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OBITUARIES

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Elsbeth Court writes: PROFESSOR KIURE FRANCIS MSANGI, b. Usangi, Pare, 1937, passed away during January in Nairobi, where he had been teaching Graphic Design and practical teaching methods since 1986. He practiced what he preached; his last solo exhibition of new work was in December 2002. Indeed, in recent years, his intellectual energy was absorbed with spiritual concerns, though he was always an active Christian having served the Lutheran ministry in many ways, from meditation to music­making on the piano.

Amongst the most academically-educated artists in eastern Africa, Msangi had earned diplomas and higher degrees from Mpwapwa Teachers’ College; Makerere University School of Art (where he was awarded the Trowell Prize for top performance); yet, when we met, he observed he had “not one full lecture on African art in five years at Makerere”, 26.10.00); California College of Art and Craft (on a Fulbright Scholarship, 1973); and, Stanford University School of Education. On completion of his thesis on the teaching of art in Tanzanian schools, he returned to Nairobi rather than Dar­es-Salaam. He explained he was attracted by Kenya’s educational reforms, known as “8-4-4” (referring to the phases of the formal cycle) which made art a compulsory subject at school level and incorporated local–ethnic–practices of art-making. Throughout his life, Kiure Msangi pursued several kinds of art work. These are painter, print maker, art educator, book illustrator such as Samaki Mdogo Mweusi -Little black fish (Tanzania Publishing House) and author, such as his little classic ‘Art Handbook for Teachers’ (TPH, 1975).

Francis Kiure Msangi. 1967. Woodcut print 'Ujamaa'. (Photo: E Court)

His print Ujamaa (1967), reproduced here, is characteristic of his energetic and expressive re-presentation of local, modern life. Like his deeply-held values, his artistic style was consistent all through his career. Unlike many ‘African’ artists, his oeuvre is documented in the literature (African Arts magazine, Fosu:1985, Agthe:1990, Kennedy: 1992).

Professor Msangi is buried in Tanzania. In their obituary statement that celebrates his life, ‘The Family’ review the scope of Msangi’s accomplishments, not the least being his family. They describe him as a devoted husband (of Grace Namkari) and cherishing father (of Ziddi, Siwa and Altha) , who was deeply spiritual and committed to painting. Their conclusion uses portrait painting as a metaphor for memory, ‘The portrait we have painted is unfinished…’ They welcome us –his friends, colleagues, patrons, readers –to join them ‘in painting the portrait of Kiure Francis Msangi… so that Kiure’s [legacy] lives on in the portrait we create .. …we invite you to continue to paint. (Thank you to Prof Olive Mugenda, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University, for forwarding The Family’s obituary statement-EC).

Joan Wicken writes: JUSTICE ABDULLA MUSTAFA died at the end of January in Canada. Born in 1916 in Hong Kong, he went to university in India, worked for Nairobi City Council while studying privately until he passed full law examinations, ‘ate his dinners’ at Lincolns Inn in 1946 and was called to the bar the same year. After private practice in Arusha, in 1970 he was made a judge in the Tanzanian High Court, then in the East African Court of Appeal; and finally he became a senior judge in the Tanzania Appeal Court, retiring only in 1989. Throughout this period, Judge Mustafa earned a great reputation in Eastern Africa as a man of absolute integrity, a strong supporter of the rule of law and thus of the independence of the judiciary, regardless of the status or wealth of those before him. It was this reputation which led to his services being ‘lent’ to the Seychelles, where he helped to establish an Appeal Court and to sit as its president in 1992. Judge Mustafa was dependent upon thrice weekly dialysis for his last years, but continued to enjoy life with his wife Sophie, who was an elected member of the Tanganyika legislature from 1958 to 1965. The two went together to the ‘launch’ in December 2002 of Sophie’s first novel; she is just 80 years of age.

Jim Read writes: FRANCIS NYALALI, retired only in 2000 after a remarkable and mould-breaking 23 years as Chief Justice of Tanzania. His contributions to developing the institutions of government were second only to those of President Nyerere whose insight in selecting him in 1977 to lead the judiciary, after only three years on the High Court bench and above ten more senior judges, was fully justified by his achievements. Nyalali’s life story -from Sukuma herd-boy via Tabora school and Makerere University College to Lincoln’s Inn (called to the Bar 1966, Honorary Bencher 1994) and then as zealous, reforming local magistrate and chairman of the industrial court, was well used by Jennifer Widner as the framework for her recent searching study of the daunting problems facing African judges in general, Building the Rule of Law (reviewed in Tanzanian Affairs No 71). Nyalali’s lasting achievements included persuading initially suspicious, even hostile politicians, of the importance of the rule of law and then chairing the Presidential Commission which restored multi-party politics in place of the one-party system. Prominent in the debate which led to the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1984, he also launched a legal literacy programme to help Tanzanians understand their laws. He was instrumental in creating the Tanzanian Court of Appeal, over which he presided. He died on April 2nd and was commemorated at special Mass at a packed St Peter’s Church, Oyster Bay.

Former Minister of Health and former Chief Scout DR LEADER STIRLING (97) who died on 7th February was described in an obituary in The Times as ‘the epitome of the muscular Christian and, like Livingstone, became a legend in his adopted country. His life was like a tale from Buchan or Rider Haggard.’ Further extracts from The Times: ‘He was on his way to becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons but, before completing his exams, he prayed: “Lord, what will you have me to do?”. Two days later there came a cable from the Universities Mission to Central Africa: ‘A doctor is urgently needed at Masasi; can you come?’ There would be no salary, a suit of clothes every four years, and pocket money of one shilling day ….. He spent the next 14 years in a hospital of mud huts -cooking pots and stores of food, live hens, spears and bows and arrows were stowed under the beds in the wards; the operating theatre was an openwork bamboo building with a grass roof and every gust of wind filled it with dust and dead leaves; there was no running water and the hospital had no lighting except for oil lamps. Nevertheless, with meticulous asepsis, he achieved a post-operative infection rate of almost nil.. …. After these years at Lulundi, he became a Catholic and joined the Benedictine Mission. They sent him to Mnero where he built another hospital and started a school for rural medical assistants. 15 years later he was transferred to Kibisho, Kilimanjaro Region. He devised instruments from simple materials: screwdrivers made ideal traction-pins; sewing cotton was perfect for ligatures; Thomas splints were contrived from bamboo; extension cord from plaited palm leaves with stones as traction weights; when plaster of Paris ran out, he made his own from locally quarried gypsum. He devised a new bloodless operation for the giant swellings of the scrotum caused by Filiariasis. At independence he became a Tanzanian citizen and was elected to Parliament. In 1973 Julius Nyerere made him Minister of Health.

