If You don’t Have Integrity, You Have Nothing! : Lessons from Mwalimu Nyerere

            If You don’t Have Integrity, You Have Nothing! : Lessons from Mwalimu Nyerere

We must demand more from our leaders. How many African leaders today can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Nyerere, Mandela, and pass the integrity litmus test? Nyerere gave up a salary of 750 £ per year in March 1955 and refused a regular salary from TANU for a while.  Nyerere opened a small shop in Magomeni in order to supplement his income. As the leader of the largest independence party, Nyerere opted to depend on a party vehicle, friends, and a bevy of African tax drivers who were his supporters for transportation; he was in position to purchase  a car, but decided not to get one.  

Nyerere retired in 1985 and lived in a modest house in Msasani. He was not motivated by money, wealth, or material possession. As the report states: “Nyerere exhibits a higher moral standards in personal affairs than is usual among African nationalist leaders,” it adds, “It may be that this, allied to the fact that he is intellectually far above his associates…” No wonder colonial officials were forced to admit the fact that he was "intellectually far above his associates" and that he "exhibits a higher moral standards." He was incorruptible! The British colonial officials dealt with a multitude of Tanganyika leaders in the 1950s; they appear to view Nyerere as being incorruptible. 

Even in the heydays of TAA/TANU in the 1950s, there were important leaders whose integrity was brought into question. Questions were asked about leaders such as Thomas Plantan, Steven Mhando, and Dossa Aziz; the last two were questioned when TANU’s accounting books did not add up. 

There are many lessons we can draw from Mwalimu Nyerere.  One important lesson is that of integrity. A leader who is not corrupt before holding the most important office in government is unlikely to become corrupt after holding the high office.  A candidate who is corrupt before elections is likely to continue with grand scale corruption after being elected into office.  It is high time that Tanzanians speak with one voice in the 2015 elections.  Electing and supporting a corrupt leader is an indication that we are corrupt as a society; for, only a corrupt society can elect and support a corrupt candidate. There are many people who hold office; but not everyone has qualities that makes them a leader.  About five months shy of the 2015 elections in Tanzania: who will you vote into office? As we look to the future, it is important that to take a moment to reflect on the past: those we elect into office must pass the integrity litmus test. After all, if you don't have integrity, you have nothing!

© Azaria Mbughuni

azmbughuni@gmail.com

A Tanzanian Who Helped Change the Course of African American History

Samuel Daniels claimed that he was born in Tanganyika (Tanzania) sometime around 1908. He stated that he moved to the USA around 1924. Samuel Daniels started one of the largest movements in Harlem, New York, to rally African American support for Ethiopia when Italy was preparing to invade Ethiopia in 1934. He followed  Marcus Garvey and was a staunch Pan-Africanist. Samuel Daniels established the Pan African Reconstruction Association (PARA) in New York in 1934. PARA was reported to have over 35,000 members and branches in twenty-two cities in the US in 1935. His organization eventually disappeared as quickly as it started. Nevertheless, for a brief period, Daniels made significant contributions to raising Pan-African consciousness among African Americans. He rejected the name “Negro” in his speeches. As he remarked in one speech: “I like the word African. No More Negroes an’ shines an’ coons. African!” Daniels helped raise awareness of connections to Africa by rallying support for Ethiopia and championing economic and political liberation. This son of Africa, son of Tanzania, left his mark in US history. He will be remembered for his contributions in connecting African Americans with Africa.

© Azaria Mbughuni
azmbughuni@gmail.com

The privilege of near death...

As I drove to Dodoma today, I saw a couple of accidents along the road – and reflected on the fragility of life. And recalled a couple of my own incidents. I will recount one. In October 2008, President Kikwete made a visit to Ileje district in Mbeya region. As usual, as a close aide, I was on hand. We were traveling from Kyela district where we spent the previous night. We scaled up steep mountains and braved sharp corners towards Ileje. As the motorcade snaked through the mountains , one of the rear tires of our car blew and the driver missed one sharp corner and our car jumped down the deep cliff, rolling about eight times before it stood perfectly on its wheels down the valley. Because the drop was so sudden and at the corner, people in the car behind us didn’t see us tumbling and the motorcade proceeded to Ileje as if nothing happened (we were told later that some people in the motorcade, saw a “parked car” down the valley and wondered how it got there and what was it doing”). Only when we were “missing” at the final destination, everyone scampered to find what happened and where we were – and someone clever figured that we may be in the car that was “parked” down the valley. We came out safely – with no major injuries (yes, seatbelts save lives) and proceeded with day’s work.  Given the depth of the valley, and the number of times our car rolled, it was simply a miracle that we came out alive. 

