JF Search: Where is Godfrey Mwakikagile?

[Josh Michael]

Kati ya mambo ambayo Taifa la Tanzania ningejifunia nayo ni mwandishi wa vitabu katika anga ya Kimataifa ni Godfrey Mwakakigile. Huyu jamaa alikuwa ni moja kati ya mwandishi bora katika bara la Africa.

Katika Vyuo mbalimbali sana tuona maandishi yake katika America, Ulaya Asia kote alikuwa ni mtu hodari sana katika siasa za bara hili. Katika hali ya kustaajabisha sana hakuna watu hasa Vyuo vyetu katika Taifa letu la Tanzania ambao wanaenzi michango yake katika uandisha na kufanya kuwa hata Wanafunzi ambao wengi wao wanasoma katika vyuo vyetu Tanzania wawe makini katika uandishi wa Vitabu. Ameandika mengi sana kuhusu Tanzania post Colonial Era hivyo michango yake Katika Academia ya Tanzania hata Duniani ni kubwa sana. Tuomba vyuo makini watambue mchango yake. Naomba kama kuna mtu anajua kuwa alipo huyu jamaa aseme yupo wapi na anafanya nini huko? anajihusisha na nini huko??

 

[Kichuguu]

Mwaka 2006 nilimwalika chuoni kwetu aje kutoa mhadhara kuhusu Africa wakati wa International Week lakini hakunijubu hadi leo hii. Nadhani mwenyewe hataki publicity.

 

[Lwikunulo]

Mwaka 2006 nilimwalika chuoni kwetu aje kutoa mhadhara kuhusu Africa wakati wa International Week lakini hakunijubu hadi leo hii. Nadhani mwenyewe hataki publicity.

...Naomba kama kuna mtu anajua kuwa alipo huyu jamaa aseme yupo wapi na anafanya nini huko? anajihusisha na nini huko??

Mkuu, ungejibu swali hili kama lilivyoulizwa na Josh Michael halafu ndipo uongeze hayo maelezoo yako ingependeza zaidi....

 

[Shwari]

Kati ya mambo ambayo Taifa la Tanzania ningejifunia nayo ni mwandishi wa vitabu katika anga ya Kimataifa ni Godfrey Mwakakigile. Huyu jamaa alikuwa ni moja kati ya mwandishi bora katika bara la Africa.

Katika vyuo mbalimbali sana tuona maandishi yake katika America, Ulaya Asia kote alikuwa ni mtu hodari sana katika siasa za bara hili. Katika hali ya kustaajabisha sana hakuna watu hasa Vyuo vyetu katika Taifa letu la Tanzania ambao wanaenzi michango yake katika uandisha na kufanya kuwa hata Wanafunzi ambao wengi wao wanasoma katika vyuo vyetu Tanzania wawe makini katika uandishi wa Vitabu. Ameandika mengi sana kuhusu Tanzania post Colonial Era hivyo michango yake Katika Academia ya Tanzania hata Duniani ni kubwa sana. Tuomba vyuo makini watambue mchango yake. Naomba kama kuna mtu anajua kuwa alipo huyu jamaa aseme yupo wapi na anafanya nini huko? anajihusisha na nini huko??

Nitasaidia kidogo hapa kuhusu mwanafunzi mwenzangu huyu wa miaka mingi iliyopita.

Wiki chache, labda niseme wiki nyingi, zilizopita, nili post hapa profile ya Godfrey Mwakikagile kutoka online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. Inaeleza mengi kuhusu maandishi yake, na vitabu vyake, pamoja na public lectures zake ingawa sidhani anafanya hivyo mara nyingi. Kuna watu ninaowafahamu walio attend lectures hizo na ambao walisema Mwakikagile is on the lecture circuit. I don't know who manages that but I understand he has a literary agent in the US or in the UK.

Lakini nadhani anatumia muda mrefu zaidi kuandika vitabu kuliko kwenda ku lecture katika shule mbali mbali and other venues.

Nilikuwa pamoja na Godfrey Mwakikagile pale Tambaza High School (1969 - 1970) na tuliishi pamoja katika Aga Khan Hostel, Upanga.

Wiki iliyopita, nilikuwa nazungumza na classmate wetu mmoja kuhusu vitabu vingi ambavyo Mwakikagile ameandika. Nilim google tena, na nilishtuka nilipoona jina lake. Mwakikagile had more than 54,000 hits on Google, more than Professor Ali Mazru has!

I was really shocked kuona kwamba there are more web sites featuring Mwakikagile than Professor Mazrui who has been the most prominent African scholar worldwide for decades. Ali Mazrui has about 45,000 hits on Google compared with Mwakikagile's more than 54,000. And Mwakikagile is just new, or relatively new, contrasted with Mazrui who has been a professor for almost 50 years; while Mwakikagile has been on the public scene as a published author for only a few years. In fact, Mazrui is old enough to be his father although Mwakikagile himself is not young anymore but young enough to be Mazrui's son.

I did the same thing I did before. I googled only Mwakikagile's last name to focus on the search kwa sababu sidhani kuna Mwakikagile mwingine out there anayejulikana kama yeye. Lakini huwezi kufanya hivyo na jina la Mazrui ukitaka ku focus on Professor Ali Mazrui. Uki google jina la mwisho tu, la Mazrui, utawapata thousands of other Mazruis besides Ali. Kwahiyo search hiyo is not focused unless you google "Ali Mazrui."

And that's quite a coincidence kwa sababu nakumbuka tulipokuwa Tambaza High School, one of our schoolmates, Dodo Dafi who later ran for parliament from Dodoma in the 1970s after graduating from the University of Dar es Salaam, used to say Mwakikagile may in the future be one of the many Tanzanians who would be Tanzania's answer to Kenya's Ali Mazrui. Dodo Dafi and Mwakikagile read Mazrui's highly acclaimed book, "Towards A Pax Africana: A Study of Ideology and Ambition," and they used to discuss it quite often.

Nakumbuka sana Dodo Dafi used to say about himself that he would be THE "presidential adviser" to Nyerere after getting his degree in political science from the University of Dar es Salaam. And we used to laugh a lot about that. Mwakikagile, on the other hand, felt that Professor Mazrui was, quite a number of times, unfairly critical of Tanzania and deliberately distorted Nyerere's views and policies but still admired him as an intellectual. And he probably still does today.

Lakini hata mimi sijui kila kitu Godfrey Mwakikagile alichofanya, na anachofanya, but he must be doing something for him to have so many web sites, tens of thousands, focused on him.

His writings are obviously taken seriously by many people including professors at many universities worldwide. Ndiyo maana, kama ulivyosema, vitabu vyake vingi viko katika university libraries wordwide. Viko pia katika public libraries dunia nzima.

I think he has written more than 30 books. He has, on average, at least two or three books published every year. When you look at his first works, you will notice that all his first five books - all hardcover editions - were published within three years by Nova Science Publishers, a scholarly press in New York. The books were all library editions.

Kama wewe, hata mimi nimeviona vitabu vyake katika university libraries mbali mbali including:

Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of London, London School of Economics (LSE), University of Warwick, University College London (UCL), Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Yale University, University of Chicago, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Michigan, Stanford University.

Northwestern University, University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University, Universty of Cape Town, Fort Hare University, University of Botswana, University of Wisconsin, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and others in Australia and New Zealand; University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, University of Paris-The Sorbonne, McGill University, University of Toronto, University of Windsor, Carleton University in Ottawa, Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Canada.

Boston University, the University of the West Indies, State University of New York, Michigan State University, New York University, Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, University of Notre Dame, Brandeis University, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, Emory University, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, Seattle.

Ohio State University, Ohio University, University of Toledo, University of Colorado, Kent State University, University of Cincinnati, Indiana University, University of Texas, University of Southern California, University of Illinois, University of Florida, Rutgers University; Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College Library (Tri-College Library); University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, to name only a few.

Vyuo vingine Australia, apart from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales named above, ambavyo vina vitabu vyake include: the University of Western Sydney, Curtin University of Technology, La Trobe University, University of New England, Monash University, and others.

Those are just a few examples.

Public libraries which have his books include the British Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Australia, Library of Congress (USA), New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Toronto Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Detroit Public Library, Atlanta Public Library, District of Columbia Public Library (Washington, D.C.), San Diego Public Library,California; Auckland City Libraries and Wellington City Libraries in New Zealand; Singapore Public Library (National Library Board Singapore), and many others worldwide including those in China, Germany, France, and Scandinavian countries, to name only a few.

The Indian Parliament Library, New Delhi, also has his books.

And some African leaders have read his books, including the vice president of South Africa who quoted Mwakikagile in one of her speeches in 2006. See the article on Mwakikagile in Wikipedia.

And it's highly ironic that critical as he is of African leaders and governments, a member of Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabba's family contacted Mwakikagile to congratulate him for writing a book that was so critical of African leadership. Her name is Mona Kabba and she said she was going to work together with Mwakikagile on some kind of project about Africa. She said that in her review of Mwakikagile's book, "Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done," on amazon.com. It was an excellent review.

Ukitaka kujua zaidi, na labda kwa nini vitabu vyake vingi havitumiki katika vyuo vyetu nchini Tanzania, soma profile yake katika Wikipedia.

Mwakikagile is very critical of African leaders and governments kwa sababu mbali mbali - corruption, tribalism, tyranny, explotation of wananchi, and even outright incompetence of many leaders.

Nakumbuka kulikuwa na vitabu vyake, at least viwili, pale Mlimani (UDSM), about ten years ago lakini sijui kama bado vipo.

Nimesoma reviews za vitabu vyake in different countries and almost all of them take note of his harsh criticism of rotten African leadership in most cases. Na labda ndiyo maana viongozi mbali mbali katika bara letu hawataki vitabu vyake visomwe. And he is not alone. Kumbuka kwamba Professor Ali Mazrui was not even allowed to give lectures in his home country for decades until 2003 afer Mwai Kibaki, who taught with him at Makerere in the sixties, became president.

Sidhani Mwakikagile's writing have been banned in Tanzania. I have not heard that in Tanzania or from anybody else. And I know some people in Tanzania who have read his books. The late Professor Haroub Othman and Professor Issa Shivji read his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," and probably his other writings.

Pia Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim na Mzee Butiku have also read the same book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era." Andrew Nyerere alisema they told him to ask Mwakikagile to send them a copy of the manuscript and he did. Mwakikagile also mentions that in his book and emphasises that his work was not censored by anybody in Tanzania. He wrote what he wanted to write. But I believe there are those who may not like what he says. He's brutally frank in his writings.

Namkumbuka sana. He was the same way at Tambaza High School. He was highly critical of corruption, tribalism and dictatorship in African governments. He used to say most African leaders were tribalist, dictatorial and corrupt.

I'm sure rafiki zake kina Abdallah Yakuti, Hamisi Kasanga, Msafiri Abdallah na classmates wengine kama akina Boniface, Obeid Mwasha, Chande (Mohammed Chande Othman), Simon Shirima, wanamkumbuka alivyokuwa.

Nimewasiliana na rafiki yake mmoja, Emmanuel Sendezera, ambaye ni professor kule South Africa na ameniahidi kwamba he will contact him. Walikuwa shuleni pamoja USA and Sendezera obtained his PhD in physics from Wayne State University in the 1970s during the same period Mwakikagile was a student at the same school. Sendezera was once chairman of the physics department at the University of Malawi.

Mwingine ni Professor Raphael Munavu who became Vice-Chancellor of Moi University, Kenya, after teaching chemistry at the University of Nairobi. Nilifanya kazi naye Moi University na aliwahi kuwasiliana na Mwakikagile wakati ule. Tulizungumzia vitabu vyake, and Munavu also obtained his PhD in chemistry from Wayne State University in the 1970s when Mwakikagile was also a student there. Munavu's wife, Salome, also attended Wayne State University and graduated from the same school during the same period with a master's degree in library science. I'm still in touch with Munavu na nitamuuliza when was the last time he heard from Mwakikagile.

Na nime post hapa chini profile yake kutoka Wikipedia:

Godfrey Mwakikagile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article's tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 200

Godfrey Mwakikagile is a Tanzanian writer who was born in Kigoma in western Tanganyika on 4 October 1949.

Contents

* 1 Childhood
* 2 Early years
* 3 Writings
* 4 Newspaper background
* 5 Criticism of post-colonial Africa
* 6 Controversy
* 7 Academic reviews
* 8 Bibliography
* 9 References

Childhood

He was baptised Godfrey about two months later on Christmas day, 25 December 1949, in Kigoma as a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) among whose supporters was Scottish explorer and missionary-doctor, Dr. David Livingstone of the London Missionary Society. Dr. Livingstone campaigned against slavery and the slave trade but also helped pave the way for the colonisation of Africa.

As Godfrey Mwakikagile states in one of his books Africa and America in The Sixties which is partly autobiographical and - among other subjects - also covers members of the baby boomer generation including himself born after the end of World War II, he was, according to his birth certificate, baptised by Reverend Frank McGorlick (from Victoria, Australia), a Scottish minister of the CMS Church in Kigoma his parents belonged to. But he was brought up as a member of the Moravian Church in Rungwe District in what was then the Southern Highlands Province in colonial Tanganyika.

He moved to Rungwe District with his parents when he was 5 years old after living in different parts of Tanganyika where his father worked as a medical assistant for the British colonial government. Rungwe was his parents' home district. Both were born and brought up in Rungwe District and were members of a tribe indigenous to that part of Tanzania.

Rungwe District, ringed by misty blue mountains, is close to the border with Malawi and is located in the Great Rift Valley north of Lake Nyasa.

Godfrey Mwakikagile went to school in Tanzania and in the United States1.

Tanganyika united with Zanzibar in 1964 to form Tanzania.

Early years

He attended primary school (up to Standard 4) at Kyimbila near the town of Tukuyu and middle school (up to Standard at Mpuguso in Rungwe District in Mbeya Region in the Southern Highlands, secondary school (up to Standard 12 or Form IV) at Songea in Ruvuma Region, and high school (up to Standard 14 or Form VI) at Tambaza in Dar es Salaam.

He once worked as a news reporter at the Standard, which was later renamed Daily News, and as an information officer at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam before going to school in the United States in November 1972.

He first joined the editorial staff of the Standard as a junior reporter when he was still in high school, in Form V, in 1969.

Coincidentally, his editor at the Daily News, Benjamin Mkapa, who also helped him to go to school in the United States, years later became president of Tanzania (1995 - 2005).

The president of Tanzania during that period, Julius Nyerere who led the country from 1961 to 1985, was the editor-in-chief of the Daily News. But his role was only ceremonial rather than functional.

