Kuhusu Bodaboda

Mwaka 2011, nikiwa kwenye ziara ya Kichama Mkoani Mwanza kama Mjumbe wa Sekretarieti ya CCM, vijana wanaondesha Bodaboda Mwanza walinifuata kuomba msaada ili wamiliki pikipiki zao wenyewe na waondokane na kuajiriwa. Niliporudi Dar nilifanya mazungumzo na makampuni mbalimbali yanayouza pikipiki ili watengeneze utaratibu wa kuwakopesha. Nikiwa alike kwa gharama zangu viongozi wa Bodaboda kutoka Mwanza na kuwatambulisha kwenye makampuni hayo. 

Baada ya taratibu mbalimbali kukamilika, kampuni moja ilianza kukopesha pikipiki kwa vijana hawa mwaka 2012. Hadi sasa zimekopeshwa pikipiki 224. Na zimeshatengwa nyingine 1,745 tayari kwa kukopeshwa. Tulifanya hivi bila kutangaza hadi pale Mwenyekiti wa Bodaboda Mwanza alipokumbusha huu mchakato kwenye mkutano wa hadhara. 

Tarehe 1 Novemba nilipata barua ya Chama cha Waendesha Bodaboda Mwanza wakiniomba nishiriki nao kwenye sherehe ya kufunga mwaka. Wanasema walinialika pia kama sehemu ya kutoa shukrani kwa msaada wa kukopeshwa pikipiki. Nikawajibu kwamba binafsi sina interest na sherehe au matukio labda pale ambapo yana tija kwao. Nikawaambia kwamba miaka ya hivi karibuni kumekuwa na ajali nyingi sana za pikipiki na kusababisha vifo na ulemavu kwa vijana wengi. Nikawaambia kwamba wenye pikipiki wanaweka Bima kwenye pikipiki zao, zikipata ajali wanalipwa lakini waendeshaji na abiria wakikatwa miguu na mikono ndio basi tena hata matibabu shida. Nikawaambia kwamba nitakubali kushiriki shughuli yao Mwanza iwapo tu watakubali tuwaanzishie utaratibu wa Bima. Bahati nzuri walikubali. Nikatafuta makampuni mawili ya Bima tukashauriana kuwe na package ya Bodaboda - Safari Njema na Bodaboda. Kwasababu vijana hawa wana kipato kidogo, utaratibu tulioweka unaruhusu kukata Bima hadi ya wiki moja kwa shilingi kuanzia 3,000 hadi 5,000 ambapo akipata ajali anaweza kufidiwa hadi shilingi milioni 10 pamoja na matibabu - lakini pia rambirambi na gharama za msiba pale atakapokuwa amefariki. Nilizindua program hii pale Nyamagana na vijana 100 walipata Bima papo hapo. Nafarijika kwamba vijana wale waliandaa vizuri shughuli ile na kulikuwa na pikipiki zaidi ya 1,200 uwanjani. Nafarijika kwa commitment yao ya kuacha shughuli kutwa nzima na kuchangishana mafuta yao. Nafarijika kwamba hatukufanya sherehe tu, tulifanya zaidi ya sherehe.

Hata hivyo kazi kubwa ipo kwenye kuzuia hizi ajali. Niliomba Mkuu wa Polisi wa Mkoa awepo pia ili kusisitiza haja ya kufuata sheria za Usalama Barabara. Mwaka 2011 walifariki watu 695 kwa ajali za bodaboda, mwaka 2012 walifariki 930. Tena hizi ni zile tu ajali zilizoripotiwa. Hili ni janga. Niliwaambia kwamba bodaboda ni ajira lakini Usalama kwanza, nao wakaamua kutengeneza fulana za ujumbe huo wakininukuu. Naamini ni ujumbe sahihi. 

Tanzania's Contributions to the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa

In light of President Kikwete's speech at Mandela's funeral, I have decided to post some excerpts from my dissertation manuscript that documents Tanzania's role in the liberation struggle in southern Africa.  The few excerpts I am posting here are from a Chapter entitled "Underground Railroad in Southern Africa."  The chapter documents how liberation fighters from southern Africa escaped through secret routes to Tanzania, then Tanganyika.  I have removed all the footnotes for this posting. I will post more excerpts in the days to come.

Freedom Fighters from South Africa Escape to Tanganyika: Thabo Mbeki’s Group

The next group was made up of at least twenty eight people.  They left South Africa sometime in September 1962 on a lorry, but they were turned back at Rustenburg, South Africa.  The South African government’s effort to prevent the free movement of refugees was beginning to have an impact.  On the second attempt, the group started again from Johannesburg and this time managed to cross the border into Bechuanaland. The group included Thabo Mbeki, Phila Ndlovu, Philip Mokgadi, Sidney Makana, Thabo Rangape, and a South-West African, Brian Bassingthwaite.  This group differed from the first group in its composition in that there were five women in the group: Zoe Mbobela, Vera Gule, Edmie Mali, Eslina Ndamase and Joyce Mbonwa. The group will be known here as the Mbeki group.  In Bechuanaland, Keitseng met them and assisted them on the second journey leg of their long journey.

