Topic: Mchango wa John Okello [che Guevara wa East Africa] umefutwaje?

Mwka 1964 siku thelathini baada ya uhuru wa bandia wa Zanzibar, wanamapinduzi kumi na nne wakiongozwa na mpigania uhuru John Okello aliwaongoza kwenye mapinduzi ya Zanzibar yaliyokuwa na umwagaji mkubwa wa damu.

Baada ya mapinduzi kufanikiwa John Okello [kiongozi wa mapinduzi] alichukua jukumu la kutangaza mapinduzi kwenye radio Zanzibar, ikumbukwe pia wakati mapambano yakiendelea ..aliyekuja kuwa rais wa Zanzibar mzee Karume na Babu walikuwa mafichoni na hawakushika wala bisibisi kwenye mapinduzi na hata ukiangalia ile picha ya wanamapinduzi ya kwanza John Okello amevalia kipolisi na amekaa kama kiongozi rasmi.

Baada ya hali kutulia Okello anamtangaza Karume rais na Abdulrahman Babu kuwa Waziri mkuu. Na ndie aliyeenda kumpokea Karume kutoka alikokuwa amejificha kwa siku kadhaa.

Baada ya siku chache mzee Karume akamfukuza Zanzibar kama mbwa John Okello [Field Marshal] na bila kujali mchango wake anatokomea kusikojulikana na historiaa ya mapinduzi ikafutwa na nafasi ya Okello ikaja kuwa mkwezi, mpiga tofali ambaye alibahatika kupiga picha [akiwa amekaa kitini katikati tu kwa sababu ya kuwa na kipaji cha kuongea - (kumbuka kuwa hata kiswahili chake kilikuwa 0kibovu)]

Naomba kuchokoza mada kuhusu nafasi ya John Okello kwenye mapinduzi, kwa nini historia ilifunikwa?

Je aliishia wapi,..wapenda historia ya kweli wameshatamani hata kujua lilipo kaburi lake..kumbukeni wenzetu Kenya baada ya kugundua hila wanahaha kutafuta kaburi la Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi...mbona wapenda hitoria Zanzibar na Tanganyika kwa jumla hamumtendei haki JOHN OKELLO [FIELDMASHAL]?

Wakuu hata makala za Mihangwa kwenye gazeti la Raia Mwema amewahi kuileza hii historia vizuri kabisa kwamba kwenye mapinduzi ya znz Karume hakushiriki moja kwa moja ila tu alikuja kujikweza na pale alipohisi wale wanamapinduzi halisi wanastahili sifa zaidi yake yeye akaanza kuwawekea mizengwe!

By Chimunguru

Mmimi nimesoma kile kitabu Cha JOHN OKELLO, hawa akina Karume hawana cha kujivunia pale inasikitisha sana tena sana jamaa walichomfanyia

Angalia video nini kitabu okello ndio alifanya mapinduzi na kila kitu kisha anamkabidhi nchi kaRume mbele ya waandishi wa habari na PROF.Babu ndio MKALIMANI

YouTube - ‫

By Edward Teller

HII NCHI KILA KILICHO CHA UKWELI INAJARIBU KUKIPINDISHA NA KUDANGANYA UMMA,SIJUI LINI SERIKAL ITAACHA KUWADANGANYA WANANCHI WAKE-CHEK LINK HII PIA-
John_Okello

John Okello aliulizwa alipanga vipi mapinduzi na kwa mda gani akajibu kwa Kiswahili tata kuwa "mungu wa Muafrika ndie aliyesaidia"

Nitaegemea upande wa Dr Ghassany kwa hili, kuwa Okello alitumiwa tu na kina Hanga kwa usaidizi wa karibu na Kambona.

Aliyeweza kuongoza mapinduzi asingekuwa mzembe kiasi cha kufanyiwa aliyofanyiwa mwishoni.

By Mutu

Angalia video nini kitabu okello ndio alifanya mapinduzi na kila kitu kisha anamkabidhi nchi kaRume mbele ya waandishi wa habari na PROF.Babu ndio MKALIMANI

YouTube - ‫

Duh! ndio kusema hapo ndo alikuwa akikabidhi nchi?!

Nchi alikabidhi kwa njia ya tangazo la redio kupitia Sauti ya watu wa Zanzibar

By Edward Teller

HII NCHI KILA KILICHO CHA UKWELI INAJARIBU KUKIPINDISHA NA KUDANGANYA UMMA,SIJUI LINI SERIKAL ITAACHA KUWADANGANYA WANANCHI WAKE-CHEK LINK HII PIA-
John_Okello

.......after Amin promoted himself Okello reportedly joked that "now Uganda has two field marshals" and had arranged his assassination. This remains speculative, however. (wikipedia)

Soma kitabu cha Harry ghassany kwaheri ukoloni ndio utauona unafki wa wazanzibari na Mambo mengi yameelezwa humo na wahusika wakuu wa mapinduzi

By Gaijin

John Okello aliulizwa alipanga vipi mapinduzi na kwa mda gani akajibu kwa Kiswahili tata kuwa "mungu wa Muafrika ndie aliyesaidia"

Nitaegemea upande wa Dr Ghassany kwa hili, kuwa Okello alitumiwa tu na kina Hanga kwa usaidizi wa karibu na Kambona.

