SENIOR CITIZENS ON SAFARI

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Way back in the summer we had the opportunity to revisit Tanzania to meet old friends we had known 20 years ago. We didn’t want to impose ourselves on them, to stay in tourist accommodation or to travel in hired vehicles. So the alternative, at least as far as travel was concerned, was the bus! Friends had told us about the Scandinavian Express Bus Company which had as its logo “In God We Trust”. And we did -as well as in their buses.

The first leg of our safari was Dar es Salaam to Iringa. We were impressed by the efficiency of the Dar booking office, then by the punctuality of departure, but most of all by the care given to passengers. Where in Britain would passengers be handed a blue plastic bag for their rubbish, next a paper serviette, then a straw and a choice of cold drinks, and finally a small packet of tasty locally produced biscuits? Then, after reaching Morogoro and changing buses, we received a bottle of water and some sweets. Our only complaints on that journey were the somewhat unhygienic ‘comfort stop’ and the fact that when we did reach Iringa we had no one to meet us. That was because our hostess had been given the wrong arrival time. Nothing to do with the bus company, of course, but it was extremely difficult to persuade the many taxi-drivers who bombarded us: we did NOT want to “go to Don Bosco”, but to the area where Bishop Mtetela lived. But once that was sorted out with the use of our best Swahili -no problem!

Every journey in a Scandinavian bus went well -maybe because the drivers seemed to have an understanding with the police who manned the several checkpoints placed at strategic points along the road. It was not so however on our final journey when we had to travel from Morogoro by Aboud’s ‘Red and Blue’ bus. As we approached Kibaha, some 20 miles out of Dar, the driver was flagged down by a police officer who then boarded the bus and insisted he proceed to the court, a mile or so off the road. “Because he had been speeding” we learnt later. We were all mystified as to what was happening, and at first passed the time by chatting with the vendors of cashew nuts who suddenly appeared. We were concerned -and others were too -as to how long we would be delayed; we had a friend meeting us in Dar. How would she know? Fortunately there was a very friendly Muslim lady in front with a mobile phone and she kindly allowed us to contact Pru Eliapenda and let her know what was happening. Pru said she would come and get us. Meanwhile the driver was given permission to drive, with a police officer, back to the main road and proceed to the Kibaha bus stand. As this had happened, we needed to stop Pru driving on to the police court, so Betty stood out in the midday sun by the roadside while I tried, with other passengers, to get the driver to unlock the luggage compartment and remove our suitcases, which then had to be guarded. By that time, of course, the driver was allowed to proceed to Dar, but that permission came too late for those passengers who were already climbing aboard ‘daladalas’ and too late for us to stop Pru from coming to rescue us.

Just as Betty and I changed ‘guard duty’ I saw Pru driving past, eyes fixed on the road ahead. So we needed the use of another mobile­phone! Problem solved when a kind Tanzanian offered to make a phone call for us.

We did have two or three journeys on rough hill roads, by Land Rover, but they were no near nowhere near as interesting as that last journey down to Dar es Salaam.

Mary Punt

OBITUARIES

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A ceremony was held to celebrate the-life of EMERITUS PROFESSOR ARTHUR HUGH BUNTING, CMG (who died on May 8) at Reading University on September 6. Speaker’s referred inter alia to the four years he spent as Head of the Scientific Department of the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme from 1947 to 1951 when it was closed down.
Extracts from the book ‘The Groundnut Affair’ by Alan Wood ­
Bunting arrived to test the soil while bulldozers were already clearing the ground …. He had a portable soil testing kit in a wooden box; he used a tea-strainer as sieve and he tested for acidity with dyes which changed colour. … But with this box Bunting obtained results which were to prove remarkably accurate, although he did not detect the unusually high proportion of clay in the soil as he had no means of mechanical analysis. The decision to start the Groundnut Scheme at Kongwa had been taken before he was able to carry out his tests …. In view of subsequent events it was what Bunting had to say on rain which was the most important. With scientific caution he noted: ‘Actual rainfall figures for the area are entirely lacking and the subject needs further investigation’. He strongly opposed the opening of a new area for groundnut cultivation in the Southern Province in 1948 but was overruled.’ Summarising the experience gained, the author of the book wrote ‘It was impossible not to be impressed by the vigour with which the multitudinous problems the scheme faced were being tackled by Hugh Bunting and two other leaders and their helpers’ A speaker at the ceremony said that Bunting’s outspokenness when talking to the British cabinet minister responsible for the Groundnut Scheme resulted in him being sacked and told that he would never be employed in the Colonial Service again. The Foreign Office then offered him a job in the Sudan and he continued to be involved in development projects all over Africa for the next forty years. He was working until a few days before his death.

GORDON CHITTELBOROUGH (86), once described as ‘the ten­talent man’, who died on July 28, spent 39 years in Tanganyika/Tanzania from 1938. He was a pharmacist, teacher, builder and fluent Swahili speaker. He began as a missionary of CMS Australia. He became Provincial Secretary of the Province of East Africa and later worked on the creation of a new Province.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE CLAUS (76), husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, died from pneumonia on October 26. He was particularly active in development co-operation and visited Tanzania regularly. The Tanzania Government was represented at his funeral.

RH R (DICK) CLIFFORD who was born in 1920 in India and grew up in Kenya started his service in Tanzania as D. O. Moshi in 1953. His final position was Personal Secretary to the then Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Richard Tumbull.

High Court JUDGE LUHEKELO KYANDO (59) who died from a severe attack of asthma on 13th October had given his last major judgment only a few days earlier. He had rejected a request from four Muslim Sheikhs to stop the BAKWATA elections (see above).

