By IPS Correspondents
DAR ES SALAAM, Oct 22 1999 (IPS)

In the 1970s, during the Cold War, luminary revolutionaries, like Fidel Castro of Cuba and Marshal Titos of Yugoslavia, travelled to Dar es Salaam to learn more about the ujamaa policy, introduced by the late Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

Nyerere, the driving force behind the controversial policy, died from cancer in a London hospital last week, aged 77.

In fact, under ujamaa — the nucleated ‘familyhood’ villages which formed the corner-stone of Tanzanian socialism — Tanzania achieved a literacy rate of about 91 percent, the highest in Africa.

George Mkuchika, the regional commissioner for the eastern Tanzanian region of Tanga, says ujamaa enabled every Tanzanian to gain access to primary and secondary education irrespective of their religion, ethnicity, or economic status.

“My father was very poor and we were eight in my family, and in 1964 I was selected to join secondary school, thanks God the same year the government removed school fees,” he says.

Mkuchika, a retired army officer, says many high ranking officials in Tanzania today owe their education to ujamaa.

Addressing parliament in the capital Dar es Salaam in July 1970, Nyerere defined ujamaa as the basis of African socialism. “Ujamaa is familyhood and an attitude of the mind that is needed to ensure people care for each other’s welfare,” he said. “In traditional African society, the people take care of the community and the community takes care of them, without exploiting each other.”

The implementation of ujamaa was largely completed in 1976. In June 1975 Nyerere announced that there were 9.1 million people living in some 6,940 villages, accounting for 65 percent of Tanzania’s entire population.

Critics say the rapid rate of imposition of the scheme and the disruption of traditional agriculture caused social and economic problems for the country.

For example, “Operation Maduka”, to replace private retailers in or near farms, industries and ujamaa villagers by cooperatives, was began early in 1976, but its speedy implementation caused distribution problems and shortages and the operation was slowed down.

Many Tanzanians blame ujamaa’s failure on implementation. “Some of the leaders did not understand Mwalimu Nyerere’s objective. During the villagisation programme in 1971, the leaders went as far as forcing people to vacate their homes and setting up concentration camps instead of a village,” says Mkuchika.

Joe Masanilo, a veteran Tanzanian journalist, attributes the failure of ujamaa to the “hypocrisy” by local leaders Mwalimu charged with implementing the scheme.

“I am sure the policy did not aim to worsen people’s lives, rather improve it. Instead of telling the people about the importance of the programme, the leaders just rounded up people and dumped them in areas, or forests, with no shelters, or water,” he says.

Mkuchika says the villagisation programme facilitated the provision of social services by the government as the people settled together and share schools, hospitals. “It could have been difficult for the authorities to provide services if the population was scattered,” he says.

But others like Amon Kajiru, an auditor with Tanzania Portland Cement factory in Dar es Salaam, blames external forces. “It was strangled by capitalist and communist policies which were pulling against each other at that time,” he says.

Kajiru also accused African countries of letting Nyerere down. “It was not easy for Tanzanians to implement ujamaa policies in isolation, they needed support from their neighbours and the continent at large,” he says.

Edward Lowassa, a cabinet minister, says ujamaa forged unity among Tanzanians by addressing each other “ndugu” a swahili word for a relative.

But critic Steven Katarama says the ujamaa policy, under which private properties were nationalised, was a mess as it delayed, what he describes “quick development”. He says Nyerere should have left the rich alone to pursue their goals.

Professor Suleiman Ngware of the university of Dar es Salaam disagreed. He says, if critics “think Ujamaa was a failure, then it was as good as colonialism which did not change the lives of many of us.”

“Nyerere as a human being had his own problems, but as a leader he believed in human dignity, equality and he wanted to use his ujamaa policy to reach his targeted goals,” he says.

Rashid Kawawa, the first Prime minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, underscores the importance of ujamaa to development. “Ujamaa stood for good health, shelter, education and food, a cornerstone for any government aspiring for good welfare of its citizens,” he says.

After Nyerere’s death, the positive legacy of ujamaa has began to sink in, even to Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Nyerere’s successor who opened the door for liberalisation in 1985. Paying tribute to Mwalimu, Mwinyi says “we will continue to implement the policy of self-reliance for the development of our country.”

Tanzania, with a population of about 32 million, has seen its literacy rate gone down to 84 percent, a situation blamed on economic reforms which have forced the government to introduce cost-sharing policies. These policies deny the right to education of poor children as their parents cannot afford to pay their tuition fees.

To date even the adult literacy rate, which rose from 61 percent in 1975 to 90 percent in 1984 is estimated to have declined to between 70 and 80 percent.

Ngware says those who doubt Mwalimu’s legacy should ask themselves why the world — represented by 70 countries — turned up to pay tribute to Nyerere on Thursday (Oct 21).

“Who buried (former Congolese leader) Mobutu (Sese Seko)?” he asks.

Mobutu, who ruled Zaire, now renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), between 1965 and 1997, died in exile in Morocco where he was buried in 1997.

Nyerere, who will be buried Saturday, is still revered in Tanzania as the “father of the nation” after leading his country to independence and serving as its first president from 1964 to 1985.

The government of President Banjamin Mkapa has declared 30 days of mourning throughout the East African country.

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