Mzee Baruti
Member
- Nov 11, 2025
- 9
- 8
Enzi ya Nyerere, tulikuwa na jeshi imara, jeshi la kujivunia. Tulisaidia kuzikomboa nchi za kusini mwa bara letu zilizokuwa zinatawaliwa na wakoloni na wabaguzi wa rangi. Nchi hizo hazikuwa ni Mozambique, Zimbabwe Angola, na Namibia tu. Tulisaidia hata Afrika Kusini, the citadel of white supremacy on the continent.
Jeshi letu lilikuwa ni jeshi la ukombozi. Lilisaidia kuwakomboa Waafrika wenzetu, ukombozi ambao pia ulikuwa ni wa kupigania haki za binadamu katika nchi hizo kama tulivyopigania haki zetu hapa nchini enzi ya ukoloni.
Jeshi letu lilikuwa ni jeshi la ulinzi, jeshi la ukombozi, jeshi la wananchi, siyo la kulinda mipaka tu bali pia kuwalinda wananchi. Wananchi ndiyo wenye nchi. Nchi siyo mali binafsi ya viongozi au ya watu wachache. Bila wananchi, hakuna taifa. Na hakuna sababu ya kuwa na serikali ikiwa serikali hailindi usalama, maisha, na haki za wananchi wote kama Mwalimu Nyerere alivyo eleza Tanzania ilipoitambua Biafra April 1968:
“Unity can only be based on the general consent of the people involved. The people must feel that this state, or this nation, is theirs; and they must be willing to have their quarrels in that context. Once a large number of the people of any such political unit stop believing that the state is theirs, and that the government is their instrument, then the unit is no longer viable. It will not receive the loyalty of its citizens.
For the citizen’s duty to serve, and if necessary to die for, his country stems from the fact that it is his and that its government is the instrument of himself and his fellow citizens. The duty stems, in other words, from the common denominator of accepted statehood, and from the state government’s responsibility to protect all the citizens and serve them all. For states, and governments, exist for men and for the service of man. They exist for the citizens’ protection, their welfare, and the future well-being of their children. There is no other justification for states and governments except man.”–Julius Nyerere, "Why We Recognised Biafra," in The Observer, London, 28 April 1968, reprinted in Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Third Edition, 2010, p. 280. See also G. Mwakikagile, The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges, 2016).
Hata CIA walitambua uwezo wa jeshi letu miaka ile chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu Nyerere, according to Godfrey Mwakikagile in his book Relations Between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony:
“The Jamaican student whom I knew in Detroit eventually went to medical school in Scotland....He kept up with what was going on in Africa probably more than some African students did. I used to talk to him often about curren taffairs. He was very friendly.
I remember one subject we talked about in 1974 and 1975: Tensions between Tanzania and Uganda when Idi Amin was in power. I remember him saying he was worried Tanzania would be defeated and destroyed by Idi Amin if she were to go to war with Uganda because he had such a strong army. There had been border clashes and skirmishes between the two countries as far back as early 1972 when I was still in Tanzania. I left Tanzania for the United States in November the same year.
I simply told him he shouldn't underestimate Tanzania, based on what I knew about my country and its commitment to the liberation struggle in the countries of southern Africa which required military preparedness if the country were to be invaded especially by apartheid South Africa.
He had tremendous respect for President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and talked about how influential he was in Africa and in the world in general.
When the war between the two countries started in October 1978, there were all kinds ofspeculations on what would happen and what the outcome would be. That was during the time – well into the eighties under the leadership of President Nyerere – when the CIA in its secret intelligence assessments, later declassified, said Tanzania had the best militaryforce in black Africa, according to its November 1982 report,"Tanzania: Nyerere and Beyond":
"Tanzania in the past has provided military advisers, combat troops, or materiel to Zimbabwe, Uganda, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Comoros. African leaders have turned to Nyerere for military aid because his 45,000-man Army is widely viewed as the best military force in black Africa. Comprised largely of troops from northern tribal groups that are known for their military prowess, the Tanzanian military is tightly organized and well-trained by African standards." –(Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "Tanzania: Nyerere and Beyond: An Intelligence Assessment," November 1982, in Godfrey Mwakikagile, Relations Between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony, Second Edition, 2023, pp. 12, 61).