MAJOR GENERAL ROWLAND MANS served with 1I6th King’s African Rifles (initially trained in Moshi) during the advance into Italian Somaliland during the Second World War. At the battle of Colito they took 489 Italian and 31 African prisoners. In 1942 Mans led Tanganyikan soldiers in occupying Mayotte in the Comores and then conquering Madagascar from the Vichy French regime. Later, he represented former Tanganyika soldiers on the British and Commonwealth Ex-Servicemen’s League and launched the ‘Askari Appeal’ in 1998 which raised £250,000 to provide gratuities to former Tanganyikan askaris. The oldest of these had served in German East Africa in the First World War and was aged 110 in 2002, having lived in the same house, except for his war service, for 100 years. Mans was President of the East African Forces Association from 1997 to 2002 (Thank you John Sankey for sending this -Editor).

ROBERT SHARP (86) FRTPI (Rtd), MIMunE., died on 27th August. He joined the recently formed government Department of Town Planning in Tanganyika in 1954. At independence he became Commissioner for Town Planning (later renamed Director), a position he held until he returned to England in 1969. (Thank you John Rollinson for sending this -Editor).

REVIEWS

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Editors: JOHN COOPER-POOLE (UK) AND MARION E DORO (USA)

THE NYERERE LEGACY AND ECONOMIC POLICY MAKING IN TANZANIA. Edited by Ammon Mbelle, G D Mjema and A A L Kilindo. Dar es Salaam University Press, 2002. pp.362. ISBN 9976 60 3657. Available from African Books Collective, The Jam Factory, 27 Park End Street, Oxford. Price £23.95.

Julius Nyerere was a towering figure -whose personal philosophy had a unique influence on Tanzania. So it was fitting that the National Economic Policy Workshop in March 2000, a few months after his death, should be devoted to an assessment of his legacy.

The 17 papers by Tanzanian economists, geographers and social scientists cover a wide range of public policy in Tanzania. The first paper concludes that targets to reduce poverty will not be met unless the economy grows -and unless specific steps are taken to favour the poor. The second argues for a strategy to promote entrepreneurship. There are three papers on agriculture, showing that government support for agriculture has declined, a lack of initiative from the community level, and a need to improve the infrastructure, especially feeder roads, if agriculture is to prosper. The paper on industry argues for more local investment in small-scale production. The paper on social services shows that it is all but impossible for Tanzania to meet its objectives with the present level of external debt. The papers on education and health show how the disparities between urban and rural children got worse during the years of structural adjustment.

Two papers argue for better communications with Tanzania’s neighbours, and economic co-operation, and above all for peace and stability. A paper on tax argues that fiscal discipline, lost after Nyerere stood down, is gradually being restored. A paper on settlement patterns argues that Nyerere was fundamentally correct to persuade people to live in villages -while being clear about what went wrong and can still go wrong today. The final study is a very frank discussion of corruption.

All the papers reference Nyerere’s writing, of more than 30 years ago. The frontiers of debate have changed, and thinking is more complex ­for example there is no simple choice between industry or agriculture, but there are choices about what sort of industry and how best to support agriculture. But the legacy of Nyerere’s policy papers still influences discourse today.

Tanzanians have much to be proud of. Their country broadly manages to feed itself with three times the population at Independence, and a capital city now exceeding three million people. Some form of structural adjustment (not necessarily the IMF’s version) was inevitable when the oil price rose and the seemingly limitless aid flows came to an end. But out of the hard years has come the possibility to develop local resources and skills, using competition within the private sector to keep the excesses of monopoly in check, and the state to provide the infrastructure and to clamp down hard on corruption. Socialism and Self Reliance -reinterpreted for the new millennium -still have much to offer as the economists, geographers and politicians develop new strategies for today.
Andrew Coulson

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE PANGANI RIVER BASIN: Challenges and Opportunities. Ed. J.O.Ngana, Dar es Salaam University Press, 2001, 150 pp. ISBN 997660356 8.

The Pangani is one of Tanzania’s largest rivers. Headwaters from Meru and Kilimanjaro are collected by the Kikuletwa and Ruvu and from their confluence in Nyumba Ya Mungu Reservoir south of Moshi, the Pangani flows south-eastwards to the Indian Ocean with additions from the Pare and Usumbara Mountains. The basin occupies over 40,000 km 2 and ranges from alpine heathland and forests to wooded grassland and thicket. Fertile uplands are densely populated and cultivated, whilst on lower slopes large estates for sisal were developed with diversification into sugar and paddy rice in the north. The agricultural, domestic and commercial demand for water is heavy but must leave sufficient for hydropower generation given a present installed capacity in excess of 100 MW.

This volume introduces a collaborative project involving the University of Dar es Salaam and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology which aims to access and analyse the data bases needed to promote guidelines for sustainable water management and to enhance the research capacity of staff and postgraduates. Twelve project papers are then presented which use archival and new information for investigations centred in the northern sub-basin where water demand is greatest. They vary in length and depth and several would have benefited from a more rigorous editorial scrutiny. Under ‘Water Resources’, descriptions are given of a modest rainfall shift, patterns of low stream flows, and the formation and discharge variations in mountainside springs. The end point of data acquisition is the construction of hydrological models since, given simulations of the past and present, it should be possible to predict future impacts of changes in land use and water management. Modelling needs reliable data; early results from modem gauging stations in three sub catchments are described, as are approaches to model construction.