Godfrey Mwakikagile graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit in the state of Michigan, USA, in 1975.

He also went to Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1976. One of his professors of economics at Aquinas College was Kenneth Marin who once worked in Tanzania.

It was just a coincidence that he went to Aquinas College where he ended up being taught by someone who had worked in Tanzania years before. He did not know anything about Professor Marin before then and met him at that school for the first time.

Professor Marin once worked as an economist for the government of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam in the late sixties and early seventies. He went to Tanzania in 1968 and served as an adviser to the government on capital mobilisation and capitalisation. Before then, he worked as an economist for the United States federal government. He was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve on Wage and Price Control during the mid-sixties. President Johnson appointed Professor Kenneth Marin as a member of the White House Consumer Advisory Council.

In 1966, Professor Marin was a member of a U.S. State Department evaluation team that was assigned to review various performances in the economic and political arena in six South American countries.

Years later, one of his students, Godfrey Mwakikagile, also ended up writing about economics, among other subjects, mostly about Africa. And coincidentally, Mwakikagile's first book was also about economics.

Writings

Godfrey Mwakikagile came into prominence in Tanzania and elsewhere after he wrote a major book about Julius Nyerere not long after the former Tanzanian president died.

He is considered by many people, including those who have reviewed his books about President Nyerere in different newspapers, magazines and academic journals in a number of countries, to be an authority on Nyerere and one of his most prominent biographers.

One scholar who has cited Godfrey Mwakikagile as an authoritative source on President Nyerere is Professor David Simon who teaches development studies at the University of London and who is Director of the Centre for Development Areas Research at Royal Holloway College at the university. Professor Simon has published excerpts from Godfrey Mwakikagile's book on Nyerere in his compiled study, Fifty Key Thinkers on Development, published in 2005.

Professor David Simon is also editor of the scholarly Journal of Southern African Studies and is on the editorial staff of another academic publication, the Review of African Political Economy.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's works have been getting serious attention among many people including academics in many countries who have also reviewed some of his books in scholarly journals.

His first book, Economic Development in Africa, was published in 1999 and he has maintained a steady pace since then, writing books, as demonstrated by the number of titles he has on the market. He is one of Tanzania's most well-known authors and one of Africa's most prolific.

He has written more than 30 books (since 1999) mostly about Africa during the post-colonial period, and has been described as a political scientist although his works defy classification. He has written about history, politics, economics, as well as contemporary and international affairs from an African and Third World perspective and is known for such works as Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, and Africa and the West.

Both have been favourably reviewed in a number of publications including the highly influential West Africa magazine (founded in 1917 and based in London) which reviewed two of his books in the same year; a rare accomplishment in such a major publication.

The books were reviewed by West Africa magazine editor Kofi Akosah-Sarpong, a Ghanaian who also once was a visiting lecturer and scholar-in-residence at the University of Botswana. They were excellent reviews.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, his magnum opus and probably his most well-known title, was reviewed by West Africa magazine in 2002 three years after Nyerere died of leukemia in October 1999 at the age of 772.

It was also reviewed by the Daily News, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in October 2002 and is seen as a comprehensive work, in scope and depth, on Nyerere3.

Others who have reviewed the book include Professor A.B. Assensoh, a Ghanaian teaching at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. He reviewed the first edition of Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era in the African Studies Review, an academic journal of the African Studies Association, in 2003.

The same book was also reviewed by Professor Roger Southall of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), formerly of Rhodes University, South Africa, in the bi-annual interdisciplinary publication, the Journal of Contemporary African Studies (Taylor & Francis Group), 22, No. 3, in 2004. Professor Southall is also editor of the journal.

The first edition of Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era was published in November 2002, and the second, an expanded edition, in January 2005. The third edition, also an expanded version, was published in November 2006. And the fourth edition, also expanded, was published in December 2008.

The book has also been cited by a number of African leaders including South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in one of her speeches about African leadership and development in which she quotes the author4.

She was the main speaker at a conference of African leaders, diplomats and scholars at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa in September 2006 when she gave her speech.

Although his books have been able to get the attention of some African leaders, it is impossible to know if they have had any influence on any of them. But the mere fact that they are cited by them shows that he is taken seriously as an author, not only in Tanzania but also in other African countries and elsewhere.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's other book, Africa and the West, which is a sweeping survey of the continent before the advent of colonial rule and during the colonial era as well as after independence, was also reviewed by West Africa magazine in its edition of 21 - 27 January 2002.5.

The book, which was published in 2000, has been described as an appeal to Africans to respect their cultures, values and traditions and take a firm stand against alien ideas which pollute African minds and undermine Africa. It is also a philosophical text used in a number of colleges and universities in the study of African identity, philosophy and history. It is also a strong condemnation of the conquest of Africa by the imperial powers.

West Africa magazine, in its January 2002 edition, also described Godfrey Mwakikagile as an author who articulates the position of African Renaissance thinkers.

And one American journalist who interviewed him described him as an independent scholar who was also a widely read and highly regarded author.

Godfrey Mwakikagile responded by saying that he was just an ordinary African, like tens of millions of others, deeply concerned about the plight of his continent.

But there is no question that he is a serious writer whose writings are widely read even if he considers himself to be just an ordinary African like millions of his brethren across the continent and elsewhere.

He has also been invited to give lectures at different universities because of the books he has written. And his role as a public intellectual has been demonstrated in other ways. For example, he has been sought for interviews by BBC, PBS (America's public television network), and by Voice of America (VOA), among other media outlets. This is documented in the interview he had with the American journalist.

The interview, which focused on Julius Nyerere as a leader and on other subjects about Africa, is reprinted in its entirety in one of Godfrey Mwakikagile's books, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era.

Although he has been exposed to Western cultures, was educated in the Western intellectual tradition and even lived in the United States for many years, his perspectives and philosophical conceptions have undoubtedly been shaped by his African upbringing and are deeply rooted in African cultures and traditions. And he rejects the notion that Africa was a blank slate until Europeans came to write on it.

He passionately argues that the history written about Africa by Europeans when they first went to Africa and even during colonial rule as well as after independence is not African history but the history of Europeans in Africa and how they see Africa and Africans from their European perspective or perspectives.

He also contends that traditional Africa has produced philosophers and other original thinkers whose knowledge and ideas - including ideas at a high level of abstraction - can match and even surpass the best in the West and elsewhere in the world. He forcefully articulates that position in his book, Africa and The West6.

And although he sees Africa as an indivisible whole, he also argues that all nations, include those in Africa, have different national characters. He looks at the concept of national character in the African context in one of his books, Kenya: Identity of A Nation, and makes a compelling case for this idea which is sometimes highly controversial. The work is, among other subjects, a study of comparative analysis in which the author looks at the national characters of Kenya and Tanzania, thus demonstrating that nations do indeed have different national characters and have been that way throughout history.

He undoubtedly has strong convictions but does not neatly fit into any ideological category. He expresses strong Pan-Africanist views in his writings and sees Africa as a collective entity and one organic body and has strongly been influenced by staunch Pan-Africanist leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure and Patrice Lumumba whom he also strongly admires7.

He says Africa does not have those kind of leaders anymore.

He also strongly admires Thomas Sankara as a man of the people like Nyerere and contends that among the new breed of African leaders, Sankara - who has been described as the African Che Guevara - showed great promise but was eliminated by some of his so-called compatriots working for France and other Western powers before he could realise his full potential the same way Lumumba was, eliminated by the United States and Belgium. Godfrey Mwakikagile has written about Thomas Sankara in his book Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties and in African Countries among other works.

But some of his critics contend that he overlooks or glosses over the shortcomings of these leaders precisely because they are liberation icons and played a leading role in the struggle for independence and against white minority rule in Southern Africa8.

He also seems to be "trapped" in the past, in liberation days, especially in the seventies when the struggle against white minority rule was most intense. But that may be for understandable reasons9.

He was a part of that generation when the liberation struggle was going on and some of his views have unquestionably been shaped by what happened during those days as his admiration for Robert Mugabe, for example, as a liberation icon clearly shows; although he also admits in his book, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, that the land reform programme in Zimbabwe could have been implemented in an orderly fashion and in a peaceful way and without disrupting the economy.

But his admiration for Mugabe as a true African nationalist and Pan-Africanist remains intact; a position that does not sit well with some of his critics although he does not condone despotic rule as he clearly states in his writings.

He admires Mugabe mostly as a freedom fighter and liberation hero who freed his people from colonial rule and racial oppression and exploitation, and as a strong leader who has taken a firm and an uncompromising stand against Western domination of Africa.

And by remarkable contrast, his contempt for African leaders whom he sees as whites with a black skin also remains intact. He mentions Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda as a typical example of those leaders10.

He has written about Dr. Banda and other African leaders, among other subjects, in his book, Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood.

Godfrey Mwakikagile also contends that only a few African leaders - Nkrumah, Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Nasser, Ben Bella and Modibo Keita - strove to achieve genuine independence for their countries and for Africa as a whole and exercised a remarkable degree of independence in their dealings with world powers. And Mugabe is the only African leader today who fits this category, in spite of his shortcomings.

According to Ben Bella, the six leaders - Nkrumah, Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Nasser, Modibo Keita and Ben Bella himself - constituted what came to be known as "The Group of Six" within the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). In an interview in Switzerland in 1995 with Jorge G. Castañeda, the author of ''Companero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara'', Ben Bella said the six leaders worked together secretly within the OAU on a number of issues including the Congo and African liberation, excluding other African leaders. It is a subject Godfrey Mwakikagile has also addressed in his book ''Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era''.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's background as a Tanzanian has played a major role in his assessment of many African leaders because of the central role his country played in the liberation struggle in the countries of Southern Africa, and not just in South Africa - the bastion of white minority rule on the continent.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is one of the African leaders who have had strong ties to Tanzania, Godfrey Mwakikagile's home country, since liberation days. Others with strong ties to Tanzania include Thabo Mbeki, former president of South Africa; Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique; and Sam Nujoma, former president of Namibia.

Newspaper background

In those days, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was the headquarters of all the African liberation movements, under the leadership of President Julius Nyerere, and Godfrey Mwakikagile got the chance to know many of the freedom fighters who were based there when he worked as a young news reporter in the nation's capital.

They included Joaquim Chissano who was the head of the FRELIMO office in Dar es Salaam and who later became the minister of foreign affairs and then president of Mozambique when his country won independence after 500 years of Portuguese colonial rule.

Many other freedom fighters who were based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, also went on to become national leaders in their respective countries after the end of white minority rule in Southern Africa. And they all still have strong ties to Tanzania even today.

In his seminal work, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Godfrey Mwakikagile has written extensively about the liberation struggle, and the liberation movements, in Southern Africa in what is probably one of the best accounts of that critical phase in the history of Africa. He has also, in the same book, written an excellent analysis of the Congo Crisis during the turbulent sixties.

Godfrey Mwakikagile has also written a book about the struggle against apartheid and the end of white minority rule in South Africa and on the prospects and challenges the country faces in the post-apartheid era. The work is entitled, South Africa in Contemporary Times.

The years he spent on the editorial staff at the Standard and the Daily News were critical to his future career as a writer. Those were his formative years, and had he not become a news reporter, his life, and his career as an author, might have taken a different turn.

As he states in Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, he was first hired by renowned British journalist David Martin who was the deputy managing and news editor of the Tanganyika Standard. The managing editor was Brendon Grimshaw also British who, in the seventies, bought Moyenne Island in the Seychelles and became its only permanent inhabitant. Brendon Grimshaw also played a major role in recruiting Godfrey Mwakikagile as a member of the editorial staff at the Standard.

It was a turning point in Godfrey Mwakikagile's life.

That was in June 1969 when he was a student at Tambaza High School in Dar es Salaam. He was 19 years old and probably the youngest reporter on the editorial staff at the Standard during that time.

The Standard which was renamed Daily News in 1970 was the largest English newspaper in Tanzania and one of the largest and most influential in East Africa. And it served Godfrey Mwakikagile well, not only in terms of providing him with an opportunity to sharpen his writing skills but also - after it became the Daily News - in helping him to go to school in the United States where he became an author many years after he graduated from college.

David Martin, when he worked at the Tanganyika Standard and at the Daily News, and thereafter, was the most prominent foreign journalist in Eastern and Southern Africa in the sixties and seventies. And he wrote extensively about the liberation struggle in the region for the London Observer and for BBC.

He went to the combat zone with FRELIMO guerrilla fighters in Mozambique many times and also covered the Angolan civil war for BBC and for CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

He knew and worked closely with all the leaders of the liberation movements including Robert Mugabe, Dr. Eduardo Mondlane, president of FRELIMO, who was assassinated in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in February 1969; and Mondlane's successor Samora Machel who died in a mysterious plane crash in 1986 when he was president of Mozambique.

The plane crashed on the South African side of the border with Mozambique and the apartheid regime was suspected of having caused the "accident." He was succeeded by Mozambique's foreign affairs minister, Joaquim Chissano, as president.

David Martin was also very close to many Tanzanian leaders including President Julius Nyerere, and President Benjamin Mkapa who was also his close friend for many years since the sixties when they worked together in the media.

He also interviewed President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia many times during the liberation struggle when many freedom fighters were based in that country and used it as an operational base as they did Tanzania.

He wrote more than 20 books. He died at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe, in August 2007, where he went to live after Zimbabwe won independence in April 1980.

President Mugabe delivered an official condolence message and David Martin was accorded a state-assisted funeral in recognition of his works exposing apartheid South Africa's destabalisation campaign in neighbouring countries, racial brutalities and injustices under white minority regimes throughout Southern Africa and for his outstanding role as a champion of racial equality.

The report of his death which included President Robert Mugabe's long message of condolence on behalf of the government and the ruling party ZANU-PF was published in the Zimbabwean government-owned newspaper, The Herald, 22 August 2007, and was headlined, "President Mourns David Martin."

Another report on David Martin's contributions as a journalist when he reported extensively on the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, and on his support for regional integration of the countries in that part of the continent after the end of white minority rule, was published in the same paper on August 24 and headlined, "Martin - Man of Many Talents."

He was buried in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa were some of the African leaders who sent condolence messages.

Zimbabwean government leaders including cabinet members, Tanzanian officials, war veterans who fought for Zimbabwe's independence during the liberation struggle in the sixties and seventies, and diplomats, attended the funeral, according to The Herald, Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 August 2007, in a report headlined, "Martin Laid to Rest."

David Martin often said he credited his education to the 10 years he spent working as a journalist in Tanzania and was inspired by President Nyerere and by the liberation leaders and movements based there. He interviewed many of those leaders many times during the liberation struggle and thereafter.

