Mzee Said,
Kwa vile unataka feedback kuhusu maandishi yako, nitajitahidi kukueleza kiasi changu. Sijui kama nitaweza. Navyojua, hadithi yako ililenga kumuenzi Sykes. Wewe ulitakiwa um-focus yeye bila kulalamika au kusuta wakina Nyerere kwa niaba yake. Mfano mzuri ni hii simulizi ya Mwapachu niliyoitoa Vijana Platform.
The Life and Times of Hamza Mwapachu
On September 18, 2012, in English, Print, by Joji
....
By Amb. Juma Mwapachu
50 years ago, on 17th September, 1962, Hamza Kibwana Bakari Mwapachu, father to Harith Bakari Mwapachu, Rahma Mark Bomani, Juma Volter Mwapachu, Wendo Mtega Mwapachu, Tunu Mwapachu and Jabe Jabir Mwapachu died in Dar-es-Salaam at the early age of 49. He was at the time a Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Born in Tanga, the late Hamza attended primary and secondary schools in Tanga. On completing standard 10, at that time the highest secondary school education standard in Tanganyika, he pursued medical studies at the Sewa Haji Hospital Medical School in Dar-es-Salaam qualifying in 1935 as a Medical Assistant. In 1937, he was posted as a Tutor to the Mwanza Medical School which trained medical support staff. In Mwanza, Hamza met Juliana Volter whom he married in 1938.
An ambitious Hamza succeeded to be admitted at Makerere College, Uganda in 1943 to pursue a Diploma in Medicine. Makerere had not started offering degrees of any kind at that time. As history would have it, Hamza and Julius Kambarage Nyerere joined Makerere at the same time beginning a journey of a very close friendship and political relationship despite a nine years age difference between them. At Makerere, the two befriended Andrew Tibandebage, a fellow education student to Nyerere who was a year senior at the College and the trio established a politically charged Tanganyika Welfare Students Organisation in late 1943. They applied for recognition as an affiliate of the Tanganyika African Association (TAA), but received no response from its head office in Dar-es-Salaam.
On completion of their studies in 1945, both Hamza Mwapachu and Julius Nyerere found themselves in Tabora; Hamza at the Government Hospital and Nyerere at St. Mary's Secondary School where Tibandebage was already a teacher. The trio joined the TAA Branch in Tabora and in 1946 took over its reins with Hamza as President, Nyerere as Secretary and Tibandebage as Treasurer.
At that stage, Hamza had increasingly found his medical profession lacking in the intellectual depth needed to understand the complex dynamics of politics and constitutionalism for an informed attack against colonialism. Thus in 1947 he quit medical practice and joined the University College of South Wales at Cardiff to read a Diploma in Social Work. Whilst in the UK, Hamza was attracted to the Post Second World War Labour Party politics and socialism. He joined the Fabian Society then known as Fabian Colonial Bureau and established a network of close friends who, until he died, were frequent suppliers of books and reading materials to Hamza.
Back in Tanganyika in March 1949, Hamza was posted as Assistant Welfare Officer at Ilala District Office in Dar-es-Salaam. Late Rashid Mfaume Kawawa who completed Standard twelve at Tabora in 1948 worked with Hamza as a Welfare Clerk. Steeped in knowledge of law, constitutionalism and politics and immediately re-linking with his friend Nyerere in Tabora who was by then President of the Tabora TAA Branch but also preparing to leave for Edinburgh to pursue a degree course later that year, Hamza became the intellectual voice and conscience in TAA politics in Dar-es-Salaam.
