MILITARY MEN IN THE GOVERNMENT

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The Tanzanian Government has appointed a total of 19 soldiers to senior position sin the Government and its institutions and several others have been placed in Party positions while about 10% of the 240 members of the National Assembly are men in uniform. The Deputy Minister for Defence and National Service, Lt. Col. Abdulrahaman O. Kinana told the National Assembly recently that the army had patriotic and skilled men who were ready to take up duties in the Government. Lt. Col. Kinana was responding to Ndugu Meshack Maganga (National) who wanted to know the number of soldiers in various positions. The Deputy Minister said there was one Minister, one Deputy Minister, three Regional Commissioners, nine District Commissioners, three heads of Government departments, and two heads of parastatal organisations, who were armymen. – Daily News

TANZANIA AS A DEMOCRATIC ONE-PARTY STATE

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In the elections to the Legislative Council of 1960, the first held on a common roll franchise, the Tanganyikan African National Union won all but one seat, Tanganyika therefore entered upon independence as a defacto one-party state. This remarkable result was due as much to the outstanding leadership of Julius Nyerere as to the unifying influence of a common cause. Soon after independence the opinion gained ground t hat the monopoly of power should be retained by TANU and should be confirmed in law by the independence constitution.

The origins of this opinion were diverse. The role of TANU as the undisputed leader in the campaign leading up to independence and its spectacular recognition in the polls encouraged the opinion that TANU alone possessed the ability to govern. A desire to create a system of Government appropriate to African conditions and experience was no doubt stimulated by recollections of the tribal baraza and the habits of mind that went with it. And at a more self-interested level it was known that certain leaders having borne the heat of the day during the independence campaign, saw the one party state as a ready means of perpetuating their own authority – wrongly, as later experience showed.

Beneath these immediate concerns lay an instinctive fear of organised dissension. Et is easy for us in our island kingdom to overlook the mature sense of nationhood that has emerged from centuries of our history and the wide areas of consensus which have furnished us with the conditions essential for two-party government. “It is evident” wrote A.J.Balfour, “that our whole political machinery presupposes a people so fundamentally at one that they can safely afford to bicker; and so sure of their own moderation that they are not dangerously disturbed by the din of political conflict.”

Tanzania can make no such assumptions. As the history of Nigeria, Uganda and even Kenya has shown, centrifugal tendencies can be strong and dangerous. Tanganyika was the creation, not of historical evolution but of the ambitions of the European powers in the nineteenth century. For many years the only cohesion was that imposed by an alien administration. Even as the colonial period drew to a close, local and tribal loyalties often exerted a more dominant influence than the national interest. If Tanzania was to become something more than a geographical creation, positive steps were required to arouse a sense of common destiny. It was the judgement of Tanzania’s leaders that a political system based on the interaction of party rivalries could undermine these efforts and endanger the unity of the infant state.
The decision to turn Tanganyika into a one-party state was made by the National Executive Committee of the Party and on the 14th January 1963 this decision was announced by President Nyerere. The President made known at the same time that he had been empowered by the National Executive Committee to appoint a Presidential Commission to consider the changes of the constitutions of the Republic and of the Party that might be necessary to give effect to this decision. The Commission was appointed on 28th January 1964 and reported on 22nd March 1965. There were 13 members, two of whom were prominent Europeans and one Asian. The Commission invited written evidence and also took verbal evidence throughout the country. Its deliberations were guided by the terms of two important memoranda drawn up by President Nyerere and as a result the final report was deeply influenced by President Nyerere’s approach to the whole subject, an approach which, as it turned out, received widespread support during the course of the verbal evidence.

The Commission, following the President’s view, laid finally at rest the view that the party should be a small, elite leadership group and insisted that it should be a mass organisation open to every citizen of Tanzania. This decision finally established the character of TANU as constituting a national movement; indeed the word ‘party’, with its sectional implications, was no longer an appropriate description and the resulting pattern of Government, as Professor Pratt has suggested, “was in many ways closer to a no party system than to a one party system.” It is clear from the evidence that this concept fully reflected the mood of the people, who showed no interest at all in entrenching an ideologically exclusive elite, but saw the necessity for a single national movement to emphasize and safeguard the unity of the nation.

In his guidelines to the Commission the President laid down a number of ethical principles, which later were incorporated in the constitution of TANU and survive in substantial measure in the present constitution of the Party (CCM). They are also reflected in the Union Constitution as amended in 1985, where Part 3 endows certain important rights and duties with the force of law. The principles listed by the President relate to the fundamental equality of all human beings and their right to dignity and respect; the right to take part in government at all levels; the right of freedom of expression and movement, of religious belief and of association within the law, subject only to safeguarding the freedom of others to enjoy these benefits; the right of protection of person and property under the law and of freedom from arbitrary arrest, subject to a duty to uphold the law; the right to receive a just return for work by hand or brain; common ownership of natural resources; the responsibility of the state to intervene actively in the economic life of the nation in order to secure the wellbeing of all citizens, prevent exploitation and such personal accumulation of wealth as is inconsistent with a classless society; and to fight against colonialism and work for African unity and international co-operation.

In proposing these guiding principles the President foresaw some of the abuses that might pass unchallenged in a single party system. The Commission considered these dangers with the utmost seriousness and as one result of their deliberations a permanent Commission of Enquiry was established to perform the functions of an ombudsman and enquire into allegations of the abuse of power. The reports of the Commission show that- this function has been performed with considerable effect. The basic rights safeguarded in Part 2 of the constitution of TANU as amended also reflected the President’s proposals and acquired a certain legal status when the Party constitution was incorporated as a schedule to the Interim Constitution of the United Republic of 1965. In the Interim Constitution it was stated that ‘all political activity in Tanzania, other than that of the organs of state of the United Republic…shall be conducted by or under the auspices of the Party’. This position was reaffirmed in slightly different terms in the Constitution of 1985, in which the leadership role of the Party was also extended to the conduct of parastatal organisations. In practice, this has meant party responsibility for general policy and for monitoring the implementation of policy. The Party is not itself an executive organ of government, but in the course of formulating policy it has access to the personnel and the documentary resources of the Government departments involved.