In his book Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Godfrey Mwakikagile has written about David Martin and the role he played as a journalist during the liberation struggle in Southern Africa. But David Martin was also instrumental in opening the door for Godfrey Mwakikagile into the world of journalism, writing everyday, after which both became successful writers.

As Godfrey Mwakikagile himself has stated in his books including Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Africa after Independence: Realities of Nationhood, The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties and in Africa is in A Mess and others, his background as a news reporter which included meeting deadlines when writing news articles prepared him for the rigorous task of writing books.

Criticism of post-colonial Africa

Godfrey Mwakikagile lived and grew up under the leadership of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, a legendary figure, liberation icon and staunch Pan-Africanist and one of the most influential and most respected leaders Africa has ever produced, whose socialist policies he has also defended in his writings because of the egalitarian ideals they instilled in the people of Tanzania enabling them to form a peaceful, cohesive nation in which they saw themselves as one people and equal in terms of rights and dignity as fellow human beings in spite of the poverty they endured under ujamaa, Nyerere's African version of socialism.

Yet, in spite of his admiration for liberation icons, he also is highly critical of African leaders from the same generation who led their countries to independence, contending that most of them did not care about the well-being of their people; a position he forcefully articulates in his writings11.

He sometimes seems to be a contradictory character, or simply difficult to understand, but he is actually torn between two worlds because of the generation to which he belongs, having been born before independence and partly brought up under colonial rule. He even wrote a book, Life in Tanganyika in The Fifties, about those years.

One of his critics has described him as a shrewd intellectual in defence of liberation icons and accuses him of not being intellectually honest about leaders such as Nyerere and Nkrumah for not criticising them harshly for their failures12.

In a way, some people may see him as a complex character not always easy to understand, although he articulates his position clearly and forcefully.

Some of the confusion among his readers about his position on African leaders of the independence generation has to do with his own background since he was an integral part of that generation in the sense that he witnessed the end of colonial rule and the emergence of the newly independent African states although he was not old enough to have participated in the independence struggle himself13.

He admires the leaders who led their countries to independence, yet he is highly critical of them in most cases for their failures during the post-colonial period. He admires many aspects of Nyerere's socialist policies in Tanzania, yet concedes the policies were also a failure in many cases. And he strongly favours fundamental change in African countries, yet he is nostalgic about the past14.

His advocacy for fundamental change is articulated in many of his writings including The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, which was published in 2001 and which is also one of his most well-known books.

In his review of the book, Ronald Taylor-Lewis, a Sierra Leonean and editor of Mano Vision magazine, London, described it as a masterpiece of fact and analysis15.

The book has also been reviewed in other publications. Tana Worku Anglana reviewed Godfrey Mwakikagile's Modern African State: Quest for Transformation in Articolo and described it as unbiased literature16.

Other people have also cited the book in their different analyses of the African condition. They include Dr. Elavie Ndura, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, USA, who used Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, among other works, in supporting her central thesis in her study, "Transcending The Majority Rights and Minority Protection Dichotomy Through Multicultural Reflective Citizenship in The African Great Lakes Region," in Intercultural Education, Vol. 17, No. 2, published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, in May 2006.

Professor Elavie Ndura, a Hutu from Burundi where her family experienced genocide, has taught for many years at a number of schools in the United States, including the University of Nevada-Reno and George Mason University. Ethnic conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi between the Hutu and the Tutsi is one of the subjects Godfrey Mwakikagile has addressed extensively in his book, The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation.

In many of his writings, Godfrey Mwakikagile focuses on internal factors - including corruption, tribalism and tyranny by African leaders - as the main cause of Africa's predicament, but not to the total exclusion of external forces.

And the position he articulates in his writings on many issues is cited by other people to support their arguments in their works. One of the works in which Godfrey Mwakikagile is cited and quoted is a compiled study by Professor Robert H. Bates, When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa: Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics, published by Cambridge University Press in February 2008.

Godfrey Mwakikagile is also quoted by Professors Robert Elgie and Sophie Moestrup in their book, Semi-Presidentialism Outside Europe: A Comparative Study - Routledge Research in Comparative Politics, Routledge, 2007; Mueni wa Muiu and Guy Martin in A New Paradigm of the African State: Fundi wa Afrika, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009; Minabere Ibelema, The African Press, Civic Cynicism, and Democracy - The PalgraveMacmillan Series in International Political Communication, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007; James Crawford and Vaughan Lowe in British Yearbook of International Law 2005: Volume 76, Oxford University Press, 2007, and in other works.

Others who have cited Godfrey Mwakikagile and his works include Professor Robert I. Rotberg of Harvard University who once taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He used Godfrey Mwakikagle's book Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, among other works, to document his study, Crafting The New Nigeria: Confronting The Challenges, a book that was published in 2004.

Other researchers and scholars who have cited and quoted Godfrey Mwakikagile in their works include Gabi Hesselbein, Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, and James Putzel, in their study, "Economic and Political Foundations of State-making in Africa: Understanding State Reconstruction", Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, 2006; E.M. Poff, "Liberal Democracy and Multiethnic States: A Case Study of Ethnic Politics in Kenya," Ohio University, 2008; PJ McGowan, "Coups and Conflict in West Africa, 1955 - 2004: Part II, Empirical Findings," Armed Forces and Society, Sage Publications, 2006; Christopher Richard Kilford, in his doctoral dissertation, "The Other Cold War," Queens University, Canada, 2009; Martin P. Mathews, in his book, Nigeria: Current Issues and Historical Background, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2002; Michael Kweku Addison, "Preventing Military Intervention in West Africa: A Case Study of Ghana," Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA, 2002; Isidore Okpewho and N Nzegwu, in their book, The New African Diaspora, Indiana University Press, 2009; C.M. Brown, S. Reader and G. Lober, "US National Security Interests in Africa and The Future Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)," Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA, 2005.

Others who also have cited Godfrey Mwakikagile in their studies in different analytical contexts include Rajend Methrie, "South Africa: The Rocky Road to National Building," in a book, Andrew Simpson, Language and National Identity in Africa, Oxford University Press, 2008; Valéria Cristina Salles, "Social Representations Informing Discourse of Young Leaders: A Case Study of Tanzania," University of Cape Town, 2005; L.B. Inniss, "A Domestic Right of Return? Race, Rights, and Residency in New Orleans in the Aftermath of Katrina," in the Boston College Third World Law Journal, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2007; Eric M. Edi, in his book, Globalization and Politics in the Economic Community of West African States (Carolina Academic Press Studies on Globalization and Society), Carolina Academic Press, 2007; James John Chikago, in his book, Crossing Cultural Frontiers: Analysis and Solutions to Poverty Reduction, 2003; James Kwesi Anquandah, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and Michel R. Doortmont, in their book, The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Landmarks, Legacies, Expectations, Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra, Ghana, 2007; Luciana Ricciutelli, Angela Rose Miles, Margaret McFadden in their book, Feminist Politics, Activism and Vision: Local and Global Challenges, Zed Books, London, 2005; Emmanuel Ike Udogu, in his book, African Renaissance in the Millennium: The Political, Social, and Economic Discourses on the Way Forward, Lexington Books, New York, 2007; and others.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's books have been used by many other scholars in different analytical contexts in a number of countries in the Third World and in industrialised nations.

And his diagnosis of - and prescription for - Africa's ailments has also been cited by scholars and other people for its relevance in other parts of the Third World. As Dr. Hengene Payani, a political scientist at the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, stated in his review of Godfrey Mwakikagile's book Africa is in A Mess on amazon.com, the book is excellent, honest and thought-provoking and is relevant even in the context of Papua New Guinea, a country which has been ruined by greedy politicians. He also contacted Godfrey Mwakikagile to congratulate him for his work.

Although he has written mostly about Africa, and as a political scientist or as a political analyst, his works cover a wide range of scholarship including American studies.

One of Godfrey Mwakikagile's books, Black Conservatives in The United States, has been cited by Christopher Alan Bracey, a professor of law and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in support of his research when he also wrote a book about black conservatives entitled Saviors or Sellouts: The Promise and Peril of Black Conservatism, from Booker T. Washington to Condoleezza Rice, published in February 2008.

But there are limitations to the role played by people like Godfrey Mwakikagile in their quest for fundamental change in African countries. Their contribution is limited in one fundamental respect: They are not actively involved with the masses at the grassroots level precisely because of what they are. They belong to an elite class, and the concepts they expound as well as the solutions they propose are discussed mainly by fellow elites but rarely implemented.

This should not be misconstrued as unwarranted criticism of Godfrey Mwakikagile's writings or the role he plays in the quest for fundamental change in Africa. It is mere acknowledgement of the limitations he faces in his attempt to accomplish this task in conjunction with his brethren across the continent.

Still, there is no question that in many cases, only a few members of the African elite have played and continue to play the role of intellectual activists like Dr. Walter Rodney who wrote his best-selling book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in the early 1970s when he was teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; coincidentally during the same period when Godfrey Mwakikagile was a member of the editorial staff at the Daily News in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam.

Before he went to Tanzania, Dr. Walter Rodney was actively involved with the masses when he taught at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, in Jamaica in the late sixties. He was also expelled from Jamaica by the government because of his political and intellectual activism and went to Tanzania in 1968 to teach at the University of Dar es Salaam in a country where his views and his role as an activist intellectual found acceptance under the leadership of President Julius Nyerere who was a superb intellectual himself and who was acknowledged as one even by some of his critics such as Kenyan Professor Ali Mazrui.

In his book On Heroes and Uhuru-Worship: Essays on Independent Africa and in his other writings, Professor Mazrui has described Nyerere as the most original thinker among all the leaders in Anglophone Africa, and Senegalese President Leopold Sedar Senghor in Francophone Africa. Mazrui has also described Nyerere as the most intellectual of the East African presidents, an attribute which enabled Walter Rodney to thrive in Tanzania as an intellectual activist.

And in an interview with "The Gambia Echo" in February 2008, Professor Mazrui said:

"Intellectually, I admired Julius K. Nyerere of Tanzania higher than most politicians anywhere in the world. Nyerere and I also met more often over the years from 1967 to 1997 approximately. I am also a great fan of Nelson Mandela. By ethical standards Mandela is greater than Nyerere; but by intellectual standards Nyerere is greater than Mandela."

Professor Ali Mazrui also paid glowing tribute to Nyerere when Nyerere died in October 1999. In his article "Nyerere and I," Ali Mazrui had this to say about Nyerere: "He was one of the giants of the 20th century....He did bestride this narrow world like an African colossus."

Professor Walter Rodney himself was a great admirer of Nyerere as a leader and as an intellectual even before he went to Tanzania to teach at the University of Dar es Salaam.

After Rodney left Tanzania in 1974 and returned to Guyana, he continued to be actively involved with the workers at the grassroots level until he was assassinated in June 1980 by a government agent when Guyana was under the leadership of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.

Most African intellectuals don't do that. They don't work with the masses at the grassroots level. And that severely limits their role as agents of dynamic and fundamental change in Africa.

African writers like Godfrey Mwakikagile and other intellectuals are also severely compromised in their mission because most African leaders don't want to change. Therefore they don't listen to them—in many cases the entire state apparatus needs to be dismantled to bring about meaningful change.

But, in spite of their limitations and the obstacles they face, many African writers and other intellectuals still play a very important role in articulating a clear vision for the future of Africa. And Godfrey Mwakikagile's writings definitely fit this category because of his analysis of the African condition and the solutions he proposes, although he is not a political activist like other African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o in neighbouring Kenya or Wole Soyinka in Nigeria.

But even they - had to flee their homelands, at different times, for their own safety, in spite of the courage they had to contend with the political establishment in their home countries, and sought sanctuary overseas although that has not been the case with Godfrey Mwakikagile and many other Africans who once lived, have lived or continue to live in other countries or outside Africa for different reasons.

Writers like Godfrey Mwakikagile and other members of the African elite have a major role to play in the development of Africa.[citation needed] They do have an impact on constructive dialogue involving national issues. But it is not the kind of impact that reverberates across the spectrum all the way down to the grassroots level precisely because they are not an integral part of the masses, and also because they are not actively involved with the masses to transform society.

So, while they generate ideas, they have not been able to effectively transmit those ideas to the masses without whose involvement fundamental change in Africa is impossible, except at the top, recycling the elite. And while they identify with the masses in terms of suffering and as fellow Africans, many of them - not all but many of them - have not and still don't make enough sacrifices in their quest for social and political transformation of African countries. And Godfrey Mwakikagile is fully aware of these shortcomings, and apparent contradictions, in the role played by the African elite. He's one himself.

Yet, he has not explicitly stated so in his writings concerning this problem of African intellectuals; a dilemma similar to the one faced by the black intelligentsia in the United States and which was addressed by Harold Cruse, an internationally renowned black American professor who taught at the University of Michigan for many years, in his monumental study, The Crisis of The Negro Intellectual. The book was first published in 1967 at the peak of the civil rights movement, five years before Godfrey Mwakikagile went to the United States for the first time as a student.

But that does not really explain why Godfrey Mwakikagile has not fully addressed the subject, the dilemma African intellectuals face in their quest for fundamental change, especially in his books - The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Done, and Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood - which are almost exclusively devoted to such transformation in Africa in the post-colonial era.

African leaders have failed Africa. But African intellectuals themselves have not done enough to help transform Africa into a better society.

Still, Godfrey Mwakikagile belongs to a group of African writers and the African elite who believe that the primary responsibility of transforming Africa lies in the hands of the Africans themselves, and not foreigners, and that acknowledgement of mistakes by African leaders is one of the first steps towards bringing about much-needed change in African countries; a position he forcefully articulates in his writings. For example, Political Science Professor Claude E. Welch at the State University of New York-Buffalo, in his review of one of Godfrey Mwakikagile's books - Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties - published in the African Studies Review (Vol. 45, No. 3, December 2002) described the author as being merciless in his condemnation of African tyrants.

The same book was also cited by James C. Owens of the University of Virginia in his article, "Government failure in Sub-Saharan Africa: The International Community's Response," in the Virginia Journal of International Law, 2002. He used Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties, among other works, to document the failure of leadership in many African countries in the post-colonial era.

And that is valid criticism of African leadership in post-colonial Africa by Godfrey Mwakikagile. Corrupt and despotic rulers don't deserve mercy. They don't deserve sympathy. They are not entitled to it. They have destroyed Africa.

Controversy

In what is probably his most controversial book, Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done, he strongly criticises most of the leaders of post-colonial Africa for tyranny and corruption, and for practising tribalism, a common theme in the works of many African writers and other people including well-known ones and many African scholars in and outside Africa. But Godfrey Mwakikagile's book stands out as one of the most blunt ever written about Africa's rotten leadership.