In another incident, during another presidential visit in Liwale district in Lindi, a police officer, on the back of police escort pickup truck, hit his chest in the iron bar when the truck stopped abruptly. He fell unconscious. Medical personnel in the motorcade ambulance from Lindi tried to resuscitate him to avail – and he was declared dead. The President’s physician, Prof. Mohammed Janabi, didn’t give up and asked me to help him push the gentleman’s legs up and down while he performed another type of CPR. When Prof. Janabi was about to lose his breath, the “dead” gentleman came to life. 

The point of remembering and recounting these incidents is this: all of us – with all our health, achievements, knowledge, prestige and pride – are hanging by a very thin thread separating life and death. People in public life who have lately found it fashionable to feign near-death experiences should be discouraged. Near-death experiences is a privilege served as a dramatic reminder to live right and love all.    

Maswali 40 kwa January Makamba

Maswali 40 ya Padre Karugendo

1  Kabla hatujaanza, na kabla sijasahau, nimekuwa na hamu kubwa ya kusikia kauli yako mwenyewe kuhusu hili suala la Urais. Mjadala wa Urais, hasa ndani ya Chama chenu, umekuwa mkali sana. Majina mengi yametajwa, ikiwemo lako. Je, ni kweli unaingia? Nimekusikia ukisema umefikia uamuzi wa kugombea kwa asilimia 90. Hiyo asilimia 10 bado tu?

2  Naamini watu wengi watapenda kujua January Makamba ni nani haswa. Hebu tuelezee kwa kifupi historia yako; ulizaliwa wapi, umekulia wapi, umepitia wapi, umefikaje hapa ulipo leo? Jina la baba yako limekubeba?

3  Je umeshapata watoto? Kama ni ndiyo ni wangapi? Je, mtazamo wako kuhusu familia na malezi ya watoto ni upi? Watu wanasema maji hufuata mkondo, je, ungependa watoto wako wawe wanasiasa kama wewe?

4  Umesema kwamba ulisomea Chuo Kikuu cha Kikatoliki Marekani. Kama ujuavyo, mimi ni Padre. Napenda kusikia kidogo kuhusu suala hili. Ulijifunza nini pale.

5  Umenukuliwa na baadhi ya vyombo vya habari ukisema kwamba sasa ni wakati wa viongozi vijana kujitokeza na kuchukua nafasi kubwa za uongozi kama Urais wa nchi. Kwa nini mjadala huu ni muhimu wakati huu na vitu gani vipya vya kuibadilisha Tanzania vinavyoweza kufanywa na vijana na si wazee? Kwanini vijana waaminiwe kwenye nafasi kubwa wakati hawana uzoefu wa kuongoza?

6  Je, umekomaa vya kutosha kushika nafasi ya Urais? Umefanya nini kwenye wizara yako, kiasi kwamba watu waweze kuamini kwamba unastahili nafasi ya juu zaidi ya hiyo uliyo nayo kwa sasa? Ulipochaguliwa kuwa Mbunge ulianzisha Shirika la Maendeleo Bumbuli. Nini kilikusukuma? Shirika linafanya nini na limewasaidia vipi watu wa Bumbuli. Je, kama jimbo bado lina changamoto unastahili kuomba nafasi ya juu?

7  Ni changamoto gani kubwa zinawakabili vijana wa Tanzania? Wanasiasa wengi wamekuwa wakisema watamaliza tatizo la ajira nchini. Kuna mawazo gani mapya kutoka kwa viongozi wa kizazi kipya ya kumaliza tatizo hili?