Ni miaka arobaini mwezi huu tangu Mwalimu aondoke madarakani. Kumekuwa na mabadiliko mengi nchini Tanzania tangu wakati ule. Kuna baadhi ya misingi ya umoja wetu kama taifa aliyotuachia ambayo imeanza kubomolewa.
Taifa litadumu kwa misingi ya haki kwa wananchi wote ikiwa wananchi wote ndiyo wenye nchi na ikiwa serikali yao inatimiza wajibu wake kwa wananchi na kwa taifa lote kama Mwalimu Nyerere alivyo eleza karibu miaka sitini iliyopita Tanzania ilipoitambua Biafra mwaka 1968 na pia miaka yote alipokuwa madarakani.
Nakumbuka Mwalimu Nyerere alipokuja shuleni, shule yetu ya sekondari, mwaka 1965 nilipokuwa Form I na umri wa miaka 15, baada ya kuhutubia mjini. Shule yetu ilikuwa maili tatu kutoka mjini. Alikuja ku "lecture" kwa muda mfupi. Alisisitiza sana kitu kimoja katika "lecture" yake kwa kutumia neno moja, "discipline," kama mara tatu au mara nne hivi. Alisema ni lazima tuwe na "discipline." Akamaliza kwakusema, and I quote, "You must have discipline. Without discipline," huwezi kufanikiwa au kutimiza chochote muhimu maishani. Alisema sentensi yote kwa Kiingereza lakini sikumbuki his exact words katika lugha hiyo alivyomalizia sentensi yake. Lakini nakumbuka maneno yake haya: "You must have discipline. Without discipline...."
Pia kama CIA walivyosema kuhusu jeshi letu chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu: "[It] is widely viewed as the best military force in black Africa... tightly organized and well-trained." Bila discipline, lisingekuwa hivyo.
Mwalimu aliunda jeshi imara, alijenga taifa lenye umoja katika nchi ambayo ina zaidi ya makabila 120 (tuna makabila 126), na alituachia misingi imara kuendelea kuishi kama ndugu bila kubaguana kikabila, na baada ya muungano bila kubaguana kati ya Wazanzibari na Watanzania bara ingawa kwa upande wetu bara kuna ndugu zetu wengi ambao wanasema "Sisi bado ni Watanganyika, nchi yetu in Tanganyika," na wanaimba wimbo wa Kitanganyika ambao wanaona ndiyo wimbo wa "nchi" yetu na wa "taifa" letu la Tanganyika wengine machozi yakiwadondoka wanapoimba, "Tanganyika, Tanganyika, nakupenda kwa moyo wote, nchi yangu Tanganiyka, jina lako ni tamu sana." Wanasisitiza wana haki kuwa na msimamo huo kwa sababu Wazanzibari nao ndiyo walivyo. Na wanaona ndiyo wao, Watanganyika, ambao wamemezwa katika muungano. Katika muungano, kuna Zanzibar na Wazanzibari lakini hakuna Tanganiyka wala Watanganyika. Kwa nini? Badala yake kuna Tanzania na Watanzania bara.
Mwalimu alijitahidi sana kudumisha umoja kati yetu, sisi Watanganyika, na ndugu zetu visiwani, Wazanzibari. Alifnikiwa kwa uwezo wake lakini bado kuna ambao hawautaki muungano.
Hakuna kiongozi yeyote katika bara letu aliyefanikiwa kujenga nchi, wananchi wake kuwa wamoja, kama alivyofinikiwa Mwalimu Nyerere. Lakini tumefika wakati ambao watu wengi hawana hakika muungano huu katika ya Tanganyika na Zanzibar utendelea kudumu. Malalalamiko yakiendelea kuongezeka kutoka sehemu zote mbili, inawezekana utakuwa ndiyo mwanzo wa mwisho wa muungano. Lakini siyo lazima iwe hivyo.
