Mchango wa Familia ya Sykes Katika Historia ya Tanganyika/Tanzania

Familia ya Sykes ni moja ya familia muhimu katika historia ya Tanzania. Kuanzia Abdulwalid Sykes, Abbas Sykes, na wengine katika familia kuna mengi yanasemwa kuhusu mchango wa familia ya Sykes katika kwa Tanganyika/Tanzania. Mengi zaidi yameandikwa kuhusu miaka ya hamsini, lakini pia kuna michango mingine ilifanywa miaka ya sitini ambayo haiongelewi. Moja ya michango iliyosahaulika ni katika uhusiano kati ya ASP ya Zanzibar na TANU.

Mnamo mwaka 1960, Mtoro Rehani na Eddy Kleist Sykes (dada wa Abbas and Abdulwalid), walihudhuria mkutano wa TANU kwa niaba ya ASP ambako kulifanyika maongozi ya uwezekano wa "Federation" (Ushirikisho) na "unification" (Muungano). Abbas Sykes alikuwa mmoja wa viongozi wa TANU aliyekuwa anapeleka ujumbe na pesa kwa ASP ya Zanzibar kati ya mwaka 1960 na 1963. Mwaka 1961 Abbas Sykes alienda Zanzibar na Ali Mogne Haloua na Roland Mwanjisi na kufanya mkutano wa siri na ASP. Abbas Sykes alitoa Shs. 7500 za TANU na kuwapa ASP. Pesa hizo zilitolewa kwa maelewano kwamba itakuwa siri. Mwaka 1962 Abbas Sykes alienda Zanzibar na kukutana na ZPFL. Aliwaambia ZPFL kwamba TANU itaacha kuwapa msaada kama wakiendelea kushambulia ASP. Abbas Sykes alienda Zanzibar mwanzoni wa mwaka 1963 na kuhudhuria mkutano wa ASP akiwa na ujumbe kutoka serikali ya Tanganyika. Waliokuwepo kwenye mkutano huo ni pamoja na Hassan Nassor Moyo na Ahmed Diria Hassan.

Kuna mahali nilisoma kwamba serikali ya Tanzania na TANU haikutaka kuandika mahali popote kuhusu mchango wa Abdulwalid Sykes. Katika utafiti wangu, nilikuta makala moja iliyoandikwa kwenye gazeti la serikali miaka ya sabini (Daily News) yenye kichwa cha habari "Sykes One of TANU Pioneers" yaani Sykes Alikuwa Mmoja ya Waasisi wa TANU." Makala hii inaongelea mchango wa Abdulwalid Sykes katika miaka ya hamsini. Haya ni baadhi ya mambo yaliyoandikwa katika makala hio iliyoandikwa kwa kiingereza.

Inasema: "Mr. Sykes was a founder member of Tanu. By his death the party lost one of its first pioneers. His political activities started way back before the formation of TANU. He was President of the Tanganyika African Association (TAA) from which TANU emerged."

As for the name TANU, the article asserts "..Mr. Abdul Sykes suggested the name of the new Party to be Tanganyika African Union (TAU). However his colleagues objected saying that it was very similar to Kenya African Union (KAU) that had already been banned by the colonialists. "They thought under such a name the colonialists would use the name as pretext to ban TAU. Mwalimu Nyerere then suggested that a word "National: be included, making the name Tanganyika National African Union. "Mr. Ally Sykes a brother of Abdul Walid objected to Mwalimu Nyerere's suggestion saying that the short form of the party name-TNAU-would not be easy to pronounce. He called for another arrangement of the words. This resulted into an acceptable party title-TANU."

Makala hii ya gazeti la serikali inasema kwamba Abdul Sykes alikuwa ni mmoja wa waasisi wa TANU, kwamba alikuwa kiongozi wa TAA kabla Mwalimu Nyerere hajachaguliwa kuwa mwenyekiti wa TAA, na inaongelea jinsi wanafamilia ya Sykes walivyochangia kuja na jina la TANU.

Ni wazi kwamba Tanganyika haikupata uhuru kwa mchango wa mtu mmoja na pia kuna wengi walijitolea katika miaka ya mwanzo baada ya uhuru kujenga nchi hii kama ilivyoandikwa na gazeti la serikali na nyaraka zingine zilizogusia mawasiliano kati ya Abbas Sykes na viongozi wa ASP. Kila mmoja alitoa mchango wake kwa Tanganyika/Tanzania, na pamoja, nguvu ya wananchi ilihakikisha ushindi katika harakati za kupata uhuru kutoka kwa mkoloni na kujenga nchi baada ya uhuru

Azaria Mbughuni

September 26, 2017

AFRIKA YA KESHO. MTU AKIKUAMBIA UJINGA NI BORA KULIKO USTAARABU USIMSADIKI

 Makala hii itamfanya mtu yeyote atayoisoma kwa makini na utulivu, atayeisoma bila papara, kukaa chini na kutafakari tulipotoka, tulipofika, na tunapoenda. Makala hii Iliandikwa mwaka 1923 na mwandishi ambae hakujitambulisha. Hapa kuna mengi ya kujifunza na maswali mengi zaidi ya kujiuliza leo hii, miaka karibu 100 tangu makala ichapishwe. Ustaarabu ni nini? Tulikuwa vipi kabla ya wageni?Tumetoka wapi, tupo vipi sasa hivi, na tunaelekea wapi?