8  Kuna wazo kwamba nchi tukiigawa katika majimbo ya kiutawala, itapiga hatua za kimaendeleo kwa haraka. Kuna siku nilikusikia ukipinga wazo hili na ukasema kwamba badala ya majimbo ya kiutawala tuigawe nchi kwenye majimbo ya kiuchumi. Je, unaweza kufafanua fikra hizi?

9  Baada ya kuingia Bungeni, ulipewa nafasi ya kuwa Mwenyekiti wa Kamati nyeti ya Nishati na Madini. Kwanza, tuambie uliwezaje kupata Uenyekiti wa Kamati nyeti katika wiki chache tu baada ya kuingia Bungeni. Tuelezee baadhi ya changamoto kwenye nafasi hii, lakini pia mlichukua hatua gani kulisaidia taifa kwenye sekta hizi nyeti? Ilikuwaje Kamati hii ikavunjwa mara tu baada ya wewe kuachia Uenyekiti? Nini kifanyike kumaliza tatizo la mgao wa umeme na bei kubwa za umeme?

10  Umeeleza kwamba ulikuwa sehemu ya kampeni ya Urais ya CCM mwaka 2005 na kwamba ulipata nafasi ya kuzunguka na Mheshimiwa Kikwete akiwa mgombea wa Urais wa CCM kwenye uchaguzi huo. Ulikuwa unafanya shughuli gani na ulijifunza nini katika shughuli ile?

11  Kwa miaka mitano na zaidi, ulipata nafasi ya pekee ya kuwa karibu na Rais wakati wote. Kutokana na nafasi hiyo ni mambo gani ya msingi uliyojifunza na yakakujenga kuwa kama ulivyo leo hii? Kwa nini uliamua kuacha kazi nzuri ya Ikulu na kwenda kugombea ubunge? Je, ilikuwa rahisi Rais kukuachia?

12  Hivi karibuni wananchi wengi hasa wa kipato cha chini na cha kati wamekuwa wakilalamika kwamba maisha yamekuwa makali, na gharama za maisha zimekuwa zikipanda kila kukicha. Maarifa gani yanahitajika ili kuweza kupunguza ukali wa maisha kwa Watanzania?

13  Watanzania wengi wanajishughulisha na kilimo, ufugaji na uvuvi lakini wamekuwa hawanufaiki na shughuli hizi licha ya mipango mingi tangu wakati wa uhuru hadi sasa. Je, kizazi kipya cha uongozi wa nchi kinapaswa kuwa na maarifa gani mapya kuhusu mapinduzi ya kilimo na maendeleo ya uvuvi na ufugaji?

14  Tanzania imekuwa ikisifika kwamba uchumi wake unakua kwa kasi kwa miaka kadhaa sasa. Lakini wananchi wengi bado hawajaona hayo manufaa. Nini kifanyike wananchi nao waone na wanufaike na uchumi kukua? Unauelezeaje uchumi wetu kwa ujumla?

15  Mwaka jana nilisoma kwenye vyombo vya habari kwamba ulipata tuzo ya taasisi ya National Democratic Institute ya Marekani, unaweza kutueleza ni tuzo ya nini na kwa nini uliipata? Pili, tulisoma kwamba uliteuliwa na taasisi ya World Economic Forum kuwa mmoja wa viongozi vijana mashuhuri duniani (Young Global Leaders). Pia tena majuzi tukasoma kwamba jarida mashuhuri duniani la Forbes limekutaja kuwa mmoja wa watu kumi wenye ushawishi Afrika kwa mwaka 2014. Ni kwanini unadhani wanakupa hizi tuzo? Na je, tuzo hizi zina maana gani kwa wapiga kura wako?

16  Kama kiongozi kijana uliyepata kufanya kazi katika Wizara ya Mambo ya Nje na Ikulu, unazungumziaje nafasi ya Tanzania katika siasa za kimataifa?

17  Tunaona jinsi nchi jirani zetu wanavyopata changamoto za usalama. Je, sisi tufanyaje kuepukana nazo?

18  Kiwango cha elimu katika taifa letu kimeporomoka, ni kwa nini na unafikiri ni kitu gani kifanyike kuinua hali ya elimu katika taifa letu?