Subject to such guidance, the executive arm of Government was free to govern as best it could and the National Assembly to legislate, to vote money and to monitor the performance of Government. In practice the National Assembly has been slow to exercise its powers of criticism, though there have in recent years been signs of greater liveliness and self-confidence. There have been a number of instances where Government proposals have been modified or rejected and one which led to the dismissal of a Minister and senior officials. The important consideration here is that protest is not organised on a Party basis and it is this aspect that makes the proceedings of the National Assembly so unfamiliar and puzzling. It is like Parliament without the whips.

The Tanzanian system is called a ‘one-party democracy’ and some may see this title as a contradiction in terms. In fact, however, the efforts made under the system to represent popular will are not negligible. Despite the limitation of candidature to two persons approved by the Party in each constituency, successive elections to the National Assembly have brought about widespread changes in membership, including the unseating of Ministers, and no leader can lay permanent claim to a position of leadership. The choice of President allows only for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote for a single candidate chosen by the Executive Committee of the Party and confirmed at a Party National Conference. But at least the right to vote ‘no’ has been freely exercised. In each national election hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians have voted against Nyerere (and in 1985 Mwinyi), whilst in 1985 no less than 41% of Zanzibari voters voted against the choice of Abdul Wakil as their President. While the tendency towards the formation of a ruling class is undeniable, it is not inviolable and there is constitutional provision which, it is hoped, will continue to be effective in safeguarding peaceful change.

Criticism of the one party system has recently come from no less a person than the Chairman of CCM himself, Julius Nyerere. In the course of his peregrinations around Tanzania he has found in party circles much slackness and indifference. With characteristic frankness he has admitted that in a multi- party system competition between p arties keeps them on their toes. This was not a suggestion that Tanzania should abandon its one-party system, but that alternative methods must be found to stimulate and sustain political awareness and activity. Nyerere has long been conscious of this problem and said so in a speech in 1974: now he is face to face with it in practice. Since the Party is predominant in matters of general policy, in the election of a President and in the choice of candidates for the National Assembly, the comment is important.

The criticism has also been expressed that the one party system as operated in Tanzania may have had the effect of muting legitimate dissent. There is danger here of passing judgement on the basis of British experience, overlooking the absence of a tradition of informed discussion, the very recent achievement of widespread basic literacy and the extreme scarcity of newsprint. Yet it is reasonable to wonder how far justifiable proposals for reform can accumulate support without the help of some kind of party machinery. It is noticeable that the important reform culminating in the Preventive Detention (Amendment) Act of 1984 seems to have been triggered, or at least promoted, by a symposium at the Faculty of Law in 1982, that is, outside the Party system. This is not the same thing as the formation of an alternative party, but it does suggest that there may be limits to the ability of a one-party system to give hospitality to the serious advocacy of reform. If so, then changes will ultimately ensue. Under the one-party system the voice of the Party has great significance and therefore it is the modulation of that voice which is decisively important. The present highly indirect system of election to the National Executive Committee may turn out to be the point at which reform is most needed.

J. Roger Carter

THE GROUNDNUT SCHEME

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The television programme on the Groundnut Scheme sought to put the blame on Mr. Strachey but in fact there were many to blame. Leaving the apportionment of guilt aside why did things turn out as they did ? One might as well ask why a baby who can’t even crawl can’t succeed in the 200m hurdles. No-one knew how to do the job, and those of us who knew how to find out did not have the time to do it. I went to Kongwa on the same train as the first bulldozers. Had there been less pressure, more time, and a proper sequence of investigation, pilot scale trials, training and practical planning, the job could probably have been done (though not in the agricultural pattern intended at the start) in the Southern Province, Kongwa was too dry: it is cattle country; Urambo was too wet for groundnuts but we did well enough with tobacco.

Large schemes can be successful – do not forget the Sudan Gezira. Large mechanised rain fed developments can succeed if the limits of management are of such a size that individual entrepreneurs and producers can handle them as in Zimbabwe, Kenya, the semi-mechanised sorghum in the Sudan, and the Punjab on both sides of the Indus. But in all these cases the sequence of investigation and pilot scale trial (and error!) leading up to training and planning have been more or less followed.

Perhaps the saddest outcome of the Groundnut Scheme is that many observers have run scared of broad development thinking and have taken to seeing development as a process which seeks to conserve what is and fears to consider new ways in a changing world. The population of Sub- Saharan Africa 100 years hence, will be five times what it is now. The old ways won’t do; we must have new ones on a large scale. However much small scale producers may be able to contribute, we already see larger scale ones entering the action using their own capital and management competence. The jot of increasing output at lower unit cost of product seems likely to come increasingly from them. It need not, but I think in many cases it will.
Prof, A. H. Bunting.
Reading University

390 TANZANIAN STUDENTS IN BRITAIN

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The British Council in its annual booklet “Statistics of Students from Abroad in the United Kingdom” for the academic year 1984-85 reports that there were 225 (including 29 women) students from Tanzania in British universities. Of these, 192 were post-graduates and 33 under-graduates and 172 were in their first year of study. A further 62 (13 women) were studying in polytechnics (28 in the 1st year) and 103 (26 women) were in other institutions of higher and further education (79 in the 1st year). The grand total of all foreign students in Britain in 1964/85 was 55,608 including 28,232 from the Commonwealth and 6,128 from EEC countries.

