Mohamed Said
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 2, 2008
- 21,967
- 32,074
Makala yangu kuhusu Prof. Malima niliyobandika juma lililopita iliondolewa
kwa haraka.
Sijui sababu.
Lakini makala ile ile katika website yangu Mohamed Said imejaa
wasomaji.
Ikiwa na hii haitaweza kustahamiliwa nawakaribisha kwangu In Sha Allah.
Tuko Part Five.
Karibu usome kuanzia Part One ufaidi ukweli kisha utaamua mwenyewe.
kwa haraka.
Sijui sababu.
Lakini makala ile ile katika website yangu Mohamed Said imejaa
wasomaji.
Ikiwa na hii haitaweza kustahamiliwa nawakaribisha kwangu In Sha Allah.
Tuko Part Five.
Karibu usome kuanzia Part One ufaidi ukweli kisha utaamua mwenyewe.
The government at that particular time was in no condition to face Prof. Malima and Muslims who were supporting him. The easy way out for president Mwinyi was to gag Prof. Malima. Throughout his political carrier and since he stood up to challenge the Christian Lobby in the government he was used to lies being hurled against him and consequently to provide definite answers to them. President Mwinyi as well as the Christian lobby being aware of Prof. Malima's ability of elaboration of details and with precision and with his gift of retention of facts and figures and of his command of English language was scared he would ridicule them in public. Some say Mwinyi was a gentle person others say he was a weak president but all said and done Mwinyi was not a fool. He knew better than tussle with Prof. Malima. Mwinyi looked at his own future and retirement. He was better off now siding with the Chriatian Lobby than to be counted with his old friend and advisor. Reflecting on this some say Mwinyi was a dangerous person. By refusing the Press statement, Prof. Malima was being denied the right of being heard. People were being denied the right to know the other side of the story. The following day on Friday, President Mwinyi accepted Prof. Malima's resignation.
After his resignation many Muslims went to see Prof. Malima to congratulate him. The political committee went to congratulate him for his resignation from the government as Minister of Trade and Industries. Then two days later Prof. Malima through Sheikh Khalifa Hamis suddenly summoned the committee to his constituency in Kisarawe where a meeting was held. After salat isha Prof. Malima told the committee that he has accepted their proposal and NRA should start preparations for meeting of the National Conference to be held in Tabora from where in a public rally he would announce his resignation from the CCM. At that time NRA had managed to establish branches in Kigoma, Mpwapwa, Igunga and Tabora.
Sheikh Khalifa Hamis went to Tabora to prepare the terrain for Prof. Malima's trip to the town. NRA had a branch in Tabora but it had scanty membership. The chairman of NRA Tabora branch was a retired army captain Mustapha Kivuruga, son of Abdallah Kivuruga founder member of the TAA in Tabora in 1945 and founder member of TANU in 1955. Mustapha Kivuruga joined the army and was trained in Israel. Abdallah Kivuruga and his brother Maulidi Kivuruga had been important personalities in the local politics of Tabora. Sheikh Khalifa held a meeting with the cream of the Muslim activists in Tabora at the Nujum Muslim Centre. Among those in attendance was Bilal Rehani Waikela [1] a veteran of the Muslim struggle against injustices and Christian hegemony.
The activists were informed that Prof. Malima was coming to Tabora and would announce his resignation from CCM at a public rally. It was now upon them to lay down strategy for the success of Prof. Malima's trip and revitalisation of NRA. Following this meeting elections were called at the Adult Education Centre and Waikela was elected NRA Tabora Regional Chairman replacing Kivuruga. Kivuruga became district chairman. It was from this meeting that membership drive for the NRA began. Tabora has always carried with it a grudge against the government. The place was completely forgotten. Like many Muslim areas, no meaningful development had taken place since independence. The people in Tabora saw this as there opportunity to have their own back against the government and the CCM.
