GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Africa the
cradle of the world’s civilization, the once stable, rich and serene citadel of
human existence, has for the past seven decades been under struggle to combat
the vestiges of artificial barriers to growth and development left behind by
European invasion and exploitation of Africa.[1]
A
rigorous perusal in and around Africa today would show that there is a serious
existential disaster. There is crisis. This is clearly seen in the socio-political
cum economic scenes of the continent. The current rate of poverty, diseases,
war, national disintegration, economic sabotage, dictatorship, looting and
embezzlement of the state coffer, etc is tragic, alarming and pathetic that we
cannot talk about it without a handkerchief at our disposal. Thus, “the most
basic and fundamental fact in Africa today” as Tsenay Serequeberhan articulates
it, “is the misery in which the continent is immersed and the various struggle
to overcome this wretched condition.”[2]
Therefore, the questions in the mouth of everybody are; what is wrong with
Africa? Were we not ripe for independence when we had it? Why has the continent
of Africa become a byword in the community of world continent? Why are African
states perfect personification of political instabilities and economic
porosity? Put specifically, what is wrong with our political systems and
ideologies? Meanwhile the answer could not be farfetched if one should look
into history and critically analyse the situation. One would no doubt find out
that the African predicament has been that of leadership and wrong political
ideologies. In fact, it is not an over statement to say that the African
problem is tantamount with failure in leadership and political ideologies.
Thus, to identify this fact would be an effective point of departure towards a
better Africa.
Suffice
to say that in view of the foregoing, in December 1962, the leaders of the new
political states of Africa assembled in Dakar, Senegal to find a suitable
ideology that would lead Africa out of the woods and darkness. At the “Dakar
Colloquium”, a litany of options was suggested. Prominent among them were
socialist and capitalist options enshrined in Marxist and democratic
philosophies respectively. Also among the options was the choice of returning
to the African “glorious” political past.
At
the end of their deliberations, many of them preferred socialism, but that
which is indigenous or African. Julius Karambage Nyerere chose an African
socialism which he branded “Ujamaa”. Ujamaa is pillared on self reliance
evolving from African glorious socio-economic and culturo-political past.
Ujamaa, as Nyerere specifically puts it in Tanzania’s 1977 constitution, aims
to “bring about a socialist revolution in Tanzania”[3]. Ujamaa
like every other revolution altered the Tanzanian society to which it was
introduced. Unfortunately, at the end of the day Ujamaa failed.
Julius
Nyerere’s return to the afrocentric mode of life, in his articulation of Ujamaa
is unconditional. He is convinced that it is solely through a political
principles and ideologies that are not alien to the original African humanist
principles that Africa would be able to build a truly renaissance African
society; free from the bedeviling of neo-colonialism, which is rooted in
exploitation, poverty, marginalization, inequality, corruption and ethnic
conflicts. To harness our individual and national resources, to liberate,
reaffirm the integrity of man- the African is the focal point in the task of
Ujamaa.
By
and large, the essence of this work makes imperative Nyerere’s Ujamaa as a panacea
to the African predicaments and African renaissance. Therefore, this research
is aimed at awakening the slumbering African, lifting him from the dark coffin
of ignorance and over dependence, raising him into the light and opening his
eyes to see clearly, unclouded by fear and able to make independent decisions.
Statement of problem
To
have an authentic and classical socio-political cum economic development in
Africa, we need to have an ideal and holistic knowledge of who we are as a
resultant effect of our past experiences and encompassing knowledge of our
immediate environment. This will enable us to build and develop a solid
socio-political system that will lead us out of the darkness into that glorious
future that all Africans envisage. It is therefore evident that the mayhem
bedeviling Africa since she became liberated from Western subjugation and
domination is that of leadership and a workable political system.
Aim and Objective
This
work is a philosophical evaluation of the African socio-political predicament.
The identification of failure in her socio-political sphere as the nucleus of
the quagmire which Africa finds herself spurred this dissertation. The
pertinent question that plaques the mind at this point is; which political system
should we adopt? It is to this effect that the concept of “Ujamaa” was
presented as a panacea to the African predicament. I shall delineate,
therefore, Ujamaa as a revolutionary tool in the light of African politics and
explicate reasons for its inability to reach its anticipated goals. Also, this
project hopes to present a common ground for future prospect and search for the
African identity and meaning in contemporary world politics.
Scope
This
is a study of a revolution which developed within a context. The revolutionary
Nyerere belongs to a movement whose relevance to the contemporary world has
continued to be investigated. Undoubtedly, this relevance is multifarious and
so comprises such areas as African identity, her personality, philosophy,
economy, socio-politics and culture. These with other issues are interlinked.
However, this research concerns itself mainly with African socio-politics. It
shall employ the tools of other areas, nevertheless, in as much as they help to
realize the aim of this enterprise.
Methodology
To
make for adequate understanding and appreciation of this research, I shall
employ a critico-expository approach. Man is a product of his experience. His
ideas are never dissociated from his social and intellectual milieu. To
expedite our indebtedness of Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa, the general introductory
section ruminates around the general background of his revolution. Chapter one
examines the nature of the African politics, before, during and after
independence. This will serve as the bedrock on which a critical appraisal of
Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa as a political thought shall be made. In other words,
chapter two will preoccupy the exposition of the nature of Ujamaa. In chapter
three, a critique of Ujamaa shall be made. Chapter four examines the
application of Ujamaa in the Tanzanian nation.
Nyerere’s life and works
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born on
April 13, 1922 in Butiama,Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), Chief of
the Zanaki. He was born at the time when the indirect rule of government was
introduced in Tanzania. This indirect rule influenced educational policies and
development. He began attending Government Primary School in Musoma at the age
of 12 where he completed the 4 years programme in 3 years and went on to Tabora
Government School in 1937. He received a scholarship to attend Makerere
University in Kampala, Uganda where he obtained a teaching Diploma. He returned
to Tanganyika and worked for three years at St. Mary’s Secondary School in
Tabora, where he taught Biology and English.
In 1949 he got a
scholarship to attend the University of Edinburgh (he was the first Tanzanian
to study at a British university and only the second to gain a
university degree outside Africa where he obtained his Masters of Arts degree
on Economics and History in 1952. In Edinburgh, partly through his encounter
with Fabian thinking, Nyerere began to develop his particular vision of
connecting socialism with African communal living.
Nyerere's activities attracted the attention of the Colonial authorities and he
was forced to make a choice between his political activities and his teaching.
He was reported as saying that “he was a schoolmaster by choice and a
politician by accident”. In 1952, Nyerere founded the Tanganyika Africa
National Union (TANU) which won Tanganyika political independence in 1961 with
him as Prime Minister. He became the first President in 1962. When Zanzibar
joined Tanganyika to form a united republic, he was the first President of the
new Republic of Tanzania.
As a teacher, he
was called “Nwalimu” (Respected Teacher) not because of his teaching
experience, but because for many years, he taught his nation the philosophy of
self-reliance and development through self effort. He led Tanzania like a good
teacher does his students. He was a teacher who realized the importance of
education for social change and national development. Nyerere has
continued to influence the people of Tanzania in the years following his presidency.
In addition, Nyerere supported the presence of foreign cultures in Tanzania
saying, “a nation which refuses to learn from foreign cultures is nothing but a
nation of idiots and lunatics… [but] to learn from other cultures does not mean
we should abandon our own.” Nyerere was so revered that he was re-elected
several times, but refused re-election (after four times) and retired
voluntarily in 1986.
His political philosophy is influenced by Jomo Kenyetta,
Kwame Nkrumah, Mahatma Gandhi, and John Kennedy among others. They all affirm
the principles of equality, human dignity and the unity of mankind. Amongst many of his works and
philosophical discourse are;
·
Freedom and Socialism – Uhuru Na Ujamaa A
Selection from Writings & Speeches, 1965-1967 (1968)
·
Freedom & Development – Uhuru Na
Maendeleo (1974)
·
Ujamaa - Essays on Socialism' (1968)
·
Crusade for Liberation (1979)
·
Uhuru Na Umoja –Freedom and Unity (1966)
·
Binadamu
Na Maendeleo – Man and Development (1974)
·
Ujamaa Na
Maendeleo – Socialism and Development
·
Julius Kaisari (a Swahili translation of
William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar)
·
Mabepari wa Venisi (a Swahili translation
of William Shakespeare's play - The Merchant of Venice)
o
The Arusha Declaration; relevance; and ten years
after independence. (1977)
o
Others Includes; "Education for
self-reliance"; "The varied paths to socialism"; "The
purpose is man"; and essays on adult education.
CHAPTER ONE
AFRICAN POLITICS
In this chapter, we hope to achieve two main
objectives. These objectives serve as foundation for understanding the
relevance of Ujamaa as a panacea for
solving the issues that arise in Africa’s socio-political sphere. First, an
enumeration of the African experience before, during and after colonialism
shall be exposed. Secondly, an expose of some of the political ideologies that
were proposed by the early nationalists’ scholars shall be elucidated, such as;
consciencism, Negritude, Pan- Africanism.
Pre-colonial
African era
Africa like every other continent in the world is a
stage upon which the drama of human activities, development and cultural
differentiation has been enacted since the beginning of history. Africa is not
just rich and blessed, but has a systematic way of preserving their great
values and resources.
Aristotle
argues that man is a social being, presupposing that man is ontologically
fashioned to live with others and not to live alone. Africans prior to the
advent of colonialism lived and worked collectively for the common good of the
society. In Africa, man lived in communities.
Many African leaders describe the African pre-colonial era as communalistic. A
community is the receptacle in which communal values flourish and it is
predicated on the social being and belongingness of man. It is usually made up
of persons linked together mainly by interpersonal bonds which are not
necessarily biological. These bonds may consist of shared common values,
interests and goals. Thus, the community is seen as a body with some common
values, norms and goals which are for the benefits of its individual members. She was never known to be in any social chaos
or political anarchy.
Before colonialism, Africa was
economically robust. She was considered to be the cradle of civilization. This
was affirmed by Wepman Dennis, an English historian thus: “some of those
systems (African systems) produced societies whose standard of living in terms
of food, personal safety and freedom equaled that of contemporary societies in
Europe. In some instance they were more advanced.”[4]
Politically, Africa was a continent of numerous
kingdoms and empires. Each kingdom and empire had its political
institutions for governing the people. In Nigeria, mention could be made
of the political institutions of the Yoruba, Ibo, Benin, Hausa, Borno, Jukun,
Igala, Nupe and so on. With the African continent, one could identify the
following: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, the great Zimbabwe, Swahili, Ashanti,
Buganda, Dahomey, to mention only a few.[5]
Prevalent then were four kinds of political
systems namely: Centralized political system, acephalous, polycephalous and
band societies. Centralize political system basically had to do with power
concentrated to an individual (king). Examples of ethnic group under this
category were the Yorubas and the Hausas of Nigeria, Ashanti of Ghana, and the
Mossi of Burkina Faso. Acephalous was a system whereby the people had no single
leader to lead them; instead they ruled themselves. Examples were the Igbo’s,
and Fulani’s of Nigeria, the Kru of Liberia, the Tallensi of Ghana, the
Konkomba of Togo land, the Somali, the Jie of Uganda, and the Mbeere of Kenya.
Polycephalous comprises of centralized political system and acephalous. It was
a system that had no king or chief; but paramount chiefs with equal authority.
The band society is synonymous with kinship organization. Example could be
found among the Pygmies living in the forest between Zaire and Angola and the
Khoisan of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa.