BOOK REVIEWS

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A ZOO WITHOUT BARS by T.A.M.Nash. published by Wayte Binding, 97 St James Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. £9.95 plus £l.50 p&p
On being given this book to review I wondered what made it worthy of a leatherbound edition of £55,00. Having read it I am reminded of a precious miniature portrait which is kept in a velvet lined box. It is in effect a microcosm of 5 years of one person’s life while he was Tsetse Fly Research Officer in Kondoa district of Tanganyika Territory from 1927-32. As such it is unique and a collectors item. The author says, “it is written for the reader who is interested in the living conditions, the wildlife, the peasant and the European characters who gave (him) so much to laugh at.” It is based on his 117 letters home and is generally non-technical and abounding in details of everyday life in the bush. In fact there are so many details and so many incidents that they are inclined to become overwhelming if the book is read for a long stretch. However as a lively record of bygone days it is very good indeed, and what emerges particularly is this young man’s tremendous vitality and ability to ‘get to grips’ with everything around him and enjoy most of it. I imagine that the author, writing over 50 years later, must have relived the whole experience with much the same enjoyment but far fewer physical trials!

Tam Nash was only 22 when he took up his appointment under a somewhat eccentric boss (C. F. M. Swynnerton) who “never slept for more than four hours a night and was always in too great a hurry to stop for food. He was a delightful person, a tremendous enthusiast but utterly exhausting. His native name was ‘Bwana Funga-Fungwa’ (Master packunpack)”. Tam does not say much about the tsetse fly experiments but what he does say indicates that they were along the same lines as those we recently saw on television in a Horizon programme about the very successful work now being done in Zimbabwe by Dr. Glyn Vale. Has progress been slow ?

Living in the African bush over 50years ago was no joke, and Tam underwent no particular training for it as recruits do today. For the first few months he had no proper house; he had no electricity, no refrigerator, no telephone; there was no airmail post until 1931; there were no insecticides as we know them and no antibiotics and only quinine for malaria. Somehow he adapted to the dreadful living conditions and delighted on the wildlife on his doorstep, his “Zoo Without Bars. ”

After 14 months a proper house was built for him out of sun-dried mud bricks by one of the interesting European characters around. This was a “stubby little man” named Tschope who had been chauffeur to Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck and later a Company Commander with the German forces, gaining the Iron Cross. I like his artistic streak: “He cut a stencil from a petrol tin and made a frieze of grey rhinos on a whitewash background, trotting along the top of three walls of the verandah, finishing at a grey pool of water.” Tam says, “it made an excellent background to show off my best antelope heads.”

This sentiment might not have been echoed by today’s animal lovers, but it must be understood that Europeans living in the reality of the African bush, shot animals as a matter of course, either for food or for self-defence and they took some pride over the way it was done. It was indeed usual for expatriate officers to shoot game to provide enough meat for themselves and their African employees, especially where there were no cattle due to the tsetse fly problem.

Tam’s encounters with animals led to many interesting observations of their behaviour. Besides being an entomologist, he was obviously interested in all aspects of the natural scene around him. Trees mentioned in the book are almost always given their latin names as well as their common ones. Kondoa district was on the edge of the Masai Steppe and the Rift Valley, and there seem to have been countless lions, rhinos, zebras, gazelles, buffaloes and such like around In 1929 Tan married a “small wife,” Wendy was only 4’10” tall but I imagine must have made up for lack of inches with courage and devotion! Her only complaint as far as I recall was that when she arrived, the doors and windows of her new home had been painted blue and it clashed with the curtain material she had brought with her. They had to stay with neighbours for a week while this was rectified.

At this time also Tam acquired a car – a model T Ford for which he himself designed a wooden box body and had it built in Dar es Salaam. This enabled them to make some enjoyable excursions, even into Kenya. Once, on the way to Lake Basuto, they “met Wa-ufiome women wearing t heir ruffs of concentric circles of highly polished brass wire around their necks, and later the Wambulu women with their soft leather shawls beautifully decorated with beads, shells and coins; in some cases the shawls contracted at the back of the waist and then widened out near ground level, looking like the tails of birds.”

On 16th February, 1931, the first R.A.F. planes landed in Tanganyika at Kondoa. There was great excitement and Tam was taken on a flight. Among the crew was Wing-Commander Harris, Pater to become “Bomber Harris” and Marshall of the R.A,F. Also that year they received their first airmail post: a letter from England took 20 days to arrive! Social life varied. Sometimes they had interesting visitors such as Dr.L.S.B.Leakey, Sir Julian Huxley, the Duke of Gloucester, and Sir Walter Johnson.
In April 1932 a son was born to Wendy and Tam, in hospital at Dar es Salaam. However, this event led to them leaving Tanganyika as Tam felt the time had come for him to seek a pensionable post. He spent the next 26 happy years in Nigeria.
Christine Lawrence

BICYCLES UP KILIMANJARO by Richard and Nicholas Crane. Published by Oxford Illustrated Press and obtainable from Brigit Plowman, J. H Haynes and Co Itd. Sparkford, Yeoville, Somerset. £9.95.
“Bike across the Sahara?”
“No good. Murph, and Tim have already done that”
“Swim up the Nile?”
“Don’t like water”
“Right. What about running somewhere. Cairo to Capetown? Up
Kilimanjaro?”
“Did running last tine”
“Bike up Kilimanjaro then !”
“Mmmmm Could be a good idea. Could be BRILLIANT! Let’s do it”
Thus the genesis of the idea culminating in the ascent of Kilimanjaro by the Crane cousins, riding up and carrying bicycles, is described in their book “Bicycles up Kilimanjaro.”

The enthusiasm, energy, and zest of the pair catches the reader and leads him on to the final ascent of Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa. The main author, Nicholas, seems to have been born on a bicycle (he is editor and author of books on the subject), and his narrative of the ascent leaves the reader feeling somewhat bruised and battered from all the tumbles that the pair take.

