Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
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...agenda nyongine inaweza kuwa unataka kusema maybe she's really a dude.....kwikwikwiiiii
Ukweli ni upi kuhusu Oscar Kambona?
Ukweli ni upi kuhusu Oscar Kambona?
- Thread starter Kafara
- Start date
...agenda nyongine inaweza kuwa unataka kusema maybe she's really a dude.....kwikwikwiiiii
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
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Usitafute njia rahisi ya kutokea. Jibu swali: umewahi kuona au kusikia likitumiwa kwa mwanamke kama wewe?
Phillemon Mikael
Platinum Member
- Nov 5, 2006
- 10,557
- 8,673
msofe juzi kapiga 1 million dollar...za wamarekani ..hiyo ndio hot....lakini na hao wawekezaji uchwara kinachofanya wapigwe ni kwa sababu wanakuwa wanataka shaba black market ..hapo wanakutana na papaa.ni kama citibank walivyokuwa wanaletaga dolas kinyemela bila kuwaambia BOT...matokeo yake wakaibiwa na kina kasusura...
juzi kwenye ile pati ya ndugu zetu mabwenga..nilishangaa kuona MUZAMIL KATUNZI[mshirika wa papaa]..KASHIKANA MKONO NA LOWASA BAADA YA KUCHANGA MILIONI KADHAA[hivi watu wa itifaki hata kama ni mnada huwa hawa restrict invitees..hata kama mtu ana pesa za mashaka inakuwaje aruhusiwe kuingia..kama walitaka pesa yake ingetosha tu kama angepitishiwa kadi akachanga bila kupewa coverage..]..angalieni nipashe [ya tar 1 dec 2007..page 7]
Mwafrika wa Kike
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 5, 2007
- 5,185
- 60
Nyani,
Hili suala la Hilary kutokuwa na bollz mbona kila siku linasemwa kwenye blogs na circle za Demokrats. Fuatilia uone kampeni yake na wapiga kampeni wa Obama wanavyosema kuhusu Hilary ku-vote kuvamia Iraq na hii ya juzi ya kuhusu Iran!
Supporterz wake wana sema kuwa Hillary ana bollz za kupigana na nchi yoyote ikiwemo Iran wakati wapinzani wake wanasema kuwa hana bollz za kustand up against Republicans.
Huu kwangu na wana blog wengi ni usemi tu! Hata ukiwa offended ni too late kuchange sasa hivi. Ndio maana nimekuruhusu ujadili kuhusu mimi na Krit yangu kama thread kuhusu mimi ikianzishwa.
Kwa sasa ninajadili kuhusu Kambona na mtizamo wangu ni kuwa this guy hakuwa na bollz kabisa za kustand heat ya mapambano.
Mwafrika wa Kike
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 5, 2007
- 5,185
- 60
Jaribu kuchukua time kusoma liberal blogz and you will be surprized to learn what can be said and not said to a womam!
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
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Ohoooo...ningependa kuijadili krit yako chemba, au we unasemaje? Ngoja nikucheki kwenye PM basi...Lol
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
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Hivi unajua jinsi wanavyomsema mama Clinton? Kuna kila aina ya uvumi juu yake....so yeah, they may very well say that she doesn't have the balls to do whatever...but there is always another meaning to it....
Mwafrika wa Kike
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 5, 2007
- 5,185
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you gat some jokes ahnhaaa
Nasubiria PM yako chemba. Ila usije baadaye ukaogopa na kukimbia heat kama Kambona. Kambona was a big tyme baby and coward! I said it here and pliz dont ever be like him!
Mwafrika wa Kike
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 5, 2007
- 5,185
- 60
Tutaanzisha thread nyingine kuhusu clinton kama ukitaka kisha unipe hizo inside information maana naweza kuzipass kwa kampeni ya Edwards! lol
Kwa sasa tumjadili huyu coward and baby without bollz - Kambona
Mzee Mwanakijiji
Platinum Member
- Mar 10, 2006
- 33,771
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Hapa miye nawaacha kwenye mjadala wa balls na magoli..
Mwanakijiji,
kama Kambona alishiriki ktk harakati za uhuru wa Taifa letu basi moja kwa moja ni SHUJAA. Tumpe heshima yake kwa mchango wake huo?
but why Kambona? Kwanini aandamwe namna hiyo? Kwani kutofautiana na Nyerere kuhusu azimio la arusha ni DHAMBI au UHAINI?