In 1993 the Royal College of Surgeons made him a Fellow by Election -a rare honour.’ His funeral was attended by thousands. It rained in buckets for more than two hours -the first rain for five months. In Tanzanian folklore, it rains only on the funeral of a truly great man.
(Thank you to several readers who sent us this obituary -Editor)

LETTERS

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REVIEW OF ‘SERVING CLASS’
I read with some dismay the very negative review by Frederick Longino of Janet Bujra’s fine book ‘Serving Class’ in the last issue of Tanzanian Affairs (here). This book is an academic study of domestic service in Tanzania by a well-known development sociologist whose work on both Tanzania and Kenya is widely respected both in those countries and internationally.

Longino castigates Bujra’s work for ‘borrowing western ideas’, yet her book builds upon important debates by Tanzanian intellectuals on the nature of class and gender. Indeed, in her Acknowledgement, Bujra pays tribute to Issa Shivji ‘whose insistence on the relevance of class perspectives to political struggles in Tanzania first drew me to the topic’. Far from seeking to fit domestic service ‘into a western serving class model’, Bujra has taken great care to be historically, socially and culturally specific. Her work utilises not only her own observations but also the voices of Tanzanian domestic servants themselves. In addition, it draws extensively upon historical and archival material.

Further, contrary to Longino’s assertions that the author does not deal with women who are sexually abused by their employers, he would find a mention as early as page 2, and his contention that child domestic servants are neglected in this book is incorrect -it is also discussed right from the beginning.

Finally, his criticism that Bujra has ‘dropped from the English version some details which appear in Swahili’ appears rather at odds with his subsequent statement that ‘there is no parallel Swahili version’.

In reading a book review in the Bulletin, I would like to know primarily what the author has done, if possible in the context of relevant debates, before hearing about the author’s criticisms. In fact, this review tells us very little about what is actually in the book.
Professor Pat Caplan

‘DAM HARRIS’
From 1952 to 1955 approximately my father, the late James (Jim) Harris, MBE., MC., TD., was the District Commissioner in Nzega. During this time he instigated the building/drilling of over 80 dams and boreholes (Tanganyikan workers were paid with food) and earned himself the title ‘Dam Harris’. As a result of the El Nino winds of ’98 we heard that there was a large breach in the wall of Mwanahala Dam, one on which he had been working. The ‘Friends of Urambo and Mwanhala’ of which I am a committee member, have funded the repair of this and now, thanks to a generous legacy, we are arranging for the water to be piped to two large villages. I have been asked to go to Nzega in August to reopen the dam, which I find a great honour, and am busy collecting t-shirts etc for Tanzanian youngsters -if anyone would like to make a donation please write to me at Orchid Close, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SZ.
Cathy Harris

THE MTWARA – NACHINGWEA RAILWAY
I have responded personally to David Morgan’s letter (‘Hidden political agenda?’) in the last Tanzanian Affairs. It referred to the Mtwara -Nachingwea railway and prompts a recollection which may be of interest to other readers. During my time in Masasi as DO in 1956-7 we were visited by a Colonel Rolleston, then Commissioner for Transport, who was carrying out a feasibility study on the possible extension of the railway to Songea via Masasi…. .In the wake of his departure, and with a degree in geography only five years behind me, I later compiled a paper coming down heavily against this extension unless there were confidential imperatives that I was unaware of… I suggested that an extended railway line would not of itself generate significant additional traffic; active agricultural development on a commercial scale would be needed to achieve this, and there was no evidence that this was intended. As for an extension to Masasi I thought that any marginal benefit would not justify the cost of construction; and that traders in Tunduru and Songea districts would avoid the expense and hassle of trans­shipment at the Masasi railhead and stick to road transport to and from the coast. My paper to the Commissioner was never acknowledged; the extension to Masasi was laid down and, with the rest of the Southern Railway, pulled up after a few years and utilised elsewhere.
Don Barton

REVIEWS

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Editors: John Cooper-Poole and Marion E Doro

CHANGING ROLES IN NATURAL FOREST MANAGEMENT. Kerry A. Woodcock. Published by Ashgate. ISBN 07546 19354. £39.95

In this book version of her PhD Kerry Woodcock has produced a volume with a wealth of information. She draws on much primary and secondary material to discuss issues affecting the management of the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. Woodcock argues that constructive negotiation on sustainable forest management in the Eastern Arc mountains will depend on a clearer definition of stakeholder roles. She refers to “the 4Rs” ­returns from the forest, rights and responsibilities and relationships to the forest -as the basis for judging the respective claims of groups with interests in the forests. Efforts to involve local communities to improve forest management have focused primarily on the economic benefits they derive from forests. Such a focus, Woodcock argues, has ignored the broader nature of local communities’ stake in the forests. The resulting “imbalances in attributes” accounts for unjust and injudicious forest management which has failed to achieve the results expected. Only when the full implications of their respective stakes are understood can there be constructive negotiation between all those with an interest in forest management. Most of the book, therefore, concentrates on what these “four Rs” are for stakeholders in Eastern Arc forest management, and how they have changed over time. The book concludes with recommendations on addressing these imbalances in order to achieve more effective negotiation, to benefit forests and communities alike.

The key weakness of the book, is its failure to develop a systematic approach to understanding the nature of power relations amongst those with a stake in forest management. Woodcock alludes to power relations with her reference to “imbalances in attributes” between stakeholders. But reference to rights, responsibilities, returns from the forest and relationships to the forest (the key stakeholder attributes) only provides an idealised picture of the stake social actors have in the forests of the Eastern Arc. Social actors’ roles are determined as much by their position in relations of power as in their stake in an issue. The relationship between the state and forest-local communities has historically been very unequal, and often struggles about forests are symptomatic of other power struggles. (Scott 1985, Neumann 1997). Only once the power inequalities of social roles are recognised and understood can the prospects for constructive negotiation be realistically assessed or longer-term sustainability be secured.