AFRIKA YA KESHO. MTU AKIKUAMBIA UJINGA NI BORA KULIKO USTAARABU USIMSADIKI 

Tangu zamani, kabla Wazungu hawajaja katika inchi yetu ya Afrika, sisi tulijifahamu wenyewe kuwa ni watu wa nyuma sana, yaani si wastaarabu. Watu wa inchi zingine walikuwa watuwastaabika. Na sisi asili ya kukosa kustaarabu ni hii:

sisi siku zote tunakimibilia ganda la ustaarabu, asili ya ustaarabu tunaiacha. Mfano kama hivi.

Katika kufafanua kwetu macho tumewaona Waarabu ndio wastaarabu wa kwanza tuliowaona katika inchi yetu. Wakaja na ustaarabu wao wakakaa miaka kathawakatha. Na ingiwa wao hawakutaka sisi tustaarabu, lakini kwa kukaa nao tu tungeweza kuiga ustaarabu. Lakini tutazame tumeiga nini kwao? Hakika tukiwa tunataka tuwape haki yao wameleta dini katika inchi ya Afrika, na kwa dini yao watu kidogo wamekuwa hawajambo kwa mambo mengine ya desturi za ustaarabu. Lakini zaidi kuliko hivi hatukuiga neno illa mambo yasiyo na faida. Kununua watumwa, kujaribu kuwatuma wenzetu watufanyie kazi, sisi wenyewe tuvae joho na vilemba, na mambo kama haya.

Na Zaidi kuliko haya tukawatwaa ndugu zetu tukawauza kwa Waarabu, wengine wakawahadaa tu kwa kuwapa kanzu na kuwachukua pwani. Tena tukatwaa mali yetu tuliokuwa nayo ya pembe tukawauzia wao kwa doti ya shuka. Wao wakachukua mali na ndugu zetu, wakaenda zao Maskati, Unguja, na Pemba, wakanunua mashamba wakastarehe. Sisi wakatuacha na ujinga wetu. 

Hatima imekuja Dola ya Kizungu, na Wazungu kama tujuavyo wanataka sana tustaarabu, yaani tuwe watu kama watu. Lakini naona tumeanza kufanya makosa yale yale tuliofanya wakati wa Waarabu, ya kuchukua maganda ya ustaarabu, kuacha ustaarabu wenyewe. Nyinyi wenyewe mnaona yakuwa siku hizi vijana waote wanakimbilia wanaoita ustaarab wa Kizungu, kuiga mwendo wa Kizungu, kusema kwa sauti ya Kizungu na mambo mengine kama haya ambayo hayamfai mtu kwa lolote. Na sisi twajiona tumestaarabu, kumbe ni ujinga.

Ustaarabu ni nini? Ustaarabu ni kuwa watu kama watu. Yaani kuendelea katika mambo yote ya dunia yanayotuletea faida sisi na inchi yetu. Huu ndio ustaarabu. Tujitahidi kuendelea katia (1) Mambo ya Biashara, (2) Kazi ya Ufundi, (3) Kusoma, (4) Kulima, (5) Ukarani, 

Labda mtaniuliza kuwa kwani sasa hatufanyi hayo? Tunafanya, lakini hatufanyi kama inavyopasa. Mambo haya yote yanafanywa na wageni, yaani watu wa Asia, wanafanya haya yote wanapata mapesa wanarudisha kwao, sisi wnatuacha na ujinga wetu.

Ingekuwa ni watu wa kuamka, na kushika ustaarabu, tangu kuja Wazungu katika inchi yety tungalikuwa tumeanza kuonyesha alama za ustaarabu. 

ITAENDELEA!

The Plundering of Tanzania's Diamonds

The Plundering of Tanzania's Diamonds

The looting and plundering of African mineral resources has been taking place for centuries. In light of the recent report from Tanzania indicating widespread looting in the Diamond, Tanzanite, and other important mineral sectors, it is important to remember that this is not new, and with this knowledge, we must think carefully about how to make necessary changes in order to insure people of Tanzania benefit from what is theirs. 