19  Walimu ni sehemu kubwa ya watumishi wa umma. Je, wewe unayajua matatizo yao? Una fikra na mawazo gani ya kuyashughulikia? Vipi kuhusu wahadhiri wa vyuo vikuu na taasisi za elimu ya juu?

20  Kumekuwa na malalamiko kuhusu utendaji Serikalini, hasa juu ya urasimu; kwamba maamuzi hayafanyiki kwa wakati, lakini pia hakuna uwajibikaji. Je, nini kifanyike kurekebisha hali hii?

21  Mfumo mpya wa Matokeo Makubwa Sasa, BRN, ni mwanzo mzuri lakini lazima uende sambamba na uwezo wa kufanya maamuzi na kuchukua hatua za uwajibikaji pale matokeo makubwa yanapokuwa hayajapatikana.Wananchi wanalalamikia sana ufisadi. Mikakati ya sasa inaelekea haijafanikiwa kiasi cha kuridhisha wananchi. Je, wewe una mbinu zozote mpya za kupambana na tatizo hili? Je, unaongeleaje ufisadi wa Richmond, EPA na IPTL?

22  Kumekuwa na hii dhana ya kufanya maamuzi magumu kama sifa ya uongozi. Je, unalisemeaje hili? Je, wewe umeshawahi kufanya maamuzi yoyote magumu kwenye uongozi wako?

23  Hapa tupo Dar es Salaam. Inaelekea karibu kila mtu anataka kuhamia na kuishi Dar es Salaam. Una maoni gani kuhusu nafasi ya Jiji la Dar es Salaam katika maendeleo ya nchi yetu? Nini changamoto za jiji hili na nini kifanyike kuzirekebisha?

24  Mwaka 2012 ulipeleka Bungeni Muswada Binafsi wa Sheria ya Kudhibiti shughuli za Upangishaji Nyumba. Tuelezee maudhui yake, nini kilikusukuma na muswada huo umefikia wapi?

25  Inaelekea siku hizi kila mwanasiasa anajikita katika kundi la vijana na kuzungumzia masuala yanayowavutia vijana. Hakuna makundi mengine ya kuyasemea? Ni makundi gani na mahitaji yao ni yapi na ufumbuzi wa changamoto zao ni upi?

26  Umekuwa mmoja ya viongozi ambao wanaliongelea sana suala la mabadiliko ya kasi ya kuongezeka kwa idadi ya watu nchini na taifa kuwa changa kiumri. Unaweza kutuelezea kwa upana nini maana ya mabadiliko haya kwenye mustakabali wa taifa letu la leo na la kesho?

27  Miaka ya hivi karibuni imejitokeza dalili kwamba mahusiano ya watanzania wenye dini tofauti si mazuri na kuna dalili kwamba hali hii inaweza kuleta kutoelewana siku za usoni. Wewe unalisemeaje suala hili? Nini nafasi ya imani ya kiroho katika kumwongoza Kiongozi wa nchi?

28  Wewe kama kiongozi kijana, umewasaidiaje hawa vijana wenzenu wa Bongo Movies na vijana wa muziki wa kizazi kipya maana yake kila siku wanalalamika. Pia inaelekea tumetelekeza maendeleo ya sanaa kwa ujumla. Tufanyeje?

29  Tanzania imekuwa ikijulikana kama kichwa cha mwendawazimu kwenye medani ya michezo ya kimataifa. Ni muda mrefu sasa tumeshindwa kupata medali zozote kwenye michezo ya Jumuiya ya Madola au Olimpiki. Mara ya mwisho kwa Taifa Stars kushiriki fainali za kombe la Mataifa ya Afrika ilikuwa ni miaka 36 iliyopita. Una fikra gani mpya katika kulirekebisha hili na kuwafanya Watanzania kujisikia fahari kutokana na mafanikio ya wanamichezo wake?

30  Watu wengi wamekuwa wanalalamikia bandari na reli. Wengine wanasema kwamba kwa takribani miaka kumi sasa bandari na reli ziko vilevile, hakuna upanuzi wala ujenzi mpya. Una maoni gani kuhusu miundombinu ya usafirishaji? Nini kipya kinaweza kufanyika? 

