Miaka 45 Baadaye. Wako wapi hawa?

Field Marshall ES said:

How do we know that Nyerere was the best thing? See the problem I have with folks who regard Nyerere highly is that we dont the alternatives, at his time, to make a logical, objective comparison. I am not even sure if we know Nyerere for who is or what he wanted Tanzanians to believe. He managed to create an aura of admiration and worship. He created an atmosphere where no one would question his ideas.

Remember the days when we couldnt read anything other than Uhuru, Mzalendo, Daily News and Sunday News before Mfanyakazi came into existence to provide some kind of an entertainment relief? You remember the days when the 8:00 PM RTD news bulletin would be followed up by a Ujumbe wa Leo propaganda? I have to give it up to Nyerere. He ensured that Tanzanians couldnt run or hide from his ideology. If you feed someone junk for twenty (20) years, they would believe that crap. He even went as far as insulting our intelligence by putting a hoe against himself in the election. A hoe or a hammer, can you believe that? Who elects a hoe as the president?

What ticks me off is the fact that he forced us to sing derogatory songs against Oscar Kambona. We sang this tune during our morning mchakamchaka routines in High School, Kambona ameolewa! Wapi?! Wapi?! Uingereza! Was Kambona really that bad? What is the historical truth?

When the TANU National Executive Committee met in Arusha January 26-29 1967 it turned out to be a stormy session. At this meeting Nyerere proposed that Ujamaa become the official policy of the government. Oscar Kambona objected strongly to this policy. Twice during these sessions, the Executive Committee adjourned in order to allow their three leaders, Nyerere, Kambona and Kawawa to go into private session. Each time that they returned to the Executive Committee it was apparent that Kawawa had supported Nyerere to defeat Kambona. The result was that the Arusha Declaration was adopted.

It gets me mad to realize that I actually sang derogatory songs against an individual who did nothing wrong. If at all, his crime was to express his opinion against Nyereres utopian dreams. The worst part is the fact that the introduction of free market economy has proven that Kambona was right and Nyerere's ideas were just a disaster in the making.

This artile is not whether Kambona was better than Nyerere, and vice versa. It is intended to push us into taking a very hard look at our history and what we have been long taught and gauge whether our perspective and perceptions are correct. But in order to effectively do that, we have to be objective and let go of our political biasness. Unfortunately, the Tanzanian history is tangled with Nyereres legacy.

In order for us to create the right future, we have to unearth some of the wrong foundations and beliefs that we have held on for so long. I dont want my children to grow up thinking that Nyerere was the best think that has ever happened to Tanzania, while that could not an objective assessment. I dont want my kids to grow up thinking that Oscar Kambona, Mzee Mapalala, or Kassanga Tumbo were villains simply because they didnt fit into Nyereres thinking. That is the point.

I strongly believe that we owe it to ourselves to query as to whether the little we know, particularly on Kambona's disagreement on Ujamaa, is enough to sideline this man and negatively portray his contribution the way Nyerere did.

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Habari hii nilivyoisoma mimi kwa tafsiri yangu inaonyesha mambo mengi sana, baadhi tu machache tu yakiwa kama ifuatavyo:

1. Inaonyesha KAMA Kambona hakuwa muwazi sana kwa wenzake, alikuwa anajaribu kuwa-double cross. Akiwa nao anawakubalia, halafu akifika mbele ya hadhira ya kamati husika, anaamua kuwageuka

2. Alikuwa jasiri na kwamba alikuwa tayari kwa lolote

3. Mgomo wa wanaJeshi yeye akiwa kama Waziri wa Ulinzi, lazima alikuwa na taarifa za awali, ambazo alimficha Mwalimu. Huwezi ukawa waziri wa Ulinzi halafu jeshi liko mbioni kugoma, halafu wewe ukawa huna taarifa, ni uongo na haiwezekani.

4. Kitendo cha kuwatuliza wanajeshi kinaonyesha moja kwa moja kuwa anaweza kuwa alikuwa anahusika ila aliamua kutumia saikolojia ya the obvious will not be taken as the truth, the obvious will not seem the obvious!

5. Kilichokuja kuwafanya watofautiane na Mwalimu ni huo mgomo wa wanajeshi, mwalimu atakuwa alipata taarifa kamili baadaye, baada ya mgomo huo.