Mbona AZIMIO lenyewe limetupeleka pabaya, halafu tunamlaumu yule aliyelipinga?
NB:
Nilisoma mahala kwamba Che-Nkapa alikuwa speech writer wa Kambona. Labda aulizwe alimuelewa vipi bosi wake wa zamani.
kama Kambona alishiriki ktk harakati za uhuru wa Taifa letu basi moja kwa moja ni SHUJAA. Tumpe heshima yake kwa mchango wake huo?
but why Kambona? Kwanini aandamwe namna hiyo? Kwani kutofautiana na Nyerere kuhusu azimio la arusha ni DHAMBI au UHAINI?
Mbona AZIMIO lenyewe limetupeleka pabaya, halafu tunamlaumu yule aliyelipinga?
NB:
Nilisoma mahala kwamba Che-Nkapa alikuwa speech writer wa Kambona. Labda aulizwe alimuelewa vipi bosi wake wa zamani.
Mwafrika wa Kike
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 5, 2007
- 5,185
- 60
Mkjj,
just wait for the tone or press 3 to speak with a customer representative! lol
Huyu Kambona hakuna cha ballz wala magoli maana jamaa mambo yaki-get tough anakimbia big tyme na humsikii tena!
Mzee Mwanakijiji
Platinum Member
- Mar 10, 2006
- 33,771
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Joka Kuu, hilo la kumpa heshima ya kushiriki harakati za Uhuru nadhani ni proper kabisa kwani hakuna mtu aliyejuu ya Taifa, siyo Nyerere na siyo Kambona. Kama Karume ameweza kupewa heshima yake why not Kambona? However, that is a separate argument na ninaamini siyo wengi watakaopinga. Tatizo ni kujaribu kumjengea hii Icon status ambayo alikuwa nayo mwanzoni but he never the number one guy, HE NEVER WAS.
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
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...basi kaamua kumpaka matope mzee wa watu.
Zitto
Former MP Kigoma Urban
- Mar 2, 2007
- 1,562
- 10,888
Bibi Tit and the Treason Trials of 1970
In the first five years of independence, Tanu was able to present a united and harmonious face to the nation. There had been no acrimonious fights or bitter outbursts from within the government. "I've been one of the luckiest presidents in Africa. My colleagues are very loyal to me," President Nyerere ventured to say late in 1966.
Within two years, the tide had turned: several former cabinet ministers were in detention, one of Nyerere's closest confidants was in exile, and Tanzania's first-ever treason trial was about to open.
In June 1967, the insecure and inarticulate Oscar Kambona, a founding member of Tanu and one of the most senior cabinet ministers, abruptly resigned from all his official posts. A month later, Kambona fled his homeland and began a bitter life of exile in London.
Once safely ensconced in England, Kambona made a series of sweeping allegations against the Tanzanian government, culminating in the charge that Nyerere was "making himself a dictator".
In October 1969, the almost legendary Bibi Titi Mohamed and the former Labour Minister Michael Kamaliza were arrested, along with four army officers. The next day, the former editor of the Tanu newspaper, The Nationalist, was arrested in Kenya; he was said to have been acting as an emissary for Kambona.
In 1970, they were charged with plotting to overthrow the government.
***
July 1970: The trial opens.
THE SETTING was the timbered and whitewashed courthouse built on Dar-es-Salaam's picturesque harbour front by the German colonists shortly before the start of the First World War.
The cast was seven Tanzanians ranging in age from 27 to 46, with just one woman. And as the plot unfolded, an audience of hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians scrutinised their newspapers and kept their ears glued to the radio for every detail.
What was attracting their attention was the start of what was likely to become Tanzania's most sensational trial ever. Eight people are charged with treason following the attempt in October 1969 to overthrow the government of President Julius Nyerere.
One of the accused and the man claimed to be the ringleader, is Oscar Kambona, the former Foreign Minister.
It was from his London hideaway that he allegedly drew up plans to oust his country's leader and formerly one of his closest friends. He is the first accused.
The others accused are:
Grey Mataka, formerly news editor of the Tanu newspaper, The Nationalist;
Michael Kamaliza, a polio cripple, one time Minister for Labour and head of NUTA, Tanzania's trade union movement;
Bibi Titi Mohamed, a former close friend of the president and one of the founder members of Tanu. She headed the women's wing of the ruling party and was at one time a Junior Minister;
William Chacha, a former colonel in the TPDF, until recently military attaché in the Tanzanian embassy in Peking;
Elia Chipaka, a former captain in the TPDF, and
Alfred Milinga, a lieutenant in the TPDF.