Socially, we
were communitarian in structure. The societies were mainly characterized by the
fact that they attached great importance to their membership as a group.
Against the European individualism, was the African communal spirit. Biko’s
word as reiterated by Ekwuru strongly supports this truth:
We are not a
suspicious race. We believe in the inherent goodness of man. We enjoy man for
himself. We regard our living together not as unfortunate mishap warranting
endless competition among us.[6]
Looking
back at our games and pastime activities, you immediately notice right away
that they are activities performed by more than one person. They are performed
communally. Our dances were party dances demanding drummers, singers and
dancers. Game hunting was done in parties; the preparation of field, the
weeding, the harvesting, and the pounding of food-all these activities were
done in parties
of either men or women.[7] Such an
outlook could only emanate from a genuine love and from an unconscious love
which existed in the society. It sprung from within.
‘A community in the old setting was usually made up
of persons, or group of persons linked together mainly by interpersonal bond
which were not necessarily biological’[8], each
individual contributed to the growth and development of the community. Hence in
a community, there was total sharing. In other word there was a sense of
commonness among members of a community. Dunduzu Chisiza further explains, we
liked to slur over ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and to lay emphasis instead on ‘we’ and ‘our’.
Ours was a society where if you found seven men, and one woman amongst them,
you might never know unless told, whose wife she was.[9]
Agricultural activities were limited
to the tropical rain forest areas as well as to other climate belts with
sufficient rainfall to support the cultivation of tree and root crops. Pastoral
activities dominated production efforts in areas with little rains. Ownership
of land was communal while its use was regulated and managed by the chief and individuals.
Land and labour formed the major means of production while in addition
agricultural implements and herds of animals were important to the
agriculturalist and the pastoralist respectively. There was equal access to
land, the regulation of which was conditioned by egalitarian principles and
proven need. There was corporation in form of pooling of labour and material
resources, material assistance and deep sense of responsibility to the
community in all economic matters.
Relation among people and social roles were dictated
by age and status and not by class. The exercise of power and authority was
vested in elders who were initially elected but as such exercise became
institutionalized it also became hereditary. In the exercise of power and
authority checks and balances did exist. A chief could be removed if such
checks and balances were not recognized. Religious practices within this time
were an ‘integral and inseparable part of the entire culture.’[10] One’s
entire action reflected the religious concepts and practices as seen in the
ordering of the society.
However, as Chinua Achebe would put it,
when the whites stepped their toes on the shore of Africa, we (Africans) lost
the strings that held us together hence things fell apart. The peace and
serenity that prevailed in Africa was terminated by the western invasion, and
eventually it brought about colonialism.
Africa and the colonial experience
Colonialism is generally conceived as the practice whereby the stronger
or powerful countries use its superior power to exploit, control and oppress
the weaker countries. It is the use of the weaker country's resources to
strengthen and enrich the stronger country. It is
a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people by
another. Woddis defines it as, “the direct and overall subordination of one
country to another on the basis of state power being in the hands of the
dominating foreign power.”[11] The
history of colonialism dates back to the fifteenth century with European
voyages of discovery in Africa and reached its peak just before World War I. It was a scramble and a jostle for
colonial holding by Europeans powers.
This encounter encompassed multiple spheres (from politics, economy, and
culture to sexuality and psychology), spatial scales (from local and individual
colonial territories to sub-regions and the continent as a whole), and social
groups and inscriptions (from the colonizers and colonized to class, gender,
and generation).
Imperialist and nationalist
historiographies represent almost diametrically opposed views of the place and
impact of colonialism on African history. While the nationalists regard it as a
decisive moment, the imperialists see it as a parenthesis. To the imperialists,
colonialism in fact brought Africa into history, for in their view, Africa
"proper," to use Hegel's moniker—from which North Africa was
excised—was the land of the "Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit,"
exhibiting "the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state"
European colonialism, therefore, was depicted as a civilizing mission
undertaken to historicize and humanize Africans.[12]
…colonialism was backed up by the conviction that Africans were not yet
a human being like the other human beings. He was inferior, uncivilized and
uncultured; therefore all things connect with him was primitive and immoral and
consequently to be discarded.[13]
Imperialist historians mostly discussed in
positive light the policies of colonial governments and the activities of
colonial auxiliaries, from European merchants to missionaries. When their
narratives mentioned Africans, it was to condemn their societies and cultures
or to chronicle their Westernization or modernization. Those who resisted
colonial conquest or colonial rule were depicted as atavistic, while those who
collaborated or accepted the colonial regime were praised for their foresight
and wisdom. In fact, in-depth study of African societies was largely left to
anthropology, which, with its functionalist-positivist paradigms and
ethnographic present, exonerated, if not extolled, colonialism.
Nationalist historians offered an ideological
and methodological revolt against imperialist historiography. Using new
sources, including oral tradition, historical linguistics, and historical
anthropology, together with written and archaeological sources, they chronicled
the histories of African states and societies before the European colonial
conquest and celebrated the growth and eventual triumph of nationalism during
the colonial era. While both the dependency and the Marxist scholars focused on
the exploitative economic structures and processes of colonialism, the former
were more interested in explaining the external forces that produced and
reproduced Africa's underdevelopment; the latter preferred to concentrate on
the internal dynamics.
However, the global condemnation of
colonialism today would almost create an impression on the uninformed that
colonial conquest was never given justification of one kind or the other by the
colonizers themselves or analyst on colonial matters. In condemning colonialism
Nkrumah opines that there is no need painting the truth. The fact as he
maintains is that:
…at the start, colonization was not an act of civilization nor was it a
desire to civilize. … the people who set out to seize colonies in distant lands
were thinking primarily of themselves, and were working for their own profits
and conquering for their own power.[14]
The upshot of this master servant relationship
identical with colonialism meant a total negation of the African self. It was
targeted to demote and to allot Africans a marginal role in her destiny hence,
making her an object rather than the subject of her own history; and denying
her right to self-determination.
Postcolonial African era
It is important for any society
that wants to proceed meaningfully in politics to first of all take stake of
its own identity by discovering its values, which are the lifeblood of any
humane community. These values are normally expressed in a people’s beliefs and
thinking about the human person, community authority, the world and God. It is
only when these values are identified that supplementary (foreign) values can
be incorporated in the creation of a solid political structure. The opposite is
reckless, that is, one cannot make foreign values the basis of his political
doctrine, only to later on incorporate in them worthy homegrown values as a
supplement. True, some “values” may not be values at all calling for discarding
altogether, but there must be a structuring upward and not downward. By upward
I mean, beginning with what is proper to the person and community and then
allowing for the possibility to be enriched from outside.[15] Thus,
this has been the Africa’s predicament since she won her independence from the
colonial masters. Africa and Africans have substituted her ontological values
for those of the Europeans.
Be
that as it may, since the inherited colonial capitalist system has continued to
under-develop Africa and the masses of the people and has continued to tie
Africa’s destiny to the wishes of her erstwhile colonial lords, a socialist
approach to development must be established. Hence, revolutionary politics in
contemporary Africa concerns the prompt institution of a new set of basic rules
for the concept of politics and government, reflecting fundamental alterations
in the basic structures of production and economic relations.[16] It
strives for the establishment of a new progressive social system as a means of
transition from one socio-economic formation to another, namely from capitalism
to socialism. Therefore, it is a pursuit of how power would be distributed
among the peasants for their own welfare and wellbeing as attested by Nyerere.
Five
decades ago many African nations won freedom from the shackles of colonialism.
They have become politically independent from alien or foreign domination.
Having gained autonomy from western political subjugation, the African nations
are now faced with a big problem of leadership. Put simply, what
socio-political system should we adopt that would be African and work for
Africa? In responding to this question
and others, several African nationalists of the time proposed different
ideologies that would set Africa on par with other nations of the world. Some of
the ideologies proposed are: Consciencism by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Negritude
by Leopold Senghor of Senegal, and a host of others. Related African ideologies
Considering the injuries caused by Slave trade,
Colonialism, Neocolonialism and Imperialism, an acute medication is
indisputably pertinent for proper healing to be recorded. Hence we have some
prescriptions rather ideologies that tries to address and revive the collapsing
morale of the African personality.
Consciencism
Consciencism
as advocated by Kwame Nkurumah is best described as a national ideology.
It is self-consciously written with specific reference to African national
liberation and with the notion of an ideology as pivotal to
decolonization. It sees the African mind
as having been enslaved and incapacitated by foreign influences which accidents
of history and local selfishness have foisted on the continent. Such
enslavement exists in the educational, religious, economic, social, political,
linguistic, literary, artistic, domestic, and all other cultural sectors of the
African world .The foreign influences consist mainly of Western, Islamic and
Euro-Christian cultures. [17]
Consciencism
however is a perfect presentation of his liberation philosophy in Africa and to
Africans. The genesis of this thought or rather philosophical assumption is not
farfetched as expressed in the following, “Social milieu affects the content of
philosophy, and the content of philosophy seeks to affect social milieu, either
by confirming it or by opposing it”.[18]
Direct revolution and antagonism against the African milieu of colonial
and neo- colonial exploitation and alienation of the ‘uprootedness’ of the
being of the African, forms the core and substance of this philosophy. Reason
has always been right in perceiving that when things begin to happen wise men begin to
think and think to act. [19]
Nkrumah's focal point is not narrowed down to
the disparaging vision entrenched by the colonial arbitrary mingling of the
traditional, Euro- Christian cum Islamic elements into the African societal
blood stream, on the contrary; he aims at creating and facilitating the maximum
transformation of African societies. As he intended, consciencism is meant to
serve as navigational compass, the essential code and rudder upon which
socio-political and intellectual advancement in Africa must follow so as to
anchor safely on its harbour of rebirth. These were the thoughts surrounding
his definition of consciencism as:
... that
philosophical standpoint which taking its start from the present content of the
African conscience indicates the way in which progress is to be forged out of
that conscience.[20]
Suffice
it to argue that the mission here is to embark on a conscientizing, unifying,
liberating and restoring already fallen Africa through a revolutionizing
philosophical system, which brackets not only the original African humanistic
principles but also lays bare the conflict between Western capitalistic
ideology, Islamic hegemonic nature and the African socio-communalistic
egalitarianism. How? Nkrumah answers that consciencism:
... is the map in intellectual terms of the disposition of forces which
will enable African society to digest the Western, Islamic and Euro-Christian
elements and develop them in such a way that they fit into that personality.[21]
Three steps are identified in the above. The first
consists of the explanation of African traditional societies in egalitarian
terms. For Nkrumah:
The traditional face of Africa includes an attitude
towards man which can only be described, in its social manifestation, as being
socialist. This arises from the fact that man is regarded in Africa as
primarily a spiritual being, endowed originally with certain inward dignity,
integrity and value. [22]
This attitude finds
expression at the social level where man lives communally. The second step in
the construction of this ideology is articulated in the belief by Nkrumah that
socialism is not basically different from communalism, except that the two
stages in the expansion of the society have been disconnected in Africa by the
neoteric technology and industry, accordingly he posits that:
If one seeks the
socio- political ancestor of socialism, one must go to communalism. Socialism
has characteristics in common with communalism, just as capitalism is linked
with feudalism and slavery. In socialism, the principles underlying communalism
are given expression in modern circumstances… socialism, therefore, can be and
are the defense of the principles of communalism in a modern setting. [23]
The third step follows from the second and this is the
contention that the transition to socialism in contemporary African societies
cannot be through a revolutionary process. This is because:
Revolution…is, thus, an indispensable avenue to socialism, where the
antecedent socio-political structure is animated by principles which are a
negation of those of socialism, as in a capitalist structure.