Prof. Malima and his entourage were booked to fly to Tabora on Friday morning aboard Air Tanzania. Their bookings were confirmed but when they presented their tickets, they were told that the flight was fully booked. Their protests to the fact that there bookings were confirmed fell into deaf ears. Prof. Malima decided to travel to Tabora by road.[2] Meanwhile the Christian Lobby had been busy. It had constantly working on plots to discredit Prof. Malima in the eyes of the right thinking people. The press both private and that owned by the government and party, including the state-owned radio; and the office of the president, has been Muslim's worst enemy in its struggle against injustice. The media fabricates and publishes negative stories about Muslims with impunity.
The propaganda is given an angle of Muslim radicals harbouring the desiring to overthrow a legally constituted government. Muslims have suffered in this campaign with Prof. Malima. The Friday papers Majira, Nipashe, including CCM daily Uhuru and the Tanzania News Agency (SHIHATA) carried stories in banner headlines that Prof. Malima was on that day Friday the 15 July, 1995 going to announce his resignation from CCM at Tabora in the Friday Mosque after Friday Prayers. What this negative publicity wanted to achieve was to portray Prof. Malima as dangerous man who wanted to pit Muslims against Christians to acquire power for his own selfish ends. The end result for such an eventuality was obvious civil upheavals.
On that Friday morning Muslim notables and leaders and members of the NRA in Tabora went to the Air Port to meet Prof. Malima. The plane flew in without him. In Tabora town rumor was spreading that Pro. Malima was to address Muslims and announce his resignation from CCM from the pulpit of the Tabora Friday Mosque. Even before the time for the Friday prayers was due, the Friday Mosque was filled to capacity and some of the worshippers were sitting sprawled outside the mosque grounds. But few knew that Prof. Malima was not in Tabora that day anyway. The previous day Regional Police Commander called on the BAKWATA leadership in Tabora and informed them that Prof. Malima was to address Muslims at the Friday Mosque. The police commander insisted upon BAKWATA leadership that that was mixing religion and politics; and that was not acceptable. The government would not allow house of worship to be used as political arena. It was therefore up to BAKWATA to ensure that Prof. Malima does is not allowed to announce his resignation from the CCM from the pulpit. Security personnel were deployed to the mosque early morning on Friday. There were uniformed and plainclothes policemen on beat around the Friday Mosque since day break. In the afternoon police cars arrived at took strategic positions around the mosque. State Intelligence personnel were very much in evident mingling with Muslims outside the mosque. This created tension inside and outside the mosque.
Few minutes before prayers were to begin; Sheikh Mavumbi from BAKWATA arrived at the mosque in a police car escorted by the Regional Police Commander. Sheikh Mavumbi went infront of the mosque and through the public addressing system he warned of the dangers of mixing religion and politics. People were dead silence listening to Sheikh Mavumbi. He said he has been informed that Prof. Malima was to address Muslims from the mosque that day and he has come to announce that he is forbidden to do that in that mosque. As soon as he uttered Prof. Malima's name there was pandemonium in the mosque, Muslims shouting asking Sheikh Mavumbi his source of that information. Sheikh Mavumbi seemed confused as there were shouts from every angle of the mosque. Muslims looked threatening and the mood inside the mosque was fiery. Tabora Friday Mosque is under Imam Issa Mzee, a young man in his mid-thirties. He rose up to calm Muslims but people were not listening to him.
As things seemed to get out of control and other Muslims were rising standing up from where they had been sitting and the crowd outside the mosque was fighting to get inside the mosque, there was indication that the sanctity of that holy place was going to be violated. It was then that Waikela moved to the front of the mosque and took up the microphone and called for peace. Seeing Waikela at the kibla calm prevailed and Waikela told Muslims not to blame Sheikh Mavumbi for his announcement. It was probable he had been told to come to the mosque to make the announcement. The best way for Muslims to do was not to condemn Sheikh Mavumbi but to ask him who told him that Prof. Malima would come to the mosque to deliver a political address. Appealing to Muslims Sheikh Waikela asked them if anyone had seen Prof. Malima in the mosque. The crowd answered in the negative.