6. Kuhusu issue ya vijiji vya Ujamaa, Kambona hakuwa sahihi kwa sababu huwezi ukafanya Pilot Study kwa "ku-experiment na maisha HALISI ya watu", ungekuwa ni upumbavu wa hali ya juu sana. Actualy mimi naweza kusema kitu cha namna hii ni blasphemy kwa maisha ya mwanadamu na hivyo, kwa Mungu pia. Ndiyo maana madaktari wanaojifunza upasuaji huwa wanatumia vyura na panya na si Binadamu mzima, na sijui lakini ila nadhani wanapofikia hatua ya juu, pengine huwa wanatumia sanamu za binadamu ( a model of a human being), na pengine maiti, kwa kibali maalumu cha mamlaka husika ya Nchi

7. Mimi nimezaliwa na kukulia kijijini, kabla ya vijiji vya ujamaa kuanzishwa, na hivyo nayajua maisha kabla ya vijiji vya ujamaa. Watu walivyokuwa wanaishi maporini, mapori zaidi ya wanavyoishi sasa hivi wamasai huko Ngrongoro. Huu ndiyo ukweli kwa sababu kipindi hicho walikuwa aroud million 8 tu. It was a terrible kind of living ambayo haikuhitaji mtu msomi yeyote kuhitaji Pilot Study kwa ajili ya kuwanasua watu kutoka kwenye maisha ya namna hiyo, ASSUMING PILOT STUDY INGEKUWA A VIABLE WAY OF DOING IT!

8. Kambona inaonyesha kama alikuwa hayajui kabisa hata chembe, maisha ya watu waliokuwa wanaishi maisha ya kijijini kabla ya vijiji vya ujamaa, ambayo mwalimu alikuwa anataka awanasue

9.Kambona alikuwa anafanya insurbodination, kitendo cha kuwakatalia wenzake mbele ya hadhira ya kamati husika. Angekuwa na nia njema wangeweza kuwa wanazi-resolve differences zao huko halafu wanakuja kwenye kamati wakiwa na kitu kimoja. Na hii kitu ndiyo inanifanya nizidi kuamini kuwa taarifa za mgomo alikuwa anazijua

10. Kambona alikuwa sahihi kwenye jambo moja tu, la mfumo wa vyama vingi, ila inaonyesha KAMA, makubaliano yao huko nyuma kabla ya army MUTINY, ilikuwa ni kwamba wataendesha mfumo wa vyama vingi. Baada ya Jeshi kugoma, KAWAWA na Nyerere wakawa wameamua kuchukua msimamo tofauti, kwa sababu waligundua kuwa yeye alikuwa na maslahi yake binafsi, wakaamua kumziba. Kwa hiyo in a way, yeye ndiyo alisababisha mfumo wa vyama vingi usiwepo.

Ni mengi sana naweza kuchambua kutoka kwenye habari hii, sema tu muda hautoshi. Kambona mimi sikuwahi kumfahamu, zaidi ya kumuimba kwenye nyimbo za mchaka mchaka.

Mimi ushauri wangu siku zote naomba watu tuwe tunakuwa wakweli kutoka ROHONI, na ikiwezekana kabisa, pasiwepo na tofauti kati ya maneno yetu na dhamira tulizonazo rohoni. Siyo mtu unasimamia advocacy ya ukweli na uwazi halafu rohoni una kitu kingine tofauti kabisa na yale ambayo huwa unatamka siku zote.Ukifanya hivi, watu siyo wajinga watakuona tu halafu utashindwa hata namna ya kujitetea, utabaki kuandika kwenye magazeti!

Naomba niwe mkweli kabisa kutoka rohoni kwangu kwamba kwa kiasi fulani huyu mtu ameniumixza sana!

Field Marshall ES said:

Exile

A few months later, in July 1967, Oscar Kambona left Tanzania with his wife and children and went into "self-imposed" exile in London.

It was first reported that he sneaked out of the country and drove all the way to Nairobi, Kenya, a neighbouring country. But it is highly unlikely that the members of the Tanzania's intelligence service were not aware of his departure. The government simply let him go. They could have stopped him, and could even have arrested him, if they wanted to.

After he left and when his departure was reported in Tanzania's newspapers and on the radio, President Nyerere himself at a public rally in Dar es Salaam, the capital, talked about Kambona and said "Let him go." He also said Kambona left with a lot of money and wondered how he got all that money which did not match his salary.

There were rumours that one of the ways he enriched himself when he was in office was by taking some of the money which was intended to go to the liberation movements based in Tanzania.

He was during that period also chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Commttee overseeing liberation movements based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in addition to his ministerial position as minister of external affairs.