Aliyeweza kuongoza mapinduzi asingekuwa mzembe kiasi cha kufanyiwa aliyofanyiwa mwishoni.

Sasa ni nani hasa mwanamapinduzi halisi wa Zanzibar? Nimejikuta yote niliyoyajua kuhusu mapiduzi ya zanzibar yana mushkeli. Ni nani aliratibu, na kutokea wapi? Na kwa nini hakutaka kujionesha? Ukiangalia kwa mapinduzi halisi yalivyokuwa, Okello hangeishia kiaina vile, maana angekuwa na support kubwa (ukichukulia maanani, kupanga, kuratibu, na kutekeleza mapinduzi ya kumng'oa mtu madarakani) ni lazima ungetokea mtikisiko mkubwa wa kumpindua Okello na timu yake ili power nyingine iingie, siyo atokomee kiaina hivyo>

so what akiwa Mwanapinduzi? haibadilishi kuondolewa kwa serikali haramu ya Kisultan hapo zanzibar kabla ya Mapinduzi! Mbona Wafaransa ndio walileta mapinduzi Marekani mwaka 1776?

John Okello was baptised at two years old (his baptised name being Gideon). From his eleventh year, he was an orphan and he grew up with other relatives. When he was fifteen, he left his house in order to search for work and he worked in several places in East Africa. He worked from 1944 as clerk, manservant, gardener and worker. He later learned the trade of bricklaying and was active as a bricklayer. He was arrested in Nairobi (Kenya) for unclear reasons (he himself stated that he was arrested for a crime of sexual nature) and stayed in prison for two years. During his incarceration he became a revolutionary.
Speculations are abound about Okello having held residence and being trained in the communist Cuba of Fidel Castro, although this has not been confirmed by Okello himself.

Police officer on Pemba

In 1959 Okello left for the island of Pemba, where he tried to find work on one of the farms, but became a police officer instead. Okello joined the Afro-Shirazi Party of sheik Abeid Karume. This party opposed the domineering position of the minority Arabs on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba.

Revolutionary

Okello left for Zanzibar in 1963, where he contacted the leaders of the Afro-Shirazi Youth League, the youth organisation of the Afro-Shirazi Party. The Youth League strived for a revolution in order to break the power of the Arabs. On Zanzibar, Okello was also a member of the Painters Union, being a house painter. In his free time he built up a small army of determined African nationalists. This army was required to hold themselves to the strict rules of Okello: sexual abstinence, no raw meat and no alcohol.
The highly religious Okello was convinced he had been given orders in his dreams by God to break the powerful position of the Arabs and to found the revolutionary state on Zanzibar and Pemba. On the night before the “revolution”, Okello gave his men the order to kill all Arabs between 18 and 25 years of age, to spare pregnant and elderly women, and not to rape virgins.

Uprising

On January 12, 1964, with popular support from the island's oppressed native African majority, Okello and his men fought their way to the capital of Zanzibar, Stone Town, where the sultan lived. Even though they were poorly armed, Okello and his men surprised the police force of Zanzibar and they took power.
During a speech on radio, Okello dubbed himself the "field marshal of Zanzibar and Pemba". He gave the sultan an order to kill his family and to kill himself afterwards; otherwise, Okello would do so himself. However, the sultan had already brought himself to safety later to be harboured in Britain. The prime minister and other ministers also managed to escape.
The coup led to the poorly-known massacre of between 5,000 and 20,000 Arabs, whose families had been living in Zanzibar for centuries, between January 18 and 20.[1]

Shoved to the side

Okello created a Revolutionary Council and named the leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party, Abeid Karume, as president and leader of the (Arabic) Umma-(Massa) Party, sheik Abdulrahman Muhammad Babu as prime minister (later: vice-president). Both Karume and Babu had not been informed of the coup. Both residing in Tanganyika, but returned to Zanzibar, where they were welcomed by Okello. However, neither Karume or Babu wanted anything to do with him. When Okello left for the African mainland they forbade him to return and he was deported both from Tanganyika and Kenya.