Tanzania, then Tanganyika, became the "Wild Wild West" of mineral search in the 1920s. Tanganyika exported 8,898 ounces of gold, 411.5 carats of diamonds, 1,010 ounces of silver, and 10 tons of tin ore in 1926. These numbers were not very impressive, but the size of the deposits and future prospects was impressive and it drew the attention of big foreign multicorporations. The British, Americans, Canadians, South Africans, converged to Tanganyika in search of their piece of the pie, riches. The looting of Tanganyika reveals the ways in which imperialism and capitalism penetrated Africa. Although Tanganyika was a British colony, the territory was fair game for all major capitalist venture from the West; foreign companies from Europe, America, Asia, and even South Africa, competed to inject capital and exploit newly discovered minerals. Africans were set up to gain little, if anything, from these exploits. Nothing illustrates this point more than the competition for control of Diamond mines in the northern Tanganyika in the 1940s. Fierce international competition for Tanganyika's diamond led to the intervention of Western governments in support of their nationals. A Canadian named John Williamson, would eventually win the magnificent cake that was set in motion with the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885: one of the world's richest diamond mines in Mwanza, Tanganyika. You see Canada's exploitation of Tanzania, is afterall, not something that started recently with the revelations about ACACIA in 2017; it has long and deep roots. 

Large alluvial diamonds and diamondiferous deposists were discovered near Mwanza in 1925. The discovery was compared to the famous diamond mines of Kimberly, South Africa at the time. It should be remembered that Kimberly diamond mines was one of the largest in the world and it continues to yield diamonds to this day. The potential for making unimaginable profits from diamond exploits in north western Tanganyika was enormous. The initial discovery of diamondiferous deposists were found in a 250 acre farm that was owned by Germans before World War I. The German colonial government granted a concession to a South African named Van Koon. Van Koon established legal claim to the holdings after the British government took over Mandate of the territory in 1919. The concession was sold to a Johannesburg syndicate in 1925. 

In the mean time, a Canadian Geologist, John Williamson, found his way to South Africa and worked for a subsidiary of De Beers in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). He purchased a diamond mine in the mid-1930s in Northern Rhodesia; the venture failed. Williamson turned his attention to Mwadui area in north west Tanganyika in 1940. He would work to develop one of the most profitable diamond mines in the world. Williamson faced fierce competition from South African and American companies for the rights to mine diamonds in Mwanza. The US government intervened on behalf of a US company that wanted to exploit the diamonds in Mwanza. The State Department kept a close watch on mining potential in Tanganyika from the 1920s. The competition for Tanganyika's diamonds in the 1940s tells us a lot about what has taken place in Tanzania just in the past 20 years alone. Western companies work with their governments and do everything in their power to ensure that they have access to African minerals. 

By the end of 1940s, John Williamson's diamond company was mining over 8 million dollars of diamond annually; this is a sum that was close to the entire budget of the British colonial government for all of Tanganyika. In other words, one person earned in a year almost what the colonial government was spending for running the entire territory. Williamson gave the Queen of England one of the finest pink diamonds ever discovered in 1953 as a gift. The diamond was found in 1947 in his Mwadui mine. John Williamson was one of the richest people in the world when he died in 1958. The region that Williamson mined diamonds did not benefit much considering what was being exported from the region; neither did Tanganyika as a territory gain much from the diamond exploits. 

The development of Tanganyikans was then, and remains to this day, the last thing in the minds of those intent on acquiring personal riches, these are individuals inside and outside the country. Such is the nature of the tentacles of capitalism. A country with a wealth of mineral resources is left with little to nothing while multicorporations with the backing of their governments use every trick possible to ensure the system of exploitation of Africa's resources persists. This is what Tanzania and Africa in general is facing in the beginning of the 21st century, just as it did in the beginning of the 20th century. This pattern will continue into the 22nd century if Africans do not change. 

The recent reports of Diamond, Tanzanite and other minerals being looted from Tanzania, should not come as a surprise. A bag of diamond stopped at the airport August 2017 from Mwadui diamond mine was officially recorded to be worth $14.7 million; official investigation revealed that it was worth $29.5 million. The company underreported the value of diamonds it was exporting. How long have they been doing this? This kind of looting has been taking place for at least 100 years. What is important at this juncture is what we do next. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect different results.

© Azaria C. Mbughuni

The Legacy of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere

The Legacy of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere 

There are those who are bent on tarnishing the legacy of Mwalimu Nyerere. The campaign to tarnish the legacy of Mwalimu is based on various claims; one of the most frequent criticism lies in the economic challenges that the country faced during his tenure. The criticism fails to take into account some of the major gains in the development of people, not things, the sacrifices made for the liberation of southern Africa and its consequences, and more importantly, many critics fail to take into account the larger context of the 1960s and 70s. 