The allegations that he misappropriated some of the funds intended for the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, and got more money from other sources illegally or by unscrupulous means, got some credibility when on 12 January 1968, President Nyerere challenged Oscar Kambona to return to Tanzania and testify before a judicial commission that he had not deposited large sums of money in his account, and explain where he got it from since it far exceeded his salary.

Kambona responded to the allegations by requesting the Tanzanian government to hold a public investigation into his personal wealth and publish the findings. Something that the government did not do. It is also highly unlikely that Kambona misappropriated wealth since he spent most of his life in exile living in subsidised council housing for poor income families. Tony Laurence's book "the Dar Mutiny of 1964", published by Book Guild Publishing confirms that "in 1967 fearing for his life [Kambona] went into exile in Britain where , lacking any financial support, he took a series of low paid jobs in London while continuing to act with dignity and humour as a friend of exiles more fortunate than he."

Nyerere's challenge was reported in Tanzania's newspapers and by Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD) during that time. It has also been documented by Jacqueline Audrey Kalley in her voluminous work, Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997.

There was also disagreement on the way Kambona's exile was described.

Reports in Tanzania said he went into "self-imposed" exile but, to Kambona and his supporters as well as other observers, he was forced to leave Tanzania because he had fallen out with Nyerere and did not feel that he would be safe or lead a normal life in a hostile political climate even if he was left to go on with his life without being harassed or arrested.

Speculation that he may have been in imminent danger just before he left was somewhat confirmed when his house in Magomeni, Dar es Salaam, was destroyed by the security forces and the soldiers of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF) although not demolished. The destruction is shown in a photograph on the web site of the Kambona Foundation.

The destruction of the house, after Kambona left, seemed to have been some kind of warning or simply a scare tactic and it probably achieved its purpose, especially with regard to Kambona's supporters in Tanzania. It probably meant, "this is what we have in store for you," or "this is what you are going to get," if you continue to support Kambona. And "this is what would have happened to him had he stayed."

That may be just one of the interpretations - why his house was destroyed. There may be other interpretations of the government's motives for sanctioning that.

But fear for his security and freedom was real, further confirmed when his two younger brothers, Mattiya Kambona and Otini Kambona, were arrested around the same time he fled to London. They were detained for many years until President Nyerere released them after many petitions from Amnesty International and a final intervention from Robert Muldoon, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

From his sanctuary in London, Oscar Kambona became a bitter critic and opponent of President Nyerere and his policies.

He was even invited by the Nigerian military government of Yakubu Gowon in June 1968 to go and lecture in Nigeria after Tanzania recognised Biafra (the first country to do so in April that year), thus infuriating Nigerian leaders for supporting the secession of the Eastern Region of the Nigerian Federation.

During his lecture tour of Nigeria in June 1968, Kambona denounced Nyerere as a dictator and accused the Tanzanian government of supplying weapons to Biafra.

In a lecture in Lagos on 14 June 1968, he also said weapons and ammunition sent to Tanzania for the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) freedom fighters had been diverted by Nyerere and sent to Biafra; and went on to say that Tanzania's recognition of Biafra as a sovereign nation had damaged the country's reputation in Africa and elsewhere.

Tanzania recognised Biafra for moral reasons because of the refusal and unwillingness of the local and the federal authorities to stop the massacre of Igbos and other Easterners in Northern Nigeria and other parts of the country, but especially in the North.

Nigerian leaders were also quick to remind Nyerere that it was Nigerian troops who had saved him and provided security and defence for Tanganyika after the army mutiny in Tanganyika in 1964 when Nyerere appealed to fellow Africans for troops to temporarily provide defence while the Tanganyikan government was building a new army. Nigeria, under the leadership of President Nnamdi Azikiwe and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, immediately responded to Nyerere's request.

Kambona was also quick to remind his listeners in Nigeria, and even in Britain where lived, that it was he who calmed down the soldiers when they mutinied while President Nyerere and Vice President Kawawa went into hiding, "in a grass hut," as he put it.

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Army mutiny was the main cause of disagreement between these two leaders. Assuming it's true that Kambona didn't have any clue, then it's obvious that he wasn't fit for the post, Neither was he for any other post in the Government. Huwezi ukawa Waziri wa Ulinzi, Jeshi linafikia hatua linafanya mgomo huna taarifa, na wakati huo huo unaelewana nalo kiasi cha kwenda kulituliza.

Field Marshall ES said:

End of his life

But he was no longer the star he once was, when he was second only to Nyerere in influence and popularity in the sixties.