But because the spirit of communalism still exists to some extent in
societies with communalistic past, socialism and communism are not in the
strict sense of the word “revolutionary” creeds. They may be described as
restatements in contemporary idiom of the principles underlying communalism. [24]
From the foregoing, the argument is that, in view of the fact that
communalism is the socio-political forerunner of socialism and since the spirit
of communalism still exists in contemporary African societies, the changeover
to socialism in these societies cannot be revolutionary, for it is only in
those societies where the preceding socio-political makeup is animated by
principles which are a contradiction of socialism that the revolutionary path to socialism is
unavoidable.
Negritude
Negritude is a philosophy of African self-awareness.[25] By it
Leopold Senghor summoned Africans to jointly revisit the roots and sources of
our survival. It originated as an unswerving reaction to the French policy of
Assimilation and Association. By this rule, African Culture and values were
debilitated, relegated and discredited. For the African person to have value,
he has to be mentally and culturally altered into the supposedly French
personality such that, although he is physically black, he is mentally and
culturally French. Senghor develops the concept to promote the feeling of self
appreciation and dignity among Africans (blacks) and to give pride of place to
African value systems.[26] On the vision, mission and meaning of the
movement, he notes that: Negritude is the whole of the values of civilization culture,
economic, social, political, which characterize the black people, more exactly,
the Negroid African world[27].
Negritude, to use Pantaleon's word,
is the Kpim of the black African civilization. Opinions sample on some erudite
scholars reveals that, on the level of practicality, the ideology of negritude
is lacking. For such scholars, negritude is just a mass of theories and
romantic appeals to the past, regrettably harboring no viable grain of revolutionary
action. In their view, it is a passive ideology. Sartre hence writes that negritude
appears as a weak stage of dialectical progression: the theoretical and
practical affirmation of white supremacy is the thesis; the position of
negritude as antithetical value is the moment of negativity. But this negation
is not sufficient in itself... Thus, Negritude is dedicated to its destruction,
it is passage and not objective, means and not the ultimate goal.[28]
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism
is a vague concept which does not lend itself to a straight forward definition.
It is an idea that is based on the belief that African people share common
bonds and objectives and which advocates unity to achieve these objectives. In
the view of different proponents throughout its history, Pan-Africanism has
been conceived in varying ways. It has been applied to all black African
people, and people of black African descent: to all people on the African
continent, including nonblack people; or to all states on the African continent.
Historically speaking it grew out of the 19th century efforts to end
slavery and slave trade. At this time blacks worldwide were being oppressed.
Slavery existed in America, South America, and the Caribbean. Also the
colonization of Africa (born out of the Berlin Conference of 1884 & 85) had
begun. As a result of these events black people worldwide began to realize that
they faced common problems (slavery, colonization, and racism), and that it
would be to their benefit to work together in an effort to solve these
problems. Out of this realization came the Pan-African Conferences of 1900
(London), 1919 (Paris), 1921 (London, Brussels, Paris), 1923 (London), 1927
(New York), and the last official one was in 1949. Some of the most influential
blacks of the time participated in these meetings: Sylvester Williams, W.E.B.
Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah[29]
Despite
the enormous historical achievements of decolonization and civil rights,
Africans remain marginalized in the world and African diasporas in their host
countries. The pace, breadth and depth of the strides we have made since
independence and civil rights over the last fifty years vary enormously between
countries and regions, among social classes and genders, across periods and
sectors. Nevertheless, our states and societies are still largely pawns rather
than players on the world stage. This will not fundamentally change unless we
pull all our resources—demographic, political, economic, cultural, and
imaginative—to fight for our collective emancipation and empowerment.
Pan-Africanism remains a powerful force through which Africa and the diaspora
can reinforce each other’s struggles, help reposition each other, become each
other’s keepers: African states have a responsibility to raise the costs of
marginalizing the diaspora, while the diaspora have a responsibility to lower
the costs of engagement between Africa and the global North.[30]
According to Nkrumah the national
division of the African continent is the artificial creation of the colonial
system. These divisions have only served the interest of colonial powers. As a
collection of artificially created states, Africa is doomed to stagnation and
poverty. Hence Pan- African unity is not a policy option but a question of survival.
Nkrumah was convinced that a nation like Ghana could only go forward to a
limited point. He wrote: Ghana, like the majority of independent African state,
is too small an economic unit in terms of population and resources. The optimum
zone of development for the African people is the entire continent of Africa.
Until there is an All - African Government pursuing socialist policies, and
planning the economic development of Africa as a whole, the standard of living
of the African masses will remain low.[31]
In summary pan- Africanism is an idea
that emphasizes the spiritual unity of the black people; bolster their right to
self-determination in Africa and the need to be treated in the dignity as the
equals of the other races in all parts of the world.
Sequel to these political ideologies
postulated by Africa’s political philosophers, Dr. Julius Nyerere propounded
what he called Ujamaa as a sovereign
remedy for the socio-political wobbling African continent. It is therefore
within this background that an exposition of Dr. Nyerere’s Ujamaa shall be
expanded in our subsequent chapters of this dissertation.
CHAPTER TWO
THE NATURE UJAMAA
In
the preceding chapter, we have seen that the socio-political benightedness in
Africa is a problem which has its roots in the history of Africa, particularly
the colonial experience which has left Africans lost and in the dark.
In
this chapter we shall expose and examine the nature of Nyerere’s Ujamaa which hopes to serve as the
guiding light to Africa in her dilemma and lead her in the march towards
development. Before delving to that, we shall briefly examine what “socialism”,
and “African socialism” entails.
What is socialism?
Socialism
as a theory deals with the relationship between facts or with the ordering of
these facts into a meaningful arrangement or whole. These facts are, the people
themselves, the means of production, and the means of distribution. In other words,
socialism is a theory that seeks to order the relationship between the people
and the means of production and distribution so that maximum economic benefit
accrues to maximum number.[32] It is a
System of social organization in which private property and the distribution of
income are subject to social control. Because “social control” may be
interpreted in widely divergent ways, socialism ranges from statist to
libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. The term was first used to describe the
doctrines of Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen, who
emphasized noncoercive communities of people working noncompetitively for the
spiritual and physical well-being of all. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
seeing socialism as a transition state between capitalism and communism,
appropriated what they found useful in socialist movements to develop their
“scientific socialism. Hence, Where capitalism
stresses competition and profit, socialism calls for cooperation and social
service.
It is a general term for the
political and economic theory that advocates a system of collective or
government ownership and management of the means of production and distribution
of goods.
The Basic Idea of African Socialism
The
term “African socialism” points to the originality of the African desire “to
find himself and assert himself politically, economically, socially and
culturally in the world community”[33]. Also,
African socialism has been described as “a body of materials combing Marxist
social and economic theories with negritude’s politics of difference.[34] The use
of ‘African’ in the concept is also an attempt to demonstrate to the
imperialists that Africa was traditionally egalitarian before the imperialist
intrusion into the socio-political milieu of the African continent. African
socialism is thus communalistic and not individualistic. It is also democratic
and not totalitarian. There is no class war in African socialism neither is
there dictatorship of a class over another. Dr. Nyerere captures this explicitly
when he posited that “the foundation, and the objective, of African socialism
is the extended family. The true African socialist does not look on one class
of men as his brethren and another as his natural enemies. He does not form an
alliance with the ‘brethren’ for the extermination of the ‘non-brethren’. He
rather regards all men as his brethren-as members of his ever extending
family…”[35]
It is spiritual and humanistic in nature. That is why Tom Mboya asserted that
socialism is part of the African make up.[36]
The
essence of African socialism is aptly described by Leopold Senghor. He remarks;
Our African
socialism…will be elaborated not in the dependence but in the autonomy of our
thoughts, and it will choose the most scientific, up-to-date, and above all,
the most efficient methods and institutions and techniques of the Western World
and elsewhere. But in the final analysis, they will be efficient only if
adapted to the African situation.[37]
African
socialism was the brainchild of Africa’s ideologues or philosopher-kings in the
young African republics after wresting power from the colonizers. It maintains
that the central values of Africa are communal rather than individual, and it
is for this reason that its adherents see African socialism as being a natural
evolution of African communalism as distinguished from communism. This mode of
thinking and being, coming from the African worldview, was understood by
Africa’s pioneer ideologues to be a worthy response to what has become a
dehumanizing and exploitative situation brought about by colonization.[38]
African
socialism cannot be conceived as some homogeneous stream of thought; it is as
varied as there are African peoples. “As Africa has been organized into nation
states, and because these nation states have been differently developed, there
will be variations of African socialism”.[39] But
even then in its variations, African socialism has certain basic common
characteristics by which it is identified namely; the problem of continental identity,
the crisis of economy and development, and the dilemmas of control and class
formation.[40]
Thus,
the aim of African socialism as understood by its protagonists was “to
reconsider African society in such a manner that the humanism of traditional
African life reasserts itself in modern technical community.”[41]African
socialists sought to create a social synthesis between traditional African
human values and modern technology for the development of their nations.
Among
the many forms of African socialism and African socialist thinkers are Kwame
Nkrumah’s African Personality,
Leopold Senghor’s Negritude, Julius
Nyerere’s “Ujamaa” and Kenneth
kaunda’s Zambian Humanism. These
different forms of African socialism are primary statements for the political
freedom of Africa. Inspired by the strong nationalist sentiments of the time,
these African socialists sought to define the African identity, and identify
the political system deemed best suited for the newly independent nations of
Africa. They sounded the trumpet for the return to the idea to a true and
genuine African humanism and familyhood.
Nyerere’s Ujamaa
Like
most pre and post-independent African political intellectuals, Dr. Julius
Nyerere derived a number of principles from Traditional African society and
culture. Nyerere’s socialism has two developmental stages. The
first stage began from 1962 and ended in 1967. The later stage started in 1967
and culminated in 1980. 1972 was thus the dividing line in the development of
his thought. It was the year of the famous Arusha Declaration by which Ujamaa
had taken a definite structure and he was convinced of the best way the
government should attend to the welfare and wellbeing of Tanzanians.
Nyerere believes that the new states of Africa are faced
with tasks of rapid economic development and the creation of new values. How to
achieve these goals is even a greater challenge than the struggle for
independent. There cannot be any “sacred statement” from which African leaders
can draw inspiration because of the peculiar conditions existing in each
society. However, Nyerere holds that any ideal society must be founded on
equality, freedom and unity:
There must be equality because only on that basis will men
work cooperatively. There must be freedom because the individual is not served
by society unless it is his. And there must be unity, because only when society
is united can its member live and work in peace, security and well being.[42]
Nyerere
contends that these three essentials are not alien to Africa. The problem is
how to integrate these ancient values with the modern nation-state setting. He
faced this challenge with his socialist revolution. Ujamaa is therefore, an
attempt at the synthesis of man and society, a search for an ideal polity.