Woodcock roots her analysis in how changes in forest management approaches have affected the relative positions of social actors in management arrangements. However, she does not, in my opinion, provide a satisfactory explanation for connections between changes in forest management and the obstacles to successful forest management today. For instance, she notes that awareness of the “high biodiversity and ecological values” in the East Usambara coincided with logging in the area. Yet why was concern for biodiversity able to halt Finnish-supported logging in 1984 but not in the early 1970s, when it had first been expressed (Ahlback 1988)? For that matter, why was biodiversity loss not an issue in the 1940s when extensive swathes of forest were cleared for tea plantations, or in the early 1960s, when significant tracts of lowland forest were cleared for the Longuza Teak Plantation? If she had made connections between dominant environmental narratives and changes in the Tanzanian political economy, she could have explained why certain social actors were able to make certain environmental claims successfully at particular points III time.

All this is important when assessing the current prospects for constructive negotiations. It will only be possible to formulate and support appropriate roles for social actor stakeholders if it is understood why power inequalities between them have persisted and how these inequalities have affected their “4Rs”. Analysing power relations amongst social actors with interests in the forest requires defining clearly who the actors are, what are their interests, and what sanctions and incentives they face in acting out their roles. Woodcock notes the complexity of social interests around the forest at the outset, but fails to integrate this complexity through her analysis (pp. 18-19; ef. pp 141-151).

These criticisms aside, this book ought to be consulted and its central argument debated. Woodcock has made a timely intervention on an issue of crucial importance to forest-local peoples and others concerned with the sustainable management of high biodiversity forests like those of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania.

References:
Ahlback, Arnold J. 1988. Forestry for Development in Tanzania. Uppsala: International Rural Development Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Neumann, Roderick P. 1997. Forest Rights, Privileges and Prohibitions: Contextualising State Forestry Policy in Colonial Tanganyika. Environment and History 3 (1):45-68.
Scott, James C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: everyday forms of peasant resistance. London: Yale University Press.
Sunseri, Thaddeus. 2003. Controlling people and forests in the Rufiji basin, Tanganyika, 1921-1961. Paper read at International Conference on the Forest and Environmental History of the British Empire and Commonwealth at Centre for World Environmental History, Univ. of Sussex.

KILIMANJARO ICE CORE RECORDS: Evidence of Holocene Climate Change to Tropical Africa. Lonnie G. Thompson et al. Science. Vol. 298 (October 2002) pp 589-593.

This scientific paper is of very serious interest to Northern Tanzania, and indeed to the economy of the whole country. The abstract of the paper is as follows:­

‘Six ice cores from Kilimanjaro provide an 11.7 thousand year record of holocene climate and environmental variability for eastern equatorial Africa, including three periods of abrupt climate change: 8.3, 5.2 and 4 thousand years ago. The latter is coincident with the “First dark Age”, the period of the greatest historically recorded drought in tropical Africa. Variable deposition of F -and Na+ during the African Humid Period suggests rapidly fluctuating lake levels between 11.5 and 4 ka. Over the 20th century, the real extent of Kilimanjaro’s ice fields has decreased 80%, and, if the current climatological conditions persist, the remaining ice fields are likely to disappear between 2015 and 2020.’

For several decades now, observations have been made regarding the shrinkage of the Kibo ice sheets on Kilimanjaro. I myself became very familiar with these ice sheets from close quarters in the 1950’s and 60’s, and comparing what I saw then with what is revealed by present day air and ground photos is really quite alarming. Now, exact scientific observation and measurement has revealed the precise nature of this decline. We now know that the ice cap of Kibo is likely to disappear within the next two decades, i.e. very soon indeed.

The scientists have revealed this situation in precise terms but do not of course comment on the economic and social consequences for Northern Tanzania of this natural development. The streams that flow from Kilimanjaro are the lifeblood of the Chagga people and this region is one of the most important parts of Tanzania economically. It also has to be remembered that the Pangani river depends on waters originating from the northern mountains of which Kilimanjaro is the chief, and its waters drive important hydro-electrical installations lower down the river.

It is to be hoped that these imperatives of nature will be taken into consideration as plans for future development are formulated.
John Cooke

UGLY MALAYSIANS. SOUTH-SOUTH INVESTMENTS ABUSED. Ed: John K
S. Institute for Black Research, University of Natal, Durban 4001, South Africa. 2002.

Included in this book, which critically analyses Malaysian investment overseas, is a 30-page chapter by investigative journalist Brian Cooksey on the ‘Independent Power Tanzania Ltd’ (IPTL) saga which has featured frequently in the pages of Tanzanian Affairs during the last few years. The chapter is written in racy style, makes fascinating reading and seems almost like a good novel. It has a large international cast of respectable and allegedly unsavoury characters including three Tanzanian presidents, a Malaysian prime minister, a dynamic former president of the World Bank, an Irish businessman, a Tanzanian Minister of Finance who was sacked, staff of the Bankers Trust New York, a director on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Malaysian businessmen, an American ambassador, a Tanzanian Permanent Secretary, an IMF Representative, a CCM Secretary-General, a Swedish ambassador, a Tanzanian Attorney-General, a Director of Price-Waterhouse­Cooper and senior staff of ‘Transparency International.’

The chapter on IPTL clearly required a great deal of research and investigation and helps to clarify the confusing history of this major Malaysian investment in Tanzania. The first part of the chapter gives a useful two-page chronology of events, describing how negotiations began. It then endeavours to explain people’s motivations during the extraordinary saga which eventually involved local and international court proceedings. In 1994, because drought in Tanzania had led to power shortages and hydro-catchment areas had run dry, the country seemed to need additional electricity supplies. Various attempts were made to provide these. More detail on the attempts, especially the gas to electricity project -SOGAS -would have been helpful. However, an agreement was eventually signed in 1995 between the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and a company called Independent Power Tanzania Ltd (IPTL) in which the Malaysian Mechmar Corporation held 70% of the shares and a Tanzanian firm -VIPEM -30%. IPTL proposed to build and run for 20 years a 100-megawatt slow-speed diesel powered plant in Dar es Salaam at a cost of$163 million with a ‘reference tariff of $4.2 million per month plus 3.25 US cents per kWh of electricity produced. The final tariff was to depend on actual costs involved.