Irrigation has a long history in the Pangani basin and in a section on ‘Land Use’, farmers considered increased demand, greed and prolonged droughts as principal causes of the water shortages which had brought about changes in the crops grown and lifestyles. Little evidence was found of negative effects from irrigation on soil fertility and salinity. Recognising the importance of land cover to water budgets, a comparison of albeit rather old Kilimanjaro land use maps (1952 & 1982), revealed significant losses of forests and dense bush with increases in cultivated areas -trends which presumably continue into the present. The value of vegetation conservation in water management is touched upon again in a final section on “Social­Economic Aspects”, which also includes a concise overview of water availability and water use conflicts and unexpectedly, an account of the high population growth potential in rural areas. Many authors comment on a shortfall both in the quality and quantity of relevant up­to-date data sets such that the reader is left in no doubt as to the challenges and opportunities which confront those responsible for managing the increasing and competing demands for the water resources of the Pangani.
Roland Bailey

SERVING CLASS: MASCULINITY AND THE FEMINISATION OF DOMESTIC SERVICE IN TANZANIA.
Janet Bujra. ISBN 0 7486 1484 2. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, Edinburgh. £18.00

European authors who choose to write on African affairs sometimes give themselves problems. The great danger is that they borrow western ideas, and so present incomplete reality about Africa. In this book, the author forces comparisons between working classes in Europe and Africa, domestic service in Tanzania in particular. Domestic service in Tanzania does not fit into a western serving class model.

A study of the nature of domestic service in Tanzania needs to contain some account of its historical status. It would have been interesting to have the author’s views on whether modem domestic service is a continuation of indigenous practice, or a product of foreign attitudes inherited through slavery and colonialism.

Traditional life, before foreigners arrived, was responsible for the establishment of domestic services and the feminisation of domestic work. In traditional society, grandparents requested their grandchildren to stay with them in order to help in domestic work, girls in particular. In some circles in Tanzania, the use of grandchildren to perform domestic chores (unpaid) had become common among traditional leaders.

Nor does the author discuss early visitors to the African continent. There is a school of thought that claims that missionaries, especially priests, preferred to employ men in order to distance themselves from women in a bid to avoid temptation, or allegations of sexual misconduct, from female servants. Hence missionaries employed men and trained them to perform domestic work, even though in some tribes, men did not do household work (including cooking), except in pastoral and agricultural societies where men learnt to cook (but not wash up pots and plates), especially when women of the family were out doing farm work.

The author makes no critique of the common practice of using child domestic servants to sell ice cream, bread or cake for the household they work in; nor of those made pregnant by their employer or by relatives in the employer’s family. We don’t see much about how the parents ofthese girls reacted, nor how much this possibility influenced or changed their decision to send males to work rather than girls. The author should be commended for her use of Swahili, which contrasts favourably with many other European authors who do not integrate African languages into their writings. However, while the author expands some descriptions of things unfamiliar to readers of English writings, she drops from the English version some details which appear in Swahili, losing certain areas of meaning in the process. As there is no parallel Swahili version, we cannot gauge the reactions of post and current domestic servants in Tanzania who cannot speak English.

This book has its good points, but the picture of domestic services in Tanzania is incomplete. The author needs to reassess and recommend what should be done in the light of her research ideas.
Frederick Longino.

FARMERS AND MARKETS IN AFRICA: POLICY REFORMS AND CHANGING RURAL LIVELIHOODS. Stefano Ponte. Oxford, James Currey, 2002. ISBN 0-85255-169-X £40 (cloth). 0­85255-169-X £17.95 (paper).

It is very clear from the outset of this book that the author aspires to more than a detailed case study. He has used the Tanzanian case studies to illustrate a general argument about continental policy reform and marketing structures. Ponte’s empirical evidence clearly shows that International Financial Institutions’ (IFI) policy goals to enhance smallholder export agriculture through economic liberalisation have backfired, largely undermining rather than bolstering the sector. Instead, ‘fast crops’, like tomatoes that generate much needed quick cash, and non-agricultural diversification have proliferated ­developments that were never foreseen, let alone intended in the original IFI policies.

Ponte’s argument is empirically well-supported. My main criticism is that in trying to broaden his audience he sometimes juggles with an eclectic hotch-potch of political economy and post-modernist-inspired theories as well as sliding between levels of analysis to bridge the global-local gap. This ambitious all-encompassing approach makes the book somewhat uneven in places and occasionally detracts from the strength of the research findings. Very briefly I will make a few observations about each chapter.

Chapter 1 is efficient in setting out the scope of the book and the research methodology. The macro-level bias of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) impact literature is criticised with emphasis placed on the need for more local analysis and more attention to non-economic phenomena of the ‘local context’. The promise is made to observe farmers’ agency within larger systems and to “‘fill” the macro-level dynamics with a basic level of generalisation coming from specific local-level experiences in their diversity, without, at the same time, losing important shades of contextualisation’. Contextual analysis, therefore, is used in terms of collecting local interpretations, divergent accounts, and constructions from below.

Chapter 2 is a good overview of trends in international and continental agricultural marketing systems. The author has managed a very lucid account that will be of interest to economists and non-economists alike.

Chapter 3 and the first part of Chapter 4 provide basic background on Tanzanian post-independence policies and the switch from African socialism to World Bank-led structural adjustment. Covering material that is already well-known to many readers, the author nonetheless has provided a succinct historical background needed for understanding the analysis which follows. The latter part of Chapter 4 is an exceptionally insightful account of the tenuous statistical base upon which the World Bank has proclaimed Tanzania an economic success story.

Chapter 5 is probably the most important empirical chapter of the book, clearly documenting the author’s field findings regarding the declining input supply availed farmers by private traders in the wake of liberalisation.

Chapter 6 is a middle-level institutional analysis of the objectives and effectiveness of public vs. private-leaning marketing systems. Interestingly, all four case studies seem to be largely over-determined by the impact of IFI policies, world market forces and physical locations vis-a-vis markets. The reported findings suggest that local­level agents’ manoeuvrings were hemmed in by these factors, and that on balance, agricultural marketing services of whatever institutional nature, were generally declining and acting as a deterrent to farming.

Chapters 7 and 8 are both very empirically strong chapters with a more relevant analytical focus, that of livelihoods. Chapter 7 concentrates on the significance of fast crops and significance of the increasing incidence of hired labour. Chapter 8 turns to rural households which resort to non-agricultural activities and the impact this has on wealth differentiation, and incidence of poverty. Chapter 9 summarizes the author’s argument very forcefully and convincingly, and helpfully points to the policy implications.