Ujamaa
is a Swahili word which has no direct translation.[43] It
could be translated to mean “familyhood” “brotherhood” and “friendship”
depending on the context of usage and the user. Nyerere’s conception of African
socialism is rooted in the idea of Africans familyhood. Hence, he chooses
“familyhood” to translate Ujamaa. He explains:
I was the
first to use the word Ujamaa in order to explain the kind of life we wish to
live in our country. The word “Ujamaa” denotes the kind of life lived by a man
and his family – father, mother, children and near relatives.[44]
Nyerere
perceives Ujamaa as an attitude of the mind; a belief which reflects in one’s
way of life. Aloo M. Mojola, Nyerere conceives socialism as;
Essentially an
attitude of the mind which involves a change in personal attitude and a
reconciliation of individuals but goes beyond these to effect structural change
consistent with the socialist outlook, creating a pattern of justice in which
equality and freedom of all will be assured.[45]
This
attitude of mind is more important to Nyerere than a strict adherence to
standard of political pattern, because the attitude conveys the notion of
conviction. And conviction is a necessary tool for any successful political
revolution. This socialist attitude in the traditional African family life was
reflected in the deeply felt sense of obligation for the welfare and wellbeing
of their fellow men as members of the same family to that effect, everyone was
a worker. There was no exploitation. For Nyerere this attitude towards
socialism was also revealed in the manner wealth was distributed. In this
respect, a destitute could be a potential capitalist in the sense of being an
exploiter of his fellow men just as the millionaire could be a socialist if he
appreciates wealth only because it can be used in the service of his fellow
men. A capitalist is thus one who uses wealth to dominate his fellow men or one
who would if he could. In this regard, socialism is distributive, ensuring that
those who sow reap a fair share of what they sow. A socialist society is
therefore distinguished by the way wealth is distributed and not the method of
production.
Nyerere
contends that Ujamaa is opposed to capitalism which builds a happy society on
the exploitation of man. It is equally opposed to scientific or doctrinaire
socialism which attempts to build a happy society on the idea of inevitable
class struggle. He argues:
… I doubt if the equivalent for the word “class” exist in any
indigenous language in African; for language describes the idea of those who
speak it and the idea of class or caste was non-existence in African society.[46]
Ujamaa
thus seeks to promote the fundamental principle of equality, unity and freedom.
It is his contention that these principles are not affected by the presence or
absence of chiefs. He argues that authority in the traditional African setting
was not conflictual for “the traditional African society whether it had a chief
or not … was a society of equals and it conducted business through discussion”.[47]
From
the foregoing, Dr. Nyerere’s Ujamaa wants the government to build a humane
society after the ancient African society in which there was security for both
the “rich” and “poor”, in which no one starved for food or human dignity,
because he had no wealth as he could count on the wealth of the society where
he was a member. That was socialism and this is the socialism Nyerere hope
for.”[48]
Basic Tenet of Ujamaa
As
asserted previously, Nyerere contends that Ujamaa is a belief. This belief is
reflected in some basic tenets: Man and Social Equality, Theory of Exploitation
and Self-Reliance. Hence, a detailed analysis of these basic tenets shall be
elucidated in the following paragraphs.
Man and Social Equality
For
Nyerere man is a creature of God. Basically the purpose of socialism is man.
Hence, the service of man and his development is the purpose of society itself.
Every man is unique. There are certain things which are peculiar in him. As
such, they must be private to him. So socialism does not judge a man according
to his parentage, place of birth, race, religious beliefs, or any other
consideration, it judges man qua man. Though socialism involves all aspects of
man’s life in the society; it does not mean that the individual man ceases to
exist. Consequently there is no glorification of nation to the detriment of the
individual this is because man is the justification for a socialist society.
Man is not just an individual, but also a member of a group, a social being
whose development contributes to the development of the group. Man is only
obliged to fulfill his responsibilities to the growth and development of the
society. On the other hand, socialism is to uphold and promote human dignity
everywhere and every time. Socialism must never be responsible for the denial
of man’s humanity. Consequently, the government has to provide the means for
man’s self-realization.
Man
to the Ujamaaist means all human beings irrespective of sex or race. No
distinction reduces the humanity of any person. Hence, all men are equal. The
acceptance of the equality of man is the core and essence of socialism. Anyone who qualifies his beliefs in the
equality of man is not a true socialist. Equally, any society which in its organization
or practices discriminates or allows discrimination against any of its members
on any ground other than his behaviour to others is not socialist. In this
regard, socialism for Nyerere is “the organisation of men’s inequalities to
serve their equality. Their equality is socialist belief”.[49]
Be
that as it may, he proffers that the principle of democracy and the rule of law
is essential in a socialist society. This principle is rooted in the equality
of men. Men’s equality “must be reflected in the political organization;
everyone must be an equal participant in the government of his society.”[50] This
means that there must be some mechanisms by which people exert their
independence and will in changing the laws which govern them, their leaders,
political structure, etc. without any break down of law and order. Thus
democracy cannot be said to exist in a society where gross economic and social
inequality exists. Nyerere’s conception
of man and social inequality is best captured in his description of human
equality as:
Every man’s
equal right to decent life before any individual has surplus above his needs;
his equal right to participate in government; and his equal responsibility to
work and contribute to the society to the limit of his ability.[51]
Theory of Exploitation
For
Ujamaa to attain its objectives, all factors that prevent the reign of equality
must be dismantled while those that promote it must be erected. In a true
Ujamaa state, everyone is a worker. We do not have two classes of people, a
class of workers and a class of those living on the work of others. Hence,
capitalism and feudalism does not exist here. No one exploits another.
Everybody works and is justly rewarded for his labour. The only persons who
have to depend on other people’s work are the small children, the cripple;
those who are too old to support themselves and those whom the state at any
time cannot provide work for. These foregoing statements are borne out of the
fact that in the traditional society there was discipline. Work was the key
guarantor of the African success. Even the acclaimed hospitality of the African
finds limitation in the Swahili proverb which teaches that: “treat your guest
as a guest for two days on the third day give him a hoe”. Nyerere contends that
the guest will ask before he is given. In other words, every member of the
society contributed his quota to the societal wealth. Hence, there was no
sharing without hard work and reciprocity.
Exploitation
is both national and international. For Nyerere therefore, internal or national
exploitation includes the following:
- Living on the work of other (parasites);
- The rich making profit from the poor
- Taking
more than a person needs;
-
Passion for power and prestige positions;
- Display of capitalist attitude;
-
Making money without working;
-
Control of the poor for one’s gain;
-
Making an amount of money that is out of proportion to the rest
of society: this produces millionaire;
-
Manipulations through negligence, cheating, dishonesty, laziness;
-
Lack of cooperation with community development projects;
He
posited that exploitation is rooted in man’s inordinate desire to accumulate
and hoard wealth. He believes that there is no need for this:
For when a society is so organized that it cares for its
individuals, then, provided he is willing to work, no individual within that
society should worry about what will happen to him tomorrow if he does not
hoard wealth today. Society itself should look after him or his widow or his orphans.[53]
Private
ownership of the means of production is the first cause of exploitation. It
bears the seed of exploitation often. Hence, Nyerere maintains:
When a man controls the means by which another earns or obtains the
food, the clothing and the shelter which are essential to life, then there is
no equality… the man whose means of living are controlled by another, must
serve the interest of this other regardless of his own desire or his own needs.[54]
The
international aspect of exploitation is portrayed when rich nations colonize
and exploit poor nations. Economically, the rich powerful nations dictate the
values of goods produced by poorer nations to the farmer’s advantage. Political
relations are forced on poor nations so as to dictate policies to the poor
nations.
Nyerere
is suspicious of external aids. He sees exploitation in foreign aids. According
to him, when the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F) was established in 1944,
it was to cater for the imbalance of trade between rich nations. However, when
the underdeveloped countries joined, the rules were never changed because:
…they have discovered that the IMF is a very good
instrument for collecting the economics of the Third World and so they maintain
the rules. They never really meant the IMF to be an instrument of control but
they discovered it and are not going to change the rules.[55]
The
foregoing discovery informed his self-reliance and non-alignment policies.
Self-Reliance
Ujamaa
cannot be delineated without the mention of “self-reliance’. The notion of
self-reliance originated from Dr. Nyerere’s two major experiences. In the first
place, he discovered that dependence on outside help to terminate development
as loans and aids are delivered months, or even, years after agreement;
machineries which have no bearing to economics of their development are also
supplied as aid. On the other hand, he discovered with the success of
Tanzania’s new cooperative farming that “we can do more for our own development
than we had thought possible.”[56]
In
the Arusha Declaration of 1967, he contends that the country is involved in war
against poverty and oppression. Self-reliance is therefore the means of moving
from the state of poverty to a state of prosperity. He argues:
We have been oppressed a great deal, we have been
exploited a great deal and we have been disregarded a great deal. It is our
weakness that has led to our being oppressed, exploited and disregarded. Now we
want a revolution – a revolution which brings to an end our weakness, so that
we are never again exploited, oppressed, or humiliated.[57]
Self-reliance
can be achieved by the individual and the community. The individual aspect
concerns the person in relation to members of the community and the individual
African nation in relation to the world. Self-reliance for the group is
understood in the sense of the relation of the African continents of the world.
Consequently,
the individual that cooperates, helps others and is helped in return, the
individual who is independent of others for his food, clothing, and shelter is
self-reliant. In essence, “he who lives on what he earns, whether this be large
or small, so that he is truly a free person beholden to no one is
self-reliant.”[58]
Hence, self-reliance for the community implies its government uses the material
resources and human skills existing in it for the welfare and development of
the members.
While
it is possible for an outsider to build a man’s house, this outsider cannot
provide the man’s pride and self confidence as a human being. Self-reliance is
a dignified way of building a nation. It is an inevitable tool for Africa’s
development. Be that as it may, Africa’s development must be realised by the
effort of Africans. This for Dr. Nyerere essentially means economic autonomy
and not isolation. Africa he posits recognises the effect of her involvement in
the world at large and the world’s involvement in her. Hence,
...the self-reliance we have to aim at is not... self-sufficiency. All
African states are, of necessity, involved in world economy, and we shall
continue to be involved whatever changes we succeed in making in our internal
economic structure. It is therefore essential that we should also seek to
weaken the forces of neo-colonialism as they operate at the level of
international exchange and finance.[59]
Moreover,
Dr. Nyerere appreciates the fact that no man, indeed no nation is an island
unto itself. In other words, self-reliance does not mean cut-off completely
from the world. Help therefore, necessarily has to come from outside to enhance
Africa’s economy and development. He asserts that it is a fact of history and
progress out of poverty requires some outside injection of capital or
expertise. [60]Thus,
the question is how far we will go and what compromises Africa would make to
outsiders.
In
the same respect, he says self-reliance means Tanzania; indeed Africans must
control their destiny. Reliance on selves and own resources must never be
sacrificed for hope in foreign aids, loans or even gifts. He holds that:
Self-reliance is a positive affirmation that we shall depend upon
ourselves for the development of Tanzania, and that we shall use the resources
we have for that purpose, not just sit back and complain because there are
other things we do not have.[61]
Nyerere
believes that the absence of self-reliance in Africa is responsible for her
current humiliation. Though Africa has seas full of fish, she imports fish; a
high number of herds of cattle, and still imports milk. What is needed is hard
work and confidence in the Africa so as to develop economically. Furthermore,
he believes that conditions for development and opportunities abound in Africa-
land, the people, good and honest leadership. This should be the stepping point
of self-reliance. In other words, Dr. Nyerere in contending that land and agriculture
should be the primary preoccupation of Africans and not money and
industrialization based on foreign aid and investment. As such, any African
nation that patterns its mode of development after that of the U.S. and Western
Europe, and decide to “catch up” will fail.
By
and large, having established a concrete foundation for Ujamaa, Dr. Nyerere
went ahead to implement it using the machinery of the Tanzanian state: the TANU
government to implement it.