Keitseng helped make arrangements for the journey to Tanganyika.  He was assisted by Motsomoi K. Mpho in moving them to the border with Southern Rhodesia.   Mbeki’s group was briefed about crossing the border at Palapye and instructed to cross the border at certain points on foot. Keitseng proceeded with the group inside Southern Rhodesia, where they made contact with Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU).

A ZAPU contact came with a small pick up truck, but it could not fit the whole group.  A decision was made to split the group, one part boarding the small pick up truck and the rest walking. The group that had to walk was intercepted by the British South Africa Police (BSP) on October 3 while traveling from Plumtree to Bulawayo.  The ANC Office in Dar es Salaam and the Tanganyika government swung into action to avoid or avert the high probability that the refugees would be sent back to South Africa.

 What the ANC office in Dar es Salaam and Tanzanian officials were facing a Federation government that was hostile to refugees seeking to transit its territory en route to Tanganyika.  Southern Rhodesia was a dangerous territory for refugees to traverse in 1962. The dangers are captured in a letter from K.H. Towsey, a Southern Rhodesia official in the Prime Minister and External Affairs Office, to D.A. Scott, the Deputy High Commissioner for the UK. It reported that in the first ten months of 1962, 413 people were either refused permission to enter the Federation or were declared prohibited immigrants at Plumtree and Bulawayo and were instructed to return to South Africa or High Commission Territories.  A further 204 were denied entry into the Federation at Beit Bridge.  At least 18 people were handed directly over to the South African authorities either at Mahalapye or Mafeking.  The refugees told Southern Rhodesia authorities they were students on their way to Tanganyika. Towsey complained to the British government that most of them “possess ludicrously inadequate qualifications for the courses which they claim that they are going to take.” Thus the 28 refugees under the custody of Federation officials in October of 1962 were caught up in a precarious situation. 

The Mbeki group was charged under the Federal Immigration Laws.  They appeared in Bulawayo magistrate’s Court on October 12. The refugees informed the magistrate that they were planning to go to Tanganyika where they planed to reside while seeking further educational opportunities.  The magistrate postponed the case until October 25 to allow them time to provide proof that they were welcome in Tanganyika.  The ANC made a request with the Tanganyika government to provide such a document showing the group would be allowed to enter Tanganyika. 

The Tanganyika government responded on October 22, 1962, with a telegram sent to the Chief Immigration Office in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia.  The telegram stated that permission had been granted for the 28 refugees to reside in Tanganyika. The magistrate withdrew charges against the group when trial resumed on October 25.  However, he gave immediate deportation orders. An appeal was made against the order and the refugees were held in Bulawayo while awaiting the final decision.

The group was released on November 9, 1962, but they were placed on a South African bound train under police escort. The ANC in Dar es Salaam did not know immediately the fate of the refugees on the day they were deported.  Later that day, Tambo received news about the deportation from a Tanganyika radio broadcast. At the time Tambo did not know whether the Federation officials were intending to hand over the refugees to South African officials or leave them in the Protectorate.   His best chance was to pressure the British government to intervene on behalf of the refugees to prevent being handed back to the South African authorities.  Tambo sent a letter to Dennis Healey, a Member of Parliament (MP), House of Commons, pleading for the British government to give asylum to the refugees in Bechuanaland while arrangements were being made to transport them to Tanganyika.  Tambo also sent a telegram to the United States Students Association and the Coordinating Secretary of International Union of Students (IUS) in Leiden, Netherlands asking for transportation and scholarships for the group.  IUS forwarded the telegram to the US State Department. The request for an airlift was denied, but the US governments offered find scholarships for the refugees once the refugees by the African-American Institute office in Dar es Salaam. This would not solve the predicament of the refugees facing expulsion from Southern Rhodesia.              

Also unknown to the ANC office in Dar es Salaam was the fate of three South-West Africans Brian Bassingthwaite, Peter Katjavivi, and Ferdinant Meroro.  Bassingthwaite escaped South Africa with Mbeki’s group into Bechuanaland.  It appears that he was separated from Mbeki’s group and joined two other South-West Africans in Bechuanaland.  Bassingthwaite’s group embarked on a journey to Tanganyika separately, but around the same time Mbeki’s group left Bechuanaland.   They too had been arrested in Southern Rhodesia and were being sent to South Africa through Bechuanaland before the Mbeki group.  The outcome of the immigration case against Bassingthwaite’s group would determine the outcome of the South African group in Southern Rhodesia.