31  Nimetembea sana vijijini na nimeona kuwa vijiji vingi havina huduma yoyote ya afya. Hata kule ambapo zipo watumishi hawatoshi, vifaa hakuna, hakuna umeme, na wakati wote hakuna dawa. Ukienda hospitali, iwe ndogo au kubwa, una hatari ya kupata ugonjwa kuliko nyumbani. Haya matatizo wewe unayaonaje? Kwa kweli watu hawamudu gharama za matibabu na wanakufa bila sababu za msingi. Nini kifanyike? 

32  Umesema kwamba Rais Kikwete amejitahidi kuboresha huduma. Unadhani ni huduma gani ya jamii bado ni kero kwa Watanzania na unadhani kuna maarifa gani mapya ya kuitatua?

33  Ukiwa kama kiongozi kijana wa CCM, uliyepata fursa ya kuwa kiongozi wa juu wa Chama chenu, huoni kama Chama chenu kimepoteza mwelekeo na kinapata ushindani mkubwa sasa? Kuna sababu za Chama chenu kuendelea kuaminiwa na Watanzania? Ukichaguliwa Rais, pia unakuwa Mwenyekiti wa CCM, je kijana anaweza kukiongoza Chama kikongwe kama CCM?

34  Hapa Tanzania karibu kila mtu, hata ambao ni watumishi wa Serikali na hata wananchi wa vijijini ni wajasiriamali. Lakini ujasiriamali unakwamishwa na ukosefu wa mikopo. Benki ziko nyingi lakini hazikopeshi watu maskini ambao hawana dhamana. Taasisi za ukopeshaji, microfinance, zimejaa lakini riba ni kubwa na watu wanashindwa. Kulikuwa na Mabilioni ya JK lakini hayakufika mbali. Kuna jambo gani kubwa na jipya la kumaliza tatizo hili?

35  Nini nafasi ya uhuru wa vyombo vya habari katika kuchochea maendeleo ya taifa letu. Unaongeleaje suala la kuwa na vyombo vya habari vingi ambavyo vinaandika habari za uchochezi?  

36  Baada ya uvumbuzi wa gesi nchini, kumekuwa na mjadala kuhusu Watanzania kunufaika na rasilimali za taifa hili. Una maoni gani kuhusu huu mjadala? Nini kifanyike ili watu wa hali ya chini wanufaike? Kama kiongozi umeshiriki vipi kuhakikisha Watanzania wananufaika na rasilimali zao?

37  Wakati wa Bajeti, kila tunapozungumzia kutotekelezwa kwa miradi ya maendeleo, kutolipwa kwa wazabuni, kutolipwa kwa walimu na askari, tunasikia sana msemo wa “kasungura kadogo”. Je, kutokana na hali hii, kuna matumaini ya kupata maendeleo kama kila wakati Serikali inasema haina fedha ya kutekeleza majukumu yake ya msingi? Je, kuna maarifa gani mapya, ambayo wewe kama kiongozi wa kizazi kipya, ambayo unayo kuhusu namna ya kupata fedha za maendeleo?

38  Mwaka jana niliona picha yako kwenye gazeti ukiwa Butiama na Mama Maria Nyerere mkiomba pembeni ya kaburi la Mwalimu Nyerere. Ulifikaje huko? Mama Maria alikupa usia gani? Unazungumziaje nafasi ya Mwalimu Nyerere kwenye siasa za sasa za nchi yetu?

39  Je, kati ya marais wanne waliowahi kuliongoza taifa letu, unafikiri ni rais gani ameacha historia kubwa kama Rais aliyefanya mambo makubwa kuliko wote katika taifa letu?

40  Kuna mambo yoyote unayodhani hatukuyazungumzia ambayo unadhani yana umuhimu katika ustawi wa nchi yetu? 

To Prime Minister Mugabe

New African May 1980

Open letter to Prime Minister Mugabe

 Dear Comrade Mugabe, 

Warm congratulations on your victory and comradely salutations from your admirers!