Unfortunately, because of its vitriolic condemnation of most African leaders during the post-colonial era, the book has been cited by some people, who obviously have not read it well if at all, as a clarion call for the re-colonisation of Africa (because things are so bad, colonial rule was better) although the author says exactly the opposite in his work17.

One of the people he has quoted in his book articulating a similar position is Moeletsi Mbeki, the younger brother of former South African President Thabo Mbeki and head of the South African Institute of International Affairs, who said in September 2004 that Africans were better off under colonial rule than they are today under African leadership in the post-colonial period.

Mbeki also said African leaders and bureaucrats are busy stealing money and keeping it in foreign countries while colonial rulers built and maintained the infrastructure and ran their African colonies efficiently. He was quoted by BBC Africa in a report, on what he said, entitled "Better Colonial Times" published on 22 September 2004.

Yet in spite of all that, Godfrey Mwakikagile unequivocally states in his book, Africa is in A Mess, that he does not support any attempt or scheme, by anybody, to recolonise Africa, but also bluntly states that African countries have lost their sovereignty to donor nations and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dominated by Western powers including those who once colonised Africa and are therefore virtual colonies already.

He also contends that African countries have really never been free in spite of the instruments of sovereignty they are supposed to have. And in one of his books, Investment Opportunities and Private Sector Growth in Africa, he warns about the dangers of the Second Scramble for Africa by the industrialised nations which are busy exploiting Africa's resources for their own benefit and contends that globalisation is in many ways a new form of imperialism.

Yet he has wrongly been portrayed, along with some prominent African and European scholars including Professor Ali Mazrui, Christoph Blocher, Mahmood Mamdani, Peter Niggli, and R. W. Johnson as someone who advocates the recolonisation of Africa18.

Godfrey Mwakikagile says exactly the opposite in his book Africa is in A Mess.

In fact, the title, although not the sub-title, comes from President Julius Nyerere who said exactly the same words back in 1985: "Africa is in a mess."

Godfrey Mwakikagile explicitly states that in his book, saying he got the title from Nyerere's statement and felt it was appropriate for his work, although the tone and content might be disturbing to some people. He is brutally frank about the continent's deplorable condition.

But the book echoes the sentiments of tens of millions of Africans across the continent who live in misery and those who are frustrated by lack of fundamental change in African leadership notorious for corruption and other vices including tribalism and tyranny as Godfrey Mwakikagile bluntly states in his work.

His fellow Africans who have reviewed the book on amazon.com and elsewhere in different publications and on the Internet strongly support the author and share his concerns about Africa's plight and the misguided leadership the continent has had to endure for decades since independence19.

One African reviewer, Mona Kabba, a member of Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabba's family, also contacted the author to congratulate him for writing such an honest book, as she stated in her review of the book on amazon.com. And she provided an additional perspective, as an insider, that shed more light on Africa's predicament in her review of Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, Africa is in A Mess, and said she was going to work with him on a joint project about Africa.

And in the same book, Africa is in A Mess, Godfrey Mwakikagile is also highly critical of Western powers for ruthlessly exploiting Africa even today in collusion with many African leaders.

Academic reviews

Godfrey Mwakikagile's books have also been reviewed in a number of academic publications, including the highly prestigious academic journal, African Studies Review, by leading scholars in their fields. They include Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties which was reviewed in that journal by Professor Claude E. Welch of the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York, Buffalo; and Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria reviewed by Nigerian Professor Khadijat K. Rashid of Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.20.

His other books have also been reviewed in the African Studies Review and in the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. They include Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era and The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation which were reviewed in the African Studies Review; and Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era which was also reviewed in the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.

See also an analysis of Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, in A. Simpson and B. Akintunde Oyetade, "Nigeria: Ethno-linguistic Competition in the Giant of Africa," published in Language and National Identity in Africa, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 172 - 198; and Godfrey Mwakikagile's Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties in P.J. McGowan, "Coups and Conflict in West Africa, 1955 - 2004: Part II, Empirical Findings," in Armed Forces & Society, Sage Publications, in 2006.

For more reviews of his books, see also Expo Times, Sierra Leone; The Mirror, Zimbabwe, and other publications including those featured on the Internet21.

He has also written about race relations in the United States and relations between continental Africans and people of African descent in the diaspora. His titles in these areas include Black Conservatives in The United States; Relations Between Africans and African Americans; and Relations Between Africans, African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's books are found in public and university libraries around the world and have been adopted for class use at many colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. Most college and university libraries in the United States have his books.

Bibliography

Titles by Godfrey Mwakikagile:

* Economic Development in Africa, 1999
* Africa and The West, 2000
* The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, 2001
* Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties, 2001
* Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, 2001
* Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, 2002
* Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done, 2004
* Tanzania under Mwalimu Nyerere: Reflections on an African Statesman, 2004
* Black Conservatives: Are They Right or Wrong?, 2004
* Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era: Expanded Edition with Photos, 2005
* Relations Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths and Realities, 2005
* Life in Tanganyika in The Fifties: My Reflections and Narratives from The White Settler Community and Others, 2006
* African Countries: An Introduction, 2006
* Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood, 2006
* Life under Nyerere, 2006
* Black Conservatives in The United States, 2006
* Africa and America in The Sixties: A Decade That Changed The Nation and The Destiny of A Continent, 2006
* Relations Between Africans, American Americans and Afro-Caribbeans: Tensions, Indifference and Harmony, 2007
* Investment Opportunities and Private Sector Growth in Africa, 2007
* Kenya: Identity of A Nation, 2007
* South Africa in Contemporary Times, 2008
* South Africa and Its People,2008
* African Immigrants in South Africa, 2008
* The Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar: Product of The Cold War?, 2008
* Ethnicity and National Identity in Uganda: The Land and Its People, 2009
* My Life as an African: Autobiographical Writings, 2009
* Uganda: The Land and Its People, 2009
* Botswana Since Independence, 2009
* Congo in The Sixties, 2009
* Africans and African Americans: Complex Relations - Prospects and Challenges, 2009
* Africa 1960 - 1970: Chronicle and Analysis, 2009

References

1. "Tanzanian writer: Godfrey Mwakikagile" web site.

2. Kofi Akosah-Sarpong, "Nyerere's Vision," in West Africa, 25 November - 1 December 2002, p. 41.

3. Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala, "Nyerere: True pan-Africanist, advocate of unity," in "Three Years After Mwalimu Nyerere, " in the Daily News, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Monday, October 14, 2002, p. 19.

4. Godfrey Mwakikagile quoted by South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in "Address Delivered by the Deputy President, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Third Annual Julius Nyerere Memorial Lecture at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa." Issued by the Presidency through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pretoria, South Africa, 6 September 2006.

5. Kofi Akosah-Sarpong, "Back to The Roots," in West Africa, 21 - 27 January 2002, p. 43 .

6. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa and The West, pp. 23 - 24. See also pp. 1 - 46, and 201 - 218.

7. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era. For Godfrey Mwakikagile's Pan-Africanist views and perspectives, see also Professor Eric Edi of Temple University, in his paper, "Pan-West Africanism and Political Instability: Perspectives and Reflections," in which he cites Godfrey Mwakikagile's books, Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties and The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation.

8. Reviews of his book, Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era on amazon.com.

9. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of Era; and Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood.

10. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood, pp. 156 - 163.

11. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done, and Africa After Independence: Realities of Nationhood.

12. Kwesi Johnson-Taylor in his review of Godfrey Mwakikagile's book, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, on amazon.com, February 21, 2006.

13. Biography on the web site, "Tanzanian Writer: Godfrey Mwakikagile."

14. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa is in A Mess, Africa and The West, and Life in Tanganyika in The Fifties.

15. Ronald Taylor-Lewis, in his review of Godfrey Mwakikagile, The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation, in Mano Vision London, Issue 23, October 2001, pp. 34 - 35. See also Godfrey Mwakikagile, cited in Christopher E. Miller, A Glossary of Terms and Concepts in Peace and Conflict Studies, p. 87; and in Gabi Hesselbein, Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, and James Putzel, "Economic and Political Foundations of State-Making in Africa: Understanding State Reconstruction," Working Paper No. 3, 2006.

16. Articolo: http:// www.africansocieties.org/n1/paginaarticolo2.htm.

17. Dr. Kenday Samuel Kamara of Walden University in his abstract, "Considering the Enormity of Africa's Problems, is Re-Colonization an Option?" in which he cites Godfrey Mwakikagile's Africa is in A Mess and related works by other African leading academic authors including Professor Ali Mazrui, and Professor George Ayittey's Africa in Chaos. See Mwakikagile's book on the subject, Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done. See also Tunde Obadina, "The Myth of Neo-Colonialism," in Africa Economic Analysis, 2000; and Timothy Murithi, in his book, The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding and Development.

18. Hobbit, in "Gaire: Africa Re-Colonized," 28 March 2007.

19. Professor Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, a Zimbambwean teaching international studies at Monash University, South Africa campus, in his abstract, "Gods of Development, Demons of Underdevelopment and Western Salvation: A Critique of Development Discourse as a Sequel to the CODESRIA and OSSREA International Conferences on Development in Africa," June 2006. Professor Ndlovu-Gatsheni advances the same argument Godfrey Mwakikagile does and cites Mwakikagile's work, Africa is in A Mess, to support his thesis. See also Floyd Shivambu, "Floyd's Perspectives: Societal Tribalism in South Africa," September 1, 2005, who cites Godfrey Mwakikagile's Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, in his condemnation of tribalism in post-apartheid South Africa; Mary Elizabeth Flournoy of Agnes Scott College, in her paper, "Nigeria: Bounded by Ropes of Oil," citing Godfrey Mwakikagile's writings including Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria; Professor Eric Edi of Temple University, in his paper, "Pan West Africanism and Political Instability: Perspectives and Reflections," in which he cites Godfrey Mwakikagile's books, Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties and The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation.

20. Professor Claude E. Welch, Jr., in African Studies Review," Vol. 45, No. 3, December 2002, pp. 124 - 125); and Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, reviewed by Nigerian Professor Khadijat K. Rashid of Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. in African Studies Review, Vol. 46, No. 2, September 2003, pp. 92 - 9.

21. Godfrey Mwakikagile in Expo Times, Freetown, Sierra Leone, and in The Mirror, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2002.

Retrieved from [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Mwakikagile[/ame]

Wikimedia Foundation

* This page was last modified on 11 July 2009 at 02:20.

 

[Josh Michael]

Thank you so much. Kuna kila ulazima kwa Taifa kama Tanzania kutumia kufundishia hata kujua mchango wake kwa Taifa la Tanzania. Nilitembelea baadhi ya vyuo America na kuona machapisho yake. Asante sana na

 

[Kileleni]

Kati ya mambo ambayo Taifa la Tanzania ningejifunia nayo ni mwandishi wa vitabu katika anga ya Kimataifa ni Godfrey Mwakakigile. Huyu jamaa alikuwa ni moja kati ya mwandishi bora katika bara la Africa.

Katika Vyuo mbalimbali sana tuona maandishi yake katika America, Ulaya Asia kote alikuwa ni mtu hodari sana katika siasa za bara hili. Katika hali ya kustaajabisha sana hakuna watu hasa Vyuo vyetu katika Taifa letu la Tanzania ambao wanaenzi michango yake katika uandisha na kufanya kuwa hata Wanafunzi ambao wengi wao wanasoma katika vyuo vyetu Tanzania wawe makini katika uandishi wa Vitabu. Ameandika mengi sana kuhusu Tanzania post Colonial Era hivyo michango yake Katika Academia ya Tanzania hata Duniani ni kubwa sana. Tuomba vyuo makini watambue mchango yake. Naomba kama kuna mtu anajua kuwa alipo huyu jamaa aseme yupo wapi na anafanya nini huko? anajihusisha na nini huko??

I'm involved in academic work and I know the following about Godfrey Mwakikagile from reliable sources including my own knowledge about him:

(1) Yuko USA ambako anaendelea kuandika vitabu. And he has implied or stated that in his writings including his autobiographical work, "My Life As an African: Autobiographical Writings," even if not explicitly so.

(2) He's a very successful writer and is probably going to write more books. I have heard that he has been offered teaching positions at some universities in the US although I don't know if that's true and if he has accepted or is going to accept that. He does not have a PhD although he would have no problems completing academic requirements for a doctorate under rigorous intellectual discipline if he chose to do so.

Even though he doesn't have a doctorate, professors who have recommended his books for class and for inclusion in university libraries around the world believe his works have intellectual depth enough to have him qualified for an academic post. Otherwise they would not have recommended his books. In fact, some of his books could be presented as theses for advanced degrees. But I don't know if he's interested in doing that. He has enough credentials as a writer of academic works without necessarily going through the process of earning more degrees than what he already has.

Even some of the most renowned professors did not have, and don't have, advanced degrees earned as academic credentials. It's very few of them but they do exist. For example, Professor Harold Cruse, one of the most renowned black American professors who taught at the University of Michigan for decades did not have a college degree. His appointment to professorship was based purely on his writings of intellectual depth. James Baldwin, another black American and one of the most acclaimed writers in American history, had only high school education. Yet he taught at the University of Massachusetts and other academic institutions now and then through the years. Chinua Achebe has only one academic degree, a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, but has been awarded many honorary PhDs and has been a professor for many years because of the quality of his writings and lectures.

(3) Godfrey Mwakikagile has stated in some of his writings that he writes full-time. And he may want to do so for the rest of his life; I don't know. Considering the pace at which he writes, and having at least 30 books published so far within 10 years, it's very much possible that he will have about 50 books or more published, altogether, during the next 10 to 15 years.

(4) I have heard some people, including some of his classmates and former colleagues on the editorial staff at the "Daily News" in Tanzania say he would be more useful if he worked in Tanzania. I don't know if Mwakikagile shares that position, especially if one takes into account the controversial nature of some of his writings. His work may be compromised.

(5) He's highly disciplined and very persistent. He's also well-focused. He has those qualities even if he did not have any other. Even those who don't know anything about Mwakikagile including his intellectual ability would or should at least know that he's a very disciplined and persistent person. It take a lot of discipline, persistence and determination to sit down and write 30 books and in only a few years - in less than 10 years. And almost anyone who knows him will tell you that he's one of the most humble people you will ever meet. But he also has a lot of confidence in himself and in what he does.

(6) His friend, Jasusi, who is one of the most distinguished members of this forum, knows more about him. So, he may have more to say about him. And from what I have learned, the two are also around the same age. They're also friends, of course.