In 1995-96 IPTL negotiated the purchase of a cheaper medium­speed plant, allegedly without consulting TANESCO. In 1998 TANESCO issued a ‘Notice of Default’ to IPTL for this reportedly unilateral substitution. T ANESCO then tried to negotiate a reduced tariff reflecting the actually incurred costs but, when this failed, it requested international arbitration through the Centre for Settlement of Disputes.

In November 1999 IPTL took TANESCO to court claiming interim payments of $3.6 million a month. In 2001 the International Centre found that IPTL was overpriced by $23.5 million but that the contract should still stand since TANESCO had been aware ofthe switch from the slow-speed to the medium-speed plant.

On January 13, 2002 IPTL started supplying power to the national grid at 13 cents per unit. The author insists that this makes Tanzanian electricity the most expensive in central and southern Africa and describes it as a long-term burden on the Tanzanian economy.

Finally in March 2002 the Tanzanian partners in IPTL -VIPEM were reported to have petitioned the High Court to wind up the company fearing that they might not get a fair share of the dividends. Implicit in this whole account are allegations of corruption. After the book was published, one newspaper reported, in March 2002, that the case was being referred to Tanzania’s Anti-Corruption Bureau. In the circumstances, this reviewer would prefer not to comment on the corruption charge and leaves it to the reader to decide for him/herself on the basis of the evidence provided. However, the author quotes a Dr Johann Lambsdorff of Gottingen University who has described Malaysia as one of the ‘cleanest’ countries as far as its overseas investment policies are concerned ­DRB.

(Mwananchi reported on April 11 that MPs had begun to query the I P T L contract and some were said to be suggesting that there may have been corruption and that government should form a committee of inquiry to re-assess the contract).

THE WATERS OF SANJAN. David Read. Published privately. ISBN 9987-8920-1-9. £8.99
This is an historical novel based on fact and woven around the life of a known Masai warrior, who lived in Tanzania at the turn of the 19th century. It is an accurate and admirable record of the Masai people, once the fiercest of the tribes of East Africa. The author describes a way of life that existed at another point of time.

Readers will find themselves transported to a time machine revealing glimpses into another world that was the lives and customs of a very proud people. Some may shudder at the horror of some of the more violent aspects with which their Masai forefathers had to cope. However they will emerge the wiser for knowing and understanding a little of what these people had to suffer, not only at the hands of encroaching colonialism, but at the hand of nature; climatic disasters; diseases of man and beast and the tribal wars that were the norm and with monotonous regularity claimed the lives of their kinsmen.

The author, is perhaps one of the last lifelong European Tanzanian settlers, who possesses an intimate knowledge of the Masai. He has since childhood mixed freely in friendship with both their children and the elders, and has had a unique opportunity to observe their way of life and customs. Being fluent in their language, he has through the years been able to listen to the tribal elders recounting their age-old stories that depicted their history and customs. These stories are told again in this unique novel.

David Read, who lives in Tanzania, still maintains regular contact with his Masai friends and has translated his lifelong contact into words not only for the benefit of those whose lives lead them to East Africa, but also to those who dream and romance, about what was once known as the “Dark Continent”.

The author has written two autobiographies “Barefoot over the Serengeti” (£8.99) and “Beating about the Bush” (£10.99). Postage £1.50 for one book, £3.00 for two and £4.00 for three. Obtainable from: Crime in Store, 32 Store Street, London WclE 7BS, Tel: 0207436 7636. CrimeBks@AOL.com. Also at The Slipway, P.O. Box 76513, Dar es Salaam. Tel 2601088, books@anovelidea­africa.com.
Geoffrey Cotterell

LOCAL PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBALISATION: THE AFRICAN CASE, edited by Joseph Semboja, Jumu Mwapachu and Eduard Jansen. Mkuki na Nyota Publishers 2002. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd, Oxford. 154 pp. ISBN 9976973896. £12.95.

This collection of essays looks at the impact of globalisation on Africa and the ways in which Africa can respond to it. Three of the contributions discuss Africa in general, and the other four are specifically on Tanzania.

The current plight of Africa is brought out clearly. Economic trends range from decline to disintegration, indigenous culture is battered by permissive values from one side and Christian fundamentalism from the other; natural resources are being plundered, and governments are failing to reverse these processes. Whether all this IS the result of ‘globalisation’ depends on how one defines the term, and the editors almost equate it with any form of external exploitation from the slave trade and colonial rule to the Cold War. What is Africa to do? Four of the contributions put their faith in greater regional integration, and at least three argue for an enabling, rather than an intervening, state which would develop the relevant skills, harness private enterprise for the common good, revive indigenous culture and negotiate a better deal with the developed world. Optimism sometimes triumphs over realism in believing that existing elites have the necessary will or capacity to pursue these objectives. There is clear unanimity that Africa cannot escape globalisation. Issa Shivji attacks the “if you can’t beat them join them” school, but even he falls back on a call for “restructuring our state and civil society institutions” rather than opting out. The ideological choices seem to be narrower than ever. Everyone wants more competent, honest and accountable government, but the prospects of achieving this would require a separate volume.
Robert Pinkney

WE ALL WENT ON SAFARI. Laurie Krebs. Barefoot Books, March 2003. ISBN 1841 484571. £9.99.

Profusely illustrated in colour, this is a counting book for children. It is based around a safari by a group of Maasai children who see different animals in ascending numbers up to ten. The numbers are given both in English and Swahili. The review copy of the book was given to a playgroup in north east Wales to get their reaction. The play group leader writes as follows: ‘I introduced the book to the children on World Book Day 2003 (March 6th). I read the story to a group of about 20 children aged 2-3 years during our routine story time. Firstly we talked about the story being from a different part of the world, called Africa. (I used the word Africa because I felt it may be a word they were more familiar with). The children participated with the story from page one, eagerly pointing out all the animals they knew and counting them. The illustrations captured their imaginations, and after reading the story we made animal masks and shields. I often find a child using the book in our book area with the same interest and enjoyment’.
Rossett Pre-School Playgroup

OUT OF THE BOX. TRIBAL COMMUNITIES OF MODERN TANZANIA. An exhibition of photographs by Colin Hastings, Kijiji Vision Fair Trade Photography. The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, Feb 10 to March 21, 2003.