Education for Self-Reliance
In
Aristotle’s concern over the kind of education the citizens of his “best state”
would receive, he only desires that the state should exercise the overall
control over education so as to prevent conflict between the behaviour and
attitudes of its citizens and the values of the community. Also, he realised
that “if educational policy is not decided with reference to the particular
type of government and social structure existing in the community, much social
and political discord will follow.”[62] In
essence therefore, education is an inevitable tool in any polity.
The
foregoing by Aristotle seems to be the motivating force pulling Nyerere when he
fashioned an educational policy that could meet the revolutionary dream and
goals of Ujamaa. Since Ujamaa aims at development through self-reliance, it
becomes apposite that the educational system should reflect this. In Dr.
Nyerere’s view:
Only when we are clear about the society we are trying to build can we
design our educational service to serve our goals… we want to create socialist
society which is based on three principles: equality and respect for human
dignity; sharing of the resources which are produced by our effort; work by
everyone and exploitation by none.[63]
Therefore,
education must be self-reliance.
Nyerere
argued that the purpose of education is transmitting the accumulated wisdom and
knowledge of a society from one generation to another, and to prepare the young
for their membership of the society and their active participation in its
maintenance and development. Apparently in this view is the fact that education
transcends school curriculum or academic or intellectual pursuit. Education for
him is the development of man to cope with change. It equips man to initiate
and determine the course of change in desirable directions. Hence, education is
a fundamental right of children and adult alike.
During his inaugural address at an International Adult Education
Conference held at Dar es Salaam on 21st June, 1976, he opines that
the purpose of education
Is the
liberation of man from restraints and limitation of ignorant and dependency.
Education has to increase man’s physical and mental freedom – to increase their
control over themselves, their own lives, and the environment in which they
live.[64]
Consequently,
the speech was so valued by the participants that they titled it “The Declaration of Dar es Salaam.” However, Dr, Nyerere titled it Adult Education and Development.
With that knowledge, he took a critical assessment of the inherited
colonial educational system in Tanzania. He discovered that it was not designed
to prepare the young for service of their nation but to inculcate in them the
values of colonialism and train people who would service colonial
administration as clerks, messengers, junior officials, and the likes. Furthermore,
colonial education lays more emphasis on paper qualification which represents a
kind of legal tender for knowledge which has no bearing with development.
Colonial education was thus:
Not transmitting the values and knowledge of Tanzanian society from
one generation to the next; it was a deliberate attempt to change those values
and to replace traditional knowledge by the knowledge from a different society.
It was thus a part of a deliberate attempt… to make it into a colonial society
which accepted it status and which was efficient adjunct to the governing
power.[65]
Paradoxically, this educational system was both inadequate and
inappropriate for the new state of Ujamaa as it was both colonialist and
capitalist. Consequently, the students are to be educated to be members and
servant of the kind of society Tanzania aspires for. Hence, the values of
Ujamaa are to guide the new educational policy.
Nyerere believes the new educational system must counter intellectual
arrogance, prepare the young for the work they will do in rural Tanzania and
village development. However, this system is not to produce robots who simply
take orders, but the education must encourage an inspiring mind; an ability to
learn from what others do and reject or adapt it to his or her own needs; a
basic confidence in his own position as a free and equal member of the society
who values others is valued by them for what he or she does and not for what he
or she obtains.
Consequently, having laid this foundation, the Ujamaa government took
drastic measures to correct the anomalies in the Tanzanian society. Racial or
other discriminations in education were abolished with opportunity for any
Tanzanian child to enter any school of his or her choice. Educational
facilities were expanded. So, while in 1961 there were 190,000 and 11,882 in
primary and secondary schools respectively, by 1967, there were 82,500 in
primary and 25,000 in secondary schools. In the 1973-74 budget, the government
abolished school fees thereby making educational system completely free.[66] The
school curriculum was more of Tanzanian and African oriented. The aims and
structure of Ujamaa were incorporated into civic classes in the new curriculum.
Thus, agriculture was taught along with other disciplines and school provided
their own food. According to Emman Ikoku, the Tanzanian army became self
sufficient in food and clothing and sold surplus too.[67]
Nyerere opines
that a child leans better when older. As such, the age entering the primary
school was raised from five to six years to seven or eight years. After the
completion of the primary education, any child that fails to get a place in the
secondary school has the opportunity to return to farming without feeling
useless in the society.
CHAPTER THREE
A CRITIQUE OF NYERERE’S UJAMAA
It is an apparent fact that there is no philosophical
position or postulation that has not attracted the criticism of other
philosophers. The fact that there is no theory that is error proof makes this
truer. Hence, it is on this ground that this chapter shall examine the merits
and the demerits of Ujamaa.
The gains of Ujamaa
It is an incontestable fact that Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa revolution occupies a distinctive
place in the history of African contemporary political philosophy. Some African
theologians have also attempted to build a liberation theology on the
principles of Ujamaa. Nyerere is one
African who not only built a solid theoretical basis for his thoughts, but also
had the rare opportunity to practice his formulations. When in 1981, Dr Edward Blyden spoke of the
need for Africa to advance by methods of his own… to find out his own place and
his work, develop his peculiar gifts and powers; and for training of the Negro
youth upon the basis of their own idiosyncrasies, with a sense of race
individuality, self-respect and liberty,[68]he
anticipated such concepts like “African Socialism” of which Ujamaa is a brand.
As earlier stated in this essay, Ujamaa
is the light to restore the hope, self-confidence and wholistically, the
identity of the African. It came at a time when neo-colonialism was penetrating
Africa. It was a warning to imperialists and their agents that Africa would not
accept them. Ujamaa was a source of hope for progressives who wanted an African
solution to Africa’s problems. Ujamaa was thus a system which was locally
controlled and locally organized. Put differently, Ujamaa was home-made.
Public education if properly funded, overcomes oppression through
ignorance. Once people freely possess skills and have the intellectual wherewithal
to analyze the socio-economic structures within their society they will no
longer tolerate social injustice or injustice of any kind. With the mass
literacy campaign of Nyerere’s government, its education for self-reliance and
a rigorous pursuit of adult education coupled with increase in educational
facilities and the provision of free education for all, the government gave
room for its citizens to develop their mental and physical capabilities. This
policy has economic and political implications. For one, a well educated
workforce would be more productive and efficient. Consequently, it will sustain
the rapid growth of production. Politically, education is the best method of
social control and so it will ensure the acceptance of the prevailing order of
things. Broadly speaking then, education is the life blood of any
socio-political system be it democracy or socialism. Hence any nation who wants
to plan for the future should develop the mind of her citizens through
education.
While education for self-reliance is practically linked to production and
daily life, it has further implications. The people defining their own needs,
study their social and physical environment through everybody’s participation.
Through dialogue, the needs of society rooted in the social and physical
realities provide a philosophical foundation concerning their true needs and
false needs. By that adult education becomes liberating for development. That
is why R Green approves of Nyerere’s governmental belief that
Development
means liberation. Any action that gives the people more control of their own
affairs is an action for the development, even if it does not offer them better
health and more bread.[69]
By rejecting external assistance that are laden with unfavorable conditions,
Nyerere brought to fore the fact that many evils that now plague Africa are
products of those aids that come under the guise of technical and economic
assistance. There are also political advisers/aids from these nations or their
organizations. In some instances, advisers are so many that one wonders what
their business really is. This situation moved Ben Wisner, a citizen of a donor
nation, to cynically remark that “Harvard advisers probably outnumber rhinos in
Kenya and are definitely not an endangered species.”[70]
Nyerere’s rejection thus shammed critics who contend that development
strategies such as Ujamaa in Africa have been piecemeal and contradictory and
implemented through aid and development agencies of the advanced world.
It is to Nyerere’s credit that Ujamaa was not just an ideology that
lacked good theoretical foundations. These theories were rooted in his
convictions and the experiences of the Tanzanian nation. One can assert that
through his conviction about the traditional African experience coupled with
the colonial and later neo-colonial realities he was able to build a synthesis.
The traditional African setting was his thesis while contemporary experience
served as the anti-thesis. With this synthesis he was able to forge ahead against
all odds.
According to A. Fagothey, “self-realization is impossible outside society
in which the individual realizes himself as a member of a greater whole- the
whole of the community.”[71]
Community life is therefore essential to every individual and so the individual
cannot live substantially alone. This is basically the African sense of
community life which Nyerere brings out in Ujamaa. Furthermore, man needs
society for security. For the African, security depends on personal
identification with the community because it is the custodian of the
individual. In fact, the reality that man is a being in society is enough to
warn individualistic members of the community that security outside the
community is dangerous as no man is an island. Hence, the need for
co-operation.
Demerits of Ujamaa
Africa, a classless society
One of the bases of African socialism is the belief that traditional
Africa was classless. This premise has been contested by African and non
African thinkers. Nyerere for instance would want us to believe that there is
no equivalent word for “class” in any African language. However, an examination
of Africa’s traditional and present realities would show that Africa is not
bereft of the idea of class.
It is a fact of history that there is an intrinsic connection between a
people’s culture and their social organization. Culture is the totality of a
people’s belief system, law, knowledge, customs, morality, values and other
capabilities and habits acquired by them through time. Language is a carrier of
culture. If we examine three Nigerian languages for instance, we discover the
concept of class. In Hausa language, we find sarakuna for the rich and talakawa
referring to the poor masses. In Yoruba, there are words like talaka and mekunnu for the poor, amunisin
is used to describe exploiters and the famous agbekoya is a word for peasant farmers opposing oppression. Though
the Igbo’s are reputed to be republican, we still find class distinctions in
the emphasis of title-taking. The osu caste
system is another example of dehumanization in the Igbo social structure. Till
today, the osus have not been fully
integrated into the Igbo society. That traditional African had a communalistic
nature is not enough reason to remove the fact of class. Nyerere’s Ujamaa thus began on a wrong theoretical
premise.
African Socialism not a befitting concept
for Africa Socio-Economic system
The term “African Socialism” is an inappropriate term for a
socio-economic system that is African in its roots. Granted that the concept is
part of the African quest for identity, relevance and meaning in the
contemporary world, one would then expect that an African socio-economic system
if at least to avoid the accusation by racists that anything good in Africa is
traceable to European influence. Nyerere would have achieved this, but for his
equation of Ujamaa with African Socialism. Also, Nyerere rejects a lot that is
basic to Marx’s brand of socialism that one wonders why he forces his ideas
into a Marxist analysis. He could then have stuck to Ujamaa and something else.
As S. O. Wey and Eghosa Osagie have noted, “the spark plug of conflict
and change is economic” and that “ideas and the values underpinning them are
ultimately meaningful and significant only when squarely put in their contextual
social setting.”[72]
It follows that the foundation of any society is economic while the
superstructure, which is the political system, must fit that base if the system
is to endure and remain stable. After Ujamaa was embraced, Tanzania never broke
its colonial economic system. “In this respect, the Ujamaa rural policy is a
continuation of the preceding agricultural policies. This continuity is not an
accident but derives from the class base of Ujamaa.”[73] We know
that the agricultural policies of the colonialists in Tanzania and all over
Africa were to underdevelop Africa and force her into an expert-oriented and
dependent economy either by forcing peasant farmers to work in plantations or
encouraging the growing of cash crops.