The book is well written, providing an interesting narrative of what is really a fairly straightforward hike (on foot!) up Africa’s highest Mountain. The Crane cousins’ desire to do something different results i n their resolve to ride and carry their mountain bikes up Kilimanjaro and to be the first people to cycle round the summit marker on Uhuru Peak at 19,340 ft, The exhilaration of attaining Gillmans Point on Kilimanjaro’s crater rim, following a 3,000 ft near vertical climb up volcanic shale from the mountain hut at 15,000 ft is well captured, as is the extreme difficulty of trying to cycle, or even think clearly, in the rarefied air at such altitudes. One has to admire the pair’s determination in trying to ride along the rim from Gillman’s Point to Uhuru Peak, gasping desperately for breath and trying to co-ordinate their movements. The ultimate reward must have been to freewheel from 19,000 ft to 7,000ft in double quick time !

The ample narrative of the book is complemented by some excellent photographs, which alone make the reader want to attempt the journey (albeit on foot !). There is little descriptive text outside of the everyday events and surroundings affecting the travellers, though one section is devoted to a visit to Wajir in North Eastern Kenya to see the site of the windmill pump to be purchased from funds raised by this expedition.

The authors have used their adventure to publicise the good work being done for developing countries by the Intermediate Technology Group, for which £20,000 has already been raised.

The book is good value, and as the authors’ royalties are being paid over to this worthwhile cause, a most pleasant manner in which to donate to charity.
Martin Burton

LOW COST TRANSPORT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: POSSIBILITIES FOR THE BICYCLE IN TANZANIA by B.J. De Wilde, Centre for Appropriate Technology, Delft University of Technology. 1983
This study for a thesis shows its academic origins, but is written by what is rare these days – a grass roots observer of everyday life who can put things in perspective as seen by ordinary people. The lapse of time since its preparation in no way diminishes the value of his conclusion.

And how right and proper that this work comes from the Netherlands, proverbially the home of cycle users. Here is the “Old World’s” appropriate technology leaning towards the “Third World’s” appropriate technology.

The well known advantages of the bicycle are set out, and are applicable in Africa too:-
Low capital costs and no running costs;
Low maintenance costs and simple repairs;
Very little foreign exchange expenditure;
Useful in both town and country;
Relatively little cost for roads and tracks;
Plus convenience, durability, simplicity, and relative safety.

The study starts with an analysis of the “misfunctioning” of the
present personal transport system in Tanzania. This gives a misleading impression. It never has been motorised, The question is whether it should be, and the photograph of Mwalimu Nyerere on a bicycle with the caption “People must learn to use bicycles instead of relying on oil consuming vehicles” indicates that it isn’t national policy. Of course buses are necessary even in countries where cycles are plentiful, and the problems of UDA and KAMATA in providing a service for city and country (mainly due to maintenance difficulties) are not over-stated.

There is a discussion on design, drawing on the known success stories world-wide in countries where cycles are the means of transport for the mass of the people. Abortive efforts have been made in Tanzania to re-design yet again. The point is that the re is no need to redesign, rather import existing models from hither and thither, as described, and try them out. People will accept new products and foreign designs if they work well, and if they are reliable. For example , the best cycle trailers in Africa are said to be found in Cameroon. Their manufacture is a genuine local industry, and both design and manufacture could readily be repeated in Tanzania.

This is where the international Appropriate Technology organisations could and should help. It has all been researched and solved somewhere. The information exists. Successful designs should be circulated from country to country. Better still, actual examples should be sent and demonstrated to show their advantages.

There is an eye popping reference to the wooden bicycles of the Kigoma Region, “which are not fitted with a braking system, so downhill trips can be dangerous, Cow hides are sometimes used to make the tyres!”

The obstacles to greater use of bicycles in Tanzania are enumerated as : –
Price (now nearly equal to a years earnings);
Safety (suffering from intolerant car users);
Roads (especially road junctions in cities);
and Status.
The latter is an endemic problem in all developing countries, and applies to the whole concept of appropriate technology – not only to bicycles. The study says “Things could change as the concept of appropriate technology catches on.” But will it? Unfortunately psychology and pride are too often against it. The suggested answer is a pilot project. There would he few better uses for “bilateral aid” from a perceptive foreign donor. Tanzania could help all of East and Southern Africa too.
Mel Crofton

TA ISSUE 24

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TA 24 cover

AGRICULTURE – A 16-PAGE SUPPLEMENT
TANZANIA – A TIME FOR DECISION
LABOUR
STONETOWN, ZANZIBAR
CHRISTIANITY IN TANZANIA
MAZIMBU – AND MISHAMO
A SILVER JUBILEE FOR THE TANGANYIKA REUNION
A LETTER FROM MWALIMU JULIUS NYERERE
UJAMAA SOCIALISM AND VILLAGISATION

EDITORIAL

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The economic crisis continues to pre-occupy the minds of all who are concerned about Tanzania. In this issue we concentrate on three aspects of the crisis: the possibility of an agreement with the IIF; the new relationship between the Government and the Party arising out of Mwalimu Nyerere’s retirement; and agriculture. In his article “Tanzania: A Time For Decision” Colin Legum writes about the first two of these issues. It is possible that by the time this Bulletin is in your hands, some of the key decisions to which he refers will have been taken. An inkling of the way in which the discussions are being conducted is explained in the article “Seminars and Workshops”.

But half of this issue is a sixteen page supplement on the prime mover (or, as some tight say, non-mover) of Tanzania’s economy – agriculture.

Two of the British contributors to this supplement have been in Tanzania recently.