Sehemu yetu ya Afrika Mashariki, Mwalimu Nyerere remains an icon of Pan-African solidarity as the driving force behind the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, a union that is still fiercely opposed by many Zanzibaris. Former Vice President Aboud Jumbe expressed this collective sentiment when he crticized the structure of the union and even implied he did not support the merger of the two countries - it was all Nyerere's fault. As he stated on the 34th anniversary of the Zanzibar revolution at a press conferrence in Dar es Salaam in Januray 1998:
"I don't understand why the government should cling to this stand (of having only two governments instead of having three, one for the mainland as well), but I suspected it is for the same reasons that my book The partnership has been ignored since the era of the single party system....Ask Nyerere, because he is the one who went to Zanzibar. He is the one who wanted the union. He must have had goals. Has he achieved them? I cannot speak for mainlanders on the achievement of the union." - (Aboud Jumbe, "Retired Zanzibar President Criticises Tanzania Government on Zanzibar," Tanzania Newsonline, Edition No. 12, January 19, 1998).
Whatever its shortcomings, the union is an enduring symbol of African unity, unfortunately - or fortunately - the only union of independent countries ever formed on the continent.
There are those, even here in East Africa, who see it as a monumental failure; not just many Zanzibaris but many Tanganyikans as well. Yet, in spite of all that, there is no quetion that Nyerere was a relentless champion of African unity and achieved it on regional basis when he engineered the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Americans and the British didn't do that. Read Mwakilagile's book, The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges, published in 2016. It is well-documented. He even talked to the American consul general, the senior American diplomat, who was the only American official in Zanzibar during the revolution and who later became the American ambassador to Tanzania. The book is well-documented, showing how the union was formed and who the main player were. It was not the United States or Britain.
With all its shortcomings, the formation of Tanzania by Nyerere and his colleagues was a bold experiment in regional integration, an exercise in nation-building that can be looked at in the larger East African context. One of the best books on this subject of nation-building is by Professor Ali Mazrui, Cultural Engineering and Nation-Building in East Africa, published in 1972 by Northwestern University Press. I got the chance to read it in 1974 when I was a student in the United States.
Jeshi la Tanzania lilivyoundwa chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu Nyerere was an integral part of nation-building in the Tanzanian context, an institution that remained a pillar of strength for our country during his presidency. Whatever transformation took place after he stepped down, and what has happened through the years since then, is a subject that continues to generate interrest and stimulate debate among many people on both sides of the union.
The union will probably survive but only if it undergoes radical transformation in a number of areas of mutual interest and concern, giving meaningful concessions to both sides. Otherwise break it up. Zanzibar is a burden on Tanganyika. Mungu ibariki Tanganyika.
Jeshi letu lilikuwa ni jeshi la ukombozi. Lilisaidia kuwakomboa Waafrika wenzetu, ukombozi ambao pia ulikuwa ni wa kupigania haki za binadamu katika nchi hizo kama tulivyopigania haki zetu hapa nchini enzi ya ukoloni.
Jeshi letu lilikuwa ni jeshi la ulinzi, jeshi la ukombozi, jeshi la wananchi, siyo la kulinda mipaka tu bali pia kuwalinda wananchi. Wananchi ndiyo wenye nchi. Nchi siyo mali binafsi ya viongozi au ya watu wachache. Bila wananchi, hakuna taifa. Na hakuna sababu ya kuwa na serikali ikiwa serikali hailindi usalama, maisha, na haki za wananchi wote kama Mwalimu Nyerere alivyo eleza Tanzania ilipoitambua Biafra April 1968:
“Unity can only be based on the general consent of the people involved. The people must feel that this state, or this nation, is theirs; and they must be willing to have their quarrels in that context. Once a large number of the people of any such political unit stop believing that the state is theirs, and that the government is their instrument, then the unit is no longer viable. It will not receive the loyalty of its citizens.
For the citizen’s duty to serve, and if necessary to die for, his country stems from the fact that it is his and that its government is the instrument of himself and his fellow citizens. The duty stems, in other words, from the common denominator of accepted statehood, and from the state government’s responsibility to protect all the citizens and serve them all. For states, and governments, exist for men and for the service of man. They exist for the citizens’ protection, their welfare, and the future well-being of their children. There is no other justification for states and governments except man.”–Julius Nyerere, "Why We Recognised Biafra," in The Observer, London, 28 April 1968, reprinted in Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Third Edition, 2010, p. 280. See also G. Mwakikagile, The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges, 2016).