Untimeliness of Ujamaa
Sequel to the above is the fact that the social milieu into which Nyerere
introduced Ujamaa was not ready for a new ideology after passing through the
traditional stage of development into the state of conflict with German
colonial rule. The sacking of the Germans and the coming of the British marked
the advent of a new way of life and another disruption in the people’s natural
evolution. Independence was hence a golden opportunity for a people just
recovering from the trauma of domination and subjugation to find a convenient
natural social setting either by continuing with the African past, or the
inherited colonial socio-economic structure or to integrate the food in the two
and forge ahead. Unfortunately, Nyerere introduced another ideology, without
the consensus agreement of his people particularly the poor masses. There was,
therefore, no ready client for his idea in the Tanzanian people. Ujamaa was
therefore foredoomed to fail.
Monopolization of power (party)
Nyerere claims that one party democracy is possible in Africa. This idea,
he maintains, is founded on the fact that no multiparty system existed in the
ancient social structure. This is not tenable in contemporary times. In the
first place, ancient communities were villages and clan, in other words, extended
families. The concept of politics as we have it today, involves competition
over resources and ideals in which there is no permanent friends but permanent
interests. On the other hand, traditional politics was a kind of village
politics whose method of political leadership was basically hierarchical and
hereditary. There existed a permanent interest: that of the entire society and
there was also a permanent friendship-the friendship of the members of the
community whose welfare or interests are paramount at all times. Contemporary
Africa is a conglomeration of clans, villages and tribes with different
political cultures which historical accidents of slavery and colonialization
have forced together. As such, interests must vary and each interest group must
necessarily seek a protection and projection of its interests and desires. With
the population resulting from the conglomeration, there is bound to be people
with diverse political inclinations which naturally would result to multiple
political groups and consequently more than one political party. We see in this
action a denial of the right to free association which democracy promotes.
In any social formation, the ideology of the ruling class dominates and
this is usually presented as that of the entire society through the machinery
of government. The situation becomes more desperate if the state is a one party
state like Nyerere’s socialist Tanzania. The result is that party and
government officials would become law unto themselves and accountable to no
one. Such individuals are opposed to criticisms. The Ujamaa state was no
exception. For instance, Nyerere monopolized party leadership and those opposed
to his policies were either forced into exile or imprisoned on flimsy excuses.[74] One of
the essential ingredients of democracy is freedom of speech with accountability
on the government officials. Nyerere’s claim to democratic socialism in a one
party state is hence untenable. This stance is further strengthened by Tony
Benn’s remark that “socialism is inextricably associated with dictatorship, it
is a denial of democracy, it is bureaucratic, and thus inefficient.”[75]
Breach of human right
Furthermore, the manner in which some Ujamaa
villages were started was rather fraudulent. For instance the campaign capitalized
on the drought that lasted throughout the agricultural season in 1973 to
establish Ujamaa villages. Thus
victims regarded the Ujamaa village as a resettlement scheme to alleviate the
sufferings as earlier calls for villagization as far back as 1962 had met with
opposition. Consequently, the scheme was imposed rather than discussed and
planned with the local population who were the real experts. This is obviously
an exploitation of the misfortune of the citizens. It is against the humanistic
nature of traditional Africa and is nothing but capitalist.
What's more, when the government decreed that those who fail to pass
their examination into secondary schools should take to farming, it was
building a defeatist approach to life in the consciousness of those children.
Examination is certainly not a true test of knowledge as a combination of
factors may cause a student to fail. In Nigeria, for instance, there are pupils
who have had cause to repeat examinations before succeeding. Denying these
children the chance of a good education beyond the primary school is a great
injustice. And sowing injustice so early in life defeats the precious value of
justice which the government claimed to be promoting. The government therefore,
was rearing class of citizens who would begin early to develop their physique
to serve the agricultural economy and no brains formulate ideas as to improve
agricultural practices. As Obafemi Awolowo writes;
If
a man physique is fully developed, but his brains and mind are left undeveloped
or only partially developed, what we have is a being powerful enough to hew
stones and draw water for others, and discernment that he is unable to
appreciate and assert his human rights.[76]
It would not be wrong then to contend that Nyerere
realized the above and in order to sell his ideas, he prevented these young
talents from brain and mind culture so that they would remain in the class of
peasant farmers. According to Njoku
Francis, Ujamaa failed because Nyerere underestimated the influence of personal
and emotional in the socio-political process.[77]
Critique of Ujamaa vis-à-vis Contemporary
African Politics
With the problem and economic leadership in Africa
today, we affirmed that Africa is no doubt a home for revolutions. It is within
this backdrop that an appraisal of Ujamaa has been articulated since Nyerere
intended it to be a paradigm for the African continent.
Though we have accused Nyerere of claiming a one party
“democracy”, we cannot but praise him for being a selfless leader who was
convinced of the need for drastic change in Tanzania and went ahead to
implement it. Unlike many African leaders, he did not allow the spoils of
office to derail him from the task he and his government had set out to
achieve. Upon discovery that he has stayed too long on political scene, he
rejected re-election. This act is against the political fad in Africa where
leaders are forced out of office either by coups, popular uprisings or
deaths. A case is Nigeria’s erstwhile
dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, who was forced out of office following his
annulment of the freest and fairest election ever in the country. The Malawian
President Kamuzu Banda had to bow to pressures of democracy in his 90s. Felix
Houphouet Boibny of Cote d’ voire died in office at the age of 88 years having
ruled his country since independence. Though the Ghanaian revolution of Jerry
Rawlings has been largely successful, his transition from a military leader to
a civilian head of state lends credence to the African leaders’ love of power.
The most recent of them all is that of Sirte, Moammar Gaddafi of Libya,
42-years of one-man rule blatantly refused to step down from office even when
his people clamored for a change. Instead he chose to go into a serious battle
with his people who he called “rats”, unfortunately many lives were lost and
finally, he who called his people rats was captured in bloody scourges cowering
in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth. The tragic termination of
Gaddafi’s dictatorial regime in Libya took place on Friday, 20th
October, 2011. Any revolutionary leader in Africa who is not ready to leave the
stage when his ideas are unsuccessful or whenever the people want him to leave,
in the spirit of democracy is not worthy of leadership. Such a person would
have proven his sincerity within a stipulated period.
Different ideologies abound in Africa all ostensibly addressing the
political question. Often such ideas are bereft of convictions and as such no
theoretical basis. The result is that government come and go and the trial and
error approach to administration is employed this situation leave the people
worse than they were initially. Despite the flaws of Ujamaa, we cannot debunk
the fact that it was an ideology based on theory which served as the catalyst
for action. This portrays Nyerere and his party as a group of visionaries with
a better live for the Tanzanians as their goal.
However, according to Murumba Oguogho, motives and concerns are not
enough to establish a socio-economic and political system to fight the
oppression and the exploitation in a world of advanced capitalism among a
people who have experienced slavery and colonialism with the threat of
neo-colonialism.[78]
He therefore recommends a good knowledge of both Africa and the world
histories. With this knowledge, any revolutionary would take cognizance of the
different experiences of his people as a peculiar group and as a body of people
in the global community. Such a historical knowledge would include local and
international politics with their attendant political economies. Nyerere’s
claim of a classless Africa would seem to be a product of this historical
ignorance. The role of education in national building cannot be overemphasized.
Education furnishes people with the skills needed for adequate political
participation and consequently their ability to fight for their right and
against oppression. These skills include literacy, organizational ability and a
critical understanding of social change. (Education in this regard becomes
education for civic participation). It also instills self-esteem and
self-confidence in the recipients. This would justify the rigorous manner in
which educational policies are pursued by enlightened societies. However,
contemporary African society leaders are afraid of an enlightened citizenry
because of their corrupt, despotic and tyrannic dispositions. As such, they
would never support any programmes that free the masses from the shackles of
ignorance and oppression. The result is that education is put beyond the
purview of the many and whenever available, qualitative education is
exclusively preserved for the rich few whose interests usually conform to those
of the rulers. On the contrary, Nyerere made education qualitative, free and
available to all both rich and poor. Like every serious government, Nyerere’s
administration made education an imperative and a top priority.
Commenting on the import of education in Nigeria, Gani Fawehinmi once
articulated:
Nigeria must
see education as a production agent, a factor which contributes to the
production factor which provides and adds to human skills – which promotes
innovation and invention – which contributes to and facilitates change – which
in these ways provide high growth rate in the economy raising levels of living
among the population.[79]
Hence, any government or revolutionary government in contemporary times
must necessarily provide free and qualitative education for its citizens by all
means necessary at least to a reasonable extent of perhaps elementary level.
This becomes sine qua non because of the fact that most Africans are poor and
expensive education would be a luxury. It suffices to ask therefore; how far
has this been implemented in our Nigeria? Thus, taking a perusal walk into the
streets and corners of most of our states one becomes perplexed with the great
number of boys and girls at a very tender age rooming about the streets
either hocking or learning mechanic
work.
One of the major means of perpetuating neo-colonialism in Africa is
through foreign aids. Often, such helps are with strings which do not cater for
the realities of the African. This is evident in the recent persuasion by the
British Prime Minister on African countries to adopt and legalize same sex
marriage if they would continue to enjoy aid from the United Kingdom. It is in
view of this that Dr. Nyerere realized that overseas interests no matter how
sympathetic and progressive they appear determine research priorities and
methods. Together with loans, conditional aids have perpetuated the rape of
Africa and her resources. To reverse the situation, Dr. Nyerere calls for a
greater African unity. This is in the sense that when African nations pool
their resources together, they are more likely to define needs according to
their own priorities and develop appropriate methods of attaining these needs.
Apparently, a people lacking self-determination and self-reliance cannot
form a common front against external oppressors. The continent of Africa must
thus necessarily strengthen its numerous nations to become united. No nation
should confront the outside alone as true security can only be found in company
of fellow African nations with shared experiences and aspirations.
CHAPTER FOUR
UJAMAA AND THE AFRICAN
DEVELOPMENT
In this chapter, we shall underscore and examine the
principle of Ujamaa in praxis or
action. In other words, we shall examine how Nyerere used or applied his theory
of Ujamaa as a revolutionary
principle. The imperative question that plaques the mind immediately is; how
does Ujamaa contribute to the development of Africa?
Ujamaa and the African Development
Development
is the underlying principle behind which the movement of Ujamaa all started. In
other words, the basic and overall intention of Dr. Mwalimu Nyerere with Ujamaa
is development first for the Tanzanian nation which will then serve as a
paradigm for other African nations and perhaps other developing nations with
similar experiences. Thus, what is development?
Development
presupposes a qualitative and quantitative improvement or advancement in the
lives of the people in the society. It is the social concept standing for the
process through which human beings strives to improve the condition of their
lives. It is a process whose primary goal is human well-being, both in its
material and moral dimensions.[80] Dr.
Nyerere writing about development posits that;
Roads, buildings, the increase of the crop output, and other things of
this nature, are not development: they are tools of development. A new road
extends a man’s freedom if he travels upon it. An increase in the number of
school building is development only if those buildings can be used, to develop
the minds and the understanding of people. An input in the output of wheat,
maize or beans is only development if it leads to the better nutrition of the
people. An expansion of cotton, coffee or sisal crop is development only if
these things can be sold and the money used for other things which improve the
health, comfort and understanding of the people. Development which is not
development of the people may be of interest to historians in the year 3,000:
it is irrelevant to the feature which is being created.[81]
Thus, any development in which the people are not positively influenced
cannot be said to be development. So, we can claim that development which is
not people-centered is irrelevant to the kind of future Africans are
envisaging. From the foregoing, Nyerere believes that the cultures which
produced the pyramids of ancient Egypt and Roman roads of Europe crumbled
because they were material development which did not develop the people of that
age. Even if they did, it was only a few.
