Mzee Mwanakijiji,
Unajua ukiyasoma yale mahojiano uliyoweka hapo nyuma utaona kuwa Tanzania tumeshapoteza dira ya Taifa!..yaani tunaenda tu hatuna goals zaidi ya kuwaskiliza wazungu!...Kila alilosema MJn na pengine kusema kwa uhakika (kuapa) kimebadilishwa leo hii. Hakuna hata kiongzi mmoja anayeweza kukupa map ya safari yetu zaidi ya kudai kuwa bahari ni chafu tunamwachia Mungu!
Nimesoma jana usiku mzima nikajaribu kuchanganua na hali halisi mjomba ilikuwa kama nimepata msiba!... hakuna kilichobaki!.
Ebu nakuombeni tuyatazame upya mahojiano yale ili tupate ukweli wa mengi ambayo hadi leo hii huwa tunabishana humu.
1. Kuhusu Azimio la Arusha.. ebu tazameni kila alohofia ndio limechukua nafasi leo hii!
MJN: I still travel around with it. I read it over and over to see what I would change. Maybe I would improve on the Kiswahili that was used but the Declaration is still valid: I would not change a thing. Tanzania had been independent for a short time before we began to see a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in our country. A privileged group was emerging from the political leaders and bureaucrats who had been poor under colonial rule but were now beginning to use their positions in the Party and the Government to enrich themselves. This kind of development would alienate the leadership from the people. So we articulated a new national objective: we stressed that development is about all our people and not just a small and privileged minority.
2. Utawala... Tunayoyaona leo toka CCM. Je, multiparty was a solution?.. or was it too late!
MJN: I never advocated this for everyone. But I did for Tanzania because of our circumstances then. In 1990 the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) abandoned the one-party state for a multi-party system. But we do not have an opposition. The point I was making when I made the statement was that any party that stays in power too long becomes corrupt. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union, the CCM of Tanzania and the Conservative Party of Britain all stayed in power too long and became corrupt. This is especially so if the opposition is too weak or non-existent.
3. Uchumi wetu... hivi kweli sasa hivi tunapaa?
I was in Washington last year. At the World Bank the first question they asked me was `how did you fail?' I responded that we took over a country with 85 per cent of its adult population illiterate. The British ruled us for 43 years. When they left, there were 2 trained engineers and 12 doctors. This is the country we inherited.
When I stepped down there was 91-per-cent literacy and nearly every child was in school. We trained thousands of engineers and doctors and teachers.
In 1988 Tanzania's per-capita income was $280. Now, in 1998, it is $140. So I asked the World Bank people what went wrong. Because for the last ten years Tanzania has been signing on the dotted line and doing everything the IMF and the World Bank wanted. Enrolment in school has plummeted to 63 per cent and conditions in health and other social services have deteriorated. I asked them again: `what went wrong?' These people just sat there looking at me. Then they asked what could they do? I told them have some humility. Humility - they are so arrogant!
Ikiwa 1988, per-capita income ilikuwa Usd 280, leo hii tumesimama wapi?...Je, ni kweli mlosema Nyerere hakuwa mchumi mzuri maanake hata hao IMF walibaki domo mwaaa!
4. Ili tuendelee tunahitaji nini?...Let us argue the moral case. Let us create a new liberation movement to free us from immoral debt and neo-colonialism - MJN
MJN: It seems that independence of the former colonies has suited the interests of the industrial world for bigger profits at less cost. Independence made it cheaper for them to exploit us. We became neo-colonies. Some African leaders did not realize it. In fact many argued against Kwame (Nkrumah)'s idea of neo-colonialism.
The majority of countries in Africa and the rest of the South are hamstrung by debt, by the IMF. We have too much debt now. It is a heavy burden, a trap. It is debilitating. We must have a new chance. If we doubled our production and debt-servicing capabilities we would still have no money for anything extra like education or development. It is immoral. It is an affront. The conditions and policies of the World Bank and the IMF are to enable countries to pay debt not to develop. That is all! Let us argue the moral case.Let us create a new liberation movement to free us from immoral debt and neo-colonialism. This is one way forward. The other way is through Pan-African unity.