Joining hands with Abdulwahid Kleist Sykes, a man who became like a blood brother to Hamza, they constituted an Action Group to transform the TAA from a welfarist organization into a political one. They inducted into their group Dr Lucian Tsere, Dr Vedast Kyaruzi, Stephen Mhando and Paul Rupia. Early in 1950, Abdul and Hamza dual-handedly stormed into the TAA Headquarters in Dar-es-Salaam and using fists and flying chairs engineered a leadership coup. They installed Dr Tsere as interim President of TAA. However, following Dr Tsere's transfer to Tanga, TAA held proper elections. Dr Vedast Kyaruzi was elected President, Abdulwahid Sykes became Secretary General, John Rupia was Treasurer, Hamza was elected Secretary for Economics and Stephen Mhando became Secretary of Education.
The new TAA leadership proceeded to review the TAA constitution in mid 1950 giving the institution a tinge of a political party. The first major political act of that leadership was to prepare a Memorandum submitted to the first United Nations Mandated Trust Territory Mission to Tanganyika at the end of 1950 which demanded a clear road map towards Tanganyika's independence. The Memorandum was a collective document of the leadership of TAA but its principal author was Hamza Mwapachu.
Following the submission of the Memorandum, Governor Edward Twining isolated two individuals for the wrath of the colonial state. Dy Kyaruzi was transferred from Dar-es-Salaam Sewa Haji Hospital, then a national hospital, to Kingolwira Prison Health Centre in Morogoro to treat prisoners. Hamza Mwapachu was "exiled" to Ukerewe Island in the heart of Lake Victoria! Dr Kyaruzi has described his posting as "imprisonment in disguise."
Hamza, on the other hand, saw his posting as yet another opportunity to get close to where he always believed to be the nerve centre of Tanganyikan nationalist politics-the Lake Victoria Zone. For example, writing to Nyerere in Edinburgh in late 1951, Hamza noted his pleasure at discovering a brilliant young Paul Bomani in Mwanza who would be an important "asset in our struggle". Moreover, Hamza's house in Ukerewe became a bee hive of political visits throughout the years 1952-1954 which included discussions about Nyerere taking over the leadership of TAA in 1953 and the formation of TANU. It was in this light that the colonial government refused him the permission to travel from Ukerewe to attend the meeting in Dar-es-Salaam that launched TANU on 7th July, 1954! But to all intents and purposes, Hamza was a founder of TANU; in absentia.
Ostensibly promoting him to Assistant District Officer, a position well below his Tanganyikan juniors, Hamza was in early 1955 posted from Ukerewe to Tukuyu, Rungwe District, again a remote part of Tanganyika, far away from the nerve centres of nationalist politics. However, in Tukuyu he linked up with Yatuta Chisiza, then a Police Inspector, and the politics of Malawian independence fired the spirits of the two freedom fighters. Chisiza was later transferred to Iringa and young Juma Mwapachu used to stay with him as he travelled from boarding school in Tukuyu to Morogoro in 1957. Chisiza was independent Malawi's first Minister of Home Affairs. He was killed whilst attempting to overthrow a corrupt and Apartheid South African surrogate regime of Kamuzu Banda.
With the advent of Responsible Government in 1958, Hamza was transferred from the Local Government School, Mzumbe, Morogoro where he had become a close friend of Khalfan Mrisho Kikwete, President Jakaya Kikwete's father as well as of Cecil Kallaghe, later an Ambassador, to Dar-es-Salaam to become Nyerere's first Personal Assistant as Chief Minister. What goes round comes round! Nyerere wanted his friend and confidant to be his principal advisor on the eve to Tanganyika's independence.
Then tragedy struck. Hamza began to develop a serious heart ailment in mid 1960. Hamza had been a chain smoker all his life. So indeed was Nyerere till Hamza died! Nyerere did all he could to save his friend. Hamza was sent to the best hospital in the world, Hammersmith Post Graduate Hospital in London where he underwent heart surgery. However, by September 1962, the weak heart could no longer withstand the continued work pressure and Hamza's ardent commitment to the service of his newly independent country. Hamza passed away at Princess Margaret Hospital, now Muhimbili National Hospital, on 17th September, 1962.