Be that as it may, Dr. Mwalimu Nyerere articulates that no one can
develop a people, only they can develop themselves. Therefore, a man develops
himself by what he does;
… he develops himself by making a decision, by increasing his
understanding of what he is doing, and why; by increasing his own knowledge and
ability, and by his own full participation – as an equal – in the life of the
community he lives in.[82]
Also Dr. Julius conceives of development as intrinsically linked with
freedom in the manner in which eggs are linked to chickens. Thus, they are
intertwined, such that you cannot have one without the other. Development is
pillared on freedom and freedom is pillared on development. Therefore, any
development that does not bring about freedom is no development at all.
Furthermore, according to Dr. Nyerere, when we talk of freedom, we first
mean national freedom, which is the ability of a nation to chart their future
and rule themselves without foreigner’s interference. Secondly, freedom from
hunger, disease and poverty, thirdly, freedom of individual’s right to dignity
and equality with others, his right to free expressions and contributions to
matters affecting him constitute personal freedom. Only when these have been
met can we say that freedom has been attained. However, these manifestations of
freedom are determined by social and economic development. Hence, he argues
that:
To the extent that our country remains poor, and our people
illiterate and without understanding or strength, then our national freedom can
be endangered by any foreign power which is better equipped.[83]
Consequently,
in view of the above, Dr. Nyerere argues against the use of force to attain
development. He recommends education and leadership by example, discussion,
dialogue and persuasion. In the Ujamaa village as well as school farms for
instance, farmers (professional and students) were allowed to decide what to
grow and how the proceeds from these were shared and used. Hence, this concept
of development is to guide the government of Tanzania in its Ujamaaisation and
subsequently Africa as a whole.
Ujamaa Nationalization
It is apposite to
note that for Nyerere, nationalism is a means towards a full actualization of
the Ujamaa of the entire country’s economy. That is, the problem of
nationalization is not whether nations control their economy, but how they do
so. The choice lies between controlling the economy through domestic private
business or through state or other collective institutions. The situation in
Africa is such that private investment means overwhelming foreign privat6e
business. The only way to ensure national control of the economy is through
indigenization of economic institutions. For socialist societies therefore,
this would only be achieved through economic institutions of socialism. These
realities informed Nyerere to opt for nationalization as an indispensable tool
for national development. The guidelines for these are stipulated in the “Arusha
Declaration”.
The Arusha Declaration was made by
Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, on 5th February 1967, outlining
the principles of Ujamaa (Nyerere's vision of socialism) to develop the
nation's economy. The declaration called for an overhaul of the economic
system, through African socialism and self-reliance in locally administered
villages through a villagization program. Put differently, through this
declaration the major means of production such as banks, insurance, land,
forest, water, mineral, electricity, import and export trade, plantations which
provide raw materials, will be communally (nationally) owned. Thus, Nyerere
articulates that nationalization will checkmate the abuse in which one person
depends on the whims and caprices of another for his livelihood. Invariably,
such a person “is subject to all the subservience, social and economic
inequality and insecurity which such a person involves”.[84]
Consequently, for
Nyerere, nationalization was to allow for full control of the way money and credit
is used and ensures that the profits were used within the country and for the
good of the country. That is why the nationalization of all the banks was
announced the day after the Arusha
Declaration. Furthermore, it is to enable the country decide development
policies and ensure that a large percentage of the nation’s wealth are used for
the benefit of its citizens. By establishing the leasehold property policy, the
government acquired all landed properties and leased them to individuals for as
long as they wanted.[85] Rents
were hence paid to the government. For him, by nationalization, “the key
positions of the economy have been secured for the nation in the same way as,
during a war, an army occupied the site on which dominates the countryside.”[86]
Ujamaa
Villagization
Ujamaa villagization was the most sine qua non of the series of policy measures taken
by Nyerere after the Arusha Declaration to replace the capitalist market with
the political market-place as the principal form of interaction with peasants.
Ujamaa villagization is often referred to as Rural Socialism.
The concept of
Ujamaa was born upon the realization of a poor, undeveloped and agricultural
economy. There was little or no capital to invest in big factories or modern
machines. Lack of skilled and experienced personnel was also plaguing the
nation. However, there was abundant land and people willing to work hard for
their own improvement. Therefore, if land and human resources are used in the
spirit of self-reliance as the bases of development, then the goals of the
revolution would be attained. The villages must therefore be transformed into
places where the citizens live a good life. For Nyerere, it is in these
villages that people must be able to find their material wellbeing and satisfaction.
Consequently, the emphasis of development rested in the rural sector and
basically in agriculture.
Nyerere concieves of an Ujamaa village as “a
voluntary association of people who decide of their own free will to live
together and work together for their common good”.[87] The Ujamaa village is a new conception, based on the post
Arusha Declaration understanding that what we need to develop is people, not
things, and that people can only develop themselves.
The Ujamaa villagers are founded on the traditional African
belief that man must enjoy respect and wellbeing alongside his fellow man and
in proportion to his distribution to the society. They are thus, built on
societal principles of equality, cooperation and democracy. Hence, the villages
are to mobilize traditional structures by adopting its technique to those of
the 20th and 21th century. The villages must therefore be made into
areas where the citizens live a good life. For Nyerere, it is in these villages
that people must be able to find their material well-being and satisfaction.
Nyerere explains the concept of Ujamaa villagization in the Arusha Declaration.
According to him,
The policy of Ujamaa
Vijijini is not intended to be merely a revival of the old settlement
schemes under another name. Ujamaa villages are intended to be socialist
organizations created by the people, and governed by those who live and work in
them. They cannot be created from outside, or governed from outside. No one can
be forced into an Ujamaa village, and no official — at any level — can go and
tell the members of an Ujamaa village what they should do together, and what
they should continue to do as individual farmers . . .
It is important that these things should be thoroughly
understood. It is also important that the people should not be persuaded to
start an Ujamaa village by promises of the things which will be given to them
if they do so. A group of people must decide to start an Ujamaa village because
they have understood that only through this method can they live and develop in
dignity and freedom, receiving the full benefits of their co-operative endeavor
. . . It is particularly important that we should now understand the
connection between freedom, development, and discipline, because our national
policy of creating socialist villages throughout the rural areas depends upon
it. For we have known for a very long time that development had to go on in the
rural areas, and that this required co-operative activities by the people. .
Unless the purpose and socialist ideology of an Ujamaa
village is understood by the members from the beginning — at least to some
extent it will not survive the early difficulties. For no-one can guarantee
that there will not be a crop failure in the first or second year — there might
be a drought or floods. And the greater self-discipline which is necessary when
working in a community will only be forthcoming if the people understand what
they are doing and why . . .[88]
Suffice to say that the villagization program, implemented in
1973-76, sought to transform the pattern of rural settlement by congregating
the rural population-which previously had been resident predominantly on
dispersed family smallholdings-in nucleated villages of sufficient size to be
efficient (in bureaucratic terms) units for the delivery of services. It was a
policy proclaiming village socialism, self-reliance, nationalization, and
anti-corruption measures against politicians. It was a significant attempt to
create a socialist route to African development.
According to Goran Hyden, “the Ujamaa
approach to villagization was unique in that it was conceived as a part of a
radical political transformation”.[89]
The policies of nationalization and Ujamaa villagization were all aimed at
rediscovering the African and going back to the roots. Put specifically, it
neutralized the power of the petty-capitalist farmers and strangled the hold
they and other petty-bourgeois elements had on the economy of affection. In a
study by Immanuel Bavu, he discovered that in some instances, there was a
genuine transformation to socialist relations to production. As such, in
‘Kabuku’, the petty-capitalist elements called ‘Kulaks’ were expelled and
compelled to move elsewhere. It is worth noting that Nyerere not only lived in
some Ujamaa villages, he helped to set up some showing the people how to live
the Ujamaa way of life.
Towards a new
conceptualization of Nyerere’s idea of development in Africa
Development according to reminiscent of
Lawrence Harrison’s seminal study Who
Prospers? (1992) conceptualizes development as the state of the mind.
Similarly Nyerere’s idea of development is a state of the mind where the idea
of common good prevails over selfish interests. In other words, development is
not something to be put in the possession of another or transferred from one
country to another. Rather, it is a state by which people’s endeavours are
guided by good reasons. Thus, people with same minds can proceed to achieve
certain desires which are for their interest.
Hence, the people of Ujamaa had tremendous
development because of the same mind approach to life. The village of Ujamaa
saw that class segregation would not bring positive growth. They saw that there
is need to empower each individual through education and farming. The attitude
of these people was not selfish oriented. They valued their identity and
believed that communal success can be achieved. Inspite of colonial factors the
people of Ujamaa took their destiny in their hands and librated themselves from
colonial slavery and political subjugation.
Be that as it may, it is against the
background of predominant development strategy in Africa and its consequences
that the principle which Ujamaa advocate becomes a sine qua non in the
realization of a true Africa renaissance. Apparently, the development strategy
in Africa places greater emphasis on economic growth than human emancipation.
It is a development strategy which is elite driven. It involves top-down
processes in which the people, far from being active initiators of development
programmes, are passive objects of these programmes.[90] However
with his Ujamaa Nyerere clearly bring to the fore an important precondition for
any meaningful development in Africa to come to lime light. Thus, an important
precondition of making development a reality is the enhancement of the capacity
of the people for self-expression, self-reliance, self-action, self-identity
and self-dignity. Thus, Ujamaa teaches that true development, true freedom
begins from within and not from without. Just as the people of Ujamaa shot the
door to Western hegemony and concentrated on developing their indigenous
values, contemporary Africa must strive to first develop her rich indigenous
values for this will enable her to assert herself with more profundity among other
continents.
CONCLUSION
History
has taught us that Africa has continued to wallow in her suffering and
predicament because her leaders have continued to play the surrogates to
foreign powers. The spirit of self-confidence and self-respect, the quest for
self-reliance are totally absent in most African nations. Yet such nations
claim they are progressing. It’s a truism that man can build your house, but he
obviously can’t provide the necessary dignity needed to live in such a house.
That is why self-reliance is a sine qua non all over Africa. An over dependence
on foreign aids and programmes from the West smacks of a people lacking
direction and self-determination.
Recognition for the need for self-reliance and self-determination by
every government in Africa is the catalyst for self assertion in global
politics and history.
Consequently,
several ideologies abound in Africa all ostensibly addressing the problem of
leadership. Often such ideas are bereft of convictions and as such no
theoretical basis. The result is that government come and goes, and the trial
and error approach to administration is employed. This situation leaves the
people worse than they were initially. Despite the flaws of Ujamaa, it cannot
be denied that it was an ideology based on a theory which acted as a catalyst
for action. This presents Dr. Nyerere and his party as a group of visionaries
with a better life for the Tanzanians and by extension Africa as a whole.
Murumba Oguogho recommends a good knowledge of both Africa and world histories.
With this knowledge, any revolutionary would put into consideration the
different experiences of his people as peculiar group and as a body of people
in the global community. Such a historical knowledge would include local and
international history with their attendant political economics. Thus, Nyerere’s
claim of a classless Africa would seem to be a product of this historical
ignorance.
Furthermore,
the idea of socialism as a panacea to Africa’s predicament is rather populist.
In the first place, it is clear that socialism in any form whether African or
scientific is grossly inadequate as events in Tanzania and Russia have proved.