Andrew Coulson writes, – I recently returned to Tanzania for the first time since 1979. Not much had changed. There is a striking new terminal at Dar es Salaam airport, even more parastatals (430 according to the Daily News), and a burst of building in Dar es Salaam, not least along the Bagamoyo road. The city now has 1.7 million inhabitants, almost ten times its population in 1967. But it doesn’t feel like that since transport is so unpredictable and expensive that life has increasingly moved to the suburbs. When I was there, in February, everything was green. Clouds, greeness, availability of fruits and quick-yielding vegetables, the visibility of many new cars and pick-ups on the streets, and the fact that most of the large buildings had recently been painted, gave the city a relatively prosperous appearance. But what had changed were the prices: 8/- for buses from the university to town; 120/- for a tube of toothpaste, 4/- to 10/- for a mango; 31- to 4/- for an orange, 30/- for a bar of soap, 500/- for a bedsheet, and 1/- for ten roast groundnuts in a tiny polythene bag. The minimum wage is 800/- a month, this is insufficient to house and bring up a family. But meanwhile the value of foreign exchange has not changed. The pound still exchanges for about 20/-. This is almost the same as its colonial period value.”

Another contributor, Michael Stocking suffered another kind of shock. He was robbed on the mountain road near Amani in Tanga Region losing all his belongings, two months data from work done for the FAO in Zimbabwe, and the manuscript for part of a book he is writing. Getting out of Tanzania without money, passport or an air ticket, he describes as an “interesting experience”. He told me that thanks must go to the border guards at Namanga for taking pity on him and letting him cross into Kenya without so much as a single piece of paper, the Regional Representative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Nairobi for his care and concern and Belgian World Airlines for taking home an unticketed, very dirty and poor passenger with no luggage!.
David Brewin.

TANZANIA : A TIME FOR DECISION (ON IMF)

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The rains have come early this year in Tanzania, bringing the promise of a second successive year of good crops with only the threat of some damage being caused by the spread of the maize borer worm.

However, even two seasons of good harvests are not going to be adequate to rescue Tanzania from its desperate economic crisis and decline, which has now lasted for almost thirteen years beginning with the quadrupling of oil prices in mid-1973, compounded by adverse international trading conditions, drought and a number of major errors in Government policies.

Julius Nyerere’s successor, President Mwinyi, faces the need to decide in the next few weeks whether his Government will finally come to terms with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assure an injection of fresh capital aid and foreign exchange or whether to try and overcome the country’s economic crisis by relying on its own resources involving major sacrifices for years to come.

Tanzania’s most loyal foreign aid givers, the four Nordic countries, have collectively advised the Government that the level of their future aid will depend on practical evidence of structural economic reforms.

The political debate over whether to reach an agreement with the IMF or not, though not aired much in public, is being waged with passion and vigour behind the scenes. The signs are that the Government is itself deeply divided, as is the Party. More than that, some of the leaders themselves appear to be divided in their own minds. They do not have much time to decide on their future course of action since the national budget is due to be presented in June. If the decision goes in favour of a deal with the IMF, it will require a decision within the next month at the latest. The preliminaries with the IMF have already been largely completed.

The economic debate is being conducted at the same time as the leadership faces the need to clarify the ambiguous relationship between the Government and the ruling party. So long as Julius Nyerere was both President and Party Chairman, the institutional relationship between Government and Party was difficult but not impossible to handle. The situation is quite different now that the country has a powerful figure in the form of Nyerere at the head of the ruling party – which is responsible for determining policy – while the Government has a new leader (Mwinyi), who is expected to assert his independence.

Mwinyi and Nyerere are in no sense to be seen as rivals; in fact, they complement each other. However, Nyerere is now concerned with rebuilding the authority and organisation of the Party which has lost some of its popular base in recent years; while Mwinyi is being looked up to by the country to demonstrate that he can fill the role of an independent President.

Critics of past Government policies featured prominently at an economic policy workshop convened by the Finance Minister to discuss policies and strategies for economic recovery. One of the most widely discussed papers was presented by two University economists, Professor Idulu and Dr. Lipumba. They summed up the nature and extent of the economic crisis as a slowing down of economic growth, declines in real per capita income, high rates of inflation, severe reduction in import and debt-servicing capacity, and a general breakdown of the Government control systems exemplified by the growth of parallel markets including a growing black market. Real growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) declined to an average of 0.72% per annum between 1979 and 1984 – down from the average of 2.9% between 1976 and 1978.

If one takes into account the rate of population growth this means that there has been a negative growth rate since 1979 amounting to minus 0.67%.The combined effects of a slowing down of production and high inflation reduced real incomes of both rural and urban dwellers.

According to ILO estimates for 1985, rural incomes have declined since 1979 by 13.5% and for urban wage-earners by a massive 65%.

The overall decline of Tanzania’s foreign trade balance has been spectacular. In 1977 the country still had a surplus of about £27 million; by 1984 the negative balance had reached almost £105 million. Real imports declined by 42% between 1978 and 1982.

The country’s inability to pay for imports led to an accumulation of arrears of payments amounting to $764 million during the 1980-84 period. During the past six years export earnings financed less than half the cost of imports. This meant increasing dependence on an external inflow of funds to finance even the reduced level of imports.

The volume of exports has fallen continuously from its peak in 1972. Although there were other factors accounting for this fall – such as the bottlenecks caused by a lack of foreign exchange – Ndulu and Lipumba insist that this is only a partial explanation. In their view the basic problem has been an “incentive structure and institutional set-up” that, over time, has discouraged peasants and farmers from an increasing production in general, and export crops in particular.

They add that “probably the more poignant problem of the agricultural sector is the inefficient crop marketing and input delivery system and policy uncertainty that faced economic agents in the agricultural sector.-“

The only sector that has persistently maintained high rates of economic growth from the 1970′ s has been the public administration. The authors stress the widespread laxity in management and public administration and the lack of accountability at all levels. And they argue that “without linking rewards to performance and responsibilities. it is unlikely that a sustainable recovery can be initiated even when the level of resource inflow is increased.” They criticise the institutional rigidities and unresponsiveness to economic changes that characterise governmental and parastatal organisations, as well as excessive centralisation.