And if this is the Jasusi I think I know, and whom I have been told about, then he is that Tanzanian who was the first person to welcome Mwakikaigle to Washington D.C. in 1972, according to my sources. And I understand he was in touch with Mwakikagile until comparatively recently a few years after the year 2000. True or not, I don't know. I can't confirm that. But I can at least confirm, based on reliable sources, that the two are friends as Jasusi himself said in one of his posts on Jamii Forums and have been for almost 40 years.

And if he's the Jasusi I believe he is, then some of his family members - including his sister who is highly prominent in her field in the United States - know Mwakikagile well. In fact, one of the brothers worked with Mwakikagile in Tanzania, as did the sister I just mentioned here.

But that's only if this is the person - Jasusi - I think he is; himself one of the most prominent Africans in the Washington D.C. area.

If he is indeed the one, as I believe he is, he can tell us more about his friend, Mwakikagile, unlike some young people - including Mwakikagile's relatives - who have claimed they know Godfrey Mwakikagile well while they don't know him at all except from what older people say about him.

(7) My knowledge about Mwakikagile, where he is and what he does, is based on what I already know about him. I also went to Malangali Secondary School with one of his cousins, Absalom Mwaibanje, in the 1960s who, years later, became a high-ranking government official and a senior officer in the Tanzania intelligence service.

Absalom Mwaibanje was a very good friend of mine. He is the first cousin of Godfrey Mwakikagile's father. Coincidentally, Godfrey's father also went to Malangali Secondary School years earlier in the early 1940s, and one of his classmates was Jeremiah Kasambala, a member of Tanganyika's first independence cabinet under Nyerere.

I remember Absalom said his cousin, Mwakikagile (Godfrey's father), was a head prefect at Malangali years earlier before we went there.

So, I know something about Godfrey Mwakikagile and some of his relatives. Absalom, my classmate at Malangali, is Godfrey's second cousin - since he is his father's first cousin - although some genealogists dispute that and contend that so-called second and even third cousins cousins are also first cousins based on some kind of criteria they employ to determine that.

Godfrey Mwakikagile's father is also known as Mwaibanje and Mwakalinga, as well as Mwamwaja, his other family names, although I don't know if he's related to the Mwakalinga now running for public office in Kyela despite the fact that the senior Mwakikagile himself is originally from Kyela. There are people who have the same last name but are not related. I know, for example, many Mwansasus who are not related; and many Mwaipopos and Mwambingus who are not related. So, Mwakikagile may not be related to the Mwakalinga now running for public office in Kyela although there are many other Mwakalingas in Rungwe and Kyela and elsewhere who are blood relatives of Godfrey Mwakikagile on his father's side just as there are many Mwamwajas and Mwaibanjes who are.

On his mother's side, Godfrey Mwakikagile's mother originally came from Mwakaleli in Rungwe District, before moving to Kyimbila four miles south of the town of Tukuyu where Godfrey was brought up, and his blood relatives on his mother's side of the family include the Mwambapas, Mwankemwas, Mwaisejes, Mwasomolas and others. They are blood relatives if his mother, hence Godfrey's as well. He's also the first-born in his family.

I have written about Godfrey Mwakikagile at length, and have collected some information about him and about some of his blood relatives after talking to some of them, in an attempt to answer some of the questions raised here about him as a writer. I have also provided some information about his identity and ties of consanguinity.

I have also done so for another reason: If many non-Tanzanians know quite a few things about him as a writer and as a public figure since he's featured extensively on the Internet on more than 50,000 web sites and elsewhere including newspapers, magazines and academic journals in a number of countries, then some Tanzanians who ask questions about him and his career as a writer have the right to know about him as our fellow countryman probably more than anybody else who is not a Tanzanian like him and us.

And I would suggest that you read his autobiographical writings if you want to learn more about him. The book, "My Life as an African: Autobiographical Writings," is on amazon.com and other online outlets. Just search, "Mwakikagile," on amazon and elsewhere.

 

[Josh Michael]

Thank you so much you guys!! Sasa kwanini Watanzania wasitumie machapisho yake?? je ni Kwanini hata ulipofanyika mkutano wa Kusoma Vitabu asingeitwa huyu jamaa pale UDSM?? je sisi Watanzania hatuoni faida yake na kazi yake

 

[Shwari]

Thank you so much you guys!! Sasa kwanini Watanzania wasitumie machapisho yake?? je ni Kwanini hata ulipofanyika mkutano wa Kusoma Vitabu asingeitwa huyu jamaa pale UDSM?? je sisi Watanzania hatuoni faida yake na kazi yake

Hata mimi siju kwa nini.

Changio lake upande wa elimu na katika siasa na maendeleo kwa ujumla ni kubwa sana. Vitabu vyake visingekuwa vyuoni na katika maktaba mbali mbali nchi nyingi dunia nzima insigekuwa hivyo.

Even many professors don't have in college and university libraries as many books as he has. It's very difficult even for professors to get their books into libraries. There's only so much room in libraries. Libraries just can't accept and add to their collection every book that is suggested or that is sent to them.

The fact that every book Godfrey Mwakikagile has written has been recommended by professors and librarians in many countries for inclusion in college and university libraries - and even in public libraries - says a lot about the quality of his work which should be equally acknowledged in his home country, Tanzania, the land of his birth and upbringing and which is still his home even if he does not live in Tanzania right now just as tens if not hundreds of thousands of other Tanzanians don't.

It's this kind of refusal and unwillingness by African leaders and governments to acknowledge and accept the contribution of our own people which is partly if not largely responsible for the brain drain Africa has suffered for decades since independence.

Tragically, nchi zilizotutawala na zingine zilizoendelea are the ones reaping the benefits when our educated people decide to live in those countries.

Tumlaumu nani?

We reap what we sow. We are the losers.

 

[Kichuguu]

Hata mimi siju kwa nini.

Changio lake upande wa elimu na katika siasa na maendeleo kwa ujumla ni kubwa sana. Vitabu vyake visingekuwa vyuoni na katika maktaba mbali mbali nchi nyingi dunia nzima insigekuwa hivyo.

Even many professors don't have in college and university libraries as many books as he has. It's very difficult even for professors to get their books into libraries. There's only so much room in libraries. Libraries just can't accept and add to their collection every book that is suggested or that is sent to them.

The fact that every book Godfrey Mwakikagile has written has been recommended by professors and librarians in many countries for inclusion in college and university libraries - and even in public libraries - says a lot about the quality of his work which should be equally acknowledged in his home country, Tanzania, the land of his birth and upbringing and which is still his home even if he does not live in Tanzania right now just as tens if not hundreds of thousands of other Tanzanians don't.

It's this kind of refusal and unwillingness by African leaders and governments to acknowledge and accept the contribution of our own people which is partly if not largely responsible for the brain drain Africa has suffered for decades since independence.

Tragically, nchi zilizotutawala na zingine zilizoendelea are the ones reaping the benefits when our educated people decide to live in those countries.

Tumlaumu nani?

We reap what we sow. We are the losers.

Kumbe hujui: Vitabu vya Profesa Mwakikagile haviwezi kuthaminiwa Tanzania kwa sababu yeye ni mtanzania; basi. Tumalaumu Mungu kwa kumfanya Mwakikagile kuwa mtazania: na uksihamlaumu Mungu basi ujue uko taabuni.

 

[Lwikunulo]

It is so pathetic that such a renowned and down-to-earth author is not recognised at home. Ni mara yangu ya kwanza kumsikia mtu huyu, niliposoma maelezo ya hapo juu sio siri roho imeniuma kwani naipenda sana nchi yangu na ningependa ingefaidika na utalaamu wa mtu kama Mwakikagile!

 

[Jile79]

post za namna hii jamani zinawafaa wale ndugu ambao muda wote wako kwenye vijiwe vya kahawa wakimung'unya maneno a.k.a waliokosa kazi,unatoka unaingia unawakuta.

 

[Shwari]

It is so pathetic that such a renowned and down-to-earth author is not recognised at home. Ni mara yangu ya kwanza kumsikia mtu huyu, niliposoma maelezo ya hapo juu sio siri roho imeniuma kwani naipenda sana nchi yangu na ningependa ingefaidika na utalaamu wa mtu kama Mwakikagile!

Nchi zetu sehemu zote za Afrika hazithamini local talent. Viongozi wetu hawajitahidi kutumia wananchi wenye elimu na ujuzi. Badala yake, wana waajiri watu kutoka nchi za nje.

Also, they don't help as much as they can to provide education to our people. Even today, hundreds of thousands of Tanzanian students in Tanzania are not getting the kind of financial help they should be getting from our government. And some students who have been sent abroad for further education on government scholarships have been stranded in those countries because they have not been able to get financial assistance from our government.

Then there are those who have gone abroad as private students with limited resources to pursue higher education. And when they seek assistance from our government, they don't get it even when the government can afford to help some of them. It can, sometimes, even help some of them get scholarships from some of those countries.

Some are on limited scholarships. Therefore even if they want to pursue further studies, they can't do so for financial reasons.

I think Godfrey Mwakikaigle was one such student. He was sent to the United States by the "Daily News," a paper owned by the Tanzanian Government, in the early seventies when Benjamin Mkapa was the editor after getitng a scholarship on his own in the United States; first in North Carolina, then another one in Michigan. I have read his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," in which he explains that.

Lakini kuna kitu kingine ambacho watu wengi wanaomfahamu hawajui. Ni kuhusu elimu yake Tambaza na kwa nini hakuenda chuo chetu kikuu, UDSM. He was a good student lakini hakuenda UDSM kwa sababu ambayo siamini ni ya ukweli. Tulipomaliza Tambaza High School, kulikuwa na wanafunzi katika darasa letu, kwa mfano Obeid Mwasha (RIP) na Simon Shirima labda na wengine waliokuwa wanasema Godfrey hakutaka kwenda UDSM kwa sababu alikuwa na mpango wa kwenda chuoni USA, hasa Lincoln University, chuo cha black Americans ambako Nkrumah alikwenda kusoma. Ninachojua ni kwamba kulikuwa na wanafunzi wengine katika darasa letu ambao walikuwa very good students lakini hawakuchaguliwa kwenda UDSM kwa sababu ya matokeo ya mitihani yao. Siamini walijifelisha. They just did not qualify to go to UDSM. Godfrey Mwakikagile hakujifelisha mithani makusudi ili asiende UDSM kama classmates wetu hao walivyokuwa wanasema. Siamini hata kidogo alijifelisha makusudi ingawa alifanikiwa shuleni alipokwenda kusoma USA. Kuna wanafunzi wengine ambao hawakuenda UDSM lakini walikwenda kusoma nchi za nje baada ya kumaliza Tambaza. Mwakikagile alikuwa ni mmoja wa wanafunzi hao.

I was also in touch with him during the seventies and pretty much knew what was going on. He even sent me a textbook, "Economics," by Paul Samuelson when I was a student at the University of Dar es Salaam in the seventies. I found the book waiting for me when I went home after school. He honoured my request and I will always be grateful to him for that. He's a man of his word and will definitely help you, really anybody, if he can, no matter what race, tribe or religion. I also remember that two of his closest friends at Tambaza High School were Muslim, not Christian like him.

He even helped someone from Mwanza (who is not a Nyakyusa like him but a Sukuma) get a scholarship from the same black American organization (Pan-African Congress-USA) which sponsored him in Michigan, USA, when his fellow countryman wrote him to ask him if he could help him. He did. Read his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era" for details on that.

And I know he would have earned a PhD and would probably have returned to Tanzania back in the seventies had he obtained assistance from our government to go for further education. I know for a fact he tried to get such a scholarship from our government but couldn't get one.

The fact that he succeeded when he did and as much as he did without such assistance from our government is a credit to his diligence and determination. Many other Tanzanians overseas have succeeded the same way and some of them have even exceeded their expectations. But I know Mwakikagile did not exceed his expectations because I know him.

I know his intellectual ability. I was with him at Tambaza High School. He would have no problem writing a dissertation and defending it to obtain a PhD. And some of us felt he was beyond his age. Years later, some of his schoolmates in the United States observed the same thing, as one of them who reviewed his book "Africa is in A Mess" on amazon.com clearly stated. He observed what we already knew about him at Tambaza.

And any of our classmates at Tambaza High School will tell you that about him. And he has proved it. Just look at the books he has written. For example, one reviewer, Ronald Taylor-Lewis, a Sierra Leonean and editor of "Mano Vision" magazine, London, described one of Mwakikagile's books "The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation" as "a masterpiece of fact and analysis." As he stated in the rest of his review published in "Mano Vision," London, in 2002:

"Mwakikagile's work is a masterpiece of fact and analysis. In the one book he manages to extensively cover the "rebirth" of Liberia, the "powerless" state of Sierra Leone, "ethnic cleansing" in Rwanda, "stateless" Somalia, slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, and the fall of Mobutu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire). Any one of the topics is the subject of a book in itself.

Mwakikagile uses the precedents of the history of other African countries, as well as other countries around the world, to make a case for the fragility of the "African State" as an institution owing to structural flaws.

In his introduction he states, "In a very tragic way, Sierra Leone is Africa, and Africa is Sierra Leone. So is Somalia, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Angola. And so is Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, and Nigeria."

This sets the tone for the rest of the book that is full of comparisons between countries. At times this can be confusing for someone trying to concentrate on a single issue. But then Mwakikagile deliberately does this to bring home the fact that Africa is not, or should not be, considered a collection of numerous unrelated states, but a continent with a common experience much closer than many would care to admit.

Mwakikagile does not pull any punches in condemning those he considers guilty of causing the current woes of Africa. He also does not hesitate to name the continent's heroes.

The whole book is a great read for scholars and people merely interested in affairs on the continent. Some scholars may quibble with some of the facts as he presented them, but in general the book reads as a piece put together by someone who has taken the trouble to research his facts properly.

Recommended reading for anyone wishing to get up to speed on African affairs.

Review by Ronald Taylor-Lewis
Managing Editor
"Mano Vision"
London, UK

"The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation": published 2001 in the USA by Nova Science Publishers Inc., Huntington, NY.
ISBN 1-56072-936-8"


Godfrey Mwakikagile has shown that you don't have to have a PhD to be able to do all that as long as you're capable of doing it. And I know he would have gone much further and would have obtained more degrees including a doctorate had he had the financial means to do so back in the seventies.

