An attempt at Evaluating past Phases of Governments

[sheikh shaaban]

1st Phase Government

Under Nyerere this phase was very well meaning and had made significant impact among the population. But it had a misdirected policy of Ujamaa, which essentially alienated the private sector. He nationalized even private grain mills in the villages. This ignorance of the workings of the private person in the villages was Nyerere’s failing. I am glad he finally realized his error, although really not fully as he never apologized.

But as that Colonel [rtd] stated Nyerere sent to school virtually the current elite class of Tanzania and myself as a son of a peasant I am extremely grateful. My late grandmother became literate during Elimu ya Ngumbaru era and that was great to see.

However, essentially under Nyerere we lost an opportunity to grow economically and this is where we got this legacy of lazy people expecting the Government to do everything for them. A very bad legacy that our neighbors in Kenya completely avoided. One old man from my village used to allege that Nyerere was guilty of pushing Tanzania into poverty and we should have taken him to Court for that. But that is his view.

He left this country on a sound footing, an excellent and most respected foreign policy as well as quite significant public investment in commerce and industry that the third phase government decimated.

 

[78Kuku]

Thanks for critical analysis.

 

[Sijali]

The sting is at the end of the tail: 'that the third phase gov decimated'. I remember vividly when Mkapa almost snubbed Nyerere for his seemingly interference in his governing. He once said: ' We were the ones responsible for destroying our economy, no one else. And when one tries to fix things up, somebody comes in between' which many thought was a dig at Nyerere.
Luckily, Nyerere died. I say with certainty, had Nyerere lived longer, the two would have clashed openly. Mkapa was a strong guy, unlike Mwinyi with whom Nyerere ran a roughshod, albeit somehow opinionated.
Do you remember when Mkapa had started decimating the parastatals, was Nyerere dead or still alive?