He died in London in July 1997, almost exactly 30 years after he first went into exile in Britain in July 1967 where he lived for 25 years before returning to his home country in 1992 to spend the last few years of his life.

Despite his political misfortunes, Oscar Kambona will always be remembered as one of the most prominent leaders of Tanzania who also played a leading role in the struggle for independence and who relentlessly campaigned for the adoption of multiparty democracy in Tanzania.
It is, of course, anybody's guess how he would have been, as a leader, had he become president of Tanzania. Even his most bitter opponents cannot prove he would have been a bad leader. He could have been one of the best presidents Tanzania ever had. We will never know. Or to put it another way, Oscar Kambona was one of the best presidents Tanzania never had.

And it is very much possible that under his leadership, Tanzania's economy would probably not have suffered as much as it did under Nyerere during his years of socialist rule. Socialism ruined Tanzania's economy and Kambona was opposed to socialism right from the beginning.

He went into exile a capitalist, and died a capitalist.

Today, Tanzania is pursuing free-market policies after renouncing socialism, and has adopted multiparty democracy, the same policies and kind of political system Kambona had advocated all along.

He has probably been vindicated by history.

But he will also probably not be forgiven by many people in Tanzania for trying to overthrow Nyerere, the Father of the Nation, whom the vast majority of Tanzanians sincerely believed, and rightly so, that he was sincere and honest in his intentions and deeply cared about their well-being although some of his economic policies proved to be disastrous in the end. They still say he meant well. And he did.

Perhaps even Kambona himself believed that Nyerere meant well but pursued the wrong policies to achieve his goals.

Both leaders will be judged by history.

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Tungempata Bernard Membe au Lowassa 2015, sasa hivi wangekuwa na lawama kibao, halafu wale ambao tungekuwa hatukuwachagua, tuseme JPM akiwa mmoja wao, ndiyo wangekuwa sukari. Hii ni tabia ya kujikataa, kitu kibaya sana katika maisha, na nindahani ni kibaya kuliko vyote. Kwamba wewe vyote unavyokuwa navyo ni vibaya tu kwako, hakuna kizuri, halafu vilivyoko kwa wengine ndiyo vizuri! Watu waliojikataa huwa hawasababishi kitu chochote kilicho positive, na ukimkuta ana kitu positive, ujue amekwapua kutoka kwa mtu mwingine ambaye yuko positive. Aidha kwa ushirikina au kwa mabavu ya kutumia mamlaka aliyo nayo. Hawa ndiyo wanaoutusababisha wakati mwingine tunaanza kulalamika wakati mwingine hata kwenye sehemu zisizo sahihi, kwamba wanalazimisha kula hata mishahara ya watu wengine mpaka mtu anaamua kuwaachia

Keil said:

Ukisoma maelezo yaliyotundikwa na Mzee FMES (japo sijui yametoka wapi) na nina assume kwamba yametoka kwenye credible sources, ninashawishika kuamini kwamba Mzee wetu Nyerere (RIP) alikuwa ni mtu ambaye hakutaka challenges kutoka kwa wenzake (viongozi wenzake). Kwa maneno mengine alikumbatia watu ambao walikuwa wako tayari kusema NDIYO kwa kila kitu hata pasipo kuhoji kitu chenyewe.

Nadhani Nyerere alishahisi kwamba Kambona alikuwa na umaarufu na ushawishi wa hali ya juu na pia alikuwa si mtu wa kukubali kila kitu bila kuhoji. Mtu kama huyo alikuwa ni threat kwa Mwalimu maana lazima siku moja angetaka urais ugombewe na mtu zaidi ya mmoja na siyo ile system ya kuwa na mgombea mmoja. Ajabu ni kwamba nafasi za Ubunge kulikuwa na ushindani ndani ya chama lakini nafasi ya urais hakukuwa na ushindani, yule anayependekezwa na Chama ndo anakuwa mgombea pekee, na mpiga kura anatakiwa kusema ndiyo ama hapana. Sasa sijui utasema ndiyo au hapana wakati hujapewa alternative?

Hisia hiyo ya Kambona kuwa threat ni kutokana na uwezo wake wa kushawishi wanajeshi mwaka 1964 ili wasiendelee na uasi. Lazima Nyerere alijiuliza sana kwamba Kambona ilikuwaje akajitokeza kwenda kuongea na waasi na hatimaye kuwashawishi kuachana na uasi. Mbili ni swala la kugomea kufuta mfumo wa vyama vingi, nadhani hapo ndipo alipoonyesha wazi kwamba mambo hayakuwa mazuri na hivyo kulikuwa na dalili za mtu kugombea kupitia chama kingine na kama ana ushawishi mkubwa ingekuwa ni rahisi kushinda na ndipo ile dhana yake (Mwalimu) ya kuwaambia watanzania kwamba, UPINZANI WA KWELI UTATOKA NDANI YA CCM, maana wanajua janja na mikakati yote na hivyo ni rahisi kuwamaliza.