This book provides an engrossing read. Clearly written, well-structured and empirically strong, the author provides a careful review of the impact of structural adjustment and economic liberalization policies on rural smallholder farming villages. His two Tanzanian case study districts offer interesting contrasts as regards transport/market accessibility and crop mixes, demonstrating some of the variation, as well as many of the striking commonalities that have surfaced in rural Africa in the wake of the continental-wide implementation of SAP by international financial institutions. This is a book for those interested in the politics and economics of Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa more generally.
Deborah Bryceson

DAR DAYS: THE EARLY YEARS IN TANZANIA. Charles R. Swift. University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-2331-X paperback). 211 pp. Two maps. $38.

Readers familiar with Tanzania during 1966-1974 will easily identify with the environment, attitudes, and assumptions that Swift records in this edited version of his daily diary during his years of service as a psychiatric consultant with the Ministry of Health. His recollections are based on an annual, episodic rather than thematic basis, reflecting his medical schedule and availability of facilities, his daily routine and life style, and family responses. Central to these memories are his connections with medical professionals in Tanzania and Zanzibar, some of which record personal as well as professional differences. These experiences reflect the politics (petty and otherwise) played out by Tanzania’s medical administrators as they vied for positions of control over their bailiwicks, or alternatively co-operated with one another, either for their own benefit or that of their patients. With few exceptions Swift makes minimal reference to major political events; clearly he was deeply affected by the assassination of Eduardo Mondlane and very impressed with the leadership of Julius Nyerere. While he took note of major events, e.g., Idi Amin’s coup in Uganda, or his occasional association with notables such as Jane Goodall and Nathan Shamuyarira, these are descriptive rather than analytical accounts. The use of parenthetical remarks to explain local circumstances interrupts the literary flow; the two maps are somewhat confusing, even to those familiar with the area. But, these minor failings detract only minimally from the overall value of this book which will likely set readers to reminiscing about their own experiences.
Marion Doro

A HOST OF DEVILS: THE HISTORY AND THE CONTEXT OF THE MAKING OF MAKONDE SPIRIT SCULPTURE.
Zachary Kingdon. ISBN 0-415-27727-2. Routledge, 2002, £55.00

Makonde Blackwood carving is rarely included in serious reviews of African arts and is routinely derided as of interest only as Tourist art. In this book Kingdon, in elegant and accessible prose, provides the corrective. He supplies an in-depth examination of the art making, and insight into the relationship between expressive form and social relations within Makonde society.

In the main the book is concerned with the form of carving known as Shetani. For most spectators these carvings are anomalous anthropomorphic forms that within primitivising discourses on African art have even been ascribed a surrealist root. This book, through careful documentation and through research, debunks such ideas and demonstrates the history of how this particular form emerged into the Makonde carver’s corpus. The insights provided are key to an art history of Makonde carving and the development of the shetani form. Without denying the constant tension between tradition and modernity Kingdon places carving within the social history of the Makonde in Tanzania. The book carefully documents the relations between carvers and patrons in Tanzania, the life histories of predominant carvers and, in a passage rich in detail that draws upon the author’s own apprenticeship, the process of carving.

Valuable as this work is to a general history of art in Africa; its aims are more ambitious. The interpretative strategy used here depends upon the location of the artefact (the shetani carving) within the social context of Makonde culture to the extent that the work carries with it agency akin to a Makonde sense of being (if that is what is meant by ontology). In this investigation a loosely phenomenological analysis is presented in which concepts such as embodiment, personhood, play, insecurity and mediation are used alongside ethnographic details of women’s affliction, spirit possession, masquerade performances, tattooing and body art. From time to time there is a tendency to work from the highly particular to the theoretically general that then appears overstated, but the theoretical nexus works well and is convincing, backed up with comparative material from other East African ethnographies.

In an intriguing passage in the introduction Kingdon writes of learning the embodied dispositions of the Makonde carver during his apprenticeship, a metaphor for describing anthropological fieldwork, yet also reminiscent of passages in Merleau Ponty. Talking of the analysis of understanding through perception Ponty criticises the reading of artworks for their visual resemblance as disembodied reading. Rather he writes;

“Things have an internal equivalence in me; they arouse in me a carnal formula of presence. These correspondences in turn give rise to some tracing rendered visible again in which the eyes of others could find an underlying motif to sustain their inspection of the world.” In embodying Makonde carving the author of this book has clearly found a motif, a practice, allowing this rich and worthy inspection of a Makonde world.
(Maurice Merlau Ponty (1961) Eye and Mind (L’oeil et l’esprit) Art de France
(1) p125-126)
William Rea

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Urban development waterfront revitalisation in developing countries: The example of Zanzibar’s Stonetown. B. Hoyle, Geographical Journal, Vo1168, No. 2, June 2002. (141-162)

This paper includes a good deal of background history, and a map of the coastal strip showing interesting buildings and open spaces between the present day port and State House. It discusses their successive changes of use, the characters involved, Stone Town Conservation Plan, and the contributions of several research projects and aid-funded activities.
Dick Waller

Placing the Shameless: approaching poetry and the politics of Pemban-ness in Zanzibar, 1995-2001, Nathalie Arnold. Research in African Literatures. Fall, 2002. v.33, i3, 140-68.
An analysis of the political implications of the song: “The Shameless Have a Town of their Own”, especially as the lyrics reflect political interpretations of Pemba responses in Zanzibar following the 1995 Tanzanian elections. The emphasis is on the concept of “belonging” and the variations of appropriate behaviour as well as modes of action that reveal violence, especially at the local level of ethnically-based political activity.