It is Tanzania's first-ever treason trial. All face the death sentence. It is believed that the government may institute extradition proceedings against Oscar Kambona.
The court was told that the bid to overthrow the government was planned for between October 10 and 15, 1969. At the time, the President and a large group of government officials, as well as the Chief of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces, Major General Sam Sarakyika, were on an overseas tour.
Evidence to be presented at the High Court trial will link the mainland plotters with conspirators in Zanzibar, who have already been dealt with.
Tanzania's CID director, Mr Geoffrey Sawaya, told the court that Kambona, who used seven aliases, sent large sums of money to some of the accused to pay people who were to help with the coup.
Mr Sawaya said that almost all the accused used code-names in most of their correspondence except for Kambona.
He alleged that the attempted coup was foiled because some of the accused were arrested and detained before the date set for the take-over.
Some of the accused made statements after their arrest admitting most of the allegations. These, he said, would be produced at the trial.
There was more evidence, said Mr Sawaya, showing instructions which had been made on how key points should be taken, and lists of important people who were to be detained.
Moonlight trips by dhow between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar, secret meetings in posh hotels in Nairobi and London and night-clubs in Dar-es-Salaam, and coded messages signed with secret names: these were just a few aspects of the stranger-than-fiction story of the plot to overthrow and kill the President. The final chapter of this incredible story was written in the Dar-es-Salaam High Court.
One of the most damning pieces of evidence in the trial was the "wedding guest list" found at the flat of Elia Lifa Chipaka. All 37 names on the list were those of army officers.
At the trial, Lifa claimed that it was a list of guests he was preparing for his wedding. But, as the Chief Justice pointed out in his summing-up of the case, the list contained comments which the average person might consider quite irrelevant when considering wedding guests.
Against the name of one colonel, for example, was the comment: "Dissatisfied, but his stand is not known".
As the trial groaned on and on, evidence against the plotters built up word by word. This included letters said to have been received from Oscar Kambona.
Chief witness at the trial was Mr Potlako Leballo, Acting President of the Pan African Congress of South Africa, which is based in Dar-es-Salaam.
According to the prosecution, Leballo had been working for Tanzania's special branch at the time of the planning of the coup and had infiltrated the group working against the government and gained their confidence.
The defence claimed Leballo was a liar who had dreamed the whole thing up and they implied that Leballo was in the pay of the South African government.
As he delivered the verdicts, Mr Philip Georges, Tanzania's Chief Justice, ignored pleas from the defence for leniency and said that independent African states badly needed stability. At the same time, the Chief Justice warned that he was not happy with preventive detention in Tanzania, saying that he hoped the trial heralded a new era in which suspected criminals would be brought before the courts of law rather than be held indefinitely in prison without trial.
At the end of this summation of the 127-day trial, Chief Justice Georges passed the following sentences:
Bibi Titi Mohamed Life imprisonment for treason;
Gray Mataka Life imprisonment for treason;
Elia Chipaka Life imprisonment for treason;
Michael Kamaliza Ten years' imprisonment for misprision of treason;
William Chacha Ten years' imprisonment for misprision of treason.
Former army lieutenant Alfred Milinga was found not guilty, and after 16 months in detention, he was carried shoulder-high from the courtroom by his joyous relatives.
In the end, Oscar Kambona was tried in absentia. A brief three years earlier, Nyerere had said of his cabinet colleague: "Oscar is extremely loyal - to the party, to me, to the people".
****
Two years later, in April 1972, Bibi Titi Mohamed received an unprecedented presidential pardon.
BIBI TITI Mohamed, former strongwoman of Tanzania, stepped down from the train at the crowded Dar-es-Salaam station and said: "Whoever thought I would see Dar-es-Salaam again. Incredible!" She was then thronged by exuberant relatives, friends and admirers.
She had written to the President for pardon, but she had never been given any reason for hope. She was set free from Dodoma Prison in central Tanzania, under a special Presidential decree. Freed along with here were Ottini Kambona and Mattiya Kambona, younger brothers of self-exiled Oscar.
Mwalimu's reason for releasing Bibi Titi and the former Tanu Youth League secretary general, Eli Anagisye, as well as the two Kambonas, is a mystery. Bib Titi had appeared to be so inextricably involved in the treason charges.