Nyerere’s contributions to the struggle for freedom and independence is unparalleled in Africa. ANC of South Africa, FRELIMO of Mozambique, ZAPU and later ZANU of Zimbabwe, SWANU/SWAPO of Namibia, all these organizations established a presence in Tanganyika before independence, and starting in 1963, opened up military camps. FRELIMO, one of the most successful groups in southern Africa, was formed in Tanganyika in 1962. Nyerere gave the different groups from Mozambique based in Tanganyika an ultimatum: either unite or leave the country. The outcome was a meeting at Arnautoglu Hall, in Dar es Salaam, that led to the formation of FRELIMO. The establishment of military camps in Kongwa in 1963 was the beginning of liberation armies from southern Africa that eventually ended racist minority rule in southern Africa. FRELIMO, ANC, SWAPO, ZANU, all established military camps at Kongwa. The SWAPO consultative conference in Tanga, Tanzania was a turning point in the struggle for Namibia. So was the ANC conference in Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969; this was an important moment for the struggle for South Africa. For the South Africans, Namibians, Zimbabweans, and Mozambicans, Tanzania was one of the most important places in the history of their struggles. Nyerere committed Tanzania's limited resources to the liberation of southern Africa from 1961 through the 1980s. Tanzania was punished politically and economically for this. The economic cost for Tanzania’s role in supporting liberation movements in southern Africa cannot be overestimated. 

Britain cut off economic aid to Tanzania in 1965 over disagreements on Southern Rhodesia. The government of Tanganyika had signed a 7 million pounds aid package with Britain; the aid was cancelled because of Southern Rhodesia. Nyerere was committed to the principle of NIBMAR, No Independence Before Majority Rule in Zimbabwe. And for this reason, he was ready to let go the financial assistance from the West. This was no easy decision for an independent country just 3 years after winning independence. As far back as 1960, Nyerere indicated the desire to leave the Commonwealth if South Africa was allowed to join the Commonwealth. Nyerere took part in formation of the Anti Apartheid Movement in London in 1959 with the help of his close friend and comrade K.W. M. Chiume from Malawi. He gave the keynote speech during a meeting that launched the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK. Later, pressure from Tanganyika eventually forced South Africa out of the Commonwealth. No amount of money, aid, would convince Mwalimu to betray his conscience. He believed that all humans were created equal, that human dignity, the dignity of Africa, was worth more than a few pieces of silver.

The economic difficulties Tanzania faced must be placed in a wider context. Let us not forget that Tanzania was not alone in Africa in facing economic difficulties. There are many reasons for this and not much has changed to this day. World oil crisis of 1973 due to Arab/Israel war devastated the economies of countries such as Tanzania. Tanzania's foreign reserve was wiped out during the crisis. Natural disasters such as the serious drought of the 1970s in eastern Africa worsened the regional economic situation. The war between Tanzania and Uganda came just as Tanganyika was showing signs of recovery towards the end of 1970s. The Tanzania/Uganda war of 1978-1979 finished whatever the government of Tanzania had in its reserves. Tanzania leaders had to travel to different capitals around the world to get what they needed for the war. Idi Amin who was put into power with the help of British and Israel intelligence had turned his back on his masters. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya committed his resources and army to help Amin against Tanzania. Nyerere would later refuse an offer of millions of dollars from Gaddafi to free the mostly black Libyan soldiers sent to fight with Uganda against Tanzania. He instead put the Libyan soldiers on a plane back to Libya free of charge. This was a bloody and costly war that raged for almost a year. Tanzania won the war; but the cash-strapped nation was left in an even greater debt. 

Tanzania was already in a difficult economic situation at the start of 1980. There are many who like to criticize Nyerere for the economic hardships of the 1970s and 1980s as if they just started from nowhere and that the difficulties were only the result of socialist policies. Again, one is missing the big picture if they do not take into account the broader context. In addition to outside conditions that Tanzania had no control over, such as drought and oil crisis abroad, there was an underground economic war waged against Tanzania that made a bad economic situation worse by 1980. Lastly, IMF and World Bank policies, i.e. Structural Adjustment Programs, further destroyed whatever prospects countries like Tanzania had in strengthening their economies by mid-1980s. 

Mwalimu Nyerere was not an angel and he did make mistakes. Yet Nyerere took a country with a handful of doctors and engineers and a literacy rate of about 15% after 40 years of British rule and left it with over 90% literacy rate in 1985. The literacy rate has decreased significantly since then. As Nyerere pointed out correctly: he was interested in the development of people, not things. You can have skyscrapers, expensive homes and cars, great monuments, but if such things are owned and enjoyed by a few while the majority remain in poverty, then such things/development are ultimately meaningless. On the balance, Nyerere's contributions far outweigh his shortfalls. 

There is no doubt about it, Nyerere was a giant among giants. History will absolve him and place him in his rightful place as one of the most remarkable African and world leaders of the 20th century.

© Azaria C. Mbughuni