International Discourse and Local Politics: anti-female-genital­ cutting laws in Egypt, Tanzania, and the United States.” Elizabeth­Heger Boyle, Fortunata Songora, and Gail Foss.” Social Problems, 48, 4 November 2001. pp 524-544.
A comparative analysis of anti-FGC policies that explores how different local political situations interact with international aid policies.


Medical Syncretism with Reference to Malaria in a Tanzanian Community.” Susanna Hausmann Muela, Joan Muela Riberia, Adiel K. Mushi, and Marcel Tanner. Social Science and Medicine. 55, 3, August 2002 pp 403-413.
Explores local responses to new health information in a semi-rural community of south eastern Tanzania, with specific reference to malaria. Emphasis is on how recipients receive and respond to new approaches to this health problem.

‘Kunyenga’, ‘Real Sex,’ and Survival: Assessing the Risk of HIV Infection among Urban Street Boys in Tanzania. Chris Lockhart. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 16,3, September 2002. pp294-311.
Examines sexual networks and practices of “street boys” as they move from homosexual to heterosexual behaviour and the ultimate consequences for HIV IAIDS infection for the general population.

Networks, Trust, and Innovation in Tanzania’s Manufacturing Sector. James T. Murphy. World Development, 30, 4, April 2002, pp 591-619. Assesses the extent to which “trust” affects exchange of information and promotes innovation as revealed in study of a group of manufacturers in Mwanza. Indicates, among other things, that “openness to social relations enhances innovation”.

LETTERS

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WHY IS IT SO SUCCESSFUL?
(Abbreviated) Professor Cooke’s review of my book Fortress Conservation, in the last issue of TA raised some important questions about conservation and rural livelihoods and made criticisms which would be interesting to debate. The review did not deal with the book’s main arguments concerning the Mkomazi Game Reserve, which rose to prominence first, since several thousand people were evicted from it in the late 1980 and, second, because black rhino were introduced to a sanctuary there in the late 1990’s. The book examines the accuracy and veracity of fund­raising literature used to promote Mkomazi’s conservation. This literature stated that the Reserve’s environment was under threat from people, that the evicted people were ‘not indigenous’ to the area and it emphasised the good work planned to provide for peoples’ needs around Mkomazi.

Fortress Conservation explores the history of environmental change and finds that people have been there for decades. It raises questions about the severity and extent of degradation. It then examines the economic consequences of eviction and finds that they have been severe. A more interesting question then arises. If the content of the literature is questionable, why is it so successful? A great deal of money has been raised for Mkomazi from this literature and the Reserve now has a considerable international reputation. What are the implications of these successes for African conservation elsewhere? At a time when community conservation is reported to be in ascendance, here is an example ofcoercive conservation flourishing. When therefore Professor Cooke complains that the picture of a fund­raising event on the front cover suggests that Mkomazi is just a playground for foreign tourists, he may not have realised that the book is about the consequences of fund-raising. It describes the power of Western ideas about Africa and their consequences for rural Africans. The front cover is integral to the thesis.

The complaint also overlooks the fact that one of Mkomazi’s problems is that too few visitors enjoy its benefits …. Professor Cooke calls for the raising of funds on a large scale, to provide help for the burgeoning population of the Mkomazi area …. but it is unlikely that tourism could ever rival the returns from the cattle rearing economies which were dominant in the 1970s and early ’80s

Professor Cooke justified the eviction of people by asserting, on the basis of decades of experience, that a traditional pastoralism, diverse environments and their wildlife cannot co-exist …. but here is an issue where experts are divided. I feel detailed examination of the data is required and would therefore like to know what Professor Cook makes of the arguments in the book which considered what forms of biodiversity may be compatible with pastoralism at Mkomazi. I would like him to consider the national context of conservation in the country (more than 30% of the land mass is forbidden to human use and habitation) and I would like him to explain why the impacts of exclusion on livelihoods and the local economy are necessary.

Conservation is about compromise, about finding the balance between people’s needs and ecological priorities. I believe there is more room for compromise at Mkomazi. Policies of exclusion will cause impoverishment. If therefore alternatives are possible then they deserve thorough investigation and discussion. This will require an engagement with the data.
Daniel Brockington

EDUCATION – A TOP PRIORITY
(Abbreviated) The speech by his Excellency Hassan 0 G Kibelloh, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Britain, to members of the Britain­Tanzania Society (BTS) on 12th October was enlightening and attention captivating.

His Excellency opened his speech by praising the Society which for decades, and with very limited resources, has helped Tanzania in several development projects, particularly in education, health and the supply of clean drinking water in rural areas, because the members love our country and her people.

He then went on to present a broader picture depicting significant economic political and social developments taking place in Tanzania today. As an educationist, the theme of debt cancellation by the British government and its impact on the phenomenal expansion of education starting at primary school level, gripped me. We must remember that for years, the Tanzania government, churches, religious institutions and voluntary organizations, including BTS, campaigned day and night to have this curse of foreign debt, which kept Tanzania in perpetual poverty, removed. Ultimately, their cries have been heard, their efforts rewarded and the debt has been cancelled by the British government whose example should be followed by other filthy rich Western governments.

Of all post-independence achievements Tanzania can be proud of, her achievements in education stand out. In pre-independence Tanganyika we had just a few schools, a handful of technical colleges and not one university. Four decades after independence Tanzania has built many primary and secondary schools; we have many technical and vocational colleges and, to crown it all, we now have eleven universities!

Education is the mother of all professions and therefore the foundation stone of the nation’s development Our education institutions have produced hundreds of professionals: teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, military officers, political leaders, senior managers and many others. Adult education, initiated by Father of the Nation, the late President Julius Nyerere, who appealed to every educated Tanzanian to share his/her education with those who did not have this privilege, raised the national literacy and sanitation levels to unprecedented heights.