Speculations concerning his death

Okello then stayed in Kenya, in Congo-Kinshasa and in Uganda. He was incarcerated multiple times and was last seen with the Ugandan president Idi Amin in 1971 and vanished afterwards. In the book “Revolution on Zanzibar”, written by Don Petterson, it is more or less assumed that Idi Amin saw him as a threat (after Amin promoted himself Okello reportedly joked that "now Uganda has two field marshals"[citation needed]) and had arranged his assassination. This remains speculative, however.


What does it mean?
I actually do not understand the reason as to why only a little is told about Okello. To me Okello is a very important figure in the Zanzibari history. The concerned should write a more explicit history of this person so that the present generation and the future ones inherit a more correct history of their country, Zanzibar!

By Geza Ulole

so what akiwa Mwanapinduzi? haibadilishi kuondolewa kwa serikali haramu ya Kisultan hapo zanzibar kabla ya Mapinduzi! Mbona Wafaransa ndio walileta mapinduzi Marekani mwaka 1776?

Swala hapa ni viongozi wa SMZ kujipachika ujiko wa mapinduzi hasa kwa Karume na kufundisha Historia isiyo sahihi. Swala pia nikutumia mapinduzi kama dhana ya kukandamiza demokrasia visiwani. Soma Demoratic Process in Zbar A Retarded Transition? by Dr. Muhamed Bakari

Here is okello's story!! But why there is a little mention of a Man.


This man born in Uganda in 1937, orphaned at 11 years old and left to fend for his siblings at the age of 15. He moved across the border to Kenya where he worked for a couple years before relocating to Zanzibar in 1963. He worked as a manservant, gardener, bricklayer, painter (some say he even worked as a police officer in Pemba Island) and later became actively involved in Zanzibar politics. Noticeably, wherever he worked he instigated workers’ upheavals demanding for their rights. He was illiterate with only a modest understanding of English and Kiswahili; highly spiritual claiming that God had sent him to deliver the African man from oppression. It was speculated that Okello was trained as a communist in Cuba under Fidel Castro, a suspicion which he repeatedly denies in his book.

This was also the same period when various African countries had their own crosses to bear – the emancipation from the White man rule -Kenya with the Mau Mau Uprising and previously Uganda which had just secured independence around the same time.

Okello says that the then East African Presidents, Milton Obote of Uganda, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika (now known as Tanzania) locked him out of East Africa, he was arrested in Nairobi Kenya and was detained. He wrote his book from prison and believed to have died in his home country Uganda.

In Zanzibar, Okello landed himself of a job as a house painter, and became a member of the Painters Union. He had his devotees whom he met apparently met in secret; he stipulated austere rules: sexual abstinence, no raw meat and alcohol. He had several references from the bible, mostly alluding to the Old Testament.

He was later invited to join Afro-Shirazi Party which opposed minority Arab dominance in Zanzibar and Pemba islands. In early 1964, Okello ordered his men to kill all Arabs between 18 and 25 years of age, to spare pregnant and elderly women, and not to rape virgins. By this time Okello had gained a lot of popularity in both Pemba and Zanzibar Isalnds. With this support, Okello and his troop fought their way to the capital of Zanzibar, Stone Town, where the sultan lived intimidating even the police force. He took over the national radio, made a live speech demanding the Sultan, Jamshid bin Abdullah to kill his family, then kill himself afterwards;

“….I am thinking of going to Mtendeni (village) to destroy it if the people there do not obey orders. After 40 minutes I am coming to finish you off, especially the Comorians”. And “To all Arab youths living in Malindi; I will pass through Malindi armed with weapons of which I alone know. I want to see everyone stripped to his underpants and laying down. I want to hear them singing…father of Africans. God bless him in his task and that of the Field Marshall.”



The self –proclaimed Field Marshal, led a coup that saw about 20,000 Arabs killed, and whose families had resided in Zanzibar for centuries. However, the sultan, prime minister and other ministers had already managed to escape. During this time, Afro-Shirazi Party leader, Abeid Karume leader of the (Arabic) Umma-(Massa) Party, sheikh Abdulrahman Muhammad Babu as prime minister (later: vice-president) had not been informed of the coup.

In his book, Okello relents on how he was disowned by Karume and Babu. He alludes to his Ugandan descents, unpopular Christian ideologies, amidst an Islamic dominated culture; communist suspicions that led to the sideline and later his rejection.

I’m curious as to why there is little mention of a man who was a key player on Zanzibar’s revolution. No East African media has a mention of this man. A massacre that saw 20, 000 Arabs killed and others forced to flee Zanzibar with a poorly armed army led by ‘field marshal’, John Okello. A man behind a powerful insurrection story of Zanzibar, I want to know why this story didn’t have a chapter in my history book. I want to understand why his death is hardly thought of let alone mentioned. Or are we scared of scuffling dust that settled more than 45 years, scared of that which we do fail to identify with?

