NOT FOR PUBLICATION

INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS

IMW-29Tanganyika: One Year Later

Pound CottageThe GreenBrill, A21esburyBucks. EnglandDecember 9, 1962

Mr. Richard H. NolteInstitute of Current World Affairs366 Madison AvenueNew York 17, New York

Dear Mr. Nolte:

A year ago to this day Tanganyika achieved independence. Today,on the first anniversary of that event, Julius Nyerere assumes the newoffice of President and Tanganyika becomes a Republic within theCommonwealth.

This is only an indication of the more important changes whichhave taken place, however. During the past year a new spirit hasswept ove the country. The traveller from Iairobi to Arusha getshis first impression of it when he crosses the border at Longidobelow the mountain of the same name and near the site of an impor-tant First Wold War battle. There he signs a ledger, which in thepast asked the racial composition of his car’s passengers under theheadings ’European’, ’Asian’ and ’African’. Today he signs the sameledger under the watchful eyes of the same policeman, but the orderis different" ’African’ ’European’ and Asian Wherever he goeshe finds there is a new self-assertion and dignity in being Africanand independent.

In many respects Tanganyika appears much the same, but justbelow the surface widespread changes have been effected which willin time alter the entire structure of the nation. For quite a whileTanganyika’s leaders have felt the methods they inherited from Britishrule were inappropriate to an independent African state, and it isthese changes which have marked the transition from colonial to homerule, as Tanganyika seeks an African way.

Tanganyika has had its full share of problems during its firstyear of independence. Geographically alone, the size of the country,its poor communications, and the extreme backwardness of the greatmajority of its people have hindered all attempts to impose a strongcentralized government. What is more it took Tanganyika quite a whileto realize it was really independent. I attended last May’s sessionof the National Assembly, fully five months after uhur____u, and was deep-ly impressed by various indications that the full meaning of indepen-dence had only just burst upon most of the members. Although such anobservation can’t be documented, it was sensed.

Long before Tanganyika achieved independence it had becomequite clear that TANU’s masterly slogan, "uhuru na kazi" (freedomand work), which quickly became not only a political rallying-crybut al_so_. common greeting in use everywhere, was honored more inthe breach than in fact. Even TANU with all its popular supportwas unable to translate the second half of this slogan, "work", into

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Will traditional Masaisociety disappear in anindependent Tanganyika?Their determined resis-tance to change is knownto irk the Governmentwhich wants their poten-tially rich land properlydeveloped. Quaint customwon’t be allowed to standin the way of developmentand Ujamaa.

actuality. Upon independence yerere was obviously disturbed tofind TANU, to all intents and purposes, dead as an energetic andconstructive grass roots party. Although it had fought effectivelyfor independence, it had not risen to the even greater challengeof helping create a vigorous new nation.

Nyerere, whose determination to oust the old social orderand hasten the new has often been underestimated, resigned as PrimeMinister to devote himself to the reorganization of TANU into "astrong political organization active in every village, acting likea two-way all-weather road, along which the purposes, plans andproblems of government can travel to the people, and ideas, desiresand misunderstandings of the people can travel direct to the govern-ment". In short TANU was to be nothing less than the instrument tobuild a new nation.

It was also clear from an article Nyerere wrote shortly beforehis resignation entitled "One Party Government" that TANU as a partywould assume a pre-eminent role in the formulation of national poli-cies. At his press conference announcing his acceptance of theoffice of Prime Minister, Rashidi Kawawa said, "Nyerere is thecommander-in-chief and we are his troops," and he admitted bluntlythat he would take his orders from TANU.

Nyerere is a man of action and so has written little of hispolitical philosophy. Last April, however, he wrote a small pamphletcalled "Ujamaa, The Basis of African Socialism" in which his ideasare clearly stated. An interesting sidelight is that"Ujamaa", writtenin English, purposely won’ t be translated into Swahili, althoughNyerere writes it fluently and has just completed a translation ofShakespeare’ s "Julius Caesar".

Nyerere’s pamphlet is an attempt to create a new nationalpersonality for Tanganyika by turning, for inspiration, to Africantradition where dress, art, history and tribal institutions all havesomething to contribute. Ujamaa, or familyhood, refers to the tra-ditional economic and social system in which everyone works, no oneis either rich or poor, and all benefit equally throughout theirlives, Nyerere suggests a modern modification of the traditionalsystem, an African version of the European welfare state. It iseach person’s duty to work toward this goal, and no one (read here,no member of the lite) should "blackmail the community" by demand-ing more than his share. Good socialists must always "keep theirdemands within the limits imposed by the society as a whole".

This is the closest anyone has yet come to suggesting aTanganyika Way, and it has clearly been accepted as governmentpolicy. In announcing Nyerere’s candidacy for President on Augustfirst Oscar Kambona said, "Our task is clear---it is the buildingof Ujamaa in a people’s democracy." It has been this search foran African pattern which has dominated official thinking and hasbeen the cause of those many changes which have dismayed a few andsurprised us all.