Bibi Titi has been given an unheralded pardon. Rumours had been rife in and around the capital that she had died while in prison. In fact, a woman who heard the news of her release from prison in a radio broadcast remarked: "Hear those people! They will never get tired of telling us lies. How can they say Bibi Titi has been freed when everybody knows she died months ago?"
Bibi Titi spent about half an hour at the railway station before she was whisked away to her mother's home in Temeke, a southern city suburb.
She went to stay in the old house she built for her mother in her heyday. Her mother, now 92 years of age, is almost as vibrant as her 47-year-old daughter Bibi Titi. But on this day she literally fell unconscious at the sight of her long-absent daughter.
****
The treason trials and the saga of Kambona's exile had an odd sequel a decade later:
THE HIJACKING of the Air Tanzania Boeing 737 on Friday, February 27, 1982, sent shock waves around Africa and the world. Less than three days later, the crisis ended at Stansted Airport, London, when two ten-year-old Tanzanian children, one carrying a pistol and the other a package labelled "explosives", led the hostages to safety. The four hijackers surrendered and are now in Chelmsford Prison, Britain.
This is the timetable of the domestic flight that turned into a chilling hijack drama. On Friday, February 26, at 12:35 pm, the Air Tanzania Boeing 737 took off from Mwanza, Lake Victoria, on a flight to Dar-es-Salaam. Seven and a half hours later, the jet carrying about 100 passengers touched down at Nairobi, Kenya, hijacked.
The hijackers radioed that there were explosives on board. Despite the tough talk, three women, two children and an elderly man were released unharmed. At midnight, the Boeing, call sign 5-HATC, took off on the 2,400-kilometre journey north to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The jet landed at Jeddah on Saturday at 3:00 am but took off again a few hours later. At ten o'clock, the plane landed at Athens. A Belgian missionary and a Somali truck driver were allowed off. Then the plane took off again, heading west. At 2:20 pm, radio links were established between the pilot and the United Kingdom. The pilot was directed to Stansted Airport, Essex.
At 2:31 pm, the Boeing touched down at Stansted. The hijackers demanded the resignation of their premier, Julius Nyerere, and talks with his opponent, Mr Oscar Kambona, exiled in Britain since 1967. The hijackers freed a pregnant woman and her five-year-old son. At 5:27 pm, the pilot asked for permission to move the plane closer to the terminal building. "His friends" were nervous with the jet in the darkness. The plane then taxied to within 150 yards of the terminal, forcing police and fire vehicles to scatter.
At 7:32 pm, one of the hijackers screamed, "Bring 100 coffins" and threatened to blow up the jet and everyone in it. But an hour later, the situation was still calm. Michael, a softly spoken police negotiator, radioed an offer of vegetables and water. Power was provided for air-conditioning and lights on board the 737, but fuel for takeoff was refused. From 11:30 am on Sunday morning, hostages were released in dribs and drabs until 4:22 pm, when the hijackers and their families, who had been on board throughout, left the jet.
****
Oscar Kambona claimed to have no prior knowledge of the hijack plot. However, he said it was easy for him, Tanzania's most prominent exile, to understand the hijackers' motivations. He gave this interview to Drum, printed in its April 1982 issue:
The British Foreign Ministry asked me to help find a solution. When I went to Stansted Airport, the hijackers asked to see me so they could be sure it was indeed me who was speaking. When they were satisfied, the negotiations took a different turn and soon they surrendered. I was only interested in saving lives. I didn't regard myself as a hero.
I didn't know the hijackers they were all between 24 and 25 years old. So, when I left Tanzania, they must have been only ten years old. Their act was an act of desperation. Some of their friends had disappeared. When the hijackers heard that the security police were looking for them, they felt they had to get out of the country and the only way out was to hijack a plane. Now their families have been sent back to Tanzania and they are desperately worried about them that is the reason for their hunger strike at Chelmsford Prison where they are being held. They are worried that they will be detained in Tanzania the courts of Tanzania have no right of habeas corpus. People are detained indefinitely at the pleasure of the government, but no reasons for detention are given. A detained person has no form of legal redress. Tanzania has become a police state.
I think the British should take an humanitarian angle in their case. The crime is serious, but these youths were not pirates. They were not after money. They were forced into this desperate act because of the conditions at home.
Nyerere and I go back a long way we founded Tanu. Nyerere was the chairman and I was the secretary general. Problems between us began in 1964 during the army mutiny. Nyerere and Kawawa hid themselves in a grass hut while I was left to face the music. I negotiated with the army and managed to settle the uprising. When Nyerere returned, the army wanted to mutiny again that was when we asked for military assistance from the British. After the mutiny, some friends told him that he was losing his grip on the country and I think he believed them.