Unajua ukiyasoma yale mahojiano uliyoweka hapo nyuma utaona kuwa Tanzania tumeshapoteza dira ya Taifa!..yaani tunaenda tu hatuna goals zaidi ya kuwaskiliza wazungu!...Kila alilosema MJn na pengine kusema kwa uhakika (kuapa) kimebadilishwa leo hii. Hakuna hata kiongzi mmoja anayeweza kukupa map ya safari yetu zaidi ya kudai kuwa bahari ni chafu tunamwachia Mungu!
Nimesoma jana usiku mzima nikajaribu kuchanganua na hali halisi mjomba ilikuwa kama nimepata msiba!... hakuna kilichobaki!.
Ebu nakuombeni tuyatazame upya mahojiano yale ili tupate ukweli wa mengi ambayo hadi leo hii huwa tunabishana humu.
1. Kuhusu Azimio la Arusha.. ebu tazameni kila alohofia ndio limechukua nafasi leo hii!
MJN: I still travel around with it. I read it over and over to see what I would change. Maybe I would improve on the Kiswahili that was used but the Declaration is still valid: I would not change a thing. Tanzania had been independent for a short time before we began to see a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in our country. A privileged group was emerging from the political leaders and bureaucrats who had been poor under colonial rule but were now beginning to use their positions in the Party and the Government to enrich themselves. This kind of development would alienate the leadership from the people. So we articulated a new national objective: we stressed that development is about all our people and not just a small and privileged minority.
2. Utawala... Tunayoyaona leo toka CCM. Je, multiparty was a solution?.. or was it too late!
MJN: I never advocated this for everyone. But I did for Tanzania because of our circumstances then. In 1990 the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) abandoned the one-party state for a multi-party system. But we do not have an opposition. The point I was making when I made the statement was that any party that stays in power too long becomes corrupt. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union, the CCM of Tanzania and the Conservative Party of Britain all stayed in power too long and became corrupt. This is especially so if the opposition is too weak or non-existent.
3. Uchumi wetu... hivi kweli sasa hivi tunapaa?
I was in Washington last year. At the World Bank the first question they asked me was `how did you fail?' I responded that we took over a country with 85 per cent of its adult population illiterate. The British ruled us for 43 years. When they left, there were 2 trained engineers and 12 doctors. This is the country we inherited.
When I stepped down there was 91-per-cent literacy and nearly every child was in school. We trained thousands of engineers and doctors and teachers.
In 1988 Tanzania's per-capita income was $280. Now, in 1998, it is $140. So I asked the World Bank people what went wrong. Because for the last ten years Tanzania has been signing on the dotted line and doing everything the IMF and the World Bank wanted. Enrolment in school has plummeted to 63 per cent and conditions in health and other social services have deteriorated. I asked them again: `what went wrong?' These people just sat there looking at me. Then they asked what could they do? I told them have some humility. Humility - they are so arrogant!
Ikiwa 1988, per-capita income ilikuwa Usd 280, leo hii tumesimama wapi?...Je, ni kweli mlosema Nyerere hakuwa mchumi mzuri maanake hata hao IMF walibaki domo mwaaa!
4. Ili tuendelee tunahitaji nini?...Let us argue the moral case. Let us create a new liberation movement to free us from immoral debt and neo-colonialism - MJN
MJN: It seems that independence of the former colonies has suited the interests of the industrial world for bigger profits at less cost. Independence made it cheaper for them to exploit us. We became neo-colonies. Some African leaders did not realize it. In fact many argued against Kwame (Nkrumah)'s idea of neo-colonialism.
The majority of countries in Africa and the rest of the South are hamstrung by debt, by the IMF. We have too much debt now. It is a heavy burden, a trap. It is debilitating. We must have a new chance. If we doubled our production and debt-servicing capabilities we would still have no money for anything extra like education or development. It is immoral. It is an affront. The conditions and policies of the World Bank and the IMF are to enable countries to pay debt not to develop. That is all! Let us argue the moral case.Let us create a new liberation movement to free us from immoral debt and neo-colonialism. This is one way forward. The other way is through Pan-African unity.