Brian Bassingthwaite, Peter Katjavivi, and Ferdinant Meroro arrived in Francistown on October 4, 1962, with the intention of going to Tanganyika. They were assisted by SWAPO representatives in Bechuanaland, Peter Nanyemba and Maxton Joseph Mutongolume, and members of Bechuanaland People’s Party (BPP).  Bassingthwaite had been awarded a UN scholarship to study in the US, but he did not have any funds or travel documents when he arrived in Francistown.  The Bechuanaland authorities gave him two months’ temporary residence permit to allow him time to arrange for his journey to the US. He decided to leave Bechuanaland and enter Southern Rhodesia with the intention of reaching Tanganyika.  BSA police arrested the group five miles from the Southern Rhodesia border for violating immigration laws.  The police took them to Plumtree, Bechuanaland.

Immigration officers interviewed Bassingwaite together with two other South- West Africans in Salisbury. The three South-West Africans claimed to have been traveling to seek scholarships.  The interview revealed that Bassingthwaite’s companions had not progressed beyond Standard 6, which made their claim for scholarships all the more questionable. The British and Americans treated the case of South-West Africans differently.  A resolution, 1705 (XVI), passed by the UN in December 1961 had a provision for member states to facilitate travel for South-West African refugees.  UK subscribed to the resolutions and was under obligation to see that the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland also facilitated the travel for the refugees.

On October 15, a Southern Rhodesia court imposed a fine of £10 on Bassingthwaite, Katjavivi, and Meroro and face two months’ imprisonment.  They were unable to pay the fine.  There was, however, hope for Bassingthwaite.  The State Department instructed their Consul in Salisbury to approach Federation officials to try to secure Bassingthwaite’s release and obtain a permit for him to travel from Bulawayo to Salisbury.  The Americans were inclined to help the South-West African refugees if it could be proven that the refugees were students who qualified for scholarships.  Nevertheless, the US attempt to intervene came too late.  Bassingthwaite, Katjavivi, and Meroro were deported on November 7, 1962, “in leg irons and handcuffs” in the custody of the Southern Rhodesia police.  The police escorted the group on a train bound for South Africa via Bechuanaland.

SWAPO’s acting representative in Bechuanaland, E.P. Nanyemba, pleaded with British authorities in Bechuanaland for the release of the three South-West Africans who were then on a train traveling through Bechuanaland. The potential for the case to embarrass the US and UK at the UN was serious if the refugees were handed over to South Africans authorities. 

In order to avoid international embarrassment, the UK intervened reluctantly on behalf of the refugees. John Maud, UK High Commissioner, instructed the police in Bechuanaland to take the refugees from the Southern Rhodesian police once the train stopped in Gaborone.  Bechuanaland police took the South-West Africans from the train at Gaborone without incident on grounds that they were in unlawful custody while in transit through Bechuanaland. The Daily Telegraph, heralded the incident as a triumph over the South African and Federation officials. Nevertheless, the South-West Africans were back where they began and far from the destination of Tanganyika.  The intervention prompted Federation officials to reconsider their decision to escort the 28 South African refugees back to South Africa through Bechuanaland.

On November 9, 1962, the Southern Rhodesia officials escorting the Mbeki group to the Bechuanaland border without the intention to set them free at the border.  They escorted the group to Plumtree on the border of Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. The group left the train at Palapye and sought asylum from the African authority of Bamangwato Tribal Territory, Rasebolai Khamane.  The request for asylum was declined and they were given 24 hours to leave the territory. Khamane did not want to upset the British colonial officials by harboring the refugees.  This time help came from members of Bechuanaland People’s Party (BPP). Two National Executive members of BPP went to plead with Khamane for an extension of the order.  Again, Khamane refused to give an extension.  Mpho together with two colleagues left Palapye with the refugees on November 11 for Gaborone.  The group was given single journey rail tickets for Gaborone.  In Gaborone, the refugees were given ten days asylum with the possibility of an extension period.  Mpho wrote to Fenner Brockway, M.P., House of Commons, “who can be sure that the application for the extension will be given them?  And if not granted an extension after the expiration of 10 days as it is possible, what will happen to them?” This intervention helped put pressure on the British colonial government to rethink the position of refugees. 