In the last five years or so since you took over the reins of ZANU you have shown magnificent qualities of leadership – resolute without being dogmatic, daring without being adventurist, and flexible without being lax.

But above all, you have revealed yourself during this period as an outstanding strategist and tactician both in political organisation and in war.

With all these rare qualities it would be presumptuous even to attempt to tell you and your gallant comrades-in-arms what is to be done in independent Zimbabwe. Moreover, you know better than any outsider the concrete situation in the country. This letter does not claim to tell you anything you don’t know; it only seeks to reemphasise some salient points which we may lose sight of in the euphoria of freedom.

The enemies of Africa are anxious to prove that every new African country is doomed to failure and, to ensure that this does indeed take place, they will want to entangle you deeply in their world system so as to destroy you. Proof? Look at what is happening in practically all sister countries: economic chaos, shortage of food and other basic necessities, corruption, and so on, is the order of the day. You, as a revolutionary, will be a special target particularly because of Zimbabwe’s proximity to South Africa.

You are, however, fortunate in that Zimbabwe is the last but one arrival into the world arena, as a proud, free country, and so you can learn from the mistakes of other countries that have preceded you. This is the purpose of this open letter. If you have thought about the problem along the lines discussed below then this letter is redundant. If you don’t agree with it, then it is irrelevant. In either case, it will still be worth our whole to repeat to ourselves all the points raised if only to keep them fresh in our minds.

The other reason for this exercise is that we owe it to Africa and to history to share our past and present experience in order to arm ourselves against possible pitfalls which are all too common in the challenging period of national reconstruction. We have been struggling and continue to struggle against many odds, natural and man-made, and we need not be ashamed or scared of making mistakes. We learn through mistakes. Our task is to minimise them when we can, and this we can do by reminding ourselves again and again of the obvious ones. This is the spirit of the letter.

Unlike many developing countries, you are taking over a country with considerable potential. Let me give some comparative statistics. Kenya, a fairly “prosperous” country, has double the population of Zimbabwe (14m to your 7 m) and yet its Gross Domestic Product is only $2 900m compared to your $3 560m (1976 World Bank figures), or a per capita income of $220 to your $550. (Incidentally when the bourgeoisie took over France in 1792 the country’s per capita income was just about $600.)

Zimbabwe has a fairly solid industrial base most of which was made possible thanks to the “sanctions” which forced the country to look inward. It was what you might call a blessing in disguise. (Looking back, one wishes that sanctions had been imposed against all African countries soon after independence. What a happy people we would have been! It was “aid” that proved to be the kiss of death.) Your agricultural base, too, is fairly healthy.

From this level Zimbabwe has an excellent chance to move rapidly to a self-sustaining development. As a socialist you will no doubt want this development to be accompanied with social justice. And here is the crux of the matter.

How do we restructure an economy whose social basis was to exploit the majority for the benefit of the minority? Seemingly the easiest way is to take over the “commanding heights” of the economy and transform it into a popular based one. But this is easier said than done, with enormous potential dangers. We often tend to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task and consequently fail to raise the most essential, most basis question: Where to begin?

While it is impossible for outsiders to know the concrete situation without a thorough investigation, there are, nevertheless, generally acceptable principles that may be applicable to any country at a given level of the development of its productive forces. If the latter are at a low level then it is imperative that their development be regarded as top priority, even over that of the relations of production. In Maoist terms, development of the productive forces in this case becomes the principal aspect of the contradiction with production relations as a secondary one. This strategy has variously been called the New Economic Policy, or N.E.P, or the New Democracy, in which capitalist relations are allowed to co-exist with socialist ones. And this was done for very practical reasons: to allow maximum opportunity and facility for the productive forces to develop as rapidly as possible without in the meantime causing economic dislocations and subjecting the people to unjustified hardships. It cannot be over-emphasised that people are our most precious capital and, therefore, they must eat well, be housed and clothed well.

This, then, is our starting point. The economy must be so structured as to provide adequate food, good housing and cheap but good clothing. In the course of providing these the economy will also develop a good agricultural foundation, together with engineering and extensive textile industries. All these will create vast employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people currently un- or under-employed, who in turn will help expand the home market- essential for further industrial and agricultural development.