This delightful exhibition showed over seventy colourful photographs of a high standard and in various sizes. Many were neatly framed in cut-up cardboard boxes -hence the title of the exhibition. It reflects Tanzania’s need to make the most of what is readily and cheaply available.

Dr Colin Hastings took the photographs last year while he was working for the Tanzanian Cultural Tourism Programme to make postcards for villagers to sell to tourists. In conversation with a Tanzanian school teacher who was planning a book on tribal cultures of Northern Tanzania, Colin realised that photography in developing countries was expensive and there was scope for a scheme to assist individuals, small businesses and NGO’s. So ‘Kijiji Vision Fair Trade Photography’ was born, and will be registered as a charity in due course.

The scheme is already linked to twelve UK charities, and in Tanzania to AMKA (the local Traidcraft organisation), the Village Museum in Dar es Salaam, the Mayor of Dar es Salaam and People to People Safaris.

The exhibition was a way of introducing Kijiji Vision to this country. For myself, immersed in congested London life and unsettling talk of war, I felt another way of life taking me over. The photographs are of villagers in the north of Tanzania -the Sambaa, Chagga, Waarusha, Maasai, Barabaig, Pare and Swahili coast, going about their daily lives. Tribal culture is most apparent in images of the Maasai which has a special appeal to tourists. In modern Tanzania therefore, some tribal culture (but not all) is valued as a source of income. Some colourful dress and a lot of smiling faces make us believe all is well, but we know that by our standards, life is hard. In spite of this, a love of life shines through. I returned to the streets of London with these lives looking over my shoulder, and not to be forgotten. I hope tourists to Tanzania would feel the same.

If anyone would like to host the exhibition please e-mail Colin Hastings: colin@kijijivision.com. Postcards are available at £7.50 for 15, £5 of which goes into the project. Cheques to Colin Hastings, 83 Hampstead Way, London NW11 7LG.
Christine Lawrence

JOURNAL ARTICLES OF NOTE:

Anders Danielson. Agricultural Supply Response in Tanzania: has adjustment really worked? African Development Review. Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2002, pp. 98-112. Based on 1986-1998 reform process. Concerned with impact of market-oriented reforms on crop production and farmers’ response to predicted price incentives.

Sohail Agha and Ronan Van Rossem. Impact of Mass Media Campaigns on Intentions to Use the Female Condom in Tanzania. International Family Planning Perspectives. Vol. 28, No 3 Summer 2002, pp. 151-8. Based on data from a survey of 2,712 men and women, designed to evaluate a mass media campaign promoting the use of female condoms; concerned with the extent to which the campaign influenced the intentions of both men and women to use them.

Hodgson. Precarious Alliances – Indigenous Anthropologist Vol.

Ulrike Wanitzek. The Power of Language in the Discourse on Women’s Rights: Some Examples from Tanzania. Africa Today. Vol.49, No. 1, 2002, pp. 3-19. The author explores three approaches to language and its uses, implications of language for feminist discourse, especially as it is used in Tanzanian courts, and the relevance of language to work of living-law scholars. The three approaches include the formalists, the instrumentalists, and the integrationists. When applied to gender-related issues apparently language reveals a male dominance position and the exclusion of women, particularly at the legal level. Utilizing examples from Tanzanian courts in matters such as settlement of estates, the author notes how a widow’s linguistic inability to press her claim results in deprivation. Efforts to overcome this disadvantage require, among other things, revising customary law to make it consistent with the realities of societal changes and eliminate barriers to women’s rights.
Marion Doro

Cameron, Greg, 2002. Zanzibar’s Turbulent Transition. Review of African Political Economy. No. 92, 2002, pp 313-330. ‘Zanzibar’s Turbulent Transition’ recalls the 2000 elections that provoked unrest and police killings of over 30 people and prompting more than 2000 mostly Pembans -to flee to Kenya. Greg Cameron sees the Zanzibar democracy movement as a challenge both to the coalition that followed the bloody 1964 revolution and to the Dodoma government itself. He reviews events before, during and after the elections enlivening his story with first hand observations and conversations with citizens of all political and economic stripes, and with human rights reports and articles from local newspapers and journals -including TA. The article offers an excellent history and analysis that will be valuable background as the future of the Tanzanian republic unfolds.
Peg Snyder

TA ISSUE 74

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TA 74 cover

CCM ELECTIONS – MANY CHANGES
TANZANIA TAKES PRECAUTIONS
PRIVATISATION PROBLEMS: Air Tanzania, Harbours, Telecommunications, Insurance, Water.
AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
“I HAD BEEN HAPPILY MARRIED………”

THE CCM ELECTIONS

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Crucial elections for leadership positions in Tanzania’s ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party took place throughout October all over the country and prepared the way for a series of elections which will take place over the next three years. These are the 17 parliamentary by-elections in Pemba (the smaller of the two main Zanzibar islands) in 1993, (see recent issues of TA), local elections throughout the country in 1994 and the presidential and parliamentary elections in 1995. The by-elections will be the first real test of political opinion in Pemba since 2000. As both the 1995 and 2000 elections in Zanzibar were widely considered to have been flawed, the results of these by­elections (if they are free and fair) should finally indicate exactly how popular the CCM and the main opposition party -the Civic United Front (CUF) -are in Zanzibar.

The CCM elections were in three stages. The first stage elected leaders for ward, district and regional party posts all over the country. Some 1,600 elected delegates then came together for the second stage -elections to the 85-strong National Executive Committee (NEC). These positions are elected by five different groups: women (20 seats), youths (15), parents (10), Zanzibar (20) and the Mainland of Tanzania (20).

President Benjamin Mkapa, who has retained widespread popularity and respect after seven years in power, was comfortably elected as National Chairman of the Party and, following the decision of the current Vice-Chairman for Zanzibar, former Zanzibar President Salmin Amour, not to enter the contest, Zanzibar’s present President, Amani Karume, was elected to this post.

Describing the qualifications needed for these topmost positions, Party Secretary General Philip Mang’ula (also comfortably re-elected), listed allegiance to the party, readiness to defend it, to explain its policies, honesty, hard work, vision and wisdom. Political party representatives from 15 countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Korea, Rwanda, Mozambique, Cuba, China, Namibia, and the South African ANC participated in the CCM conference.