Writing to Mrs Juliana Mwapachu on 28th September 1962, a week after Hamza's death, the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Dunstan A. Omari could only state:
"I have known Hamza as my personal friend for many years and I can say that I could not have wished for a more charming and co -operative colleague. His death is a loss that Tanganyika call ill afford."
May Almighty God continue to rest his soul in eternal peace. Amin.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun.
(2:156)
Sina tatizo na "chronology" ya simulizi zote (yako ikiwamo). Suala ni Mtazamo. Utagundua mtindo huu ni karibu sana na ule wa yule bwana aliyetusimulia maisha ya TAA, TANU, Migeyo nk, yaani yule mzungu. Ni nadra sana ukajenga sifa ya unayemsimulia kwa kulaumu wale alioishi nao wakati wake kwa vile utakuwa umeshachagua upande hasi na chanya na ndio walichofanya hawa. Mimi kwa maoni yangu bado unaweza kuwa na historia nzuri sana ya juhudi za kina Sykes, Tewa, Takadir, Bomani nk bila "orientation" ya Nyerere nyumbani kwa Sykes na wenzie. Sijui kama nimekujibu.[/QUOTE
Wickama,
Nami nitakuwekea Insha Allah kumbukumbu yangu niliyomwandikia Hamza Mwapachu.
Ilichapwa na Citizen.
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The Legacy of Hamza Kibwana Mwapachu 1913 - 1962
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The Genesis of Open Politics in Tanganyika, 1950-1954
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The Tanganyika African Association: 1950
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The changing colonial politics needed young blood with new ideas and vision to spearhead the struggle. The colonial state was at that time continuously changing style, strategy and tactics in order to perpetuate its rule. The old leadership in TAA, given its orientation and political background could not rise to meet the new colonial challenge. Yet in spite of all this, it did not want to relinquish power. The result was power struggle between the German - educated elders and the British-trained young politicians of the calibre of Abdulwahid and Ally Sykes, Hamza Mwapachu, Tewa Said Tewa, Stephen Mhando, Dossa Aziz, James Mkande, and the five doctors-Joseph Mutahangarwa, Luciano Tsere, Michael Lugazia, Vedasto Kyaruzi and Wilbard Mwanjisi.
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Amidst this power struggle and on the side of the up-and-coming young men was a Makerere graduate, a Digo from Tanga named Hamza Kibwana Mwapachu who we have already mentioned. Mwapachu was employed by Community Development Department as Assistant Welfare Officer in charge of Ilala Welfare Center in Dar es Salaam. Mwapachu's political career began at Makerere College where he was involved in student politics in the period between the two world wars. In 1946 while at Tabora, Mwapachu was elected African Association Secretary with Julius Nyerere as his deputy. This was the time when the Makerere intellectuals [1] had started to show interest in the Association. These two would come to change the orientation of the TAA and create in the association a new kind of African leadership never experienced in the history of colonial Tanganyika. But as fate would have it, both of them died young and both of them were to be forgotten by history. Neither of them would be associated with the modern history of Tanganyika.
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When some of the Makerere graduates such as Mwapachu were thinking about effecting political change in Tanganyika through TAA, Abdulwahid had already built his own political power base in the politics of Dar es Salaam mainly from the influence of his father who had founded the African Association in 1929. Makerere graduates were coming to Dar es Salaam, some of them for the first time, to take up appointments within the civil service in their different professions. Most of them were Christians and mission-trained. These young men were cautious about politics. They were far from home and were just beginning life. They had their own ideas about what they stood to benefit from the colonial government as civil servants; a loan to purchase a car, and good accommodation in African government quarters. These were better than the mud and grass thatched houses of the locals; and for the lucky ones there was a trip to Britain for a course. They believed that to indulge in politics was to rebel against the state and this could jeopardise their careers. Many were of the opinion that to harbour such ideas was to tread on very dangerous ground. They were the educated young Christian graduates of Makerere who had come to Dar es Salaam to work for some time and then to be transferred to other places for other appointments. They were mission-trained to be faithful to the church and loyal to the colonial state. The Makerere intellectuals were not expected to bite the hand that fed them. For an educated African civil servant it was not easy to feel directly the nature of colonial oppression and therefore to want to engage in politics against the colonial state and the status quo.