The two economists come out firmly in favour of an agreement with the IMF which they say is necessary to unlock bilateral aid resources. Even then they envisage as “shock treatment” a period of eighteen months with a five year horizon to achieve sustained adjustments of the economy. The additional inflow of foreign resources, they suggest, should be at least $335 million for immediate needs.

They also propose adjusting the exchange rate to 40/- to a dollar – in fact, a substantial devaluation; but the effect of devaluation of exports should be passed on to agricultural producers. Nominal prices should be increased by at least 65%.

“Peasants”, they say, “should get a strong message that it is worth their while to increase production of export crops.” Finally, they believe it is possible to increase both export and food crops if marketing constraints are removed and the incentive to produce agricultural crops is restored; and they argue in favour of creating “a more liberal trade environment.”

Colin Legum. (Third World Reports)

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

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Colin Legum has referred in the paper above to a seminar and a workshop. But during the last 3 months there has been a veritable plethora of seminars and workshops as Tanzania struggles to solve its serious problems. Eight have been reported on in the pages of the Daily News between January and March ’86.

It is quite apparent that there has been a great deal of frank and open discussion at these meetings. Speaking at the end of what was in fact the third annual “Workshop on Policies and Strategies for Economic Recovery”, Prime Minister J.S. Warioba stated that such workshops dispel the notion that it is taboo to be openly critical of Government policy. Referring to the two previous workshops he said that “The many constructive critical papers and the few unconstructive ones which have been submitted at each workshop and the range of open debate which has taken place is testimony to this. It has dispelled the myth that Government is a rigid institution with a fixed position. I am sure you have noted that several recommendations that you have made in the previous workshops have been incorporated in Government policy measures. This is proof that the Government is always open to new ideas and it is ready to listen to advice. We appreciate a critical appraisal of our policies from every quarter, even from our detractors.”

There is every indication that at this particular seminar there were some fairly heated and emotional exchanges particularly on the issue of the IMF. Ndugu Warioba’s words on this are interesting: “In his opening remarks the President encouraged you to make comprehensive studies and analysis of the foreign institutions, multilateral and bilateral recovery packages as well as our own internal adjustment programmes and come out with some practical recommendations for the Government to consider. I have read some of the papers presented at this workshop and I have also read about your discussions. But I feel we have stagnated or we are becoming stereotyped. We should not treat this as a subject for a debating club where you pick a subject, you have a proposer and an opposer, you debate and the matter ends there. This country faces a very serious economic crisis. With or without the IMF things will be very tough for the next several years. A stabilisation package is not going to be a novel thing, not even for Tanzania. Many countries have had stabilisation packages, with or without the IMF.

Unlike the subject of a debating club the real business of a stabilisation package begins after the debate and after the choice has been made. It is important therefore to know exactly how that package is going to affect every sector of the economy and society. A failed academic paper will at worst end up in a waste paper basket, but a failed stabilisation package has very serious consequences for the country and the people, particularly the ordinary people. I have detected a note of emotionalism and polarisation. It is beginning to appear that one is either pro-IMF or anti-IMF. I think this is wrong particularly for economic experts. Tanzanians are neither pro-IMF nor anti-IMF. They are pro-Tanzania. You can help this country if you remain objective. Try to guard that objectivity and you will be very useful to this society; if you do not do so you will not have much of an impact.”

A singular note had been struck a few days earlier in a commentary in the Daily News but this also included some reference to the British position.

“The IMF is not formally on the agenda but their demand for a devaluation of up to 50/- to the dollar and an increase in interest rates to 35% are uppermost in the minds of those who have been negotiating with the IMF. As if to pre-empt the discussion of alternatives to the IMF only this week a British Minister (as if she forgot the present place of Britain) urged Tanzania to enter into an agreement with the IMF. Fortunately Tanzania’s diplomacy is sophisticated so there has not yet been any public rebuke.

“Britain is not in a good position to offer advice on assistance to Africa especially at this time when the position of the British leadership is probably the most extreme in defence of apartheid. Moreover among the OBCD countries the level of British aid is now the lowest, given the free market ideas of the present leader. As a long standing trading partner of Tanzania, Britain has been one of the tightest in the offering of export guarantees to Tanzania. Her leaders find it easier to lend to South Africa than to Tanzania. This is why Tanzania’s indebtedness to Britain is relatively small, much smaller than Tanzania’s present debt to Algeria or to India.

“One clear lesson to be learnt from other experiences so far is that there is no quick remedy for recovery. Whatever the strategies they will have to be borne on the shoulders of the vast majority of the working poor of Tanzania. The question will be which sections of the society will bear the burden of recovery. Will it be borne by all or by the poorest of the poor ? It is clear that economic strategies will need political change so the balance between the required political changes and the specific alternatives are significant.

“One concern which can be expressed is to question the very conception of annual meetings on economic policies and strategies. The nature of the Tanzanian economy is such that it takes three to five years to see the results of new changes in policies.”

President Mwinyi in opening the seminar had clarified the Government’s position. “The Government will continue with its dual policy of negotiating with the IMF for realistic terms while making internal adjustments aimed at economic stabilisation.”

He reiterated, however, that whether or not an IMF package was won, a realistic solution to Tanzania’s economic problems depended on what the people did to improve the situation through higher agricultural and industrial production.

At a seminar for political commissars and political education officers of the Tanzanian Peoples Defence Forces and the National Service there was no reluctance in expressing opinions. One of the resolutions passed stated that the Government should not succumb to the conditions of the IMF. Accepting the rigid IMF conditions “would bring about political and economic turmoil and disrupt unity, peace and tranquillity in the country.”