The results of the second phase once again showed the remarkable unity of the party -one of the factors largely responsible for keeping it in power since independence in 1961. However, there were, as usual, many changes -six ministers and junior ministers, including Minister of Higher Education Pius Ng’wandu and several regional commissioners lost their seats. Delegates ensured that some of the oldest colleagues of the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere preserved their positions in the NEC. Notable for his durability among these is former Prime Minister, 68-year-old John Malecela, who obtained 99.98% of those voting when he was again nominated as party Vice-Chairman for the mainland. He had tried for the presidency in 1995 but had been vetoed by Nyerere (on allegations of corruption); he has been hyper­active in the party for over forty years.

Other leaders elected to the NEC included Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye (who came first on the mainland list), Party Secretary General Philip Man’gula (second), East African Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdulrahman Kinana (fourth) and the Party’s veteran socialist Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru (fifth). There was some new blood too ­38-year old Ramadhani Maneno defeated veteran party leader and former Press Secretary to Mwalimu Nyerere, 69-year-old Paul Sozigwa, as the NEC Member for the Coast Region. The most popular of the defeated presidential candidates in the 1995 elections, Foreign Minster Jakaya Kikwete, who came twelfth in this NEC election, and Minister of Water and Livestock Edward Lowassa, who was fifteenth, are still likely to try again for the presidency in 2005. The third stage of the elections was for the 24-strong Central Committee (CC), a relic of the socialist days when the party’s structure was closely modelled on that ofthe Communist world where power was always concentrated in secretive Central Committees. This committee remains the Party’s key policy making body. Its new composition gives further guidance as to who might obtain the much coveted nomination as the party’s candidate for president in 2005. Those at the top ofthe poll included Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru and the only Asian NEC member, Minister of Tourism Mrs Zakia Meghji, but neither ofthese are likely to compete for the presidency. Dr Salim Ahmed Salim consolidated his position as a possible future president of Tanzania by becoming one of seven new members from Zanzibar. Jakaya Kikwete kept his seat on the Central Committee. Among those defeated was another possible presidential aspirant, Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Juma Ngasongwa.

NO THIRD TERM
Julius Nyerere reigned as the first President of Tanzania for 22 years and then made sure that it was his choice, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who became the second President in 1985. With multi-partyism in 1992 it became more difficult for him to arrange things his way, as seventeen top leaders of the Party threw their hats into the ring and vied to become the chosen candidate for the presidential election in 1995. Nyerere needed all his considerable powers of persuasion and guile to ensure that his favourite, Benjamin Mkapa, became the third President. Mkapa cannot stand for a third term as Nyerere established the rule under which presidents can only serve for two terms and none of the subsequent presidents, including many presidents of Zanzibar, have been able to change this. The previous President of Zanzibar Dr. Salmin Amour tried very hard to do so but did not succeed.

HOT COMPETITION
All the recent CCM elections were hard fought. Needless to say they provoked intense rivalry and there were many allegations of bribery. One CCM delegate in the Mwanza Region was quoted in Mtanzania as saying that election bribes of from Shs 5,000 (£4) to Shs 50,000 were common and that he wanted more frequent elections “because we get lots of bribes”. In Kilimanjaro Region the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) was said to be investigating complaints of bribery. One cynic was quoted in the press as saying “There must be something good in it to make the old guard hang on for a lifetime”!

OPPOSITION SELF-DESTRUCTION AND PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS
These elections were made more significant because most of the 15 opposition parties are continuing a process probably best described as ‘self-destruction’ thus ensuring that the person chosen as CCM presidential candidate will almost certainly become the next president of Tanzania in 2005. Former Secretary General of the OAU, Salim Ahmed Salim, who has been away from Tanzania for many years, successfully presided over a recent seminar in Parliament on the future of democracy in Tanzania which was attended by virtually every top leader in the country; he is from Zanzibar and it has been the custom for the presidency to rotate between Zanzibari and mainland personalities; it may now be Zanzibar’s turn again. Others who have just been elected to the NEC and are likely to vie for the CCM presidential candidate position include: Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete who came second to Mkapa in the ballot for candidate in the 1995 elections; Edward Lowassa who was also near the top in those elections; Minister of Transport and Communications Prof. Mark Mwandosya, whose cause may have been damaged however because of the serious rail accident in which 280 people were killed on June 24 this year; Works Minister John Magufuli; and, Trade Minister Juma Ngasongwa who has recovered from accusations of corruption some years ago. Tanzanian Vice-President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, who was picked from obscurity in July 2001, following the death of his predecessor, Dr Omar Ali Juma, is a possible candidate as is Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye. There will be other aspirants as the election gets nearer.

Most of the smaller parties have problems. In July the Central Committee of the United Democratic Party (UDP) suspended its Chairman John Cheyo (former head of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly) allegedly for misappropriating party funds. Since then Cheyo has been trying to regain his position but Political Parties Registrar John Tendwa sided with the rebels in the party and recognised the acting chairman, Armani Nzigili as the new chairman. The matter is now in court.

The National Convention for Construction and Reform (NCCR­Mageuzi party), under its then leader, former Deputy Prime Minister Augustine Mrema, gained 28% ofthe votes in the 1995 election. After Mrema departed, amidst much acrimony, to re-establish himself as leader of the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) the NCCR was left with only one MP and he recently lost his seat.

According to the Guardian, the party now appears to be splitting between those wishing to come closer to the CCM and others wanting to continue as a separate party. Party leader James Mbatia has been going around the country terminating the membership of many long­standing members on the pretext that they have been disloyal to the chairman.

The NCCR-Mageuzi began to seek, early in December 2002, a High Court Order allowing it to institute a suit against the Government in relation to the latter’s claims that the party had been registered without fulfilling all the required conditions. This followed the receipt of a letter from the Registrar of Political Parties asking the party to provide it with a PP.5 form indicating the names of its supporters from the 10 Mainland and two Zanzibar regions – a requirement for registration as a party. The NCCR insisted however that the correct form had been presented to the Registrar on January 7, 1993.
Augustine Mrema has been chosen as a presidential candidate by the TLP but his main contribution is likely to be to damage opposition hopes of winning next time as he will divide the opposition vote. The leader of the new and very small Democratic Party (DP), Christopher Mtikila, has just been cleared of charges of sedition made against him following speeches he made in November 1999 in which he severely criticised Father of the Nation the late Julius Nyerere.