For this to take place, one will of course need to generate investible resources or accumulation for investment. One of the most unfortunate experiences of developing countries is that they all sought these resources from external sources, either in the form of loans or aid, which has led to heavy and unbearable debt burdens (bankruptcy, you might say) which now threaten our very survival as sovereign states. To avoid this monumental pitfall, it is essential for a country to generate its investible resources internally, first and foremost.

How? There are two ways: by taxing (but not over taxing) the private sector; and by utilising for this purpose the surpluses that will come from future state enterprises.

At this level of development it may be advisable to allow maximum (but disciplined) play of individual initiative in economic activity guided by the principle of “utilise, win over and control”. You utilise the existing private skills and resources for rapid development of the productive forces; you win over through education and persuasion all good elements to serve social rather than individual ends; and you control private sector incomes through fixing the sale prices of their products (allowing, of course, for proper incentives); tax their profits, control its repatriation and encourage ploughing back.

It could be made into a principle that at least 50 % of the accumulation from this source should go into state productive investments annually and the rest can go into paying recurrent expenditure and the building up of economic and social infrastructures. This principle will discipline the bureaucracy and prevent them from indulging in unnecessary low priority expenditure while, at the same time it will help to build step by step the state industrial sector that is nonexistent at the moment, for example, iron and steel industries, machine tool industry, metallurgy, petrochemical industry and so on; in short, heavy industry or Department No.1.

It will not be worthwhile to pay serious attention to such pundits as Rene Dumont¹ and their like who urge us to concentrate on small-scale production on the argument that small is beautiful. No country in history has developed on that basis. But given our condition of uneven development in Africa, perhaps the best way will be to combine large-scale and intermediate production. Where, for instance, you already have large farms you either expand them where necessary or you maintain them at their present level and thereby enjoy the benefits of large-scale farming. Where production is still peasant based you may want to develop it to an intermediate level with producers cooperatives as their basic units.

Experience elsewhere has taught us that the taking over of ongoing viable farms has invariably led to almost total collapse of agricultural production and has forced the countries concerned to incur heavy foreign debt to import food. As foreign borrowing without repayment cannot be sustained for a long time the countries are forced literally to beg for food on an international scale. This is undesirable from both the economic and political standpoints, to say nothing of national dignity.

It is a painful history fact that in Zimbabwe such large-scale farms are owned by white settlers, some of whom are liberal and others incorrigibly reactionary. To expropriate them will amount to economic disaster, at least in the short run. To allow them to continue as before will amount to perpetuating a national injustice. This is a serious dilemma. Probably you and your party have already made up your minds on how to tackle it. To an outsider it will seem possible to avoid both of these undesirable consequences by:

*where possible, surrounding all these settler farms by producer agricultural cooperatives;

* making obligatory for the settler farms, as a condition for their existence to share their facilities (farm implements, expertise, marketing, dispensary service etc.) with the newly established cooperatives.

This will help; first, to develop viable cooperative farms at a minimum cost and make maximum use of the existing stock of agricultural implements in the country. Secondly, it will help diminish the imbalance between settlers’ and people’s production and thereby correct the existing situation in which the settler farms are isolated like prosperous islands in the midst of mass poverty. Thirdly, it will help distinguish between good elements among the settlers who are genuinely willing to work with the new government in improving the living conditions of the people, and the diehards. It will then be possible to win over the first group and isolate and eventually ease out the latter. Fourthly, and this is most important it will help consolidate people’s as opposed to individual production without any large-scale economic dislocation (and its attendant consequences) during the transition.

The rising rural incomes entailed in this strategy will expand the home market for industrial consumer products as well as broaden the tax base. It will then be possible to accumulate from the latter to pay for further development of the former, which means not only the development of nationally integrated, independent industrialisation but also the rapid rise of the proletariat. All this, of course, is based on the assumption of a planned and proportional development of the national economy.

Going by your public statements since you took over, it appears that this is broadly what you have in mind. If so, you are definitely on the right track; and all well-meaning people will back you in your obviously very difficult task. We will all wish you the very best.

Yours fraternally,

Abdulrahman M. Babu