One of the measures the Government has already taken to deal with the economic crisis was referred to by Ndugu Daudi Mwakawago, the Minister for Labour and Manpower Development at another seminar organised by the Union of Tanzania Yorkers (JUWATA). “The Government expects to save 190 million shillings annually following the laying off of 12,360 civil servants last year” he said. He went on to say that 14,117 other employees were layed off by parastatal organisations under the cost reduction exercise, affecting a 160.8 million shillings saving in salaries and another 964.2 million shillings in operational costs.

He told seminar participants that more lay-offs could not be ruled out at this point. “I can’t say how long the exercise will take – it all depends on the economic performance,” he said.

He explained that if the situation deteriorated the Government might be forced to scrap some public institutions along with their employees. The Government had earmarked 27,261 workers for redundancy to save 305.9 million shillings, but 15,354 of the Employees were absorbed by local Governments. Ndugu Mwakawago pointed out that apart from the lay-offs, the Government had cut down the number of ministries from 21 to 14 under the cost reduction measures.

He said all but 108 of the civil servants declared redundant had received their terminal benefits by the end of last month. Ndugu Mwakawago said an appeals committee formed by his Ministry received 333 complaints by lay-off victims last year, 60 of which were proved genuine and the complainants ordered reinstated.

At a seminar in Arusha organised by the Institute of Engineers in Tanzania (IET), the Minister for Communications and Works, Ndugu Mustafa Nyang’anyi said that the country was only too aware of the unsatisfactory implementation of development projects. “The Kirumi Bridge project, for instance, which you will also be discussing in this seminar, has taken us twelve years to complete instead of the initially planned three years”. He told the nearly two hundred engineers attending the seminar that a technical audit system to ensure that Government and parastatal projects comply with established standards is to be introduced in the country soon. This was aimed at curbing wastage of millions of public funds, he added.

The Minister said that the audit system had been decided upon because foreign firms which were mostly responsible for planning and designing local projects, did not always comply with standards applicable in Tanzania. The foreign firms did not only plan and design local projects, but also executed and supervised their implementation with very little involvement of the local engineers, he pointed out. “The case of the Mbeya cement factory serves to illustrate this point”.

Seminars have also been held on “Productivity Management at the Shop Floor Level” in Zanzibar and on “Strategies for the Development of Women and Children” on the mainland.

David Brewin

TANZANIA IN THE MEDIA

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LABOUR
“Africa Now” had a sixteen page supplement on Tanzania in its January 1986 issue. An article on “Labour in Tanzania” highlights the power of the Union of Tanzania Workers (JUWATA) and explains that under Tanzanian law if a firm sacks a worker without involving the relevant JUWATA branch the result is the declaration of a labour dispute . A particularly prominent dispute before the Labour Tribunal at the time the article was written was said to be the one resulting from the decision of TAZARA to make redundant one hundred of its employees. The former Zambian born General Manager, Mr. Charles Nyirenda, was facing a charge in the Magistrates Court. He was being accused of acting as an individual against the law but his defence was that he was acting as General Manager after being advised by the TAZARA Board of Directors.

STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR
“Business Traveller” in its March 1986 issue features Zanzibar in an article entitled “Street Wise in Stone Town.” It writes, “For over a century and without really trying, the name of Zanzibar has evoked the kind of romance that national tourism organisations across the globe would pay dearly to link with their own products. Like a battered oil lamp, when rubbed by the mind’s eye, it seems to conjure up the smells and sensations of both the sultry South – and the East. Though few Europeans have been there, Zanzibar is the grandfather, the ancestor of a dynasty of beach resorts and the place that launched a thousand look-alikes.” After a brief review of its history the article refers to the future and “a belief that the spice island may one day regain its commercial vitality and become the Hong long of East Africa, a role for which it might be well suited.”

FUEL SHORTAGES
In an article in “Africa” March 1986, Gorkeh Nkrumah, the son of President Nkrumah, writes of the recent visit to Tanzania by President Ali Khamanei of Iran and states that, “Fuel shortages in Tanzania are expected to ease to some extent following the Iranian offer to supply 87,000 tonnes of crude and refined oil at concessionary rates. Discussions on Iranian technical assistance in modernising Dar es Salaam’s oil refinery as well as the finalising of details on a further oil supply agreement were concluded in Teheran recently during an official visit by Tanzania’s Minerals and Energy Minister, Al Noor Kassum.”

JULIUS NYERERE
In the February issue of “South” former Jamaican Prime Minister, M. Manley, writes about “Mwalimu’s Democratic Legacy” and attacks the “Western press and its sycophants in the Third World media which have elected to emphasise the economic failure of Nyerere’s experiment in African socialism. This judgement tells us more of the value system of those who pass it than of the reality of Nyerere’s contribution.”

Mwalimu’s retirement was significant because he had become “the greatest living leader of Black Africa and arguably one of the greatest leaders produced by that continent in modern history. It was also significant because of the manner of his departure: an entirely voluntary act reflecting his own personal decision and absolutely contrary to the wishes of his colleagues in the Government and of the members of the “Chama Cha Mapinduzi”, the political party he founded ten years ago. His retirement was even in spite of the pleas of a significant portion of the leadership of the Third World”

CHRISTIANITY IN TANZANIA.
A review by Ursula Hay.
Channel 4 TV broadcast on March 20th 1986 a programme in the series “The Christians – Missions Abroad” which was largely filmed in Tanzania. Ursula Hay writes as follows: This was a repeat of one part of a series by Bamber Gascoigne originally shown a few years ago. It opened with scenes of Bagamoyo, the centre of the slave trade and followed with David Livingstone’s appeal in Cambridge for the Church to open up Africa to commerce (offering an alternative to the export of slaves) and Christianity. At that time Europe thought it had everything to offer Africa in the way of culture and religion and nothing to gain. Bamber Gascoigne shows, first in Masasi Diocese with Father (now Bishop) Norgate, then in Dodoma and finally with the White Fathers in Tabora, how that attitude has changed. In Masasi the acceptance of Christ and the Church by the people and their making it their own was clear. In the Dodoma area we saw the use of cassettes for teaching in the villages, “practical armour far a spiritual campaign”, while in Tabora the Church was actively integrating African culture into Christian worship, using local tunes, drums etc.