When Nyerere visited China, he was very impressed with the glorification of Mao Tse-Tung. I think the seeds of a single, all-powerful individual, an autocrat, were sown in him on this trip. And when he came back, he wanted a one-party state.
I sat on the commission that looked at the question of a one-party state and produced a minority report in which I wanted to know what mechanism we had of changing government peacefully.
Nyerere persuaded me not to present my report and said that I should go along with the majority report which was in favour of a one-party state and that at the end of five years, we would review the situation and if we found any weaknesses we could put them right. I agreed, but I refused to sign as a member of the committee.
I think that Ujamaa was badly implemented and that is why it has been a failure. The government should have had pilot schemes which were successful so that people could go to see them. The farmers in Tanzania are very conservative. They want to know what they get from their labour. If a man has a farm and earns £200 from it, and is then asked to go into an Ujamaa village and gets £20 for the same work, he begins to ask: "How is Ujamaa good for me?"
The system in Tanzania is such that Nyerere will continue to remain in power. The President chooses all the candidates for elections. Whichever way you vote, you still vote for his man. In the Presidential elections, there are only two boxes one for Nyerere and the other against him. When you go into the polling booth, there is a soldier standing there. He tells you, "If you want Nyerere, vote there and if you are an enemy of the people, then vote in the 'no' box".
Nyerere has been in power for 21 years now. And nowadays he is always saying that he is going to resign. Then the parliamentarians stamp their feet and shout that he is their leader and Nyerere says: "Well, what can I do? A captain cannot abandon his ship and let it sink."
But why is it that during all this time he hasn't been able to find anyone who can rule the country besides himself?
I feel very sorry for the person who will take over because the country is bankrupt. If I took over I would change the economic policies and do away with detention for longer than ten days.
In the first five years of independence, Tanu was able to present a united and harmonious face to the nation. There had been no acrimonious fights or bitter outbursts from within the government. "I've been one of the luckiest presidents in Africa. My colleagues are very loyal to me," President Nyerere ventured to say late in 1966.
Within two years, the tide had turned: several former cabinet ministers were in detention, one of Nyerere's closest confidants was in exile, and Tanzania's first-ever treason trial was about to open.
In June 1967, the insecure and inarticulate Oscar Kambona, a founding member of Tanu and one of the most senior cabinet ministers, abruptly resigned from all his official posts. A month later, Kambona fled his homeland and began a bitter life of exile in London.
Once safely ensconced in England, Kambona made a series of sweeping allegations against the Tanzanian government, culminating in the charge that Nyerere was "making himself a dictator".
In October 1969, the almost legendary Bibi Titi Mohamed and the former Labour Minister Michael Kamaliza were arrested, along with four army officers. The next day, the former editor of the Tanu newspaper, The Nationalist, was arrested in Kenya; he was said to have been acting as an emissary for Kambona.
In 1970, they were charged with plotting to overthrow the government.
***
July 1970: The trial opens.
THE SETTING was the timbered and whitewashed courthouse built on Dar-es-Salaam's picturesque harbour front by the German colonists shortly before the start of the First World War.
The cast was seven Tanzanians ranging in age from 27 to 46, with just one woman. And as the plot unfolded, an audience of hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians scrutinised their newspapers and kept their ears glued to the radio for every detail.
What was attracting their attention was the start of what was likely to become Tanzania's most sensational trial ever. Eight people are charged with treason following the attempt in October 1969 to overthrow the government of President Julius Nyerere.
One of the accused and the man claimed to be the ringleader, is Oscar Kambona, the former Foreign Minister.
It was from his London hideaway that he allegedly drew up plans to oust his country's leader and formerly one of his closest friends. He is the first accused.
The others accused are:
Grey Mataka, formerly news editor of the Tanu newspaper, The Nationalist;
Michael Kamaliza, a polio cripple, one time Minister for Labour and head of NUTA, Tanzania's trade union movement;
Bibi Titi Mohamed, a former close friend of the president and one of the founder members of Tanu. She headed the women's wing of the ruling party and was at one time a Junior Minister;
William Chacha, a former colonel in the TPDF, until recently military attaché in the Tanzanian embassy in Peking;
Elia Chipaka, a former captain in the TPDF, and
Alfred Milinga, a lieutenant in the TPDF.
It is Tanzania's first-ever treason trial. All face the death sentence. It is believed that the government may institute extradition proceedings against Oscar Kambona.