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Abdulwahid, on the other hand, was a person of charisma, integrity, and selflessness, who soon won the confidence of the Makerere intellectuals and slowly integrated them in the politics of the municipality. With his war experience behind him, the family name and his proximity to the TAA leadership, Abdulwahid became one of the budding politicians. Being the secretary of Al Jamiatul Islamiyya, Abdulwahid was able to forge an alliance with the Bohra Muslim community, then under the leadership of Abdulkarim Karimjee who was also the Mayor of Dar es Salaam.
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Karimjee had known Abdulwahid for many years. In the mid-1930s at the opening ceremony of Al Jamiatul Islamiyya School, Karimjee was the guest of honour, and the young man who read the welcoming speech was Abdulwahid. Abdulwahid was also acquainted with V.M. Nazerali of the Ismail Council who was also a member of the Legislative Council representing the Asian commercial class. These two Muslim communities were economically powerful but had limited political power. What was important, however, was that these Muslims whose parents had come from the Indian subcontinent had maintained good relations with local Muslims and put their wealth at the latter's disposal. That Muslim solidarity later came to be perceived as a threat to the Church after independence.
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Abdulwahid knew and was known by everybody who was somebody in Dar es Salaam. It became a tradition that whenever a young man from up-country came to town, he would be taken by his acquaintances to Abdulwahid's house at Stanley Street to pay homage and receive his first political orientation. That was the time when these young men formed the Wednesday Tea Club, a circle of young British-trained intellectuals that met every Wednesday evening to discuss political issues over a cup of tea.
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Abdulwahid's house was also a center of socialising for the young intellectuals and their wives. Abdulwahid had very good relations and was at ease with a good number of chiefs. Whenever they were in Dar es Salaam to attend the Legislative Council, Abdulwahid would seize the opportunity to invite them to his house for lunch or dinner and sometimes he would throw a party for them. Hamza Mwapachu was a regular to these occasions. Among them were Chief Haruna Msabila Lugusha of Sikonge, the first Tanganyikan to qualify as an agriculturalist, and Chief Thomas Marealle of Marangu (Abdulwahid used to address him as ‘King Tom', the reason being that the British wanted Africans to believe that it was only white people who could have monarchies with lines of kings, queens, princes and princesses. Africans could only have chiefs).
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Abdulwahid pointed out to his fellow young intellectuals that none of them had any executive post in the TAA, a place where all those debates on Tanganyika should rightly be taking place. Reflecting on the promise made in 1945 at Imphal in Burma to turn the Burma Infantry as a base for a political party, Abdulwahid time and again discussed with his close friends Mwapachu, Dossa Aziz and his young brother Ally about organizing a political movement that would mobilise all the people of Tanganyika. It is said that Mwapachu and a few others like Stephen Mhando were enthusiastic about this idea, but the other young-men particularly those in the civil service-thought it was unattainable.
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Mwapachu's office at the Ilala Welfare Center became the center for serious political discussions during the day. In the evenings discussions shifted to Tanga Young Comrades Club. This was a popular meeting place of the African elite of Dar es Salaam. The club was situated in New Street, a short distance from the TAA headquarters. Political debates and discussions either at Abdulwahid's house or at Mwapachu's office at Ilala Welfare Center or at Tanga Club gradually narrowed down to how the young men with vision of the future and the British-trained civil service bureaucrats could wrest power from the dead wood old German-educated leadership of TAA under its president, Mwalimu Thomas Plantan, and his secretary Clement Mohamed Mtamila.