Instead, he focused on writing years later and is now a successful author. He even states in an interview, reproduced in his book "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," that he did not have the financial means to pursue higher education all the way to the doctoral level. And he obviously gave up because of such insurmountable obstacles. But he also clearly states in the same book that he would not go back to school to earn a doctorate. He can easily afford to do so now, on his own, but he just wants to write. Some of his books have been best sellers and have been selected for book clubs, discussed on radio and elsewhere. For example his book, "Relations Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths and Realities," was a book club selection by a radio station in Richmond, Virginia, about four years ago and was discussed for quite some time on the radio and on the Internet. Participants included professors from Ghana and the United States.

So, even if his home country does not acknowledge his contributions and his success as a writer, many other people outside Tanzania do. Some of them have even diligently pursued him just to talk to him as these examples - out of many - clearly demonstrate, quoted from his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era":

"I was also invited to Washington, D.C., by TransAfrica, an organization led by Randall Robinson which played a critical role in the campaign against apartheid, mobilizing public opinion across the United States against this abominable regime. They wanted me to give a lecture and discuss my book about Nyerere and autograph copies of my work at a book signing ceremony....

I was also invited....to be interviewed for a documentary about the history of socialism featuring President Nyerere and other leaders to be broadcast on American television - Public Broadcasting System (PBS) - beamed nationwide. The PBS documentary is called "Heaven on Earth," a two-hour exploration of the history of socialism; including a segment on Julius Nyerere and the socialist experiment in Tanzania filmed in Dar es Salaam between February 15 and 22, 2003, and produced by New River Media of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They wanted to interview me because they said they liked my writings about Nyerere very much; although I'm nowhere close to being an authority on Mwalimu Nyerere. But I have written about him in more than one book. As the producer of the documentary, Brittany Huckabee, said in her letter to me:

'I have come across your excellent writings on Nyerere and would very much like to talk to you about the possibility of interviewing you on camera for the documentary. If not in Dar, we might be able to catch you in London or perhaps in Washington or New York later this spring. I would also be willing to discuss other possibilities depending on your interest. In addition, I am quite interested to know if you have any suggestions on who else we might interview while we are in Dar. I would most like to identify individuals who had some contact with Nyerere and who would be willing to honestly assess both Tanzania's successes and failures during the era.'

....I was very much impressed by their interest in Nyerere and in my work and gave them the names of quite a few individuals in Dar es Salaam who would be able to help them. They had already interviewed some of them and contacted others, as the producer told me after they finished filming in Dar." (Godfrey Mwakikagile, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," pp. 675 - 676).

He may not be acknowledged in Tanzania but his is not lost talent because he continues to write. And his books are read by many people in other countries - including Tanzanians overseas - even if they are not read in his home country, Tanzania, except by a few individuals who have been able to get his books.

And all this is part of a larger problem: the unwillingness by our leaders to tap local talent. I live in Tanzania and travel abroad. I am therefore in a position to provide a broader perspective on the matter just like many other Tanzanians can and do.

Our government and others across Africa don't do much to recruit and retain local talent. There are many Tanzanians with the necessary skills practically in all fields. Yet we continue to recruit foreigners. Foreigners with the same skills as Tanzanians are also paid more than our own people are. Ask local engineers and others in different fields in Dar and elsewhere. It's the same complaint. Some of these so-called expatriates are not even as qualified as our own people are; yet they are paid far more than Tanzanians are.

It's abuse and misuse of talent. The climate is not conducive to attracting and retaining local talent.

This reminds me of a fiery exchange Professor Ali Mazrui had with President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana at a conference of Africans in Switzerland in 1996. Rawlings said educated Africans are not patriotic enough. Once they get their education at home, they flee for greener pastures overseas; and those educated overseas don't want to return home. Mazrui shot back: "It's your fault."

He blamed African leaders.Mazrui was a victim himself and could not even teach in his home country for decades. He was denied employment at the University of Nairobi and said the vice-chancellor took him to lunch and told him he would not be offered a position at the university "unless you are a good boy."

It's a common problem across Africa as our leaders continue to value foreigners more than they do our own people. And they refuse to create a climate that will enable our countries to attract and retain local talent.

If Godfrey Mwakikagile returned to Tanzania today, he probably would not even be able to get a job. He does not need one, anyway, since he's a successful writer and he's on the lecture circuit; but if he did, I doubt he would be able to get one. And he would not be alone in this predicament. There are many educated Tanzanians, right here in Tanzania today, who are unemployed.

It's a major problem.

 

[Josh Michael]

Nchi zetu sehemu zote za Afrika hazithamini local talent. Viongozi wetu hawajitahidi kutumia wananchi wenye elimu na ujuzi. Badala yake, wana waajiri watu kutoka nchi za nje.

Also, they don't help as much as they can to provide education to our people. Even today, hundreds of thousands of Tanzanian students in Tanzania are not getting the kind of financial help they should be getting from our government. And some students who have been sent abroad for further education on government scholarships have been stranded in those countries because they have not been able to get financial assistance from our government.

Then there are those who have gone abroad as private students with limited resources to pursue higher education. And when they seek assistance from our government, they don't get it even when the government can afford to help some of them. It can, sometimes, even help some of them get scholarships from some of those countries.

Some are on limited scholarships. Therefore even if they want to pursue further studies, they can't do so for financial reasons.

I think Godfrey Mwakikaigle was one such student. He was sent to the United States by the "Daily News," a paper owned by the Tanzanian Government, in the early seventies when Benjamin Mkapa was the editor after getitng a scholarship on his own in the United States; first in North Carolina, then another one in Michigan. I have read his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," in which he explains that.

I was also in touch with him during the seventies and pretty much knew what was going on. He even sent me a textbook, "Economics," by Paul Samuelson when I was a student at the University of Dar es Salaam in the seventies. I found the book waiting for me when I went home after school. He honoured my request and I will always be grateful to him for that. He's a man of his word and will definitely help you, really anybody, if he can, no matter what race, tribe or religion. I also remember that two of his closest friends at Tambaza High School were Muslim, not Christian like him.

He even helped someone from Mwanza (who is not a Nyakyusa like him but a Sukuma) get a scholarship from the same black American organization (Pan-African Congress-USA) which sponsored him in Michigan, USA, when his fellow countryman wrote him to ask him if he could help him. He did. Read his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era" for details on that.

And I know he would have earned a PhD and would probably have returned to Tanzania back in the seventies had he obtained assistance from our government to go for further education. I know for a fact he tried to get such a scholarship from our government but couldn't get one.

The fact that he succeeded when he did and as much as he did without such assistance from our government is a credit to his diligence and determination. Many other Tanzanians overseas have succeeded the same way and some of them have even exceeded their expectations. But I know Mwakikagile did not exceed his expectations because I know him.

I know his intellectual ability. I was with him at Tambaza High School. He would have no problem writing a dissertation and defending it to obtain a PhD. He has a formidable intellect. And some of us felt he was beyond his age. Years later, some of his schoolmates in the United States observed the same thing, as one of them who reviewed his book "Africa is in A Mess" on amazon.com clearly stated. He observed what we already knew about him at Tambaza.

And any of our classmates at Tambaza High School will tell you that about him. And he has proved it. Just look at the books he has written. They are a product of a fine intellect. For example, one reviewer, Ronald Taylor-Lewis, a Sierra Leonean and editor of "Mano Vision" magazine, London, described one of Mwakikagile's books "The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation" as "a masterpiece of fact and analysis." As he stated in the rest of his review published in "Mano Vision," London, in 2002:

"Mwakikagile's work is a masterpiece of fact and analysis. In the one book he manages to extensively cover the "rebirth" of Liberia, the "powerless" state of Sierra Leone, "ethnic cleansing" in Rwanda, "stateless" Somalia, slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, and the fall of Mobutu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire). Any one of the topics is the subject of a book in itself.

Mwakikagile uses the precedents of the history of other African countries, as well as other countries around the world, to make a case for the fragility of the "African State" as an institution owing to structural flaws.

In his introduction he states, "In a very tragic way, Sierra Leone is Africa, and Africa is Sierra Leone. So is Somalia, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Angola. And so is Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, and Nigeria."

This sets the tone for the rest of the book that is full of comparisons between countries. At times this can be confusing for someone trying to concentrate on a single issue. But then Mwakikagile deliberately does this to bring home the fact that Africa is not, or should not be, considered a collection of numerous unrelated states, but a continent with a common experience much closer than many would care to admit.

Mwakikagile does not pull any punches in condemning those he considers guilty of causing the current woes of Africa. He also does not hesitate to name the continent's heroes.

The whole book is a great read for scholars and people merely interested in affairs on the continent. Some scholars may quibble with some of the facts as he presented them, but in general the book reads as a piece put together by someone who has taken the trouble to research his facts properly.

Recommended reading for anyone wishing to get up to speed on African affairs.

Review by Ronald Taylor-Lewis
Managing Editor
"Mano Vision"
London, UK

"The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation": published 2001 in the USA by Nova Science Publishers Inc., Huntington, NY.
ISBN 1-56072-936-8"


Godfrey Mwakikagile has shown that you don't have to have a PhD to be able to do all that as long as you're capable of doing it. And I know he would have gone much further and would have obtained more degrees including a doctorate had he had the financial means to do so back in the seventies.

Instead, he focused on writing years later and is now a successful author. He even states in an interview, reproduced in his book "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," that he did not have the financial means to pursue higher education all the way to the doctoral level. And he obviously gave up because of such insurmountable obstacles. But he also clearly states in the same book that he would not go back to school to earn a doctorate. He can easily afford to do so now, on his own, but he just wants to write. Some of his books have been best sellers and have been selected for book clubs, discussed on radio and elsewhere. For example his book, "Relations Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths and Realities," was a book club selection by a radio station in Richmond, Virginia, about four years ago and was discussed for quite some time on the radio and on the Internet. Participants included professors from Ghana and the United States.

So, even if his home country does not acknowledge his contributions and his success as a writer, many other people outside Tanzania do. Some of them have even diligently pursued him just to talk to him as these examples - out of many - clearly demonstrate, quoted from his book, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era":

"I was also invited to Washington, D.C., by TransAfrica, an organization led by Randall Robinson which played a critical role in the campaign against apartheid, mobilizing public opinion across the United States against this abominable regime. They wanted me to give a lecture and discuss my book about Nyerere and autograph copies of my work at a book signing ceremony....

I was also invited....to be interviewed for a documentary about the history of socialism featuring President Nyerere and other leaders to be broadcast on American television - Public Broadcasting System (PBS) - beamed nationwide. The PBS documentary is called "Heaven on Earth," a two-hour exploration of the history of socialism; including a segment on Julius Nyerere and the socialist experiment in Tanzania filmed in Dar es Salaam between February 15 and 22, 2003, and produced by New River Media of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They wanted to interview me because they said they liked my writings about Nyerere very much; although I'm nowhere close to being an authority on Mwalimu Nyerere. But I have written about him in more than one book. As the producer of the documentary, Brittany Huckabee, said in her letter to me:

'I have come across your excellent writings on Nyerere and would very much like to talk to you about the possibility of interviewing you on camera for the documentary. If not in Dar, we might be able to catch you in London or perhaps in Washington or New York later this spring. I would also be willing to discuss other possibilities depending on your interest. In addition, I am quite interested to know if you have any suggestions on who else we might interview while we are in Dar. I would most like to identify individuals who had some contact with Nyerere and who would be willing to honestly assess both Tanzania's successes and failures during the era.'

....I was very much impressed by their interest in Nyerere and in my work and gave them the names of quite a few individuals in Dar es Salaam who would be able to help them. They had already interviewed some of them and contacted others, as the producer told me after they finished filming in Dar." (Godfrey Mwakikagile, "Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era," pp. 675 - 676).

He may not be acknowledged in Tanzania but his is not lost talent because he continues to write. And his books are read by many people in other countries - including Tanzanians overseas - even if they are not read in his home country, Tanzania, except by a few individuals who have been able to get his books.

And all this is part of a larger problem: the unwillingness by our leaders to tap local talent. I live in Tanzania and travel abroad. I am therefore in a position to provide a broader perspective on the matter just like many other Tanzanians can and do.

Our government and others across Africa don't do much to recruit and retain local talent. There are many Tanzanians with the necessary skills practically in all fields. Yet we continue to recruit foreigners. Foreigners with the same skills as Tanzanians are also paid more than our own people are. Ask local engineers and others in different fields in Dar and elsewhere. It's the same complaint. Some of these so-called expatriates are not even as qualified as our own people are; yet they are paid far more than Tanzanians are.

It's abuse and misuse of talent. The climate is not conducive to attracting and retaining local talent.

This reminds me of a fiery exchange Professor Ali Mazrui had with President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana at a conference of Africans in Switzerland in 1996. Rawlings said educated Africans are not patriotic enough. Once they get their education at home, they flee for greener pastures overseas; and those educated overseas don't want to return home. Mazrui shot back: "It's your fault."

He blamed African leaders.Mazrui was a victim himself and could not even teach in his home country for decades. He was denied employment at the University of Nairobi and said the vice-chancellor took him to lunch and told him he would not be offered a position at the university "unless you are a good boy."

It's a common problem across Africa as our leaders continue to value foreigners more than they do our own people. And they refuse to create a climate that will enable our countries to attract and retain local talent.

If Godfrey Mwakikagile returned to Tanzania today, he probably would not even be able to get a job. He does not need one, anyway, since he's a successful writer and he's on the lecture circuit; but if he did, I doubt he would be able to get one. And he would not be alone in this predicament. There are many educated Tanzanians, right here in Tanzania today, who are unemployed.

It's a major problem.

Ni Kweli Kabisa na Pia asante sana kwa kusema ukweli kama huu na pia sisi kama Watanzania tuna wajibu sana katika kusema na kuona kuwa Serikali yetu pia inawasaidia watu kama hawa katika Tanzania

 

[Mhafidhina]

Naomba nikubali kwamba mimi nilikua simfahamu huyu Mwakikagile, labda ni kwa sababu field yangu sio ya political science.

Lakini kwa maelezo nilioyasoma hapo juu kweli nimegundua kwamba huyu jamaa is a God sent person. Mtu kama huyu ndio inabidi sasa Taifa la Tanzania limtumia kijitangaza badala ya Raisi kupakia ndege kila kukicha kwenda nje ya nchi eti kwa kigezo cha kwenda kuitangaza taifa.

Watu kama hawa tumewadharau au tumewatupa ndio maana wanaona bora waende wakafanyie kazi zao nje ya nchi, lakini kuna jambo moja muhimu sana la kujiuliza, je ni kwanini watu kama hawa huwa wanakimbilia nchi kama Marekani au Uingereza kwenda kukaa na kuishi na kufanyia kazi zao huko?