The ANC in Dar es Salaam arranged for the charter of an East African Airline’s DC3 to airlift the refugees from Francistown, Bechuanaland to Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika. The British authorities had been persuaded to assist the South-West African refugees, which led to their release and convinced the Federation officials not to send Mbeki’s group to South Africa through Bechuanaland.  To further assist the South-West African refugees, a telegram was sent from UK High Commission in Pretoria suggesting that the three South-West Africans also board the DC3 chartered flight carrying South African refugees from Francistown to Tanganyika. The flight from Bechuanaland was successful and the refugees were airlifted to safety in Tanganyika.  ANC list of refugees from 1962 includes at least 18 individuals who transited to Tanganyika in 1962.  The details in the list are not complete; nevertheless it contains the names of individuals who traveled in the Mbeki’s group; it includes W. William Mngadi, N.S. Malatsi, Thabo Mbeki, Yelleth Zungu, William Mngadi, Phila Ndhlovu, and Thabo Rangape.

Mbeki’s group was distributed to two ANC hostels in Dar es Salaam, Mandela and Mtoni hostels, while arrangements were made to find them scholarships.  Most in the group were able to get scholarships to study abroad. Some remained in Dar es Salaam until 1964, when they too secured scholarships to study abroad. P. Ndlovu and Samuel Malatsi were listed as the occupants of ANC student hostels in Dar es Salaam in March 3, 1964. Samuel Malatsi appears to be the same as N.S. Malatsi.  Malatsi is listed as living in the Mandela Hostel in November of 1963. P. Ndlovu appears to be the same as individual listed as Phila Ndhlovu, also in the same group. Ndlovu is listed as living in Mtoni Hostel in early 1964. He eventually left Tanzania to study Engineering in Moscow, USSR. Thabo Mbeki left Tanzania to study in the UK.  Thabo Rangape left Tanganyika to study in Kiev, USSR but returned to Tanzania after being expelled from his school.  He left Tanzania again to study in the US

 Freedom Fighter From Namibia Escapes to Tanganyika: Sam Nujoma

South-West Africans refugees traveled through the refugee pipeline to Tanganyika.    Hundreds of South-West Africans were able to escape with the help of representative of liberation groups in the High Commission territories and the Tanganyika government.  The South-West Africans had at least used at least two routes; one going through the British High Commission territory to Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia; the second route going through Angola to Northern Rhodesia, and finally Tanganyika. Thus, like other refugees in southern Africa, Tanganyika was the main destination for South-West Africans.   

One of the first South-West Africans to escape to Tanganyika was Sam Nujoma. Nujoma left South-West Africa in February 1960 with intentions of going abroad after reaching Tanganyika.  He traveled by various means, walking, train, vehicles, and aircraft, in a journey that took him two months to reach Tanganyika. He traveled through Bechuanaland, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and finally, Tanganyika. In Bechuanaland, Nujoma pretended to be a returning immigrant labor from Nyasaland, in order to avoid arrest by immigration officers on board a train heading for Southern Rhodesia.  Nujoma was assisted by members of National Democratic Party (NDP) in Southern Rhodesia and United National Independence Party in Northern Rhodesia (UNIP). TANU officials in Mbeya, Tanganyika hid Nujoma from British officials and secretly transported him to Dar es Salaam where he met Nyerere in April 1960.  Nujoma’s experiences set the stage for other South-West Africans to follow.

Azaria Mbughuni is Assistant Professor of History at Spelman College, Atlanta, USA. (azmbughuni@gmail.com).  You can follow me on twitter @AzariaTZ  

© Azaria Mbughuni

---

Kwanini Tunasherehekea Uhuru Wetu? January Makamba atoa Sababu 10.

Kwa bahati mbaya sana siku za karibuni kumetokea mtindo wa hovyo kwa baadhi ya Watanzania, ambao kwa makusudi au kwa kutokufahamu, wamekuwa wakitoa maneno ya dhihaka dhidi ya Uhuru wetu, hasa hasa katika siku kama ya leo ya Disemba 9.

Kwa mfano, wanabeza na kuuliza ipo wapi leo hii hiyo Tanganyika ya kuisherehekea? Wanauliza kwa dhihaka Miaka 52 baada ya Uhuru hakuna umeme, hakuna dawa mahospitalini, watoto wanakaa chini mashuleni n.k, kana kwamba hakuna chochote kilichofanyika au kilicho cha kujivunia. Ni kweli kabisa kuhusu yote hayo yanayotajwa sentensi ya juu kwavile changamoto bado zipo nyingi sana katika nchi yetu. Lakini wanaosema hayo pengine wanasahau kwamba kazi ya kujenga nchi yetu bado haijaisha, ndiyo kwanza imeanza.

Nimefanya tafsiri ya hotuba aliyotoa Ndugu January Makamba (MB) kwa Watanzania wanaoishi majimbo ya DMV Marekani juzi Jumamosi katika hafla ya kuadhimisha siku ya Uhuru. Sehemu kubwa hapa nimemkariri neno kwa neno. Kwa mtizamo wangu, Ndugu Makamba alifanikiwa kupangua hoja moja baada ya nyingine dhidi ya wale wanaodhihaki siku ya leo na akaeleza sababu 10 za msingi kwanini tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu.