Some other opposition leaders including the Secretary General of the NRA party, the Deputy Secretary General of the TLP and the National Chairman of the TPP have defected to the ruling CCM Party.

THE CIVIC UNITED FRONT (CUF)
On the opposition side there is at present only one serious candidate for the presidency of Tanzania -Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, head of the strongest opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF). But even his party, which is generally well organised, has its problems.

Its leadership tried earlier in 2002 to unseat four of its nominated women MP’s because of their failure to join other CUF MP’s in boycotting Parliament. This boycott followed the serious rioting in Zanzibar in January 2001 which reflected the party’s dissatisfaction with the conduct of the 2000 elections. But the High Court has already ruled that three of the four could not be removed, under the party’s constitution.

More serious for the party were rumours that Zanzibar Party leader and CUF Secretary General Seif Shariff Hamad, who, it had been assumed, would be the party’s candidate for President of Zanzibar, may now be facing a dissident group calling itself the ‘G7’. This group is said to be campaigning instead for CUF Deputy Secretary General Juma Duni Haji, as the candidate. Haji served a long time in jail in Zanzibar on charges which were abandoned immediately after the last election.

ELECTIONS ACT AMENDED
Parliament has passed a new amendment to the Elections Act under which persons petitioning against the results of a parliamentary election must deposit 5,000,000 /-as security for costs. The Court of Appeal had declared the Act unconstitutional, saying the amount would bar poor people from seeking their rights in the courts, as guaranteed by the country’s constitution. The Amendment gives courts discretionary powers to determine the amount, which should not exceed 5,000,000/- and should be related to the petitioner’s economic means. Before the 5,000,000/- requirement was introduced, petitioners were required to deposit 500/- as security for costs.

ZANZIBAR

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THE IMPLEMENTATION THE MUAFAKA
Implementation of the remarkable Muafaka (agreement) of 10th October 2001 (detailed in TA No. 71) between the then warring CCM and CUF parties continues to proceed fairly well.

The Presidential Commission investigating the disturbances in Pemba in January 2001 has interviewed some 1,400 people and has published its report. The report has criticised the police for killing 30 persons but pointed out that if they had been better equipped they might not have needed to use their rifles against the rioters. (We hope to have more details of the report in our next issue -Editor).

Of all the issues which divided the nation and resulted in the rioting, the composition of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) was considered to be crucial. The Zanzibar Constitution has now been amended and a new Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) has been appointed with four members who have CCM sympathies and two members nominated by CUF. Members of the new ZEC were sworn in at a ceremony at State House attended by people from all parties.
Another indication of progress in implementation of the agreement has been regular meetings between CCM President Amani Karume and leaders of opposition parties.

Furthermore, an amendment to the 1984 Electoral Law, passed by the House of Representatives on October 2nd, has established a permanent register of voters. It is hoped that this will remove fears expressed by CUF that CCM had been cheating in earlier elections by bringing voters to the islands from the mainland.

But political development rarely goes entirely smoothly in Zanzibar. The Guardian reported on October 3 that the government, against strong CUF objections, had found it fit that community leaders, popularly known Shehas (local leaders regarded by CUF as CCM sympathisers) should continue to co-ordinate the voters’ registration exercise because of their local knowledge. CUP Secretary General Seif Sharrif Hamad later met with President Karume to register his objections to the continued use of Sheha’s.

The Government has also decided that a simple majority, rather than 50% of the voters, should determine the winner in a presidential election race and that the number of constituencies should be reduced, particularly in the CUF stronghold of Pemba. Minister of State in the President’s Office (Constitution and Good Governance) Omar Makungu said that the decision to introduce the simple majority system in determining the winner of a presidential race was aimed at improving multi-party democracy in the Isles. The 50% winning system was adopted during the single-party era. With the introduction of multi-partyism it was imperative for the system to be changed.

THE BY-ELECTIONS
It is understood that the Government does not want the new electoral system to be made effective until the 2005 elections but CUF wants its introduction by March 2003 in time for 16 key by-elections in Pemba in constituencies won by CUF in 2000. The 16 former MP’s were expelled from the House of Representatives after they had boycotted proceedings following the disturbances. There is one by-election in Pemba in a seat held by CCM. This arose when Vice-President Shein was chosen by President Mkapa to move to Dar es Salaam to take up his new position. If these by-elections are free and fair, the results will indicate clearly, for the first time since multi-partyism was introduced in Tanzania, whether CUF has the electoral support in the Isles which it has always claimed it has. It believes that it was deprived of victory in the 1995 and 2000 elections.

The Zanzibar government increased the punishment for clove smugglers at the beginning of October. The island’s Minister for Trade said that anyone convicted of smuggling would now be sentenced to 10 years in jail. At the same time clove prices were raised -Majira

TANZANIA TAKES PRECAUTIONS

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Director of Criminal Investigations Adadi Rajabu was quoted in the East African on December 2 as saying that security had been heightened at all airports, border crossings, around the Zanzibar Isles, at hotels and major installations following the terrorist attack on the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa on November 28. The Director called on Tanzanians to report to the police any ‘suspicious looking’ people who might threaten the security of the country.

In Zanzibar, the police have assured foreign visitors and tourists of protection from terrorist threats by providing 24-hour police and security forces protection.

These measures have been taken in view of what happened in August 1998 when the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were bombed by al Qaeda terrorists resulting in the deaths of over 250 people. The majority of tourists to Tanzania come via Kenya.

Police sources in Dar es Salaam were quoted as saying that the porosity ofthe borders in East Africa, the unguarded coastline and the cultural ties between people in Kenya, Tanzania and the Gulf States, made East Africa a soft target for terrorists.

Zanzibar Commissioner of Police, Khalid Iddi, was quoted in the same article as saying that police had mounted night patrols along the coastal areas of Zanzibar, Mafia Island and Mtwara using Zanzibar’s Kikosi Maalumu cha Kuzuia Magendo (KMKM -anti-smuggling unit). “We’re working around the clock” he said. Mr Iddi said police and security personnel had been instructed to search every person entering Zanzibar.

The police have also stepped up their search for Mohammed Ghailan, a Zanzibari national with Iranian connections, who is suspected to have financed the 1998 bombing in Dar es Salaam. He is listed by the US government as one of its 10 most wanted terrorists.