The court was told that the bid to overthrow the government was planned for between October 10 and 15, 1969. At the time, the President and a large group of government officials, as well as the Chief of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces, Major General Sam Sarakyika, were on an overseas tour.
Evidence to be presented at the High Court trial will link the mainland plotters with conspirators in Zanzibar, who have already been dealt with.
Tanzania's CID director, Mr Geoffrey Sawaya, told the court that Kambona, who used seven aliases, sent large sums of money to some of the accused to pay people who were to help with the coup.
Mr Sawaya said that almost all the accused used code-names in most of their correspondence except for Kambona.
He alleged that the attempted coup was foiled because some of the accused were arrested and detained before the date set for the take-over.
Some of the accused made statements after their arrest admitting most of the allegations. These, he said, would be produced at the trial.
There was more evidence, said Mr Sawaya, showing instructions which had been made on how key points should be taken, and lists of important people who were to be detained.
Moonlight trips by dhow between Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar, secret meetings in posh hotels in Nairobi and London and night-clubs in Dar-es-Salaam, and coded messages signed with secret names: these were just a few aspects of the stranger-than-fiction story of the plot to overthrow and kill the President. The final chapter of this incredible story was written in the Dar-es-Salaam High Court.
One of the most damning pieces of evidence in the trial was the "wedding guest list" found at the flat of Elia Lifa Chipaka. All 37 names on the list were those of army officers.
At the trial, Lifa claimed that it was a list of guests he was preparing for his wedding. But, as the Chief Justice pointed out in his summing-up of the case, the list contained comments which the average person might consider quite irrelevant when considering wedding guests.
Against the name of one colonel, for example, was the comment: "Dissatisfied, but his stand is not known".
As the trial groaned on and on, evidence against the plotters built up word by word. This included letters said to have been received from Oscar Kambona.
Chief witness at the trial was Mr Potlako Leballo, Acting President of the Pan African Congress of South Africa, which is based in Dar-es-Salaam.
According to the prosecution, Leballo had been working for Tanzania's special branch at the time of the planning of the coup and had infiltrated the group working against the government and gained their confidence.
The defence claimed Leballo was a liar who had dreamed the whole thing up and they implied that Leballo was in the pay of the South African government.
As he delivered the verdicts, Mr Philip Georges, Tanzania's Chief Justice, ignored pleas from the defence for leniency and said that independent African states badly needed stability. At the same time, the Chief Justice warned that he was not happy with preventive detention in Tanzania, saying that he hoped the trial heralded a new era in which suspected criminals would be brought before the courts of law rather than be held indefinitely in prison without trial.
At the end of this summation of the 127-day trial, Chief Justice Georges passed the following sentences:
Bibi Titi Mohamed Life imprisonment for treason;
Gray Mataka Life imprisonment for treason;
Elia Chipaka Life imprisonment for treason;
Michael Kamaliza Ten years' imprisonment for misprision of treason;
William Chacha Ten years' imprisonment for misprision of treason.
Former army lieutenant Alfred Milinga was found not guilty, and after 16 months in detention, he was carried shoulder-high from the courtroom by his joyous relatives.
In the end, Oscar Kambona was tried in absentia. A brief three years earlier, Nyerere had said of his cabinet colleague: "Oscar is extremely loyal - to the party, to me, to the people".
****
Two years later, in April 1972, Bibi Titi Mohamed received an unprecedented presidential pardon.
BIBI TITI Mohamed, former strongwoman of Tanzania, stepped down from the train at the crowded Dar-es-Salaam station and said: "Whoever thought I would see Dar-es-Salaam again. Incredible!" She was then thronged by exuberant relatives, friends and admirers.
She had written to the President for pardon, but she had never been given any reason for hope. She was set free from Dodoma Prison in central Tanzania, under a special Presidential decree. Freed along with here were Ottini Kambona and Mattiya Kambona, younger brothers of self-exiled Oscar.
Mwalimu's reason for releasing Bibi Titi and the former Tanu Youth League secretary general, Eli Anagisye, as well as the two Kambonas, is a mystery. Bib Titi had appeared to be so inextricably involved in the treason charges.
Bibi Titi has been given an unheralded pardon. Rumours had been rife in and around the capital that she had died while in prison. In fact, a woman who heard the news of her release from prison in a radio broadcast remarked: "Hear those people! They will never get tired of telling us lies. How can they say Bibi Titi has been freed when everybody knows she died months ago?"