Alianza kwa kufafanua kwamba leo hatuadhimishi Miaka 52 ya Uhuru wa Tanzania, bali tunaadhimisha Miaka 52 ya Uhuru wa “Tanzania Bara”. Alitukumbusha kwamba Taifa letu ni Muungano wa nchi mbili. Ibara ya 2 (1) ya Katiba ya Tanzania ya mwaka 1977 inayotumika sasa inasema kwamba “Eneo la Jamhuri ya Muungano ni eneo lote la Tanzania Bara na eneo lote la Tanzania Zanzibar, na ni pamoja na sehemu yake ya bahari ambayo Tanzania inapakana nayo.” Tungeweza kusema leo tunasherehekea Miaka 52 ya Uhuru wa “Tanganyika”, lakini leo Tanganyika haipo tena na nafasi yake kikatiba leo hii inashikiliwa na Tanzania Bara.

January alisema kwamba Miaka 52 ni mingi sana kwa binadamu, lakini kwa Taifa ni miaka michache sana. Nchi ya Marekani, kwa mfano, imekuwa huru kwa Miaka zaidi ya 200. Safari yao katika kujenga nchi yao imekuwa ndefu na yenye mitihani mingi lakini bado wao wenyewe wanasema kazi ya kuijenga nchi yao kuwa bora zaidi haijakamilika (“the work of building a more perfect Union is not complete”). Kwahiyo kiumri utaona kwamba sisi ndio kwanza tumeanza safari ya kuijenga nchi yetu.

Hizi ndizo sababu 10 alizotoa Ndugu Makamba akijibu swali:

Kwanini tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu?

1)    Uhuru wetu bado upo, haujapotea. Japo leo hii Tanganyika haipo tena, bado tuna haki ya kusherehekea siku tulipopata Uhuru kwavile mpaka leo Uhuru huo tunao. Tuna mamlaka kamili na tunajitawala wenyewe tofauti na iliyokuwa awali. Katiba ya Tanzania niliyoitaja katika kifungu chake cha 151(1) kinafafanua kuhusu “Tanzania Bara” kuwa ni “eneo lote la Jamhuri ya Muungano ambalo zamani ilikuwa eneo la Jamhuri ya Tanganyika.” Kwa maana nyingine, japo jina la Tanganyika halitumiki tena, eneo lake bado lipo, watu wake bado wapo, mamlaka yake na Uhuru wake umezingatiwa na unatambulika ndani ya Katiba ya sasa. Kutokuwapo kwa Tanganyika ni kwa jina tu!

2)    Tunasherehekea kwavile kuwapo kwa Tanzania Bara kunapelekea kuwapo kwa NCHI ya Tanzania (kama jinsi Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar, ambayo mwakani tutasherehekea Miaka 50, vile vile yanapelekea kuwapo kwa nchi ya Tanzania).

3)    Tunasherehekea Uhuru kama sehemu ya kuutambua UTAIFA wetu wa Tanzania.  Uhuru wetu ndio unaotambulisha Taifa letu. Wakati wa kupata Uhuru ndipo tulipopata mamlaka kamili, bendera, nembo, mipaka na pia tulitambulika na wenzetu duniani kwamba sisi ni Taifa.

4)    Tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu kama njia ya kukumbushana kuhusu haja ya kuendelea kuulinda Uhuru wetu.

5)    Tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu kama njia ya kukumbushana kuhusu haja ya kuendelea kuulinda Muungano wetu, kwa vile bila ya Uhuru (na Mapinduzi Zanzibar) tusingekuwa na Muungano.

6)    Tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu kwavile tuna haja pia ya kuwaenzi wale waliopigania Uhuru wetu kwa vile walifanya kazi kubwa, wengi walifungwa, wengi walipoteza mali zao na maisha yao ili sisi tuwe Huru.

7)    Tunasherehekea Uhuru wetu ili kukumbushana kwamba kazi ya kuijenga nchi yetu bado haijaisha. January alisema kwamba viongozi waliopigania Uhuru wetu walianza pia kazi ya kujenga Taifa letu kwa kutuunganisha katika makabila, katika dini n.k. Zikafanyika jitihadi nyingi na za makusudi za kuijenga nchi yetu ili iwe nchi moja ya watu wanaopendana, wanaoheshimiana, wanaoaminiana, wanaoshirikiana, wanaofanya kazi kwa pamoja katika kujenga Taifa. Hiyo kazi ya kujenga nchi yetu bado haijaisha kwa vile bado kuna changamoto nyingi sana za maendeleo. Vile vile, kuna changamoto mpya ambazo zimejitokeza zinazohatarisha Umoja wa Taifa letu. Hizi ni zile nyufa alizotaja Mwalimu Nyerere kama vile udini, ukabila, rushwa n.k. Kwahiyo Uhuru wetu upo hatarini sana kama hatutajidhatiti kwa dhati kuhakikisha kwamba bado tunaendelea na kazi ya ujenzi wa Taifa letu.