By Didia

Swala hapa ni viongozi wa SMZ kujipachika ujiko wa mapinduzi hasa kwa Karume na kufundisha Historia isiyo sahihi. Swala pia nikutumia mapinduzi kama dhana ya kukandamiza demokrasia visiwani. Soma Demoratic Process in Zbar A Retarded Transition? by Dr. Muhamed Bakari

acha utumwa wewe babu yako alikuwa anapandishwa minazi kutungua nazi za Muarabu hata leo hii huko Uarabuni Weusi wanatumikishwa kitumwa ukiacha mbali hapo Sudan kwa nusu Waarabu Weusi leo hii unadiriki kudai ati unakandamizwa

By geza ulole

so what akiwa mwanapinduzi? Haibadilishi kuondolewa kwa serikali haramu ya kisultan hapo zanzibar kabla ya mapinduzi! mbona wafaransa ndio walileta mapinduzi marekani mwaka 1776?

ndo tunachotaka hii nchi iweke hadharan mambo kama hayo-wamerekan wao hawajaficha wamesema ukweli,ila hapa mwanamapinduzi wanadai ni karume,walitakiwa bila woga waseme kuwa ni john okelo,na siku kama ya leo wamkumbe yeye

By Edward Teller

ndo tunachotaka hii nchi iweke hadharan mambo kama hayo-wamerekan wao hawajaficha wamesema ukweli,ila hapa mwanamapinduzi wanadai ni karume,walitakiwa bila woga waseme kuwa ni john okelo,na siku kama ya leo wamkumbe yeye

Kwa kuanzia tu kuna kitabu kipya juu ya mapinduzi umekisoma?

Tunavyotaka viongozi wetu wafanye ni vingi lakini hawatekelezi, ni wajibu wako kujitafutia ukweli mwenyewe

By Gaijin

Kwa kuanzia tu kuna kitabu kipya juu ya mapinduzi umekisoma?

Tunavyotaka viongozi wetu wafanye ni vingi lakini hawatekelezi, ni wajibu wako kujitafutia ukweli mwenyewe

naomba title yake mkuu-nikitafute

By Edward Teller

naomba title yake mkuu-nikitafute

Humu kishajadiliwa sana.

Kinaitwa 'kwaheri ukoloni kwaheri uhuru' kilichoandikwa na Dr. Harith Ghassany

Kinapatika free pia

By gaijin

humu kishajadiliwa sana.

Kinaitwa 'kwaheri ukoloni kwaheri uhuru' kilichoandikwa na dr. Harith ghassany

kinapatika free pia

nimekusoma mkuu

Interesting!..Food for thought! What are your references on this story if i may ask?

it is said that NYERERE was the main player in OKELLO being erased from the history of zanzibar,i wonder if this is true

Historia ya Zanzibar imepotoshwa sana. Aliyoeleza leo Mama Karume TBC1 ni tips of the iceberg. Ukweli ni ni kwamba Abeid Aman Karume hakufahamu mpango mzima wa mapinduzi ya ZNZ ndiyo maana siku ya mapinduzi yenyewe alikuwa kwake kitandani amelala.

Mapinduzi ya ZNZ yaliongozwa na field Marshal John Okello huyu ndiye aliyeratibu na kupanga mipango yote ya mapinduzi. Yeye ndiye aliyeongoza Wazanzibari wachache kuvamia ghala la silaha la polisi kwa kutumia mapanga na kufanikiwa kuliteka na kupata silaha ambazo baadaye walizitumia kumung'oa sultani mwarabu. Waliokuwepo enzi hizo wanakumbuka jinsi alivyokuwa akipita kila nyumba na sauti yake kali kuwasaka wakoloni waarabu.

Lakini kwakuwa kwanza alikuwa mganda na pili hakuwa mwislamu hila zikafanywa kwa kushirikiana na Nyerere akatimuliwa ZNZ na kupewa Urais Karume ambaye eti ndiye siku hizi anatukuzwa kwamba kiongozi wa mapinduzi.

Historia ya mapinduzi kwa kusahau kutaja jina la John Okello itaendelea kwatafuna Wazanzibari, huo ndiye aliyewakomboa kutoka mikononi mwa sultani lakini amesahauliwa kabisa.

Kama tunavyohubiriwa siku kwamba Marehemu Karume aliuwawa na wapinga mapinduzi huu nao ni uongo wa hali ya juu. Karume aliuwawa na a lone gun man alimua ili kulipiza kisasi cha Karume kumua baba yake baada ya mapinduzi. Wakati huo kijana alipokuwa kisoma uanajeshi Urusi na aliporudi alijiunga na jeshi na kupa kwamba lazima alipiza kisasi na kweli alifanya hivyo ingawa Karume aliambiwa mapema lakini akawa akipuuza na kumpandisha cheo huo kijana akifikiri kwamba angesahau. Lakini yakamkuta