President Benjamin Mkapa was among the first heads of state to send his condolences to the people of Kenya and to President Arap Moi after the bombing in Mombasa.

NEW ANTI-TERRORISM BILL
A ‘Protection Against Terrorism Bill’ presented to the National Assembly on November 4th attracted considerable criticism from MP’s. The Government stressed that a terrorist network had manifested itself with the August 7, 1998 blowing up of the American embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. A Tanzanian, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, had been sentenced to life imprisonment in the US and another Tanzanian, was on the wanted list.

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Dr. Wilbroad Slaa (CHADEMA Party), was quoted in the Guardian as urging the Government to listen to concerns about the Bill and warned Tanzania against enacting legislation because of pressure from the United States. Dr. Slaa wondered how people could be arrested prior to investigations. Suspected terrorists should not have to bear the burden of proof; the prosecution should prove such persons guilty. The Bill was contrary to laws operating in the Commonwealth and would suppress civil liberties.

MP Ireneus Ngwatura (CCM) said the Bill did not define terrorism. Prof. Daimon Mwaga (CCM) said terrorism should not be associated with any religion and whoever associated Islam and Christianity with terrorism should not be allowed to derail the good intentions of the Bill.

Prof. Juma Mikidadi (CCM) also expressed reservations on what terrorism meant and asked for a definition of the word terrorism and how it differed from freedom fighting. Was it fair, he asked, to call Palestinians fighting for their rights, terrorists.

Ambassador Ahmed Diria (CCM) said nobody would be safe unless every country abided by UN Security Council resolutions against terrorism. According to him, there was state terrorism and individual terrorism, but each nation defined terrorism according to its own national interests. Other MPs protested about the provision which [sic].

At the end of the debate in Parliament a vote was taken. The Deputy Speaker of the House announced that there had been more ‘yes’ voices than ‘no’ voices and declared the Bill passed. At this point all opposition MPs marched out in protest.

Muslims in Morogoro had issued a statement at the end of October condemning the Bill and calling on MP’s not to pass it. They said that poor countries were being bulldozed by the USA and its allies. CUF Chairman Professor Ibrahim Lipumba had been quoted earlier as saying that the Bill would deprive citizens of what they considered to be their rights; it allowed the government to control civil society; it contravened the constitution and did not give a specific definition of terrorism. Police would be given the power to arrest people even without an inspection warrant.

President Mkapa in a radio address on 30th November said the Bill was aimed at combating crime and was not aimed at any religion or political party. He said that Tanzania could not take terrorism for granted or let the country be a place in which terrorists could hide.

TANZANITE
One year after September 11 and allegations that Tanzanite gem miners were involved with the financing of Al Qaeda, a slight improvement in the Tanzanian Tanzanite trade has come about. American dealers Zale and Tiffany’s have begun to purchase Tanzanite again after consultations with a US-based ‘Tanzanite Task Force’ which was set up after the signing of the Tucson protocol by the two governments in February 2002. This largely ended speculation about al Qaeda involvement in the Tanzanite industry.

THE CENSUS

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The Express reported on 24th August that the ‘National Population and Household Census’ which took place in August had had to be extended by a few days in order to give time for all returns to be completed.

Census officers faced a variety of unexpected problems. In Mbulu District the hunter-gatherer Hadzabe people requested the provision of bhang, illicit brew, monkey meat and cigarettes before they agreed to be counted. The local Council offered to provide zebra meat but the Hadzabe refused to accept this saying they were not used to it. Eventually the Council provided them with monkey meat also. About 100 Hadzabe thanked the Government for considering their request and said the gesture had succeeded in bringing them together to be counted. Their request for bhang and illicit brew was not acted upon. Clan leader Salbogo Dofu asked the Government to allocate them special areas in order to avoid interference with the regular livestock and farming activities which destroyed their natural food. The reserved area should contain the fruits, roots and animals that they normally ate. According to the 1988 census there were 1,000 Hadzabe in the area but the number had since been reduced to about 800. They lived mostly in caves and were found in Karatu, Mbulu, and Ngorongoro districts in Arusha Region.

Some Maasai people maintained that being counted was against their customs and ten Italian tourists in Zanzibar refused to be counted on grounds that they were foreigners and were just travelling in the country. It took the hotel management half an hour to persuade them to comply with the rules.

THE REASONS WHY

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Asked recently why Tanzania had been chosen to host a symposium on deepening democracy in Africa, UN Development Programme Resident Representative in Tanzania John Hendra was quoted in the Guardian as saying that it was chosen because of its low ranking, in terms of income per capita and the Human Development Index, and the number of achievements that Tanzania had made in moving forward in democratic governance. For example the transition to a multi-party system, the implementation of a number of government reforms, liberalisation of the media, efforts being made in the anti­corruption strategy and the home-grown and very important Muafaka in Zanzibar. The Representative went on to point out that urban poverty, particularly in Dar es Salaam, had declined from 28 % to 18% and that some of the indicators on primary education had been extremely positive. Primary enrolment had increased in the last few years more than it had in recent decades. He said that Tanzania was a model because of its sense of national ownership of its poverty alleviation policies.

Dar es Salaam has also been chosen by the IMF and the World Bank as the site of the first ever ‘Development Acceleration Regional Centre.’ This centre will be charged with the provision of locally­based technical assistance and training in the Fund’s core areas of expertise -macroeconomic policy, tax policy, revenue administration, public expenditure management, and building sound financial sectors -Sunday Observer.

THE NGO BILL

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A new Bill placed before Parliament has put local and foreign NGOs under state control. All NGO’s will be under a Council to be appointed by the Government. The Council will have the power to register and revoke NGO’s as well as to co-ordinate their activities. The Bill attracted much criticism especially from foreign aid donors. A US spokesman said his country believed in the right of NGO’s to operate in an environment free from overly burdensome registration requirements and regulatory oversight. The Head of the Africa section of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) was quoted in Mtanzania as saying that to put civil organisations and NGO’s under restrictive legislation would have a negative impact on the country’s development. Sweden was working closely with NGO’s because it considered them to be part and parcel of its relationship with Tanzania. As the time for the Bill to be debated in Parliament approached, various NGO’s conducted what the Guardian described as ‘a spirited campaign’ against it. This involved dozens of lobbyists airing their concern that the Bill would be inconsistent with the rights to freedom of association.