Bibi Titi spent about half an hour at the railway station before she was whisked away to her mother's home in Temeke, a southern city suburb.
She went to stay in the old house she built for her mother in her heyday. Her mother, now 92 years of age, is almost as vibrant as her 47-year-old daughter Bibi Titi. But on this day she literally fell unconscious at the sight of her long-absent daughter.
****
The treason trials and the saga of Kambona's exile had an odd sequel a decade later:
THE HIJACKING of the Air Tanzania Boeing 737 on Friday, February 27, 1982, sent shock waves around Africa and the world. Less than three days later, the crisis ended at Stansted Airport, London, when two ten-year-old Tanzanian children, one carrying a pistol and the other a package labelled "explosives", led the hostages to safety. The four hijackers surrendered and are now in Chelmsford Prison, Britain.
This is the timetable of the domestic flight that turned into a chilling hijack drama. On Friday, February 26, at 12:35 pm, the Air Tanzania Boeing 737 took off from Mwanza, Lake Victoria, on a flight to Dar-es-Salaam. Seven and a half hours later, the jet carrying about 100 passengers touched down at Nairobi, Kenya, hijacked.
The hijackers radioed that there were explosives on board. Despite the tough talk, three women, two children and an elderly man were released unharmed. At midnight, the Boeing, call sign 5-HATC, took off on the 2,400-kilometre journey north to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The jet landed at Jeddah on Saturday at 3:00 am but took off again a few hours later. At ten o'clock, the plane landed at Athens. A Belgian missionary and a Somali truck driver were allowed off. Then the plane took off again, heading west. At 2:20 pm, radio links were established between the pilot and the United Kingdom. The pilot was directed to Stansted Airport, Essex.
At 2:31 pm, the Boeing touched down at Stansted. The hijackers demanded the resignation of their premier, Julius Nyerere, and talks with his opponent, Mr Oscar Kambona, exiled in Britain since 1967. The hijackers freed a pregnant woman and her five-year-old son. At 5:27 pm, the pilot asked for permission to move the plane closer to the terminal building. "His friends" were nervous with the jet in the darkness. The plane then taxied to within 150 yards of the terminal, forcing police and fire vehicles to scatter.
At 7:32 pm, one of the hijackers screamed, "Bring 100 coffins" and threatened to blow up the jet and everyone in it. But an hour later, the situation was still calm. Michael, a softly spoken police negotiator, radioed an offer of vegetables and water. Power was provided for air-conditioning and lights on board the 737, but fuel for takeoff was refused. From 11:30 am on Sunday morning, hostages were released in dribs and drabs until 4:22 pm, when the hijackers and their families, who had been on board throughout, left the jet.
****
Oscar Kambona claimed to have no prior knowledge of the hijack plot. However, he said it was easy for him, Tanzania's most prominent exile, to understand the hijackers' motivations. He gave this interview to Drum, printed in its April 1982 issue:
The British Foreign Ministry asked me to help find a solution. When I went to Stansted Airport, the hijackers asked to see me so they could be sure it was indeed me who was speaking. When they were satisfied, the negotiations took a different turn and soon they surrendered. I was only interested in saving lives. I didn't regard myself as a hero.
I didn't know the hijackers they were all between 24 and 25 years old. So, when I left Tanzania, they must have been only ten years old. Their act was an act of desperation. Some of their friends had disappeared. When the hijackers heard that the security police were looking for them, they felt they had to get out of the country and the only way out was to hijack a plane. Now their families have been sent back to Tanzania and they are desperately worried about them that is the reason for their hunger strike at Chelmsford Prison where they are being held. They are worried that they will be detained in Tanzania the courts of Tanzania have no right of habeas corpus. People are detained indefinitely at the pleasure of the government, but no reasons for detention are given. A detained person has no form of legal redress. Tanzania has become a police state.
I think the British should take an humanitarian angle in their case. The crime is serious, but these youths were not pirates. They were not after money. They were forced into this desperate act because of the conditions at home.
Nyerere and I go back a long way we founded Tanu. Nyerere was the chairman and I was the secretary general. Problems between us began in 1964 during the army mutiny. Nyerere and Kawawa hid themselves in a grass hut while I was left to face the music. I negotiated with the army and managed to settle the uprising. When Nyerere returned, the army wanted to mutiny again that was when we asked for military assistance from the British. After the mutiny, some friends told him that he was losing his grip on the country and I think he believed them.