However, Tanzania’s development, particularly regarding the economy, has met with phenomenal obstacles. Constant poor rainfall or destructive floods devastated the agricultural sector upon which the country heavily depended. This problem, combined with derisory prices for Tanzania’s agricultural produce and minerals fetched in world markets controlled by rich Western nations hell-bent on keeping poor nations living in perpetual squalor, was a big blow to the economy. The government had to constantly borrow more and more money and had to pay it back with high levels of interest. It was mission impossible and the cycle of poverty became endless.

I must admit that other factors such as maladministration and corruption contributed to this sad state of affairs. This is why fighting these monsters has been President Ben Mkapa’s personal crusade. Recent cases of senior government officials being spectacularly dragged to court to answer charges of corruption indicate the serious nature of the leader’s determination to clean his government. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to strengthen the economy, create a suitable environment for foreign investors and to maintain peace, Tanzania’s unique blessing.

Now that the chains of economic slavery have been broken, with foreign debt cancellation, Tanzania must make education a top priority once again. We must double or even treble the number of our home­grown experts for all aspects of the nation’s development. Crucially, there is a need for a serious revolution in the nature of the education provided. We need the kind of education which goes hand in hand with trained practical skills and which ignites the intellect and triggers off intense research. The new kind of education must give Tanzanians high skills to process all our agricultural produce and minerals in the country and export top quality finished products at high prices. The new type of education would replace our current one which, in many areas, appears to be sterile; foreign textbook based and often not practical skills orientated.

Consequently, with small loans from the government and the private sector, even hundreds of our unemployed youths would be able to set up small businesses relevant to local needs, earn a living, reduce crime, restore their dignity and contribute to the development of our great nation.
Dr Frederick T Kassulamemba

A HIDDEN POLITICAL AGENDA?
(Abbreviated) During the ill-fated groundnut scheme after World War 2, a railway (the Southern provinces Railway) was constructed by the British colonial administration from Lindi and later Mtwara to Nachingwea and Masasi. Opened in 1953 it had a period of service of barely 10 years, before being closed and dismantled. During Redditch One World Link party visits to our twin town of Mtwara, we have noticed surviving features of the railway including earthworks, the station building at Mtwara Port and some godowns in the old Arab town area of Mikindani.

One of the Tanzanian friends, during our visit in 2000, recalled that he had seen the laying of an oil pipeline beside the railway, when he was young. It was not completed. Was there a ‘hidden political agenda’ in the building of a railway and developing a deep water port at Mtwara? It is claimed that Mtwara lies on the finest natural deep-water harbour along the East African coast.

As a railway enthusiast, I would welcome contact from any reader who may have information, memories or photographs of the erstwhile Southern Provinces Railway. I wonder whether Mr. Carrington-Buck whose letter appeared in TA No 72 drew any response and whether he has visited the Mtwara area.
David R Morgan, Karibuni, Chamberlain Lane, Cookhill, Alcester B49 5LD. E-Mail: dmorgan_AT_fish_DOT_co.uk

POLITICS

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OPPOSITION PARTIES FALLING APART
The last four months have been bad for Tanzania’s small opposition parties as they continue to fall apart through internal rivalries and lack of clear political philosophy. On the mainland the position of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party now looks unchallengeable. Provided it retains its unity it seems destined to continue to rule Tanzania for the foreseeable future. At the last election CCM got 59.2% of the vote but took all but some 25 of the seats in the National Assembly.

Tanzanian Ambassador in Paris Juma Mwapachu was quoted in Rai as saying that the opposition parties were now so weak and fragmented that they hardly posed any threat to the ruling CCM party. He said he agreed with the late Mwalimu Nyerere that the real opposition would come from within CCM itself, when the party split into two warring factions. The present generation of opposition leaders would have to hand over the mantle to the next generation “before we see a real multi-party system”. He said that the present opposition leaders came from CCM and so had the same “one-party mentality” .

On 7th July the Central Committee of the United Democratic Party (UDP) -by nine votes out of eleven -suspended its chairman John Cheyo, who had been regarded with some respect in certain circles in Dar es Salaam, together with his Vice-chairman and other leaders, allegedly for misappropriating ~:lS 61 million of party funds. The next day Cheyo insisted that he was still chairman and had expelled seven leaders from the party including its MP for Kisese, Erasto Tumbo, and the person installed by the Central Committee as the interim Chairman.

One of the elements in the dispute was an apparent inconsistency between the Swahili and English versions of the UDP constitution which caused Political Parties Registrar John Tendwa to pause before giving his decision. After examining the English and Swahili versions finally on July 25 he accepted the decision of the Central Committee. The new interim leadership of the party was vested in the acting chairman Amani Nzugile but he was instructed to hold fresh party elections as soon as possible.

On August 6 Uwazi reported that the new UDP leadership had filed a suit against Cheyo for Shs 137 million of state subsidy and for the return of five vehicles and party documents. Cheyo accused the new leadership of being funded by the Libyan Cultural Centre but this was subsequently strongly denied by the Libyan Ambassador who said that Nzugile had been given only Euros 500 for a training seminar in Mwanza for 10 UDP leaders.

On August 8 the Guardian reported that UDP’s Mwanza Region, its area of greatest strength, still considered Cheyo to be National Chairman ofthe party.

Meanwhile the NCCR-Mageuzi party was also facing internal turmoil. Majira reported rumours that certain members were plotting against chairman Mbatia. The party then received more bad news. The Appeal Court had nullified the election of Kifu Gulamhussein as NCCR MP for Kigoma, the party’s only elected MP. The panel of three judges said that Kifu had used tribalism during his election campaign in 2000, which was contrary to electoral laws. Evidence showed that Kifu used his Waha tribal sentiments against his CCM opponent, a Bemba originating from the Congo. He was said to have gone around saying, “We Waha have been oppressed for too long by Bemba from the Congo. It is time we freed ourselves.” Kifu won the seat by 24,180 votes to 23,689. This means that NCCR will no longer be entitled to government subsidies which are paid to parties which have MPs in the National Assembly:

A further sign of disorder in the opposition camp was the apparent failure, reported in the Guardian (August 1) of a meeting of the small parties (the most important opposition party, the Civic United Front­CUF -did not take part) to choose candidates for the new Electoral Commission in Zanzibar.

