By Nova Kambota,
www.novakambota.com
May be it is mythical belief to think that the dead people do still exist among us especially those whom we loved very much, despite this religious point of view, yet still from various examples it is logical to argue that some of dead people continue to exist even several years after their deaths.
Back to our homestead Tanzania, despite the fact that there is no abundant evidence even a little, yet still suspicious linger that Mwalimu Nyerere is still alive , yes! still alive among us even today.
a. Where is Nyerere?
If one comes and inquires “where is Nyerere?” wow! What a simple question it sounds!, a literal response can be Nyerere is dead and buried at Butiama in 1999. For critical thinkers they wouldn’t rush to give answers but first find out the meaning of death both literal and contextual , eventually they could arrive to philosophical conclusion which insists on relationsdhip between a person and his name, that is successful people on the earth continue living in people’s hearts even after their deaths. If I were to group Nyerere there is no doubt that he deserves to be in such group of few successful people ever lived in this world.
b. Nyerere and Tanzania
If we revisit our memories about Nyerere’s leadership style, we are likely to conclude by saying that “Nyerere is Tanzania and Tanzania is Nyerere”. This is not just a merely dubious argument, but there are various reasons to justify this.
Looking back at Ujamaa(Arusha Declaration), Tanzania’s contribution to African liberation struggle, NAM, PAN-AFRICANISM, Nyerere’s books and OAU , from there we can get more about Nyerere and even be able to document correctly our country’s history. To put records clear it was during Nyerere’s era that Tanzania could speak and the world listened attentively, it was by then Tanzania had a self veto power which shaken even the world super powers.
Neither World Bank nor IMF could have commanded us , not even USA dared this. Who could dare? If at all even her Majesty Queen of England was greeted by using a stick?. This is how Tanzania used to be, and all this glory ended in 1985 when the comrade willingly retired and from that the rest is history. The rest is well explained in Prof Rwekaza Mukandala’s book “From Proud Faces To Beggars”.
c. Criticism against Nyerere?
Recently there has been criticism leveled against Nyerere by mushrooming historians and writers. Some of this criticism are logical but invalid and others are absolutely dubious. Taking example of one of the self-pointed Historian basing in Dar es Salaam who for years now unsucceful tries to frame Nyerere in myopic view of religious lines.
The very criticism leveled against Nyerere among all includes failure of Ujamaa, uneven development in Tanzania , monopartism , Kagera war and Tanzania Economic stagnation which all together can be said to be philosophical misfits to Nyerere’s critics regarding the fact that even before his death Nyerere gave a nut and shell explanation about these matters and it is beyond the reasonable doubt that he managed to convince even the deafs.
The 1978 Idd Amin vs Nyerere saga was inevitable , even failure of Ujamaa is not a yardstick to measure Nyerere’s leadership, for go east go west still Nyerere remains one of the few people on this world who stands to be the icon of creativity, human dignity and even courage. R.I.P Nyerere, few remaining African comrades shall remember you forever!..A luta Continua.
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