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It was not as if Tanganyika at that time lacked issues to stimulate political debates. There were several issues which if manipulated by the TAA leadership could have aroused in the people a sense of grievance and resentment against the government. One needs only to go through Mashado Plantan's editorials in Zuhra to appreciate the issues that were floating in Tanganyika in the 1950s. Plantan, with his Zulu blood in a peaceful country, turned his gun to game hunting. Plantan's game trophies can still be seen in his house at Masasi Street, Mission Quarter. He spent most of his time in the bush hunting and therefore did not have time to call meetings or attend to TAA affairs. The Association headquarters in Dar es Salaam seemed to be in deep slumber. Correspondence from the branches remained unanswered for long periods. Worse still, there were no contacts whatsoever with the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations in New York under which Tanganyika as a Mandate Territory was administered.
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The social standing of the German educated Africans had many faces. Schneider Abdillah Plantan had already shown his contempt of the British, for which he was detained during the Second World War. His young berother Ramadhani Mashado Plantan had established his own newspaper Zuhra (Wanderer) which became the unofficial mouthpiece of the African Association. But they were now all old men.
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Frustrated with the association's political stagnation, Abdulwahid and Mwapachu, one afternoon without prior warning to anyone, crossed the road from the Tanga Club and stormed into the office of the TAA at New Street and staged a coup against the elected leadership by manhandling Clement Mtamila who was at that time at the premises. During the war Abdulwahid had been his regiment's boxing champion for both Kenya and Tanganyika. Abdulwahid had therefore no problem in disposing of Mtamila.[2] Following this violent show of revolutionary force, the old leadership succumbed to the young men's demands for elections at the headquarters. In March, 1950, a young Haya doctor of medicine, Vedasto Kyaruzi, and Abdulwahid were elected president and secretary respectively. [3] When the young men took over the TAA, it had only eighty-seven shillings in its account with Barclays Bank.
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This was the beginning of the end of the influence of the old generation and the beginning of nationalism in Tanganyika. From that day Abdulwahid's name, that of his young brother Ally, and that of Mwapachu began to be associated with the TAA headquarters and the emerging nationalist politics. Abdulwahid was moving away from the political shadow of his late father to become a leader in his own right. Abdulwahid's position as the secretary of Al Jamiatul Islamiyya and the newly acquired post of TAA secretary put him in good political standing. He consolidated his own position and the family tradition of public service. Gradually he began to build a new and independent political base with the alliance of the Makerere intellectuals. Some of the older politicians of the previous generation and acquaintances of his father like Schneider and Mashado Plantan and Clement Mtamila supported him and Kyaruzi in reviving the TAA headquarters.
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TAA Political Subcommittee, 1951
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No records exist which show that the African Association had a clear official policy or programme on the country's political situation. To understand the direction of African politics as they appeared at that time one need to observe the behaviour of the leadership and its reaction to different African problems. Abdulwahid's first move was to form what was known as TAA Political Subcommittee [4] comprising himself as secretary; Sheikh Hassan bin Amir as the Mufti of Tanganyika; Dr Kyaruzi; Mwapachu; Said Chaurembo who was the liwali at Kariakoo local court; John Rupia and Stephen Mhando. The task given to this committee was to deal with political issues in the country. The creation of this committee was a turning point in the history of organised politics in colonial Tanganyika. Throughout the entire twenty-one years of its existence, the African Association had functioned under a non-political constitution. For the first time, in 1950, TAA under new leadership gave itself political status, not by changing the existing constitution, but by forming a political committee within the Association.