Jibu ni moja tu, kwamba watu hawa huwa wanakosa nafasi au huwa hawakubaliki kwenye nchi zao lakini pia ni hali ya kisiasa iloyo mbaya ambayo haiwezi kuruhusu watu wenye upeo mkubwa kama wake kukubaliwa na uongozi.

Nafikiri sasa kuna haja ya kuhimiza serikali ianze kumtambua mtu kama huyu ambaye anadhamani kubwa kuliko zile Country Reserve zetu zilizopo kule IMF.

Nawasilisha.

 

[Shwari]

Naomba nikubali kwamba mimi nilikua simfahamu huyu Mwakikagile, labda ni kwa sababu field yangu sio ya political science.

Lakini kwa maelezo nilioyasoma hapo juu kweli nimegundua kwamba huyu jamaa is a God sent person. Mtu kama huyu ndio inabidi sasa Taifa la Tanzania limtumia kijitangaza badala ya Raisi kupakia ndege kila kukicha kwenda nje ya nchi eti kwa kigezo cha kwenda kuitangaza taifa.

Watu kama hawa tumewadharau au tumewatupa ndio maana wanaona bora waende wakafanyie kazi zao nje ya nchi, lakini kuna jambo moja muhimu sana la kujiuliza, je ni kwanini watu kama hawa huwa wanakimbilia nchi kama Marekani au Uingereza kwenda kukaa na kuishi na kufanyia kazi zao huko?

Jibu ni moja tu, kwamba watu hawa huwa wanakosa nafasi au huwa hawakubaliki kwenye nchi zao lakini pia ni hali ya kisiasa iloyo mbaya ambayo haiwezi kuruhusu watu wenye upeo mkubwa kama wake kukubaliwa na uongozi.

Nafikiri sasa kuna haja ya kuhimiza serikali ianze kumtambua mtu kama huyu ambaye anadhamani kubwa kuliko zile Country Reserve zetu zilizopo kule IMF.

Nawasilisha.

Ni kweli kuna Watanzania wengi kama Mwakikagile ambao hawajapata nafasi ya kutumia uwezo wao na vipaji vyao kusaidia kujenga na kuendeza taifa letu. Pia ni kweli wengi wao wanaishi nchi za nje kwa sababu ulizozitaja hapo juu pamoja na zingine.

Tofauti moja kati ya wengi wao na Godfrey Mwakikagile ni kwamba ameandika vitabu kuhusu matatizo ya nchi yetu na bara letu na ameeleza, anavyojiweza, jinsi tunavyoweza kuyatatua matatizo hayo.

Pia ni kweli mengi aliyoandika hayapendwi na viongozi wa bara letu. Hawataki kuambiwa ukweli. Kwahiyo ni vigumu sana waandishi kama hawa kuishi katika nchi zao au mahali pengine katika bara letu.

Ndiyo maana waandishi wengi kama hawa wanaishi nchi za nje; kwa mfano jirani yetu Ngugi wa Thiong'o kutoka Kenya ameishi ng'ambo (Uingereza na Merekani) karibu ya miaka thelathini; Chinua Achebe na Wole Soyinka ambao pia wameishi Merikani kwa miaka mingi sana, zaidi ya ishirini, ingawa Soyinka anatembelea Afrika mara nyingi. Na kuna wengine ambao wengi wetu hatuwafahamu au hatujawahi kuwasikia.

Kwahiyo, Mwakikagile ni mfano mmoja tu. Lakini kwa upande wetu sisi Watanzania, ni mfano mzuri kwa sababu ni mwananchi mwenzetu anayelipenda taifa lake kwa moyo kama maandishi yake yanavyo onyesha; na pia tangu alipokuwa kijana pamoja na sisi Tambaza High School.

Mimi ni mmoja wao wanaomfahamu na nipo hapa kuthibitisha mambo mengi yanayomhusu pamoja na tabia na mwenendo wake. Ni mtu wa makamo yangu. Kwahiyo haya niliyoandika kuhusu mwananchi huyu mwenzetu hayaja andikwa na mtu ambaye hamfahamu. Nimesikia kuna hata ndugu zake ambao walikuwa ni watoto wadogo tu alipoondoka Tanzania na ambao hawajawahi hata kumwona tangu aondoke nchini kwetu ambao wanawaambia watu kwamba wanamfahamu sana. Hawawezi hata kumtambua wangemwona leo. Yeye pia hawezi kuzitambua sura zao kwasababu hawajawahi kuonana tangu wawe watu wazima.

Siko katika kundi hilo. Umri wa Mwakikagile ni sawa na umri wangu. Pia tumefahamiana karibu ya miaka arobaini sasa na tumefahamiana tangu tulipokuwa vijana wenye umri wa kutosha pale Tambaza High School.

Na ninajua yukoje - mawazo yake kisiasa, uwezo wake wa akili, na kadhalika.

Reading his writings, those of us who know Godfrey Mwakikagile know that he has been consistent in his beliefs even after almost 40 years when we were together as teenagers at Tambaza High School.

- He was a strong Pan-Africanist. He is still one day.

- He strongly admired Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure as strong leaders who had African interests at heart and who spoke for Africa. And 40 years later, he still strongly admires them.

I remember when Guinea, then under President Sekou Toure, was invaded by fifth columnists from Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea Bissau) and Senegal in 1970, Mwakikagile was one of the first students at Tambaza High School to encourage us to go to the Guinean Embassy in Dar es Salaam to look at the pictures of the captured invaders and the damage they caused.

- He was always humble. And he is still humble today almost 40 years later.

When an American journalist told him that he was a well-read and highly respected independent scholar, Mwakikagile said in response that there was nothing special about him and that he was just an ordinary African like tens of millions of others.

That's typical of him.

Many scholars including professors highly respect his writings and even consider him to be an authority on Nyerere. Yet Mwakikagile himself, in his own book about Nyerere as I quoted him earlier, has stated: "I am nowhere close to being an authority on Nyerere."

He was that way at Tambaza High School. Always humble.

- He also showed a lot of promise.

Years later when he was in school in the United States, his fellow students from other parts of Africa noticed the same things and he was even elected president of the African students union at Wayne State University in the seventies. And as one of his fellow African students from West Africa, in his review of Mwakikagile's book "Africa is in A Mess" on amazon.com, has stated about Mwakikagile: "He was one of the most promising intellectuals of our generation, and one of the most inspiring."

The prediction turned out to be true. And Mwakikagile has lived up to those expectations as the books he has written clearly show.

As I have said, other people who went to school with him in the United States in the early seventies noticed the same characteristics about him we already knew about when we were with him at Tambaza High School.

Almost 40 years later, some of them have said the same things we knew about Mwakikagile years ago in Tanzania, as shown below in their reviews of his book "Africa is in A Mess" on amazon.com.

These are just sample reviews. There are plenty of others on amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and elsewhere about his books.

Included below are some reviews by other people who have been impressed by his works - one by Professor Hengene Payani at the University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and another one by Mona Kabba, a member of Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabba's family (I found out that her middle name is Khadija) :

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Reviews of "Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done"


By Hengene Payani, Ph.D. (Political Science), (Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea):

I come from Papua New Guinea (South Pacific). I have read "Africa is in A Mess." It's excellent, honest, and thought-provoking. It has some relevance for a developing country like Papua New Guinea which is currently on the verge of collapse caused by greedy politicians.

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By Mona Kabba, post-graduate student (Norway):

This is a brilliant and honest book worth reading, especially by African leaders.

My first reaction after spending a whole night reading this brilliant book was to send comments of gratitude to the author for being this honest and courageous to write such a coherent and thought-provoking book. A book difficult to refute, even if you may not like how he says it. Well, I succeeded in my quest to contact him and I must say he belongs to those groups of authors who respond to letters from their readers and appreciates comments made to him even if they may not coincide with his point of view. I have been in touch with him ever since and he has answered all my letters. He is also working on another project in which I am going to participate as he has asked me to. I have told him I will.

One of my first comments to a Zambian friend was "If we had more of this kind of honesty and straight talk from our leaders and people in Africa, our continent may have been different and somewhat in a better shape." However, it is not, and something needs to be done, which is what Godfrey Mwakikagile's book is all about and more. I applaud the author because his book is based not only on the critical hard facts about our continent and alternatives (which some people may not agree with), but demonstrates one of our fundamental flaws in Africa, which is the failure of being honest to ourselves and using that as a stepping stone to progress.

If we were honest with ourselves, we would not first of all want our condition to be sugar-coated with semantics but told as it is with all honesty. And we would also acknowledge the fact that the problem lies within, and not without, as the author pointed out. Because constantly shifting the blame for one's predicament is not helpful in solving one's problems at all. Yes, the West has contributed and still is contributing to our deplorable condition one way or another, but what are we doing to get up from that dogmatic slumber for lack of words? What have we really done besides constant, self-inflicting deterioration? We must remember that we were not the only countries colonized or relatively poor. So what have we done to improve our condition?

Without over-emphasizing the fact and echoing the words of the author, Africa is indeed in a mess which is due to various factors, but largely due to our corrupt leaders as discussed by the author and rightly so. However, I must say that we as people must share some of the blame, because we do not tell the hard truth to our leaders but help them in some cases (countries) in their quest for personal aggrandizement by supporting their "sultanism" and "fuherism" kind of governance for our own individual selfishness. As a Sierra Leonean having lived most of my life in my country, and being a very close relative of the President of Sierra Leone, Tejan Kabba, I know what I'm talking about.

We help to create the monsters we call corrupt leaders. We do not tell them the truth and help them to become relatively honest and dedicated leaders, but instead support them and demand exorbitantly for ourselves regardless of the rest of the millions they are supposed to serve and provide for. As soon as a relative is in a position that wields power and money, we see it as our opportunity to get rich and powerful at the expense of the masses. It is not the story for all African states but common in some which is one of the fundamental contributing factors to corruption in Africa.

On the 27th of April this year my country celebrated 44 years of independence. But what is there really to celebrate? A country that, in spite of its enormous potential to be one of the richest countries in Africa due to its natural resources, has hardly achieved any progress, is one of the poorest in the world, and has as legacy to show - chopped arms and limbs of innocent civilians who did not deserve such brutality for just being Sierra Leoneans. A devastated infrastructure and economy that would require writing a whole book to explain and analyze, Sierra Leone, a country once known as the "Athens of West Africa," is one of the countries that have suffered tremendous brain drain and continues to do so. That is why Mwakikagile's suggestion of opening up our borders and liberalizing our immigration policies to allow large numbers of foreigners to become citizens and invest in our economies is one of the possibilities our leaders should consider seriously.

This idea may not be favourable to some Africans who believe that our leaders may have already sold our countries to foreigners in this era of globalization. But for want or lack of alternatives, what is really left to sell in some of our African states besides our total independence? We therefore do not only need to criticize our leaders but examine ourselves and contribute in a meaningful way by finding and implementing alternatives to improve conditions in our continent.

To the author, I say, Bravo! And, please, do not relent in telling the truth in whatever way you can.

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March 4, 2005

By Kofi Mensah (Ghana/USA):

On March 6th, my country Ghana is going to celebrate her 48th independence anniversary. It was the first black African country to win independence under the leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

But, in spite of this distinction, and in spite of the fact that our country has enormous potential, throughout most of those years, almost half a century, we have hardly achieved enough progress, economically, to justify our claim to independence. The same is true with the rest of black Africa. And that is where this book, "Africa is in A Mess," by Tanzanian writer Godfrey Mwakikagile, a fellow Pan-African patriot, comes into relevance as a manifesto for post-colonial Africa.

"Africa is in A Mess" is a political manifesto and an economic blueprint written by one of Africa's most brilliant and committed sons. His works are taken seriously by many people, including African leaders.

He has been sought for interviews by the BBC, by Voice of America (VOA), and even for an appearance on PBS (American public television) in a documentary on the history of socialism since Lenin as a commentator on President Julius Nyerere's policies and other issues. His books have been reviewed by leading scholars and by influential publications, including WEST AFRICA magazine. And he has been interviewed by others including an American journalist who once worked in Tanzania for a major African weekly news paper, "The East African". All this is a testament to the importance of his works addressing issues that affect Africa as a whole. He is not a narrow-minded nationalist only concerned about his country, Tanzania. He is concerned about the whole continent, as his books, including "Africa is in A Mess," clearly demonstrate.

He was one of the most promising intellectuals of our generation, and one of the most inspiring, to emerge out of the seventies, when he graduated from university, and has lived up to his full potential. But may be not quite. Expect more from him.

He probably would not have made a good politician - he's too honest for that on issues of public policy - and would, instead, have made a lot of enemies had he decided to go into politics, unless he decided to look the other way. Most politicians thrive on corruption, exactly the kind of enemy the author is waging war against. He would never have been able to write this kind of book, "Africa is in A Mess," as a politician, unless he was suicidal, surrounded by vicious sharks which swim in the rough waters of African politics. Writing is what he does best. And I look forward to reading his next book about Africa, or on any other subject for that matter.

Like any other book, by any human being, "Africa is in A Mess," has its weaknesses. It may be too pessimistic in some cases but, overall, it's an excellent book, and brutally honest, the kind African leaders need to read, whether they like it or not. And most of them probably won't like it, even though, privately, and deep down in their hearts, they will find it hard to disagree with what Godfrey Mwakikagile says. Fortunately, like any honest scholar or just any other honest writer, he did not write this book to please them. He wrote it to demand fundamental change. And it will come one day. It is for the people to decide when, and how.

And when the change comes, many of those in power would wish they had never sought public office.

It is this cry for justice and fairness, this deep anguish of the masses demanding the fruits of independence, which is the central message of "Africa is in A Mess." But that is only one man's perspective on this very important book. You may have a different perspective, may be even radically different from mine. All you have to do is read the book, and see for yourself what the author has to say.

You may not like how he says it, all the anger and the bitterness which also is the anger and bitterness of the masses across Africa, but you will have a hard time refuting what he says. Just try it, after you read the book.

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January 6, 2005

By tony (tnygb@yahoo.com):

This is a work of scholarship. It is also a work of statesmanship as opposed to the kind produced by politicians and others to score political kudos or advance a particular agenda for personal gain. And that is what sets the author apart, like a few others I know. It is also important to know what type of person he is in order to understand, or at least try to understand, why he wrote this kind of book, and why he says the things he says in his book which has become a subject of hot discussion and spirited debate among many Africans; at least the ones I know and those whom I am around and I'm sure many others.

Before I go any further, let me first say that I know the author both as a colleague and as a mentor. When we first met more than 30 years ago, I came to know him as a man of principle and stubborn convictions who rarely conceded defeat, if at all. And he became one of my mentors, and not just a colleague, because of his unwavering commitment to principle in spite of the fact that he was younger than I am. We are roughly the same age, but I am about three years older than he is.