TWO PARTIES DE-REGISTERED
Registrar of Political Parties, John Tendwa revoked the registration of the PONA party on grounds that it had contravened the law and its constitution by not electing its leaders. After it had been given another period of grace it called a meeting where leaders were handpicked but Mwananchi reported that the meeting had been marred by violence and walkouts. John Chipaka was elected as party president. 35 delegates from Zanzibar were reported to have walked out on grounds that they had not been paid their allowances. The party has been in shaky existence since 1992.

The other party whose registration has been revoked is the Tanzania Peoples Party (TPP). Neither have any MP’s in parliament.

NEW PARTY REGISTERED
To the surprise of many, the Democratic Party (DP) led by Rev. Christopher Mtikila has been registered. The party first applied in 1992 but was refused registration because Mtikila was not prepared to recognise Tanzania and insisted on Tanganyika being a separate sovereign state. Mtikila said the party would now continue with the task left unfinished in 1993 but he would still push for a separate government for the mainland. He said at that time the people had 400 parastatal organisations that were subsequently sold off. He said the task now would be to fight for the restoration of these public properties. Talking of his track record he said he had been in and out of prison more than 23 times, all while fighting for the ‘people’s rights.’ Well known for his firebrand style of politics, he found himself in court on August 5 accused of sedition after Swahili newspapers had reported him telling a rally that President Mkapa was a ‘foreign citizen’ having been born in Mozambique and Prime Minister Sumaye was ‘a thief. Mtikila’s wife was quoted in the Swahili press as saying that Mtikila believed that Mwalimu Nyerere had been born in Rwanda.

After recent changes the composition of the National Assembly has become CCM 253, CUF 3, Chadema 5, TLP 5 and UDP 3 seats.

CCM ELECTIONS
CCM has begun distributing nomination forms for the forthcoming election of its leaders. These elections take place every five years. A Shs 10,000 fee is being charged for each form. For the National Executive Council (NEC) elections there will be reserved seats for women (16), youth (10), parents (10), Zanzibar (20) and the Mainland (20). Nine general seats will be filled in an open election by the national electoral conference. While ordinary candidates have to fill in the forms and vie for the positions available, that is not the case with the National Chairman and two Deputy Chairmen. They are nominated by the party’s Central Committee, seconded by the NEC and then elected by the national conference.

CCM LEGISLATERS URGED TO CLOSE RANKS
CCM members of parliament have been told by the Speaker that they are not allowed to form informal pressure groups. He was referring to the ‘G-55’ in 1993 in which 55 CCM MPs presented a motion asking for a three-tier government (instead of the present two-tier system). In April this year there was the ‘G-46’, supporting a private motion against the employment of management contractors to run the TANESCO power authority. President Mkapa had defused the crisis by reminding CCM MP’s of their duty to support the CCM manifesto at the last elections which included provision for a change in the management of the authority. The MPs were also told by Presidential Advisor Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru that their activities were likely to boost the opposition and weaken the government. He said the backbenchers had a duty to support the front bench.

LATE NEWS
As this issue of Tanzanian Affairs went to press there were further indications of the disunity between and within Tanzania’s opposition political parties. See article on Page 2 The Guardian reported on August 12th on a ‘fairly big’ rally held on at the Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam, attended by conducted by CUF, the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP), the UDP and CHADEMA. Speakers said that the current National Assembly was a rubber stamp which was toothless in the face of the CCM administration. But immediately after the meeting TLP Secretary General was quoted as saying that the two TLP MP’s who had attended the rally would be grilled for defying a directive not to attend and might be subjected to disciplinary action. The reason was that CUF was also there. According to TLP, CUF was cooperating closely with the CCM and was resisting efforts by the other opposition parties to be involved in the implementation of the Zanzibar agreement.

FESTIVAL OF THE DHOW COUNTRIES

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The Fifth Festival of the Dhow Countries (June 28 -July 14) celebrated the dhow cultural heritage of the peoples of Africa, Asia, the Gulf States and islands of the Indian Ocean, with ZIFF -the Zanzibar International Film Festival – as its centrepiece. A multitude of events took place daily at historic waterfront venues, on the green at Forodhani Gardens, at the House of Wonders, the outdoor Mambo Club and the amphitheatre of the Old Fort and other locations in Stone Town and in several villages of Nguja.

Under the stars at the amphitheatre you could see films such as A Question of Madness -the story of a man born of a black mother but classified as white in South Africa; Mishoni – about a young Tanzanian girl’s circumcision; the French film An Account of a Catastrophe Foretold -how the world’s top decision makers failed to prevent the spread of AIDS; Long Nights Into Day -about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and the prize-winning, artistically excellent and socially relevant Lumumba, among the 47 films shown from 21 countries.

Whatever your music and dance preferences, they too were there. You could choose Egyptian contemporary dance or a Zanzibar ngoma troop, Maasai wedding and war dances or the Parapanda performers of traditional Tanzanian music and dance. And, yes, there was taarab music side by side with Zanzibar hip-hop. Among the art exhibits was Twilight of the African Dhow – stunning photos of life on the historic dhows that capture their grace and practicality, by British-born photo journalist Marion Kaplan. Tara, theTrust for African Rock Art, had an exhibit of prehistoric rock art of Africa from the Sahel to the Southern tip. You could take lessons in Arabic music, traditional pottery or documentary film-making. The women’s panorama at the Old Dispensary attracted men as well to dances, hadithi sessions, and an exhibit of the history of the khanga. The children’s panorama included banner design, riddles, photography and festival song. A lively evening celebrated African song and dance and the chance to meet hundreds of locals and foreign visitors nightly at the outdoor MamboClub.

