JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE

Murphy Browne © April 12-2018


JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE 


Kambarage Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania, was born in Butiama, Tanganyika on April 13, 1922. He would later add Julius to his name when he converted to Catholicism. At the time of Nyere’s birth the country was a British colony. Just a few years before Nyerere was born (1885 - May 7, 1919) the East African country was a German colony, German East Africa and included modern day Burundi and Rwanda. This area of 994,996 square kilometres (384,170 square miles) was three times larger than Germany.




Although the Europeans seized African territory beginning mostly in the 1800s, they were not the first colonizers who had seized African land from the Africans. The Arabs had been ahead of the Europeans by several centuries. The Arabs had left Oman, “an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia” officially known as the Sultanate of Oman and seized and colonized vast areas of East Africa. In 1698, Zanzibar, Tanzania became part of the overseas holdings of Oman under the control of the Sultan of Oman. A ruling Arab elite was established and with the forced unpaid labour of enslaved Africans the ruling elite was enriched with the development of plantations.




In the 1800s when the European enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean, Central America, North America and South America was forced to end, the Europeans turned their attention once more to the African continent. Following the three month (November 15, 1884 – February 26, 1885) “Berlin Conference” also known as the Scramble for Africa where a group of White men representing 14 countries parcelled out African land among themselves, the German Empire “established” German East Africa. When the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar objected, the Germans threatened to bombard his palace with their warships. Faced with the might of the Germans who were backed by other European tribes, the Sultan was forced to acquiesce. Britain and their German cousins then agreed to divide the area between them.




In the Guyana of my youth there was a local saying that would describe this situation: “Teef from teef mek Gawd laff.” I cannot be sure that the God of either the Arabs or the Europeans was laughing at the Europeans stealing African land from the Arabs who had stolen the land from the Africans in the first place but the Africans were not laughing. They were once again at the mercy of interlopers who stole and colonized their land and forced them into subservient positions in their own land. This covetousness was backed by the almighty machine gun which had been developed in 1884. Described as “the first practical self-powered machine gun” and "the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest" the invention of the machine gun is credited to White American inventor Hiram Maxim. At the end of the first European tribal conflict (1914-1918) the Supreme Council of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (May 7, 1919) awarded German East Africa to their British cousins. The British named their newly acquired African territory "Tanganyika."




It was in this colonial situation that the man who would eventually become known as Baba wa Taifa, “Father of the Nation” was born. Nyerere was born the son of the Zanaki chief Nyerere Burito. Julius Kambarage Nyerere completed his primary and secondary education in Tanganyika and then attended Makerere University in Uganda before attending Edinburgh University in Scotland. He obtained a Masters of Arts degree in Economics and History in 1952 from Edinburgh University. Nyerere left Britain and arrived in Dar Es Salaam in October 1952. He married Maria Gabriel Majige on January 24, 1953 and was offered the position of history teacher at St Francis' College in Pugu. While teaching history at St Francis' College Nyerere was also involved in political activism and was elected president of the Tanganyika African Association (TAA.) As leader of the TAA Nyerere advocated for the independence of Tanganyika from the British Empire. On July 7, 1954 the name of the party was changed to Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and Nyerere was elected the first president of TANU. Consequently the Roman Catholic leadership asked him to choose between teaching at their school and continuing his political work. Nyerere decided to resign his teaching position and continue his political work.




In 1958 Nyerere made a presentation to the United Nations Organization (UNO) about independence of Tanganyika from British colonization. Independence was granted on December 9, 1961 and Nyerere became the first Prime Minister of Tanganyika. On December 9, 1962, Nyerere was elected the first President of the Republic of Tanganyika. When Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form the United Republic of Tanzania on April 26, 1964, Nyerere became the first President of Tanzania.
Nyerere proposed the philosophy of Ujamaa to establish self-sufficient communities in Tanzania. He advocated the political, social and economic ideals that inspired African socialism and the idea of an end to economic dependence and systemic underdevelopment. Nyerere is a symbol of African freedom because he advocated and supported the liberation of the continent from colonial rule. Julius Kambarage Nyerere who transitioned to the ancestral realm on October 14, 1999 would have been 96 years old on April 13-2018.


Murphy Browne © April 12-2018