8)    Kuthaminiwa Utu wetu. January alikumbusha kwamba hii ndiyo ilikuwa sababu kubwa ya msingi kwanini wazee wetu walipigania kupata Uhuru. Walitaka kuondokana na kudhalilishwa, kutawaliwa, kutumwa, kunyanyaswa, kunyonywa na kuwa chini ya mtu mwingine kutoka sehemu nyingine. Mtu huyo anakuja anakalia nchi yako halafu anakufanya wewe kuwa ni mtu wa daraja la chini, kisha anakuamulia uishi vipi, anakuamulia lugha gani utumie, anaamua watoto wako wasome nini n.k. Wakasema hapana, kila mtu anahaki ya kuwa Huru na kuthaminiwa Utu wake, kujikomboa kwenye udhalimu na kujitoa kwenye udhalilishaji.

9)    Lengo la kupigania Uhuru lilikuwa ili tupate uwezo wa Kujiamulia mambo yetu yenyewe ili kutengeneze nchi ambayo tunaitaka sisi wenyewe. Lakini January aliweka bayana kwamba Malengo ya Uhuru bado hatujayafikia yote. Na ndiyo kazi ambayo sote tunapaswa kuifanya ili malengo hayo tuyafikie. Kila awamu ya uongozi wa nchi yetu baada ya Uhuru imetusogeza hatua moja au kadhaa kufikia Malengo ya Uhuru. Kikubwa ni kwamba bado tunayo kazi ya kujenga uwezo wa kiuchumi na uwezo wa kiutawala ili kuondoa umaskini wa watu wetu ili tuweze kufikia Malengo ya Uhuru wetu.

10)  Pamoja na changamoto zilizopo, ambazo alisema Serikali ya sasa chini ya Rais Kikwete inazitambua na inaendelea kuzifanyia kazi, nchi yetu bado ni nchi nzuri ya kuishi duniani. Hili pia ni jambo jema la kuherehekea wakati wa maadhimisho ya Uhuru. Watanzania bado kwa kiasi kikubwa ni wamoja, wanapendana na wanaheshimiana.

January alimaliza kwa kusema, “Nchi yetu bado inaweza kuwa nzuri sana kuliko ilivyo sasa. Sisi wenyewe tunaweza kuiharibu au kuijenga nchi yetu”.

My Times and Life in the Presidency: Just Soup!

January Makamba
August 31, 2013

In May 2006, President Kikwete made his first visit to the United States as President of Tanzania. He had a busy program, including invitation for a lunch with a select group of United States Senators. The lunch took place at the Senate Dining Room, billed as exclusive wheeling-and-dealing spot where the actual Senate business takes place.

The President was asked to bring along two people for the lunch. He brought along Hon. John Cheyo, a Parliamentarian and the then Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, who was part of the delegation. He then asked me to come along – to take notes and coordinate follow-up to the meeting, if that becomes necessary.

The Senators sent one of their own to receive the President outside on arrival and escort us to the dining room. This Senator had a certain aura and bouncy, confident walk. He chatted-up the President as we walked through the corridor to the dining room.

The dining room was not as auspicious as I had imagined. It was busy and informal, with people eating and chatting as we walked through to our table. As a student of American politics, I recognized many faces.

At our table, there were five or six Senators including Russell Feingold from Wisconsin, who had interest in human rights and Great Lakes region of Africa; Senator Thad Cochran, who was the host, from Mississippi, back then Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriation Committee; Senator Richard Lugar from Indiana, a statesman who was then Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senator Dick Durbin, from Illinois. Many others passed by our table to say hello as the lunch proceeded. 

I had soup only as I had to keep up taking notes as the principals conversed. The Senator who sat next to me, the one who came to pick us up outside, insisted that I should order lunch. I summoned enough confidence to joke that a better lunch is waiting for me somewhere in town. He got the joke.

The Senators sought the President’s advice and insight on many issues in Africa.  The President was extremely eloquent about his vision for Tanzania and many issues on Africa and the kind of partnership that we can pursue. I believe that the outcome of the lunch contributed to the new dawn in the United States –Tanzania relations, which has been lukewarm for many years (no USA President had visited Tanzania before, except Clinton briefly in Arusha to support Mandela’s effort on Burundi peace process).