Mwisho kabisa ni kitendo cha kugomea Azimio la Arusha, nadhani huo ulikuwa ni msumari wa mwisho kabisa na labda angeendelea kubaki Tanzania angeweza kupatwa na mambo mazito zaidi.

Tukumbuke kwamba watu waliokuwa na hoja kwenye mambo mbali mbali wengi wao waliishia kuwekwa kizuizini. Mifano ninayoikumbuka ni Christopher Kasanga-Tumbo na Tuntemeke Sanga. Watu hawa walijikuta kila mtu akiambiwa hatakiwi kutoka nje ya eneo analoishi. Kwa kifupi huyu Mzee wetu (Nyerere) pamoja na mazuri aliyoyatenda ndani ya uongozi wake pia alikuwa ni mtu ambaye alikuwa hataki au hapendi challenge au hakutaka patokee mtu ambaye anaweza kuonekana ni bora kuliko yeye. Na ndiyo maana Kambona alijikuta akijipeleka uhamishoni yeye mwenyewe pasipokupenda vinginevyo labda angerudishwa Mbambabay akawekwa kizuizini kama akina Kasanga-Tumbo.

Aliye na full info kuhusu kujiuzulu kwa Mzee Aboud Jumbe Mwinyi mwaka 1984 pale tulipoambiwa kuna machafuko ya kisiasa Zanzibar naomba atupatie uhondo zaidi. Ni kwanini Jumbe alikaa Mji Mwema badala ya kurudi Unguja? Ina maana akiwa Rais wa Zanzibar alikuwa hana nyumba ya kuishi huko Unguja?

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Una muchallenge mtu kwa kumvamia na kutaka kumuumiza halafu unategemea akusikilize?. Hata uwe na credible idea za namna gani siwezi kuzikubali tena, ukishaharibu trust. You pose as a friend outside while a great enemy inside, what a hell?. Kama Nchi iko mikononi mwangu, siwezi tena kukuona unafurukuta na watu wangu, piga ua!

Makanyaga said:

FMES,Keil
Habari hizi zinapatikana hapa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Kambona
Kama issue nzima iko km ilivyoelezwa hapa, basi nadhani Kambona alikuwa right! MIMI SIYO MZURI SANA WA HISTORIA ILA NINACHOWEZA KUSEMA KUWA KAMBONA ANAWEZA KUWA ALIKUWA ANATAKA KUMPUMBAZA NYERERE ILI AJE AMTOE MADARAKANI KIULAINI ZAIDI. SIDHANI KAMA MWALIMU ALIKUWA NA ROHO MBAYA KIASI CHA KUMSAHAU KABISA MTU AMBAYE ALIWAHI KUMSAIDIA MAISHA YAKE WKT MGUMU KM ULE AMBAO JESHI LILIKUWA LIMEGOMA!
Unaijua personal self inavyofanya kazi? Kuna vitu vingine mtu anakufanyia huvisemi kwa mtu mwingine yeyote yule mpaka sk utakapokutana na Mungu, maana hata ukimwambia binadamu hawezi kuvikubali kuwa ni kweli, atajua unamdanganya. NYERERE NA KAMBONA WAO WANAJUA WALICHOFANYIANA AU WALICHOTAKA KUFANYIANA, sisi huku tunachojua ni kivuli chake tu, or rather the political part of it!
MIMI NADHAN HUYU ALIKUWA ANAOGOPA KUWA OVERTHROWN, NA HUYU MWINGINE NAYE ALIKUWA ANATAKA KUOVERTHROW PASIPO KUJIONYESHA KUWA ANATAKA. WAKATI WA ARMY MUTINY NDIYO ALITAKA AMPOTEZE LENGO KABISA MWENZAKE, ILI BAADAYE AJE AMKAMATE KISAWASAWA. MIND U HATA KIPINDI HICHO VYOMBO VYA USALAMA VILIKUWEPO!

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Hata huko nyuma kumbe niliwahi kuchangia kwenye thread hii! Ndiyo ninauona mchango wangu hapa sasa hivi, una miaka zaidi ya 12 humu. Jaribuni kuulinganisha na michango yangu ya leo!