Hata CIA walitambua uwezo wa jeshi letu miaka ile chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu Nyerere, according to Godfrey Mwakikagile in his book Relations Between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony:
“The Jamaican student whom I knew in Detroit eventually went to medical school in Scotland....He kept up with what was going on in Africa probably more than some African students did. I used to talk to him often about curren taffairs. He was very friendly.
I remember one subject we talked about in 1974 and 1975: Tensions between Tanzania and Uganda when Idi Amin was in power. I remember him saying he was worried Tanzania would be defeated and destroyed by Idi Amin if she were to go to war with Uganda because he had such a strong army. There had been border clashes and skirmishes between the two countries as far back as early 1972 when I was still in Tanzania. I left Tanzania for the United States in November the same year.
I simply told him he shouldn't underestimate Tanzania, based on what I knew about my country and its commitment to the liberation struggle in the countries of southern Africa which required military preparedness if the country were to be invaded especially by apartheid South Africa.
He had tremendous respect for President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and talked about how influential he was in Africa and in the world in general.
When the war between the two countries started in October 1978, there were all kinds ofspeculations on what would happen and what the outcome would be. That was during the time – well into the eighties under the leadership of President Nyerere – when the CIA in its secret intelligence assessments, later declassified, said Tanzania had the best militaryforce in black Africa, according to its November 1982 report,"Tanzania: Nyerere and Beyond":
"Tanzania in the past has provided military advisers, combat troops, or materiel to Zimbabwe, Uganda, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Comoros. African leaders have turned to Nyerere for military aid because his 45,000-man Army is widely viewed as the best military force in black Africa. Comprised largely of troops from northern tribal groups that are known for their military prowess, the Tanzanian military is tightly organized and well-trained by African standards." –(Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "Tanzania: Nyerere and Beyond: An Intelligence Assessment," November 1982, in Godfrey Mwakikagile, Relations Between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony, Second Edition, 2023, pp. 12, 61).
Ni miaka arobaini mwezi huu tangu Mwalimu aondoke madarakani. Kumekuwa na mabadiliko mengi nchini Tanzania tangu wakati ule. Kuna baadhi ya misingi ya umoja wetu kama taifa aliyotuachia ambayo imeanza kubomolewa.
Taifa litadumu kwa misingi ya haki kwa wananchi wote ikiwa wananchi wote ndiyo wenye nchi na ikiwa serikali yao inatimiza wajibu wake kwa wananchi na kwa taifa lote kama Mwalimu Nyerere alivyo eleza karibu miaka sitini iliyopita Tanzania ilipoitambua Biafra mwaka 1968 na pia miaka yote alipokuwa madarakani.
Nakumbuka Mwalimu Nyerere alipokuja shuleni, shule yetu ya sekondari, mwaka 1965 nilipokuwa Form I na umri wa miaka 15, baada ya kuhutubia mjini. Shule yetu ilikuwa maili tatu kutoka mjini. Alikuja ku "lecture" kwa muda mfupi. Alisisitiza sana kitu kimoja katika "lecture" yake kwa kutumia neno moja, "discipline," kama mara tatu au mara nne hivi. Alisema ni lazima tuwe na "discipline." Akamaliza kwakusema, and I quote, "You must have discipline. Without discipline," huwezi kufanikiwa au kutimiza chochote muhimu maishani. Alisema sentensi yote kwa Kiingereza lakini sikumbuki his exact words katika lugha hiyo alivyomalizia sentensi yake. Lakini nakumbuka maneno yake haya: "You must have discipline. Without discipline...."
Pia kama CIA walivyosema kuhusu jeshi letu chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu: "[It] is widely viewed as the best military force in black Africa... tightly organized and well-trained." Bila discipline, lisingekuwa hivyo.