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The committee represented a diversity of interests and its members had different personal abilities and backgrounds. Sheikh Hassan bin Amir, though originating from Zanzibar was the Mufti of Tanganyika and represented the dominant Muslim interests and the local political power base. Behind him were all sheikhs, tariqa khalifas, murids and the general Muslim community. Thus were included the very few Muslim elite who, although not committed Muslims, recognised the power and force behind Muslim institutions. Said Chaurembo represented the Zaramo tribesmen of Dar es Salaam and surrounding districts. John Rupia from Mission Quarter was a rich African businessman and party financier. He was also representative of old and outgoing leadership. Stephen Mhando, a radical schoolteacher and outspoken Bondei from Muheza, represented the Makerere school. Among the members of the committee Abdulwahid was the only person representing a multiplicity of interests. He was one of the party financiers, a member of the TAA intelligentsia and a leading personality in Al Jamiatul Islamiyya; he and Mwapachu represented young Muslim modernists. The TAA political subcommittee merged young and old leadership; allied old Muslim conservatives to young Muslim modernists on one hand and the Christian elite on the other. It was the alliance that would lead to the defeat of British colonialism in Tanganyika.
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Having established the political committee, Abdulwahid settled down to write to all TAA branches in the territory in order to revitalise them. A major issue facing Abdulwahid and the political committee was the status of Tanganyika as a mandate territory. Abdulwahid engaged Earle Seaton; a lawyer from Bermuda based in Moshi, and attached him to the committee to advise them on constitutional law and decolonisation of mandate territories under foreign rule. The United Nations Trusteeship Council had already sent its first visiting mission to Tanganyika in 1948; but not much was gained from this mission. The TAA headquarters in Dar es Salaam under Dr Kyaruzi and Abdulwahid with the backing of the political committee was now rising from its deep slumber. What was now required were serious issues to stimulate the minds of the young intellectuals. The TAA leadership did not have to look far. These issues came in the form of the Constitutional Development Committee set up by Governor Edward Twining and the Meru land evictions.
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Tanganyika as a Mandate Territory
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Britain was administering Tanganyika under articles 76 and 77 of the Charter of the United Nations. As the administering authority, Britain was expected to establish and promote political, economic and social advancement of Tanganyika until such time as its people were ready for self-rule. In spite of this international commitment, the British were more interested in safeguarding their own colonial interests and those of other minorities but-not those of the indigenous African majority. [5] In order to pre-empty African reaction to this injustice, in 1949 Governor Edward Twining invited proposals from prominent individuals, welfare societies and from Native Authorities,[6] as to how Tanganyika should be governed. The TAA political committee submitted a memorandum to the Constitutional Development Committee which was signed by the entire executive: Sheikh Hassan bin Amir, Abdulwahid Sykes, Vedasto Kyaruzi, Hamza Mwapachu, John Rupia, Stephen Mhando and Said Chaurembo. [7] In his annual report for 1950, Abdulwahid was to write:
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"For the welfare of the Africans and to safeguard the interests of this Association and those of the African community as a whole, this Association has arranged for an advocate to stand by and to advise the Association on the technical side of the law. This advocate is Mr. E.E. Seaton of Moshi. He has from time to time written to the Association on various political subjects, and helped a great deal with his advices when this Association was compiling its memorandum on constitutional development." [8]
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Abdulwahid realised that many of the problems in respect of the rights of Africans in the territory were legal issues which required the advice of legal experts. For the first time, with the help of Seaton, TAA was able to confront the colonial authority with facts and figures illustrating injustices in the colonial system which were contrary to the United Nations Charter.
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In his analysis of the TAA memorandum to the Constitutional Development Committee, Pratt reported:
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"The most detailed African submission came from the Dar es Salaam branch of the Tanganyika African Association. It asked that the distribution of seats (i.e. an official majority and one-half of the unofficial to be African) should be held constant for the next twelve years and that in the thirteenth year a common electoral roll should be introduced with a majority of the council then being elected."[9]
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Governor Edward Twining's committee ignored TAA's recommendations. The government continued with its long-term plans of strengthening the positions of minority Europeans and Asians in the political development of the territory while pushing aside the indigenous Africans contrary to the United Nations Charter. Many learned Africans were of the opinion that the TAA submission should have rightly formed the basis of the future constitution of the territory as a multi-racial society. But the spirit of that document did not die. It surfaced at the TANU founding conference on 7[SUP]th[/SUP] July, 1954 and was to form the basis of Julius Nyerere's speech before the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations in New York in March, 1955. [10]
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After the failure of the TAA memorandum, the leadership at headquarters turned its full effort to establishing links with and gaining support from the United Nations. These efforts bore fruit because the world body responded very positively by sending relevant reports and pamphlets of its different committees and agencies to the Association. Unfortunately these reports could not be displayed at the headquarters for lack of space. At that time the TAA headquarters had rented some of its rooms to an Asian dhobi washer man and the house had no electricity. These were hard times at the headquarters because TAA could hardly sustain itself, and was struggling to make do with a shoestring budget from donations by Rupia, the Sykes brothers, Dossa Aziz and a few other well-wishers.