All that in addition to the simple pleasure of strolling the bustling narrow, winding streets of Stone Town, luxuriating on the unspoiled beaches, or sipping a cool drink on your hotel balcony, watching a pair of graceful dhows pass silently across a fiery ocean sunset.
Peg Snyder

THE ZANZIBAR AGREEMENT

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After some initial delay, implementation of the CCM-CUF Agreement of October 10 2001 (TA Nos. 71 and 72) is proceeding well. An amendment to the Zanzibar constitution passed by the House of Assembly allows President Karume to establish a new Electoral Commission including opposition members and to appoint two new opposition MP’s to the Assembly. Protests by other small parties (none of which has had any success in Zanzibar elections) that they were being excluded from these arrangements by CUF have been rebuffed by the latter on the grounds that it was CUF which signed the agreement and members of CUF who went to jail, were killed or fled into exile last year after protests in the streets against the election results.

Bye-elections in the 16 seats in Pemba from which elected CUF MP’s were expelled (following their boycott of the Assembly) and the one vacant CCM seat arising from the appointment of Dr Shein, a former Zanzibar MP as Vice President of Tanzania, have been scheduled for next March.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

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Exchange rates: £1 = Shs 1,500 US$1 = Shs 960

TEN GOOD REASONS
Speaking at the inaugural session of Tanzania’s International Investors Round Table, in Dar es Salaam on July 17, an initiative supported by the World Bank and the IMF which seeks to improve the investment climate in Tanzania, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said that the Bank supported President Mkapa’s determination to stay the course, encourage private investment and resolutely address the AIDS crisis in the country. President Mkapa gave Mr Woolfensohn ten reasons why foreigners should invest in Tanzania – political stability, correct economic and fiscal policies, abundant resources, investment incentives, unrestrained transfer of capital and profits, investment guarantees, settlement of disputes, the one-stop Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Tanzania’s qualified access to Europe and the USA’s AGOA and its geographical location which enabled it to reach a market of over 250 million people in East, Central and Southern Africa. Mr Wolfensohn then added an 11th attribute – President Mkapa’s able leadership. – The East African.

BUDGET SUMMARY
Finance Minister Basil Mramba presented his budget for 2002/2003 on 13th June. It was addressed primarily to the weaker sectors of the economy such as agriculture (allocation increased by 101%) and poverty reduction programmes. Investors’ interests were covered by reduced taxes on imported raw materials and on capital and interest on dividends. He included measures to raise the civil service minimum wage to Shs 53,130 but tax exemption on civil servants’ vehicles was stopped. He announced the launching of an Export Credit Guarantee Scheme and said that taxes on cement, aviation fuel, matches, casinos, land, tyres and bicycles were to go down while the road toll would go up. The inflation rate was targeted at 4.25 per cent this year. Foreign reserves would pay for importations for six months.

Four foreign firms have submitted bids for leasing and managing Tanzanian Railways: Comazar Consortium (Great Lakes Railways) from South Africa, Geneses and Wyoming Inc (USA), Canac (Canada) and SNCF (France). Later this year the four pre-qualified bidders will be invited to submit their plans for leasing and managing the network. The winner is expected to be announced in September – Mtanzania.

Mwananchi (August 1) reported that two of the three firms bidding for the leasing of the Dar es Salaam Water Corporation (DAWASA) had withdrawn as they were not happy about the conditions of the lease and the state of the Corporation. This left BiWater from UK in partnership with Gauff Ingenieure of Germany as the only bidders.

Bill Gates of Microsoft, the world’s richest man, has agreed to become a special goodwill ambassador for Tanzania and help to persuade fellow chief executives of some of the world’s top companies to invest in the country – Daily News.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

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When Britain’s Development Secretary Clare Short arrived in Tanzania on 3rd July to face President Mkapa on the controversial purchase by Tanzania of an expensive air traffic control system, the man on the street in Dar es Salaam was expecting fireworks in view of the strongly opposed positions the two had taken on the issue. A few days before her arrival people were reporting that they had seen heavy lorries carrying the equipment to a newly created site at an army barracks. Ms Short had fiercely opposed the deal because of its high cost and had suspended British aid to put pressure on the country to change its decision (see TA No. 72). CUF opposition leader Ibrahim Lipumba had called for publication of a report that had been commissioned by the World Bank which was said to be highly critical of the purchase. He was quoted in Mtanzania as saying that while Shs 36 billion had been spent on the radar, in the last budget only Shs 24 billion had been allocated for rural roads, Shs 31 billion for water and Shs 10 billion for medicine. He said that while attempts were being made by donors to write off debts, the country was now entering into this additional “odious debt”.

Mwananchi reported on 17th July that a CCM MP, speaking in a debate on foreign donors had referred to Clare Short as “that troublesome British lady”. Speaker of the House Pius Msekwa asked the MP to withdraw his remarks and to call the Secretary of State by her proper title. The MP complied.

However, two days after Ms Short’s arrival, the Daily News, under the heading “Short: Radar Row Over”, reported that Ms Short had stated that the row was over and had announced a new six-year aid package to Tanzania in which the UK would provide the country with at least £45 million in budget support. She was quoted as saying “It’s true that we held back £10 million in order that we could get to the point that we are at now -not to punish Tanzania by taking away money but because of a contract that could have been done better … but you can’t undo it”. She added that lessons should be learnt from the experience. However, she said, despite the new agreement, she still believed that the radar was a “waste of money”. Finance Minister Basil Mramba and Minister for Communications and Transport Professor Mark Mwandosya were said to have been all smiles at the end of Ms Short’s visit. “The meeting was highly successful” they said.