Mwalimu aliunda jeshi imara, alijenga taifa lenye umoja katika nchi ambayo ina zaidi ya makabila 120 (tuna makabila 126), na alituachia misingi imara kuendelea kuishi kama ndugu bila kubaguana kikabila, na baada ya muungano bila kubaguana kati ya Wazanzibari na Watanzania bara ingawa kwa upande wetu bara kuna ndugu zetu wengi ambao wanasema "Sisi bado ni Watanganyika, nchi yetu in Tanganyika," na wanaimba wimbo wa Kitanganyika ambao wanaona ndiyo wimbo wa "nchi" yetu na wa "taifa" letu la Tanganyika wengine machozi yakiwadondoka wanapoimba, "Tanganyika, Tanganyika, nakupenda kwa moyo wote, nchi yangu Tanganiyka, jina lako ni tamu sana." Wanasisitiza wana haki kuwa na msimamo huo kwa sababu Wazanzibari nao ndiyo walivyo. Na wanaona ndiyo wao, Watanganyika, ambao wamemezwa katika muungano. Katika muungano, kuna Zanzibar na Wazanzibari lakini hakuna Tanganiyka wala Watanganyika. Kwa nini? Badala yake kuna Tanzania na Watanzania bara.
Mwalimu alijitahidi sana kudumisha umoja kati yetu, sisi Watanganyika, na ndugu zetu visiwani, Wazanzibari. Alifnikiwa kwa uwezo wake lakini bado kuna ambao hawautaki muungano.
Hakuna kiongozi yeyote katika bara letu aliyefanikiwa kujenga nchi, wananchi wake kuwa wamoja, kama alivyofinikiwa Mwalimu Nyerere. Lakini tumefika wakati ambao watu wengi hawana hakika muungano huu katika ya Tanganyika na Zanzibar utendelea kudumu. Malalalamiko yakiendelea kuongezeka kutoka sehemu zote mbili, inawezekana utakuwa ndiyo mwanzo wa mwisho wa muungano. Lakini siyo lazima iwe hivyo.
Sehemu yetu ya Afrika Mashariki, Mwalimu Nyerere remains an icon of Pan-African solidarity as the driving force behind the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, a union that is still fiercely opposed by many Zanzibaris. Former Vice President Aboud Jumbe expressed this collective sentiment when he crticized the structure of the union and even implied he did not support the merger of the two countries - it was all Nyerere's fault. As he stated on the 34th anniversary of the Zanzibar revolution at a press conferrence in Dar es Salaam in Januray 1998:
"I don't understand why the government should cling to this stand (of having only two governments instead of having three, one for the mainland as well), but I suspected it is for the same reasons that my book The partnership has been ignored since the era of the single party system....Ask Nyerere, because he is the one who went to Zanzibar. He is the one who wanted the union. He must have had goals. Has he achieved them? I cannot speak for mainlanders on the achievement of the union." - (Aboud Jumbe, "Retired Zanzibar President Criticises Tanzania Government on Zanzibar," Tanzania Newsonline, Edition No. 12, January 19, 1998).
Whatever its shortcomings, the union is an enduring symbol of African unity, unfortunately - or fortunately - the only union of independent countries ever formed on the continent.
There are those, even here in East Africa, who see it as a monumental failure; not just many Zanzibaris but many Tanganyikans as well. Yet, in spite of all that, there is no quetion that Nyerere was a relentless champion of African unity and achieved it on regional basis when he engineered the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Americans and the British didn't do that. Read Mwakilagile's book, The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Formation of Tanzania and its Challenges, published in 2016. It is well-documented. He even talked to the American consul general, the senior American diplomat, who was the only American official in Zanzibar during the revolution and who later became the American ambassador to Tanzania. The book is well-documented, showing how the union was formed and who the main player were. It was not the United States or Britain.
With all its shortcomings, the formation of Tanzania by Nyerere and his colleagues was a bold experiment in regional integration, an exercise in nation-building that can be looked at in the larger East African context. One of the best books on this subject of nation-building is by Professor Ali Mazrui, Cultural Engineering and Nation-Building in East Africa, published in 1972 by Northwestern University Press. I got the chance to read it in 1974 when I was a student in the United States.
Jeshi la Tanzania lilivyoundwa chini ya uongozi wa Mwalimu Nyerere was an integral part of nation-building in the Tanzanian context, an institution that remained a pillar of strength for our country during his presidency. Whatever transformation took place after he stepped down, and what has happened through the years since then, is a subject that continues to generate interrest and stimulate debate among many people on both sides of the union.
The union will probably survive but only if it undergoes radical transformation in a number of areas of mutual interest and concern, giving meaningful concessions to both sides. Otherwise break it up. Zanzibar is a burden on Tanganyika. Mungu ibariki Tanganyika.