The lesson I came away with was that in other democracies, people elect extremely accomplished and intelligent people as their representatives (performance and honesty is a different debate). People who go into politics are those who have gone through the intellectual rigour that top schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc.) or the discipline that military service, provides. They don't always succeed but Americans at least attempt to assemble the best amongst themselves as their leaders. A smart and successful Prosecutor, for instance, is prodded to go into politics.

 What was interesting about this lunch was how much leaders (not just Presidents) in other countries are curious about the world and how it operates. We have [TV] stars in our Parliament, and are local celebrities, but it is critically important that they are curious and attempt to understand how this new brave world work and what are new dynamics shaping the future. The Senators we had lunch with engaged us abstractly and intellectually and also on bread-and-butter issues. 

The lunch concluded with Senators confident that they have found a new friend in President Kikwete and all promised to keep in touch and keep engaged (my first task after lunch back at the hotel was to draft for the President thank-you letters to each Senator).

Nine months later, in February 2007, the Senator who picked us up and escorted us to lunch, who prodded me to order lunch, who talked less at the lunch, was on TV announcing that he is running for President of the United States. Against all odds, with only three years in the Senate, he would go on to become the President. 

Times in the Presidency: The Teleprompter Magic

January Makamba

July 29, 2013

In 2004, I was working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Department of Africa and Middle East (before it was divided into two departments) as Foreign Service Officer II. I was an eager civil servant – often taking initiative to write unsolicited and unassigned analyses about what is going on in Africa and the Middle East. When I got a wind that our Minister intends to run for President, I took upon myself (with a mix of naiveté, graduate-student idealism and a bit of courage) to write to him about how he should organize his campaign. I wrote an analysis, put together a campaign organizational chart and so forth. Then I forgot about it and went on about my work.

One day, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, back then Mr. Philemon Luhanjo, who would later become Chief Secretary, called me to tell me that the Minister wants to see me in Arusha (he was travelling to Arusha for East Africa Community meetings). My heart pounced. I took a flight to Arusha and, upon landing, I attended with him the East African Legislative Assembly meeting (and got to see Hon. Harrison Mwakyembe, back then EALA Member, perform on the floor of the Assembly).

Later in the evening, I had a meeting with him. He brought out the papers I wrote and asked me to do a presentation for him. I was very nervous. It was easier to write than to talk about what you have written. Nevertheless, I braved the nervousness, and did my best. He liked what I had put forth.

I was then asked to take a leave of absence from civil service and join his campaign as a campaign aide. I was extremely thrilled.

My main task during the campaign was to accompany him throughout the country, write statements and speeches, organize his correspondences, contribute in strategy, serve as sounding board, do research and so forth. We were only two assistants. I found myself carrying an office in my bag – a laptop and printer, which became battered after the trail in every corner of Tanzania.

It was such a rewarding experience and I cannot be grateful enough to the President for the opportunity.  I got to see EVERY corner of my country. Even more, I got to learn about the challenges we face as a country (one of my roles was to prepare background notes for every rally that the president did. This involved summarizing local issues in ALL of districts of Tanzania so that whenever he speaks, he touches major national themes but also local issues where the rallies were taking place – for instance, if you are in Maswa, you need to mention cotton, cotton ginneries and cotton buyers and how they ought to provide correct weights for farmers’ cotton that they bring there). So, sleep time was work time for me. And I fully enjoyed it.

After the election, the President appointed me as one of his aides. I was sworn-in the cabinet room, during the cabinet meeting, in front of all Ministers. But my work had started even before the election: to participate in preparing his first major speech in the Parliament. The speech was written over time, during the trail, in evenings, where he would speak aloud his vision and I would take notes and share them with others who participated in the speechwriting, and we would fashion together a draft.

We decided that he would use the teleprompter for the speech – the first time ever in Tanzania. Almost everyone in the team was against it but the President was keen. So, on the big day, I went and set up the teleprompter in the Parliament (the old chamber back then). Almost nobody knew what it was. Many people in the team thought that the President was ill-advised to use it. What if it gets stuck? What if something goes wrong? The whole country was watching. Pressure was on me as a champion of teleprompter. But we had a contingency plan, including a hard copy of the speech at the podium. The President was ready. And he delivered a masterpiece.

After the speech, as a custom, one Member of Parliament would give a vote of thanks. This time it was Hon. John Momose Cheyo from Bariadi. In his statement, he said he was gratified that the President talked to the nation – from the heart – for 90 minutes without reading. I slept like a baby on that day. 

TImes in the Presidency: No Cereals Mistakes

Times in the Presidency: No Cereals Mistakes

January Makamba

27 July 2013

Tanzania colors in streets of Riyadh during our visit

In April 2009, the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, invited the President Kikwete for a visit.