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Following this awakening of the Association, the government was alarmed and decided to transfer Dr Kyaruzi, the TAA president, from Dar es Salaam to Kingolwira Prison Hospital near Morogoro. The colonial government believed this would take the wind out of the sails of TAA. With Dr Kyaruzi out of the way the TAA leadership at the headquarters would be weakened. But Dr Kyaruzi was not to be restrained. He travelled to Dar es Salaam each weekend to confer with Abdulwahid. When the government realised that the transfer did not in any way affect Dr Kyaruzi's contribution to the leadership of the TAA headquarters, he was transferred from Kingolwira to Nzega which was a remote place very far from Dar es Salaam. Mwapachu like his colleague Dr Kyaruzi was ostracized to the interior of Tanganyika and the colonial government moved him from one place to the other to keep him on check.
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(Excerptsfrom "The Life and the Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes 1924 – 1968 TheUntold Story of the Muslim
Struggle Against British Colonialism in Tanganyika,"by Mohamed Said, (Minerva Press, London 1968).
[1]The author has borrowed this concept from Judith Listowel who in identifying the Makerere influence and school of thought in the politics
of Tanganyika has labelled the Makerere graduates of the 1950s, 'Makerere intellectuals.'
[2]Information from Dossa who witnessed the fracas.
[3] Information from Dossa Aziz interviewed in1987. Also see Iliffe, 'A Modern History...'pp. 507-508. Mtamila survived the turmoil and was
the elder politician who welcomed John Hatch of the Labour Party of Great Britain when he visitedTanganyika in 1955 as guest of TANU.
[4]Annual Report of the Secretary of Tanganyika African Association, 7 January, 1951. Sykes' Papers.
[5]For a detailed discussion on the subject see Cranford Pratt, The Critical Phase in Tanzania 1945-1968, Cambridge University Press, London,1976,
pp. 29-31.
[6] Ibid p. 30.
[7]The author was for the first time informed of the existence of this document by one of Mwapachu's children, Juma Volter Mwapachu. He was
informed that Mwapachu took great pride in having participated in the drafting of this document. Inher book Listowel mentioned this document
and its historical significance to the political history of Tanganyika. But it was Pratt who analysed the documentin detail. The document was first
consulted by Pratt in 1959 in a file of the Committee on ‘Constitutional Development Report/and Dispatches to the Secretary of State' no. 1146-6,
Dar es Salaam Secretariat Library. Although this file isavailable at the Tanzania National Archives, the document is missing. The author was informed
that a microfilm ofthe document was available but that too could not be traced. For moreinformation on loss of historical documents see M. Said,
‘In Praise ofAncestors Revisited' in Africa Events,London March, 1989, pp. 50-51.
[8]Annual Report of the secretary of TAA, ibid.
[9] Pratt op. cit. p. 30.
[10] There are old men, TANU veterans, whobelieve to this day that the March 1955 speech by Julius Nyerere before the Trusteeship Council was
written by Abdulwahid, and so wasthe constitution of Tanganyika. The author has come across this story several times in his interviews with early
members of TANU. The reason for this belief is that the document was drafted by the TAA Political Subcommittee in 1950.
