Kahollya,
Why the anger, insults and threats?
Let us debate:
Betrayal of Ideals
On 5 th November, 1985, before he stepped down as president, Nyerere delivered an emotional speech to elders of Dar es Salaam. Most of them were former members of TANU-the townsman who supported Nyerere during the struggle for independence
[1] Nyerere acknowledged the role of Muslims in those difficult days. Nyerere told his audience that the imbalances between Muslims and Christians which his government had inherited from the British were rectified under his rule:
''And they (Muslims) gave us chance through our education policies, to correct the imbalances which we have done. I am now in the happy position of sometimes not knowing whether a new member of Parliament, a Minister, or a Principal Secretary in our government ministries, is a Muslim or a Christian or neither unless their first name happens to give it away. And even that is not a sure guide in Tanzania, for we have Christians with Muslim names, Muslims with Christian names. This religious tolerance and freedom is your creation; what I have done is to speak up for those values on your behalf.
[2]''
The speech was a farce. The truth is that three decades after independence Muslims are not better off than they were under colonialism. Sivalon has revealed that the Church has been able to create its own lobby which controls 75% of the seats in the parliament. Among these seats 70% are held by Catholics and the rest are divided among Muslims and Christian denominations.
[3]
(From: ''The Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes (1924 - 1968) The Untold Story of the Muslim Struggle Against British Colonialism in Tanganyika,'' Minerva Press, London 1998.
[1] See footnote no.19.
[2] Daily News, 6 th November, 1985
[3] Sivalon, op.cit. p. 49.