The most obvious example of Ujaaa is the multitude of self-help schemes which have sprouted all over with the Government and

IMW-29 -- Tanganyika’ s traditionextends at least as farback as the anonymous pre-historic men who coveredthis cave wall with paintingsin at least three differenteras elephant on right).

TANU’s active encourage-ment. Villagers every-where have come togethervoluntarily to buildschools, clinics, commu-nity centers and roads.It has cost the Gowern-ment very little, butwithout overall planningand control much villageinitiative and enthusiasmhave been wasted. Un-planned and often unneed-

ed buildings sprang up all over the country only to be abandoned whenmoney for more materials did not arrive.

At the same time the schemes’ voluntary aspect quickly disappear-ed, and they have become compulsory which is defended as tribal custom.Usually a day each week is set aside for communal labor, and those whodo not attend are fined. To reinforce this system the National Assem-bly has passed a bill making it an offence to "hinder" self-helpschemes. In this context "hinder" is generally assumed to mean "re-fuse to take part’".

Nevertheless there is lots of enthusiasm and a genuine effortis being made. Much of the inefficiency has been ironed out andthere is considerably more planning, but it is admitted the schemeswill not significantly affect Tanganyika’s economic development.Their chief purpose is to establish a new mood in the people and toencourage a bit of work with uhur.

Another important example of African socialism is the proposedland reform legislation which will mainly affect whe immigrant pop-ulation. The Government intends to abolish freehold title and sub-stitute 99-year leases at nominal annual rents. The object is deve-lopment, and so the leases will include development clauses. Althoughonly one per cent of the land area of Tanganyika has been alienated,almost all of it to Europeans Government officials rightly point outthis is the best land in the country, and a lot of it hasn’t beendeveloped as fully as it could be. By making development compulsorythe Government hopes to increase the productivity of the land andget rid of those who, for one reason or another, don’t wish to comply.Observers generally feel this policy is justified because of the wide-spread land hunger in most of those areas with European estates.

Two other important steps also bear directly on the encourage-ent of economic development. At independence, if not before, the

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decision was taken to enlarge the rather conservative World Bankplan by $28 million even though no one knew where Tanganyika couldpossibly find the money. Nevertheless, as a senior British civilservant said to me, with a wink, "Don’t wory! If they go bankruptimplementing the plan, someone will bail them out."

The other is that legislation will soon be introduced guaran-teeing investors the right to repatriate their capital, profits anddividends to source. In announcing this Kawawa declared, "My Govern-ment fully realizes that unless the foreign investor is given concreteand legal assurances as to the safety of his investment and the earn-ings derived from it, he will be reluctant to invest."

In general the most striking trend in independent Tanganyikais the steady increase in the power of the central Government. Thisapplies in such diverse areas as local government, labor, and thecooperatives. No doubt rapid development requires a strong centralauthority, but this is not the only and perhaps not even the mainargument for increasing its power.

Concerning local government, it has been said that "No countrywhich is striving for economic development at a forced pace is likelyto have a natural taste for free internal institutions." That tastemust be acquired. Recent reforms in local administration have notled to direct Government intervention, but the end result has beengreater control from the center, both by Government and TANU.

Soon after independenceProvincial Commissioners weredemoted to Regional Secretariesand Regional Commissioners wereappointed in their place. Thesame happened at district levelwhen DCs were replaced by AreaCommissioners. The new commis-sioners are TANU appointees whoreport directly to the PrimeMinister (rather than to theMinister of Local Government)and whose task it is to propagateTANU policy. They are responsi-ble for projects like the self-help schemes and are almost localparty bosses. Clearly the objectis to separate the political andadministrative functions of go-vernment, both of which used tobe performed by one man.

The Government has alsocalled upon all chiefs to resign

Detail- A woman with long hair[about 8" high).

their administrative posts and retain only their trad&tional roles.Many are opposed but, in a move designed to act as an example toothers, two "irreconcilables" have been banished to remote cornersof southern Tanganyika, far from their homes and seats of power.

Furthermore, local councils are also in the process of change.Most of them used to be tribal authorities, but by continuing reformsinitiated before independence all but two have been transformed intorural district councils representing an entire district and its popu-lation. With TANU’s eclipse of purely tribal parties (such as theChagga Citizen’s Union), often under strong pressure, TANU is play-ing a far greater role in local politics, often to the chagrin ofdistrict leaders who don’t feel it is sufficiently attuned to localconditions.