Of all my fellow African students I went to school with in Africa and in the United States, Godfrey Mwakikagile is one of the very few, in fact extremely few, whom I know to have remained true to their convictions, their core beliefs, without sacrificing principle for the sake of political expediency or in pursuit of personal interests at the expense of public interest. Most talk about commitment, but few live that way. He is one of those few among us.

I remember him well. He was a very serious committed Pan-Africanist more than 30 years ago when he was a mere youth in his early twenties in college in the United States. He firmly believed that Africa is one, and Africans are one people, including those in the diaspora. And he still is a very serious committed Pan-Africanist today, more than 30 years later, as shown by his scholarly works (found in university libraries in many countries) addressing serious economic and political issues and problems across Africa from a Pan-African perspective. His book "Africa is in A Mess" is one of his best in terms of analysis, honesty, commitment, and candor. It may also be his most controversial.

Whereas many of us are afraid to tell the truth because we don't want to ruffle the feathers of our leaders in Africa or make Africa look bad before the rest of the world especially among those who despise us and make fun of us as a backward and ignorant people, Mwakikagile is one of those Africans who sincerely believe that nothing is going to change in Africa for the better if we don't tell the truth about our condition; and if we don't explain why our leaders are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Anyone who reads his book, "Africa is in A Mess," as well as his other books about Africa, can easily see why all our talk of African solutions to African problems means absolutely nothing if we continue to have the kind of leadership we have in Africa today. The people are not the problem, the leaders are.

I remember asking him, I don't know if he remembers this but he probably does since he had excellent memory, but I remember asking him about 30 years ago if he thought that Africa would ever develop like Europe did. He responded quickly and said, no, not in our life time; it is too short a time. Even Europe did not develop that fast. It took hundreds of years for Europe to develop, he said. I agreed with him on that. But he also brought up the Soviet Union and said it was able to industrialize (in heavy industry) within 40 years since the Russian Revolution because of central planning, although he emphasized that the foundation of modern Russia was laid before then by Peter the Great, an achievement that helped facilitate progress at a faster pace years later, especially in education and heavy industry, after the Bolsheviks seized power and started implementing their strategy of central planning.

Mwakikagile also strongly believed back then, during our student days, that even with all their weaknesses, African governments had a major role to play in economic development because it was they, and not the people, who had large amounts of capital at their disposal; it was they who had control over national resources; and it was they who had access to foreign capital. Our people did not have that. And he was a firm believer in regional integration as the way of the future for Africa. Without it, the continent will never develop, he said. Years later, regional integration did, indeed, become a reality in Africa, with formation of regional economic blocs in West Africa, East Africa, and southern Africa. Many of us of his generation did not foresee that, the way he, and may be a few others amongst us, did.

He was also a strong admirer of leaders such as Nkrumah and Nyerere who also adopted central planning as a strategy for rapid economic development and because of their Pan-African commitment. He saw them as true Pan-Africanists unlike most African leaders. He also greatly admired Sekou Toure for that, as a true Pan-Africanist and great African leader. I strongly disagreed with him on that and said Sekou Toure had jailed and killed many people in Guinea. He agreed but countered by saying Sekou Toure still had African interests at heart, and was a true African leader in spite of his faults, unlike Senghor who was more French than African. I also remember that Sekou Toure was a very close personal friend and ideological compatriot of Nyerere and Nkrumah, both of whom were Mwakikagile's Pan-African ideological mentors.

I vividly recall that Mwakikagile had no respect for Senghor and Houphoutet-Boigny and the rest of the leaders in Francophone Africa anymore than he did for Mobutu. None whatsoever! Absolutely none, as leaders. He saw them as French puppets, and their countries still French colonies, except Guinea under Sekou Toure. By the way, I come from West Africa and remember the rivalry between Nkrumah and Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast. Mwakikagile also knew about this rivalry and defended Nkrumah when the Ghanaian leader said we will see who will develop faster, Ghana or the Ivory Coast.

Yet, in spite of our disagreements on a number of issues, and in spite of the arguments we had on African subjects on several occasions, I must admit that Mwakikagile was more far-sighted than many of us even back then in the seventies when he was just a young man in his early twenties. In fact he was, in spite of his youth, even elected president of the African students union at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, against much older, more "mature," African students because of what people saw in him as a natural leader of the pack. Many people used to say he was very wise and acted far more mature than his age; in fact way beyond his age. Even just the way he looked at you, you felt as if you were in the presence of an elder. Yet he was nothing but a youth, in his early twenties.

He had a serious look, was basically quiet, and very humble in spite of his great intelligence and knowledge, and did not talk much. But when he talked, people listened. He radiated confidence and was very popular. Yet he was also an enigmatic character and could be extremely difficult to decipher; a combination of sharp wit, remarkably high intelligence, humility and simplicity making it even more difficult to understand his personality. But it was all for a purpose and provided him ample room to think; the product of which is what you see today: the books he has written on a wide range of subjects.

He was thinking all the time, a subject brought up now and then especially by one Nigerian student who knew him well. He was so simple, and so humble, that you could easily underestimate him, but only at your own risk. And, for whatever reason, he liked to be underestimated, and to be considered as just a simple African among hundreds of millions, no better than the poorest peasant in some remote part of Africa. This also explains why he wrote this book, "Africa is in A Mess." It is about the well-being of the toiling masses across Africa more than anybody else. And that is why, in order to help improve the condition of the masses, and probably out of desperation, he proposes the following in his book (p.144):

"African countries should also liberalize their immigration laws to attract highly skilled farmers from the former colonial powers and elsewhere and enable them to lease land or become citizens. Africa is an agricultural continent, and it can greatly benefit from them. They have much-needed skills they can impart to local peasants and farmers to boost production. And because they have large capital, they will also be able to invest in the economy and provide much-needed employment....South African white farmers who are also leaving their country because of conflict over land and the polarized racial situation down there should be encouraged to settle in other African countries."

He goes on to say (p. 145): "If we want foreigners - no matter where they come from - with skills and money to invest in our economies and help develop our countries, we should welcome them with open arms. We are going to have investors or no investors. We don't have enough local investors with enough capital to fuel our economies. Therefore we need foreign investors. And we need highly skilled people to work and even settle in our countries. All this will have multiplier effect and help to develop our economies and create jobs our governments have failed to create for our our people. But local people, and the government, must have a controlling share in all investment ventures in our countries. Otherwise our countries are going to be owned by foreigners."

Although some of us may have trouble with some of that, and I do because we don't need foreigners to help us or teach us how to work on our land or develop our agricultural economies, what he says shows the depth of his commitment to the well-being of our people, the poorest of the poor in our continent and indeed of the entire Africa in general. May be he says this out of desperation as I said earlier, as a last resort, to see how we can help our people since nothing else seems to be working and our governments are doing nothing to seriously address the problem. I have not seen or talked to him in years to find out what he really thinks about all this. But his book raises a lot of important questions.

Many of his critics do, of course, probably wonder why he decided to live outside Africa for many years if he thought he had some solutions to some of our problems. But I think it is easy to understand why. I don't believe that he had any political ambitions to be a leader in Africa after finishing his university studies, although he had the potential to be one within the limited context of his home country Tanzania, even if not necessarily as a leader of continental stature. If he did have such an ambition, he would not have chosen to live abroad.

His decision to live outside Africa for whatever reasons, and even if he has returned to the continent now and then through the years, was obviously a well-calculated move (knowing him) as the best way for him to help Africa. As a writer, he has far more opportunities to get his books published if he lives abroad than anywhere in Africa. If he did not, and stayed in Africa to write, he probably would not have written the books he has, including this one, "Africa is in A Mess."

Besides the hostile political climate in African countries which discourages many of our people to write anything let alone books, we hardly have any publishers in our continent. And Mwakikagile is by no means the only African writer and scholar who has lived abroad for many years. Far better known and more influential African writers and scholars such as Professor Ali Mazrui, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thion'go, Dennis Brutus, Lewis Nkosi, Ezekiel Mphalele (who is now back in South Africa) and many others have also lived abroad for years even if for different reasons. Yet they are no less committed and no less patriotic than their fellow countrymen who still live in Africa. And Mwakikagile fits this category.

Of course, quite a few of us back then in the seventies when we were in college together thought that Mwakikagile was destined for high office and would end up in public life, as a public figure in a high government position when he returned to Tanzania. But he ended up as somebody else instead, as a writer, a public figure nonetheless, speaking for the underdog, and guided by his foresight and gifted intellect.

Most of us during those days were excited about our newly won independence, just like he was, of course. Remember, in the early and even in the mid-seventies, most African countries had been independent for only about 10 years or so or less. Yet, Mwakikagile was one of the few among us who were able to look beyond all that excitement and see that one of the biggest problems we already had even back then and would have in the future was our leaders, not just Western or Eastern imperialism. And he did emphasize that, yes, there was also Eastern imperialism, Russian and Chinese, and not just Western.

Those were also the days of the liberation struggle in southern Africa, especially in the seventies, and almost all of us paid close attention to what was going on down there, perhaps ignoring what our leaders were doing to us. Godfrey Mwakikagile and a few others did not ignore that, in spite of the fact that his country Tanzania was in the thick of the struggle especially as the headquarters of all the African liberation movements and guerrilla camps, training freedom fighters to wage war against the white minority racist regimes in southern Africa and Portuguese Guinea in West Africa.

The point of all this is that, had we looked at the weaknesses of most of our leaders as an incompetent lot, mired in corruption and motivated by greed for power at whatever cost more than anything else, we probably would have begun sooner to demand fundamental change way back then in the seventies, and even in the sixties. And we would not be in the kind of situation we are in now as destitute nations surviving on international relief.

And that brings up another question Mwakikagile has also addressed in his book, "Africa is in A Mess." Although he was optimistic about the future back in the seventies, he was mature enough to realize that Africa's problems were not entirely our fault or that of our leaders only. He did not, for one moment, believe that industrialized nations will ever listen to us at the conference table if we demanded fair treatment and tried to protect our interests. And the reason was simple, he said. We were weak. Without power, you are nothing in this world, he used to say. Power respects power. Morality does not count. If it did, Africa would not be ignored or exploited by powerful nations. And I agreed with him on all that. He said the international system, created and dominated by powerful countries especially after the end of World War II, had built-in biases against us and the rest of the Third World. It is an issue he also talks about in his book "Africa is in A Mess" and in his other works.

His book is a must read. But I hope that he will write another one on how we are going to escape from the grip of the powerful nations who dominate the world, stipulating terms of international trade and controlling everything else that affects us in the global arena and even in Africa itself. For example, as he states in his book citing declassified documents, the United States even had contingency plans to invade Nigeria in the mid-seventies, especially when the fiercely independent Murtala Mohammed was the military head of state, had the country cut off oil supplies to the West in case of another oil embargo by the OPEC nations or as a unilateral move in pursuit of national and Pan-African interests. He also points out that the American government had plans to neutralize the Nigerian military because it was becoming very powerful and Nigeria was playing a major role in the liberation struggle in southern Africa.

Do we Africans have solutions to such domination of our continent by Western countries and other powerful nations? Much as I admire Mwakikagile and his works, and much as I respect him as a scholar and as a thinker, I don't think he or anyone of us has fully addressed the issue. That is one of the weaknesses of his book, "Africa is in A Mess," if not its major weakness. If it wasn't for that, and may be a few other things he says in this controversial work, I would have given him five stars. But I give him four, instead. There's nothing wrong with being a four-star general!

Continue to marshal facts, Godfrey. Remember, you were even nicknamed "professor" back then when you were still a young university student barely out of your teens! And I'm sure you will also remember me, who I am, after you read this review. Thank you for "Africa is in A Mess" and your other books. Keep up the good work, fellow compatriot in Africa's redemption.

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[Josh Michael]

It is so pathetic that such a renowned and down-to-earth author is not recognised at home. Ni mara yangu ya kwanza kumsikia mtu huyu, niliposoma maelezo ya hapo juu sio siri roho imeniuma kwani naipenda sana nchi yangu na ningependa ingefaidika na utalaamu wa mtu kama Mwakikagile!

Kuna haja ya Hapa Tanzania kuanzisha Week maalumu ya kusoma Vitabu hata kuenzi michango mbalimbali ya mwandishi kama hawa maana wamesaidia sana katika kuitangaza Tanzania katika Nchi Mbalimbali

 

[Josh Michael]

Wewe kwa sababu hujui umuhimu wa kila aina ya uandishi na hata huyu mwandishi ndio maana leo tunao wandishi wengi wasio kuwa na sifa hata kidogo na wewe ndio wa kwanza kulalamika ndugu yangu

 

[Kileleni]

It makes no difference Godfrey Mwakikagile does not have a PhD although he could very easily have earned one had our government helped him financially back then to pursue further studies. He probably would have been back in Tanzania years ago teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam or working somewhere in the government.

Although he does not have a doctorate, his books are used by students in different countries studying for their master's and PhD degrees. That's equivalent to having a PhD himself even if he did not earn one in a formal academic setting.

For example, one of his books mentioned here, "The Modern African State: Quest for Transformation," has been used by internationally renowned Professor Mahmood Mamdani in his graduate classes at Columbia University, New York, for students pursuing their master's and PhD degrees.

And that's just one example. There are many others.

What else is there to go for? Earning a PhD won't prove anything in his case. He has already proved it.

That's roughly equivalent to Chinua Achebe not being honoured with a Nobel Prize for Literature. They have decided not to honour him with one (I understand for political reasons because of some of the things he has said). But what difference does it make? He's the same writer, with the same literary qualities, the same mind, with the same literary output. And he never earned a PhD, or a master's, in school; only a bachelor's from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Yet he has become what he is, an internationally respected writer and professor, in spite of that.

It's what you do, not what you have, that counts.

 

[Bulesi]

Huyu bwana hana haja ya kushift base yake kuja kuishi bongo kwani akija hapa environment haiwezi kumruhusu kuwa productive kama alivyo huko aliko. Akirudi bongo wanamtandao na serikali yao wataanza kumhusisha na siasa zao za chuki simply because ni kabila moja na mahasimu wao Mwakyembe na Mwandosya!! Unfortunately, hawa wana mtandao sio analytical and objective enough kujua kuwa sio kila mtu wa kabila la wanyakyusa ni victim wa Tribal baronism!!

 

[Josh Michael]

Itapaswa kuja hapa Tanzania na pia ikiwezekana apewe kazi katika vyuo vyetu vya Hapa Tanzania and kufundisha waandishi wengine kibao na kuwa Sifa kubwa kwa Taifa lote la Tanzania