Resurrecting Tanganyika

By Samwel Ndandala

If you are a young mainlander like me who was born in the eighties, Tanganyika is something in the museum, a beautiful memory. All you knew was Tanzania and all you felt was Tanzanian. Tanganyika was something you got to talk about in history classes. You never saw its flag and never asked if this short-lived nation had an anthem. Though you could not quite understand why one country had two governments when your ‘Civics’ teacher tried to explain, you never really felt that it was unfair that Tanganyika did not have its own government. Because to you, Tanganyika did not exist. You were a Tanzanian and that was enough. You never harboured any attachments to the nation that was born exactly 51 years ago.

If you were born in Zanzibar, well, my guess is you had things a bit different. You were taught that Zanzibar was a nation, and still is, and you had the President to prove it. You celebrated Revolution Day and Union Day brought mixed feelings. In your conversations, you were a proud Zanzibari, and learned to be a reluctant Tanzanian. Perhaps the ‘elders’ taught you that Zanzibar went into a forced marriage, and as a result it was swallowed by the mainlanders. You are proud of the Zanzibari flag. While the law allows you to buy land anywhere in Tanzania, you don’t find it unfair that the mainlanders cannot buy any land in the beautiful historical islands.

Regardless of where you were born, you saw the politicians filibuster the union issue. You saw them avoid it, procrastinate it and silence any one that tried to unearth it. You saw the ruling party cling to the two-government-solution that you still find pointless. You saw the G55 group suppressed for trying to resurrect Tanganyika. If you are not careful, you shall soon assimilate the fear and you too will consider it a taboo to talk about it. But today is freedom day, you are free to talk about anything. After all it was the independence of Tanganyika. So let’s freely talk about the union.

At the core of the Union issue is the autonomy that Zanzibar wants to retain, the autonomy that Tanganyika already lost. The Zanzibari people do not want to lose their national identity while the ‘Tanganyikans’ do not understand why it is so difficult for their brothers to let go off their Zanzibari ‘nationalistic’ pastions. You can see that all around the world. The Scottish talk of seceding from the UK, the Catalonians do not want to be Spanish anymore, Flanders is not too interested in remaining Belgian, Québec is still Canada’s headache and do people still remember the cause of the 1963 Biafra war? (We should because our country supported the secession). And who remembers that just next door, Katanga declared independence from Congo (1960-1963)? You see, we are not that unique!

History is medicine. These historical anecdotes need to be revisited well even before proposing the form of government for this union. In fact, contrary to what many people believe, I think even with the three government structure (that is thought of as a panacea for the union) if these fundamental autonomy issues are not addressed, it will be close to impossible coordinating those costly governments. In my opinion, we need to go back to the pre-Tanzania era for solutions. From there we can answer three questions:

1. Do we really need a union? (And not a federation or just cooperation)

2. If we are going to unite (not federate) why do we need a number of governments?

3. What kind of national debate should inform our decisions over the two matters stated above?

Now I must confess that I am a chartered accountant, not a constitutional lawyer, but I believe I can offer some thoughts. In other words do not focus on the nomenclature of my arguments; the lawyers will deal with that later. What I really want to get across are the principles behind my argument. The principles aim to answer these key questions. If we can get to the core of these three questions, I am persuaded that we can bury this issue once and for all so that we can focus of the real issues of our time.

The people of Tanganyika and Zanzibar have been knitted by history itself. After all, all the slaves from the Tanganyikan hinterlands had to go through Zanzibar. We share a common language. And while Zanzibar has had more Arab Influence, significant portions of its population are Bantu people. We have intermarried, traded and interacted for centuries. Indeed any separation between these parts will inevitably leave families torn apart. After the Berlin conference when lines were drawn to partition the continent, the Maasai were told that their fellow Maasai living in Kenya are not their fellow countrymen because of this new country (or ‘protectorate’) called Tanganyika. I am sure the Maasai thought ‘these Germans are crazy’, we would be crazy to think so as well.

On the economic front, we have had a powerful fusion. The Pemba people with trade in their genes have done a lot to improve trade in both Dar es Salaam and the regions. We have exchanged skills, fostered development and created a harmonious society that is able to do well economically. ‘Breaking up’ will require each country to have its own central bank, army and marine to name just a few. All these are costly and will tax the resources that we currently do not have even in the state of this union. The answer to question one is therefore a resounding yes; we need this Union for pragmatic reasons.

Nyerere is acclaimed for far-sighted thinking. Granted, he earned it. But I do not think history will judge him very well on the government structure of this United Republic, namely the two governments. I am inclined to agree with professor Issa Shivji who argues in his book, Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism: Lessons of the Tanganyika – Zanzibar Union, that Nyerere’s vision for Tanzania was “one country, one state, one party and one ideology.” In other words, the two-government structure should have been a temporary patch-making way for a single government. As we now witness, that did not happen. Now that we have a multi-party system in place, the two government structure is even less feasible. In deed even at the moment, we have a coalition government in the isles and a CCM government for a Union Government. The two-government solution clearly does not work.

Unless Zanzibar is willing to surrender its sovereignty and loose its status as a nation like Tanganyika did, this union will always be shaky, which is why we need to resurrect Tanganyika. A three government solution is not going to solve the Zanzibari identity crisis either because it would still be three governments for a single country. Unity of command is a central aspect of governing. The shots have to end with one president, one Commander in Chief. If a certain part of the Union wants to have autonomy, increasing the number of governments does not necessarily solve that autonomy problem.

Through resurrecting Tanganyika, Zanzibar has a partner to negotiate a Union with. Currently, it does not have one. Ultimately, what I believe will work will be two states in a single nation. In other words one government with one president but broad (but not all) powers given to these two regions, perhaps have one governor from each side and a Parliament/House of Representatives. Each side should have broad powers to enact and enforce laws and administer public goods. They can even go as far as having their own budgets, courts, taxation systems and public holidays. Only few matters should be administered federally, issues that pertain to security, defense  foreign policy and monetary policies. That way, both sides of the union get to maintain their identity while enjoying the benefits of the Union. Another advantage of this is the decentralization effect it has; the government comes closer to the people.

As for the method of reaching that consensus, transparency cannot be overemphasized  Let it not be assumed that people automatically want to stay united. The first referendum which should be held on both sides is to determine if the people would want to see the Union go on. Because while we might be arguing about the technicalities of governing, the people may want each part to take different routes and be independent. Let the people speak, let them decide if they want to stay married in the first place. Once a consensus is reached, the next phase will be due and all these options should be tabled. One of the major complaints of the union is that it has no political legitimacy because the people were not consulted; it was thrust on them. It is time to right these wrongs for good. We have a window; the window is called ‘katiba mpya’.

Happy birthday Tanganyika!

Mungu ibariki Tanganyika na Zanzibar.

Samwel can be reached by e-mailing sam.ndandala(at)googlemail(dot)com