Finally, the judicial system is being reorganized. In a recentbroadcast Chief Fundikira, the Minister of Justice, announced thatGovernment was trying to unify the courts and make one system applyin the whole country. The problem lies in trying to bridge the gapbetween western legal concepts and customary law. A committee is nowat work to determine how best and how quickly this can be done. Dis-trict Commissioners will no longer be allowed to dispense justice,and it is hoped Tanganyika will soon have "a completely independentjudiciary from the lowest courts to the highest".

Two of the most controversial pieces of legislation sinceindependence have been the labor act and the preventive detentionact. The former, enacted after a steadily rising tide of strikes,curtails the freedom of trade unions to strike without the approvalof the Minister of Labor and leaves organized labor almost powerless.In spite of the Tanganyika Federation of Labor’s furious opposition,National Assembly members followed TANU’s orders and the bill waspassed almost unanimously after very little debate.

The preventive detention act, which was greeted with such dis-approval abroad, enables the Minister of Home Affairs to order thedetention of persons who conduct themselves "as to be dangerous topeace and good order or are acting in a manner prejudicial to thedefence of Tanganyika or the security of the State, or if the Ministeris satis+/-edthat their detention is necessary to prevent them con-ducting themselves or acting in any such manner". Although Tangan-yikans generally accept the necessity for such legislation, Nyerereamong others is said to have doubts about the sweeping powers con-ferred upon the Minister.

It was not the contents of this bill alone which caused raisedeyebrows; it was also its method of presentation. As With severalother pieces of controversial legislation, it was introduced undercertificate of urgency which allowed it to go through all its stagesin the National Assembly in a day or two, thus stifling full demo-cratic debate.

One of the most talked-about policies of the present Governmentis the rapidity with which it is Africanizing the civil service. Itspecifically rejects localization, which refers to making obs availa-ble to Tanganyikans of any race (European, Indian, Arab), until the

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proportion of African civil servants approximates that of the popu-lation.

The speed of Africanization is the direct result of the tre-mendous pressure brought by loyal party workers demanding rewardsfor their services. This the Government has been unable to opposeeffectively, and so it is often inexperienced up-country TANU leaderswho move into the offices of departing British officials.

There is widespread discontent about this, especially amongBritish-trained African civil servants who are unhappy to see un-qualified political appointees promoted over their heads, often atthe cost of the principles of impartial administration. Others aredisturbed by the general decline in Government services as a resultof their inefficiency. It is said yerere himself doesn’t like thesituation but can not put a stop to it over TANU’s opposition.

Working in Dar es Salaam has lured not only the unqualifiedbut also some of the ablest of Tanganyikans. Many were teachers;so many in fact that Ministry of Education officials complain ofde-Africanization in schools. Today there are fewer African secondaryschool teachers than there were two years ago, and this is why pro-grams providing qualified American and British teachers are so wellreceived and so important. Evidently, education ranks low in priori-ties of Africanization, so the need will continue to exist for a longtime. It is also an excellent way of maintaining standards in edu-cation while freeing a large number of the better-educated for Gov-ernment service where white faces are increasingly unacceptable.

Actually white faces (and Asians too for that matter) areincreasingly unacceptable throughout the country. TANU has not openedits membership to non-Africans as it was expected to do soon afterindependence. It, is no secret that many of the TANU rank and filewant to kick them all out and not only the few white extremists whoseexpulsion created such a stir a few months ago. What this bodes forthe future is not clear, but it seems that after the next generalelection there will no longer be European or ASian National Assemblymembers unless they are nominated, a prerogative of the Presidentunder the new republican constitution.

Tanganyika is often hard to understand, but it is clear thatrunning an independent nation has proved far more difficult thananticipated. Indeed this past year has been a difficult one for allconcerned: Nyerere hasn’t been very successful in reasserting hiscontrol over TANU; many of the most valuable civil servants eitherhave been Africanized or have left just before they were to be,leading to increased administrative inefficiency; and there areindications tribalism is on the increase.

evertheless, the new Republic may mark the turning point.Nyerere has at long last returned to active political leadership,and his new role as President will be considerably more powerfulconstitutionally than his old one of Prime Minister. For thisreason the constitution has come in for considerable criticism,and probably Unjustly so for his new powers are not appreciablygreater than those, say, of the American President. In question

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There really is a candleon top of Kilimanjaro,the highest point in Africa.

only is the effectivenessof his control over hisparty and his nation.Tanganyika still wants toset an example; the purposeand goodwill remain. Fromnow on Tanganyika will bejudged by results, as sheenters a new era.

Certainly much, ifnot everything, dependson Nyerere who said a fewyears ago,"We the peopleof Tanganyika would liketo light a candle and putit on top of Mount Kili-manjaro to shine beyondour borders, giving hope

where there was despair, love where there was hate, and dignity wherebefore there was only humiliation."

The light has flickered at times but it’s still there.

Very sincerely yours,

lan Michael Wright

Received in New York December ii, 1962.