When Nyerere visited China, he was very impressed with the glorification of Mao Tse-Tung. I think the seeds of a single, all-powerful individual, an autocrat, were sown in him on this trip. And when he came back, he wanted a one-party state.
I sat on the commission that looked at the question of a one-party state and produced a minority report in which I wanted to know what mechanism we had of changing government peacefully.
Nyerere persuaded me not to present my report and said that I should go along with the majority report which was in favour of a one-party state and that at the end of five years, we would review the situation and if we found any weaknesses we could put them right. I agreed, but I refused to sign as a member of the committee.
I think that Ujamaa was badly implemented and that is why it has been a failure. The government should have had pilot schemes which were successful so that people could go to see them. The farmers in Tanzania are very conservative. They want to know what they get from their labour. If a man has a farm and earns £200 from it, and is then asked to go into an Ujamaa village and gets £20 for the same work, he begins to ask: "How is Ujamaa good for me?"
The system in Tanzania is such that Nyerere will continue to remain in power. The President chooses all the candidates for elections. Whichever way you vote, you still vote for his man. In the Presidential elections, there are only two boxes one for Nyerere and the other against him. When you go into the polling booth, there is a soldier standing there. He tells you, "If you want Nyerere, vote there and if you are an enemy of the people, then vote in the 'no' box".
Nyerere has been in power for 21 years now. And nowadays he is always saying that he is going to resign. Then the parliamentarians stamp their feet and shout that he is their leader and Nyerere says: "Well, what can I do? A captain cannot abandon his ship and let it sink."
But why is it that during all this time he hasn't been able to find anyone who can rule the country besides himself?
I feel very sorry for the person who will take over because the country is bankrupt. If I took over I would change the economic policies and do away with detention for longer than ten days.
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
- 122,540
Sasa weka attribution basi tujue ni nani kaandika....
Zitto
Former MP Kigoma Urban
- Mar 2, 2007
- 1,562
- 10,888
Was Kambona That Bad
By Metty Nyang'oro | Published 12/8/2006 | Siasa | Unrated
Was Kambona That Bad?
This article originally appeared on my blog, but given its importance, I thought it would be nice for all of us to share.
An old respectful Tanzanian lady dropped by for a visit last night. She dropped her hello for my brother who just moved to the US from Tanzania. That was a wonderful courteous Tanzanian gesture. Quite naturally, the conversation touched on politics and maendeleo topics. Given that my brother just landed, we all expected a fresh perspective from Tanzania. Obviously, when you talk about maendeleo you cannot avoid throwing Mwalimu Nyerere into the mix.
I have had a taste of what it meant to live in the Nyerere era. I understand the mystique around this late dude. This lady happened to be an old guard who strongly believe that Nyerere is the best thing that has ever happened to Tanzania.
Really?
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?
Since I was born past the time Kambona took off, I had to dig into the history materials to find out for myself. This is what I found.
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.
Source: Maryknoll Africa
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.
So the question of the day is: Was Kambona that bad?
By Metty Nyang'oro | Published 12/8/2006 | Siasa | Unrated
Was Kambona That Bad?
This article originally appeared on my blog, but given its importance, I thought it would be nice for all of us to share.
An old respectful Tanzanian lady dropped by for a visit last night. She dropped her hello for my brother who just moved to the US from Tanzania. That was a wonderful courteous Tanzanian gesture. Quite naturally, the conversation touched on politics and maendeleo topics. Given that my brother just landed, we all expected a fresh perspective from Tanzania. Obviously, when you talk about maendeleo you cannot avoid throwing Mwalimu Nyerere into the mix.
I have had a taste of what it meant to live in the Nyerere era. I understand the mystique around this late dude. This lady happened to be an old guard who strongly believe that Nyerere is the best thing that has ever happened to Tanzania.
Really?
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?
Since I was born past the time Kambona took off, I had to dig into the history materials to find out for myself. This is what I found.
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.
Source: Maryknoll Africa
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.
So the question of the day is: Was Kambona that bad?
Mzee Mwanakijiji
Platinum Member
- Mar 10, 2006
- 33,771
- 41,027
hey.. yaani miye ndiye nimempaka matope.. kuna data napitia kuanzia za CIA na British Intelligence, tutamuonesha Kambona of what he really turned out to be a political fraud. Kambona alibadilika sana alipokosa madaraka na alipoenda kwenye uhamisho aliojipa ikabidi aseme chochote kile na atengeneze legend yoyote ile ili apate kula yake kule.