The film was sensitively produced and left me with a mixture of joy and sorrow. Joy at the spread of a deep and living Christianity and recognition that Africa has much to teach Europe and sorrow that the Church has failed to bring the Christian message to any but a small proportion of the population of industrial Britain. The final scene was of the destruction of a redundant church in Sheffield.

MAZIMBU.
A review by Noel Thomas.
Channel 4 TV has also presented a penetrating programme on Mazimbu, the home which the Tanzanian Government has provided for South African exiles.

Noel Thomas has written for us the following review: There are several reasons why this very factual report was much above average and deserved a wide viewing audience.

First, it provided an excellent illustration of a foreign Government which was actually prepared to do something positive and valuable about one of the world’s greatest crisis points. Very soon after the Soweto riots, South African refugees, many of them young, began arriving in Tanzania, and rather than have all of them dispersed and restless, with no positive goals, the Government of Tanzania gave to the African National Congress an old sisal estate of some three thousand acres, not far from Morogoro. It was made clear from the start that this was to be a social, educational and administrative project, and not a military training camp. This was the beginning of the Simon Mahlongo Freedom College, which is now known as SAMAFCO, and is a central part of Mazimbu. The project is very much associated with the Morogoro area of Tanzania, and in no way considers itself an isolated pebble on the beach, for exiles only.

Another interesting feature of the programme was the way in which it demonstrated the real links between Tanzanians and other African peoples. Mazimbu has grown into a large complex of buildings and institutions; in fact the Director of SAMAFCO, Mr. M. Tickley, described it as “a small town”. There are three distinct groups of workers: first, the ANC people themselves, amongst whom are teachers, nurses and administrators; the second group are all Tanzanians – they supply a good many workers for the construction section, and also a number of professional administrators and organisers; finally, there are a number of volunteers, black, white and coloured, sent by various foreign governments. Some of the teachers in the secondary school certainly seemed to be English and were obviously greatly enjoying life in Tanzania.

Mazimbu has therefore become virtually a Tanzanian pilot scheme for international co-operation, in which mixed races, and several different African nationalities combine to use their best resources in order to integrate educational and professional training. The Mazimbu complex has developed amazingly in the past six years, and now incorporates: infant, primary and secondary schools; a youth training centre; a farm which makes the community virtually self-supporting and also teaches farm management; a carpentry unit; a clothing factory; a centre for rural industries and a photo laboratory. There is also a transport section, serving the needs, not only of Mazimbu, but also the Tanzanian local community.

But perhaps the single most impressive feature of this fine documentary was that most of the people interviewed not only paid tribute to the hospitality of the Tanzanians, but saw Mazimbu finally as a symbol of African co-operation which Tanzania itself can use when, one day, the South African exiles have returned to their own country. When Mazimbu was started, the regional health provisions of Morogoro were already overstretched and the area needed more hospitals, doctors” and nurses. But now that Mazimbu itself has a thriving medical centre it is able to treat a great many Tanzanian patients, and offer its specialist facilities to all who are in need. This has been greatly appreciated by the local community in Tanzania.

The key-note of the entire project was summed up by two quite different speakers. One South African youngster was obviously very moved when he said “The support we receive from friendly nations of the world, and especially Tanzania, is deeply appreciated by all of us.” And the Director, Mr Tickley, went further : “we believe that Mazimbu is nothing less than a monument to all the black people of South Africa and the people of Tanzania alike. When we leave, this complex will be handed over to the Government and people of Tanzania, and we hope that they will use it for education and training, so that it may play a valuable part in their social life.

As the hazy blue mountain ridge of the Morogoro area faded from sight and we saw the last of Mazimbu I was very impressed by the fact that I had not seen a single gun, or soldier, nor had I heard a word of violence or war. The music and laughter and glorious natural scenery of the Tanzanian countryside had spoken far more eloquently than all the sounds of battle.

AND MISHAMO
The January 1986 issue of “Refugees” wrote about another refugee settlement – Mishamo – situated in the midst of the vast, unpopulated, tsetse infested, miombo wilderness of Western Tanzania, five hours hard driving from Kigoma and four and a half hours from Mpanda over poor unsurfaced roads. Isolation was said to be likely to become the major problem at Mishamo now that the Government has taken over responsibility for its 34,000 Burundi inhabitants from the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

The article goes on: “Like earlier refugee settlements, Mishamo is beginning to yield distinct benefits for both refugees and the host community now that the arduous task of establishment is nearly complete. Mishamo’s residents now enjoy standards of health care, education and water provision at least as good as the surrounding district. With each family cultivating their own substantial (five hectare> plot, Mishamo was virtually self sufficient in food after only two farming seasons. And with the cultivated area increasing by 2000 hectares each year, the settlement raked in an impressive 4,500,000/- from surplus crop sales and three million shillings in Tobacco sales, the main cash crop last year. Each village centre is the focus of community life based around the rural development centres, churches and co-operative groups.

Tanzania has also benefited. By directing major refugee settlements like Mishamo to its thinly populated and most inaccessible western regions, it has found a way, both generous and ingenious, to promote regional development and expand food production. Some of the benefits are already materialising. In 1984 for instance, when food shortages hit the drought stricken neighbouring regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga, some of the crop surplus from Mishamo went to feed these areas.”

But Mishamo has other problems apart from its isolation according to the article. One is the increasing population pressure causing parents to subdivide their plots of land. Another is the dependent mentality of some settlers who have been receiving assistance for up to thirteen years and may have not yet developed a spirit of self-reliance.