Barrack Muluka
It was Prof Ali Mazrui who coined the term Tanzaphilia. Borrowing from one of the four ancient Greek concepts of love, Tanzaphilia is an expression of the brotherly love that Tanzanians feel towards each other.
It will be recalled how at the apogee of the political economy of Ujamaa, every Tanzanian adult male was ndugu (brother). Every adult female was dada (sister).
But if Mazrui coined the word, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere grew and nurtured Tanzaphilia. This is not to say that if you want to go to heaven you go to Tanzania. Nor is it saying that Nyerere was a saint. I am aware that there have been suggestions that the Catholic Church should begin exploring the possibility of canonising Mwalimu.
I have not taken them seriously; believing as I do that Mwalimu was no saint. He made enough mistakes of his own, like every human being must make mistakes sometimes. Like all other African leaders of his time, Mwalimu got things his way when he had to. In 1964, he made Tanzania a one-party state almost by fiat. In 1967, he pressed for the introduction of the failed Ujamaa system.
Because of his style, Mwalimu fell out with some of the more liberal minded principal architects of the country’s independence. Among them were former Tanu Party Secretary and Foreign Minister, Oscar Kambona. There was also freedom fighter Bibi Titi Mohamed. Kambona fled into exile after introduction of Ujamaa. Bibi Titi was jailed for treason in 1969.
Although she enjoyed a presidential pardon in 1972, she lived in grim solitude for the next 28 years. At the continental level, Mwalimu rejected the notion of African Union Government. In 1963, in Addis Ababa, he accused President Kwame Nkurumah of Ghana of nursing megalomaniac ideas like Napoleon Bonaparte, and of imagining that he was a latter-day African god. Regionally, he made his own contribution to the breakup of the old East African Community in 1977, with his unremitting barbs against the Kenyatta government. He called Kenya a man-eat-man society, which was probably true.
He also liberated Uganda from the claws of Idi Amin and placed it in the jaws of Milton Obote.
Mwalimu Nyerere, however, remains a giant among African leaders, even as his country marked the 12th anniversary of his death yesterday. He ranks among the very best post-colonial leaders in Africa. Nyerere was not just a king in the notion of Plato of ancient Greece; he was a philosopher king.
Writing in the little volume, Ujamaa and the Destiny of Tanzania, Nyerere is himself full of praise of Platonic thought on rulers. For Plato says that the best people to rule are philosophers, or philosopher-kings. This is because, first, they know how to rule. But equally important is that philosophers do not love to rule. It is such people who should rule because they will rule well – for they know how to rule – and they will quit when the time comes, for they do not love ruling. He exemplified this when he retired in 1985.
At this time, Mwalimu made an audit of his tour of duty and wrongly concluded that he had failed. He said in his valedictory message to the nation: "Our Ujamaa policy has failed and our one-party politics has also failed. I intended well, but I failed. I failed you. Forgive me for failing you, fellow Tanzanians."
We could say with Mark Antony regarding the demise of Julius Caesar, "When comes such another?"
Here was the one philosopher-king who not only knew when to walk away, but also was also meek enough to apologise.
Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter
Three years after Mwalimu voluntarily stepped down and opened up Tanzania to multi- party politics, US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared, in Lisbon in November 1989, the end of the Cold War. The Iron Curtain was veritably lifted, the door opened to political agitation all over the world, beginning with Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost in the Soviet Union. The USSR itself disintegrated into the component states. It was the beginning of bad news for many an African leader who wanted to cling to power under one-party dictatorships. Many a clinger was hounded out of office.
Nyerere foresaw it all and made way, well ahead of the Soviet Glasnost and Perestroika.
What shall we say of this man who not only wrote volumes of books but also translated Shakespeare from 17th century English into modern Kiswahili?
In the prime of our youth, Juliasi Kaizari and Mabepari wa Venisi were regular ‘A’ Level Fasihi set books. You were fascinated by the text on the front cover, Kimetafsiriwa na Julius K Nyerere. What shall we say of this humanist who kept the struggle against apartheid in South Africa alive and well, to the very end? Indeed, what shall we say of this man who made Dar-es-Salaam a haven of peace and the home of hope for African liberation movements?
Friends, what shall we say of this man who edified Kiswahili to the extent that when Tanzanians speak it is you do not want them to stop?
Here is one man who detribalised diverse peoples and made them one nation, brimming with Tanzaphilia. This was the one leader who made you feel truly proud to be an African.
Again, in the prime of our youth, we loved to tune in to Radio Tanzania Dar-es- Salaam on the short wave band, to listen to his daily talk after news.
Mazungumzo Baada ya Habari was a must for every progressive youth. This was not propaganda. This was philosophy and wisdom. Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Butiama was a man of his kind, a man for all seasons. It will take a long, long time for Africa to produce another philosopher- king like Mwalimu Nyerere.
It was a privilege to have lived in the same age and space with him. God bless his soul. What about the rest of us?
The writer is an editor and media consultant.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join