrate that human equality and justice could only be achieved under
a socialist mode of economic production, upon which he embarked on
building the economy of this nation – with a resolve to fight to
eliminate the exploitation of man by man, or a group of people
exploiting others.
He was honest in drawing up the Policy in
the Arusha Declaration of 1967, which stated, inter alia: “…A truly.
Socialist State is one in which all people are workers and in which
neither capitalism nor feudalism exists. It does not have two classes of
people, a lower class composed of people who work for their living, and
an upper class of people who live on the work of others. In a really
socialist country no person exploits another; everyone who is physically
able to work does so; every worker obtains a just return for the labour
he performs; and the incomes derived from different types of work are
not grossly divergent...”.
It continues: “…In a socialist country,
the only people who live on the work of others, and who have the right
to be dependent upon their fellows, are small children, people who are
too old to support themselves, the crippled, and those whom the state at
any one time cannot provide with an opportunity to work for their
living…”.
In fact, Mwalimu believed that Socialism
was a way of life and a socialist society was to be built by a people
who believed in and practiced this way of life. He often said people
must learn to live according to the socialism principles of sharing and
loving one another. So successful implementation of socialist objectives
depended very much upon the leaders, because socialism as a belief was
to be promoted to grow by leaders that must accept it and show the way –
by example.
Self-Reliance, the Third Pillar and
possibly the most elusive, was based on Mwalimu’s belief that, like him,
the people would (a strong wish) accept and live the tenets of
Self-Reliance as a development strategy. In propounding this development
strategy he saw a Nation at war, and TANU was involved to lead the
people in this war. A war that was to end when people of Tanzania were
trained and accepted to work hard to create wealth, and stop the dream
of adoring MONEY as a weapon of bringing development.
Mwalimu Nyerere was worried because
Africa, and Tanzania in particular, would ultimately become slaves in
their countries if they embraced money, arguing that it was the former
colonial masters – the rich nations -- that held enormous financial
resources. Mwalimu was opposed to dependence on foreign aid.
The Arusha Declaration beautifully
outlines this belief: “…TANU is involved in a war against poverty and
oppression in our country; the struggle is aimed at moving the people of
Tanzania (and the people of Africa as a whole) from a state of poverty
to a State of prosperity.
We have been oppressed a great deal, we
have been exploited a great deal and we have been disregarded a great
deal. It is our weakness that has led to our being oppressed, exploited
and disregarded. Now we want a revolution – a revolution which brings an
end to our weakness, so that we are never again exploited, oppressed,
or humiliated…”…”
It continues to explain: “…A poor man does
not use Money as a weapon. But it is obvious that in the past we have
chosen the wrong weapon for our struggle, because we chose money as our
weapon.
We are trying to overcome our economic
weakness by using the weapons or the economically strong – weapons which
in fact we do not possess. By our thoughts, words and actions it
appears as if we have come to the conclusion that without money we
cannot bring about the revolution we are aiming at. It is as if we have
said, ‘Money is the basis of development. Without money there can be no
development…”.
Mwalimu envisioned that the proper
conditions of human development were (1) Hard work and (2) Intelligence.
Mwalimu expounded that everybody wanted development but not all
understood and accepted the basic conditions for development. He
directed his leaders in government to go the villages to talk to the
people, and to encourage them to work hard.
Mwalimu Nyerere understood well that hard
work and intelligence needed four essential requirements, and he
outlined them in the Arusha Declaration. These were: Land; People; Good
Policies; and Good Leadership – and was dead set against, and vividly
opposed to MONEY as a basic requirement for development.
In Mwalimu Nyerere’s vision Land; People;
Good Policies; and Good Leadership were the most precious seeds for a
nation to develop. All his life Mwalimu Nyerere worked hard to implement
his political innovations to achieve, keep and maintain a prosperous
free Tanzania.
As Mwalimu struggled to achieve his dreams
and vision, the rich nations, too, struggled to pull Africa and
Tanzania in particular into a global trap that would guide poor nations
to dance the song of dependence -- lubricated by the drum sounds of
money and the harp of external aid in form of gifts, loans and foreign
direct investment. A globalization itch was also under construction
where the world soon became a village and poor or rich were made to
compete and play the same dance as if there were all equals in
development progression.
In this new world economic order, unequal
economic partnerships, alien western democratization and technology
became weapons for neo-colonial domination in which resources from
Africa continued to find their way to the centre – to the rich and
rulers of the world.
After 24 years of hard work Mwalimu was
overwhelmed by the global wind of political change. Exhausted but not
discouraged, he raised his hands up in surrender to the capitalists and
stepped aside to allow the imposing change to engulf Tanzania and indeed
Africa.
He remained a socialist -- leaving his
political innovations to be destroyed by his successor, because it was
painful to continue and experience the pain of destroying his own
visions, dreams and works. Today the ethics and principles propagated
by Mwalimu have been pushed aside.
People adore money – and many seek money
without having to work, let alone working hard; instead, they indulge in
corruption in a desire to be rich. Leaders and citizens alike are
trapped by the money evil spirit.
To date, Mwalimu remains a celebrated and
illustrious statesman of our time, a visionary leader whose innovative
thoughts will stand the test of time. The principles that glorify
humanity and protect the weak – which Mwalimu believed and fought for --
will remain valid and, as a Nation, we continue to cherish our Great
Leader and Father of our Nation.
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