As an aide and speechwriter I was part of the visit and attended meetings as a note-taker. The President arrived in Riyadh around 6pm. Normally, the 89-year old King does not go to the airport to receive his visitors, he instead sends one of the senior Princes.   But, on this occasion, the King came to receive President Kikwete and was standing at the foot of the plane as the President disembarked.

Before the arrival, the advance team had arranged a stay at a Riyadh hotel but we were told that the King had ordered that we stay in one of his palaces. I have never seen such tight security…dogs, armored-vehicles, etc. and I had a butler I did not need.

The visit centered around trade and investments. Saudi firms were keen to look at Tanzania. So, the President did what he does best: pitching Tanzania as an investment destination. He was honest about the challenges and convincing about the opportunities.

We then went for state dinner hosted by the King at the main palace. The dinner was preceded by official talks. It was surprising and refreshing that the dinner was very small – almost private – with about 20 people. The curved walls of the dinning room were literally a single fish and shark-tank – from floor to ceiling. There was no mistake that you were in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  

The later discussion amongst us who advice the President was how to go about with repeatedly expressed interest by the Saudis and later the Qataris to seek huge chunks of land in Tanzania for large investment in agriculture.

Almost all Arab countries, with their fast-growing population and without land for agriculture, were looking into Africa for growing food. The Saudis are unlikely to face oil crisis anytime soon but cereals crisis is beckoning. They grew wheat in the desert but that was depleting desert fresh water aquifers very fast.   

In the next 25 years, world demand for cereals will more likely increase by 50 percent. There are two ways in which this food can be found: by increasing yields in the currently cultivated land or by cultivating new areas. Of all the continents, only Africa has suitable and sizable tracts of uncultivated land.

Food is now a globalised commodity, meaning that its price and supply are dictated by dynamics independent of the whims of sovereignty (not least the weather!). And indeed taste and choices in food depends on many other things beyond necessity (increase in income by the Chinese, as a result of the Chinese economic boom of the last two decades, has made the Chinese eat more meat, which has increased the global demand for feedstock for pork, chicken and cattle which in turn has increased demand and prices for cereals, leading other people to remain hungry). Consequently, the production of food for the global or "local" markets, just like cars and computer chips, follow where inputs are readily cheap (read Africa).

So, as Presidential advisers, if the Saudis and Qataris ask for what amounts to 0.5 percent of 100 million acres of arable land in Tanzania, under which circumstances would you say yes. It is important to note that out of 100 million acres of arable land that we have, only 25 percent is under use, of which 80 percent is under subsistence agriculture.

And you are considering this question at the backdrop of a fall of Madagascar’s government because of a land deal with South Korea, and in the backdrop of a new catchy phrase, “land-grab”, thrown around with gay abandon by everyone.

In recalling my personal notes back then, I wrote that there should be some parameters under which these land-for-agriculture deals should stay within:

1. There should not be displacement of people or dispossession of land as a result of these agreements.

2. It is true that our landownership system (leasing) is seen as anti-investment. But we should not change it to freehold system just to accommodate these deals.

3. There should be local value addition processes (if it is wheat or rice, at least kukoboa and packaging should be done locally by locally-owned factories).

4. There should be development of physical and social infrastructure in and around the farms. CSR projects by farms – a well here, some desks there – will not cut it.

5. There should be some backward and forward linkages - some out-grower activity should exist. We also must insist that the production of fertilizers and other inputs for these farms should be done here and should not be just for exclusive use of these farms.

6. Agricultural research and transfer of agricultural technology and skills should be the main components of these deals.

7. Eventually, as a result of number 6 above, together with access to agricultural financing, locals ought be able to do large-scale commercial farming. Large farms in Tanzania should not exist to create farm laborers. They eventually create large-scale farmers.

8. Finally, the scenarios you do not want to have is that of containers shipping out wheat or rice abroad while you have long lines of people waiting for food aid...like in some countries where you see oil rigs offshore but long queues at the petrol stations.

Lesson: in advising the President, honesty and open-mindedness are key attributes. It is a challenge because (i) in working with the President, you know how he thinks and his preferences – so it is so easy to fashion your advice along his line of preferences. That is a huge disservice to him; and (ii) in working with the President, everything is political and the instinct is to protect him and this may cause you to close your mind and not explore other potentially politically risky but high reward ideas.

I was fortunate that President Kikwete is very open-minded. But you will have to be very well prepared to defend your arguments, as he will challenge you – sometimes with angles you hadn’t seen or facts you hadn’t considered. If you withstand the challenge, he will take your views on board.

BTW, on this trip, I flew to Jeddah, drove to Mecca and got to pray there.