Yet, there is no system that is completely bad that we cannot learn from. For
instance, socialism seeks to end exploitation and the instrumentalization of
man as is obtainable in capitalism. This goal is no doubt African too. However,
the venalities of corruption, nepotism, tribalism and dictatorship in
contemporary African experience would seem to have wiped away the gains of the
past. Consequently, these venalities are suitable in a capitalist setting and
most of Africa is capitalist. The temptation at this stage is to opt for
socialism as the catholicon to Africa’s problems.
On
the other hand, we realise that the principles of socialism would seem to
override man’s natural instinct for individual achievement. Such room for
individual achievement is obviously not alien to the traditional African
set-up. Also, capitalism emphasises the individual’s right to self-fulfillment.
That is why the individual can acquire as much resources as he can in the
society. But is such a situation non-existent in traditional Africa?
Apparently, traditional African society allowed the acquisition of wealth
according to each individual’s needs and capabilities. Nonetheless, every
member of the society is adequately catered for whether he can sufficient
attain this or not. This is against the capitalist system where the weak is
left in his world of misfortune and uncatered for.
Obviously,
African nations have experienced the three types of socio-economic systems with
no seeming light at the end of the tunnel. It can therefore be inferred that no
particular system out of these three can be the catholicon to our contemporary
challenges. This is so because man is the product of his experience. Equally
true is the fact that every society is an off-shoot of its experience. Since
experience changes man and his society, synchronization is therefore the only
way out of contemporary African socio-economic saga.
As
Nyerere rightly articulated that any development that is not people oriented is
not development at all. Inevitably therefore in contemporary Africa is a
revolution in which the government will provide for the welfare and wellbeing
of its citizens. This welfare and wellbeing includes the provision of basic
human necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, education and fundamental
human rights. It is a system in which the respect and dignity of the population
are maintained. No man therefore becomes too powerful that he cannot obey
established laws and ethics. This revolution will ensure that the weak and
strong, rich and poor alike find fulfilment and self-confidence in
socio-economic structure. That is what traditional African system achieved so
much that contemporary Africans continues to appeal to the past even to the
extent of romanticizing the past.
In
conclusion, in the face of contemporary African realities therefore, a
welfarist oriented revolution will do the magic. So far as the goal of the
revolution is the welfare and wellbeing of the masses, the name such a
revolution bears is immaterial. It is when a man’s welfare and wellbeing is
guaranteed that he can lay claim to self-reliance and self-dignity. This is
because he will not have to depend on anybody to realise these basic human
necessities. When a government is able to provide these necessities for its
populace, it can be said to have achieved self-reliance and the attendant
self-dignity because it is the government by the people, for the people.
Consequently the government would have been able to free itself from the ills
of contemporary African politics. Having achieved that, it would then be able
to assert itself unhindered in the community of nations.
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INTERNET MATERIALS
http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/1962/Arusha-Declaration.html
http://www.nathanielturner.com/index.html
[1]
Stan-William Ede, Circum- Developmental
Integration and Future of Africa: in Enwisdomization Journal Vol. 2, No. 3, 2005.
[2]
Tsenay Serequeberhan, African Philosophy:
An Exposition, Quest: An International African Journal of Philosophy, Vol.
7 (1993), p. 98
[3]
1977 Tanzanian Constitution quoted by Philips, C.S. in the African Political
Dictionary s. v. “Revolution” (California:ABC – Clio inc., 1984), p.136
[4] Cf D. Wepman. African: The
struggle for independence, New York:
Facts on file inc. 1993, p.5
[5] Ademola
Ajayi,African Culture and Civilization (ed),Atlantis books 2005 p.78.
[6]Emeka G.
Ekwuru, Africa and the Myth of the Sleeping Giant, Toward the age of
Afrizealotism.(Owerri:Totan Publishers;2001),p.81
[7] See
,Dunduzu Chisiza, The Outlook for
contemporary Africa in Lalage Bowen(ed),Two centuries of African
English (London: Heinemann, 1982),p.100.
[8] Olusegun
Oladipo , Core Issues In African Philosophy (Ibadan: Hope
publication, 2006) ,p 104.
[9] See
,Dunduzu Chisiza, Op. Cit., p100.
[10] Oliver
A. Onwubiko, African thought Religion and Culture (vol1) snap, 1991 p.
95.
[11] Jack
Woddis, Introduction to Neo-Colonialism, (New York: International
publishers, 1967), p.14
[12]
<a
href="http://science.jrank.org/pages/8693/Colonialism-Africa-Colonialism-in-African-History.html">Colonialism
- Africa - Colonialism In African History</a>
[13]
Ademola Ajayi, African Culture and Civilization (ed), Atlantis books
2005 p. 180.
[14] Kwameh
Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite, (London: Panaf Books Ltd., 1963), p. 21.
[15] Maurice
M. Makumba, Introduction to African
Philosophy, (Kenya: Paulines Publication Africa, 2007), p.128
[16]
O. Nnoli, Introduction to Politics
(Ikeja: Longman Books, 1986), p.92
[17] Moses Oke, The Nature of
Political Concepts and Ideologies, (Ibadan: Hope publications,), p.44.
[18]Kwameh
Nkrumah, Consciencism philosophy and ideology for Decolonization (London:Panaf
Books Ltd,1964),p. 56.
[19] IKS. J.Nwanko, Sparks of Wisdom,
(Onitsha:Tabansi Pubs,1999), p. 63.
[20]Kwameh
Nkrumah, Consciencism philosophy and ideology for Decolonization,(London:
Panaf Books Ltd,1964),p. 79.
[22]Ibid.,p.
68.
[23]Ibid,
p.73.
[24]Ibid,
p.74.
[25]Bruno Yammeluan Ikuli, The
philosophy of the New Partnership for Africa,s Development, (Ibadan: Hope publications 2006),
p.37.
[26]Ibid,p.37
[27]Chuba
Okadigbo, Consciencism in African Political Philosophy, (Enugu: fourth
Dimension, 1985), p.22.
[28]Ibid, p.22
[29]Ademola Ajayi, African culture
and civilisation (ed), Atlantis books 2005 p. 385.
[30]Speech given at the Launch of Kwame
Nkrumah Chair in African Studies, Institute of African Studies, University of
Ghana, Legon, September 21, 2007.
[31]Kwameh
Nkrumah, Revolutionary Path, NTY 1973
[32]
Sithole Ndabsningi, African Nationalism,
2nd Edition (London: Oxford University, 1959), p.189.
[33]
Chukwudum B. Okolo, African Social and
Political Philosophy: Selected
Essays. (Nsukka; Fulladu Publishing Co., 1993), p. 25.
[34] Karp –
Masolo, African Ethnophilosophy, in
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 1, p. 446.
[35]
Sithole Ndabaningi, African Nationalism,
quoted Nyerere J., freedom and Unity:
Uhuru na Umojo, 2nd Edition (London: Oxford University Press,
1969), p.189.
[36]
Chukwudum B. Okolo, African Social and Political Philosophy: Selected Essays,
Op cit, p. 41.
[37] Julius
Nyerere, Freedom and Unity, (Dar es
Salaam: East African Publishing House, 1972), p. 176.
[38] Maurice
Makaba, Introduction to African
Philosophy, (Kenya: Pauline Publications Africa, 2007), p. 135.
[39] Julius
Nyerere, Freedom and Unity, Op. Cit.
p. 10.
[40] Cf.,
William H. Friedland – Carl G. Rosberg, eds., African Socialism, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964), p.
3-4.
[41] Kwame
Nkrumah, “African Socialism Revisited”,
in the struggle continues, (London:
Panaf Books, 1973), p. 78.
[42]
Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Unity
(Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 8.
[43]
Ahmed Mohiddin, Ujamaa na Kujitegemea in
Socialism inTanzania vol. 1. Politics, edited by Lionel Cliffe and John S.
Saul (Dar es Salaam: East African Publishing House, 1972), p. 176.
[44]
Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Unity
(Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 137.
[45]
Aloo M. Mojola “Nyerere’s Social and Political
Philosophy” in Thought And Practice, The Journal of The Philosophical Asso.
Of Kenya, vol. 3 No. 1. 1973, p. 7
[46]
Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa: The Basis of
African Sociology (Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1962), p.1
[47]
Julius Nyerere Freedom and Unity, op.
cit. p. 4.
[48]
Ibid. p. 5.
[49]
Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Unity,
op. cit. p. 4.
[50]
Ibid. p. 5.
[51]
Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa-Essays on
Socialism (Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1968), p. 5.
[52]
This collection is found in three of Nyerere’s works: Ujamaa-Essay on Socialism, pp. 3,10, 15-16; Freedom And Unity, pp. 162-169; Freedom
And Socialism, pp. 242-243.
[53]
Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa-Essay on Socialism,
Op. Cit. p. 5.
[54]
Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Socialism,
Op. Cit. p. 304.
[55]
Julius Nyerere, New African, Jan.
1985, p.15.
[56]
Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Socialism,
op. cit. p. 169.
[57]
Ibid. p.235.
[58]
Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa-Essay on Socialism,
op. cit. p. 152.
[59]
Julius Nyerere, The Process Of Liberation
in Themes in African Social And Political Thoughts: edited by Onigu Otite,
(Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1978), p. 341.
[60]
Julius Nyerere, Man and Development: Binadamu Na Maedeleo (London: Oxford
University Press, 1974), pp. 72-73.
[61]
Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa-Essay on Socialism,
op. cit. p. 149.
[62]G.R. Mulgan, Aristotle’s
Political Theory (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), p.49.
[63]Julius Nyerere, Freedom
and Socialism (Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1968), p. 272.
[64]
Julius Nyrere, “The Declaration of Dar es
Salaam” quoted by J. Akinpelu, Introduction to Philosophy of Adult
Education (Ibadan: Dept. of Adult Education, Unibadan, 1988), p. 102.
[65]
Julius Nyerere, op. cit. pp.269-70.
[66]
Emman I Ikoku, Self-Reliance: Africa’s
Survival (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980), p. 73.
[67]
Ibid.
[68]
E. W. Blyden, “The Idea of African
Personality” Presidential address to the Liberian College, 1881, Taken from
Legum, Pan Africanism (New York:
Frederick A. Praeger, 1962), pp.21-22.
[69]
R. Green, Adult Education In National
Development Planning: Notes Towards An Integrated Approach (Bonn: German
Adult Education Assoc., 1977), p. 15.
[70] Ben
Wisner, Power and Need in Africa (London:
Earthscan Pubs; 1988), p. 285.
[71] A.
Fagothey, Right and Reason, 3rd ed.
(St Loius: C. V. Mosby co; 1963), p. 68.
[72] S. O.
Wey and Eghosa Osagie, An Ideology for
Social Development: Ending the Capitalist – Socialist Struggle, (Lagos:
Ogiso, 1977), p. 24.
[73] I. G.
Shivji, Class Struggle in Tanzania (London:
Heinemann, 1976), p. 107.
[74] Goran
Hyden, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania,
(London: Heinemann, 1980), pp. 97 and 125.
[75] Tony
Benn, A Future for Socialism,
(London: Fount Paperback, 1991), p. 19.
[76]
Obafemi Awolowo, Voice of Reason (Akure: Fagbamibbe
Publishers, 1981), p. 164
[77]
Francis Njoku C.M.F, African Identity:
Its Metaphysics and Ethics, in West African Journal of Philosophical
Studies, vol II, Nigeria: AECAWA Publication, 2008, p. 14.
[78]
M. J. Oguogho, A Critique of African Liberation Theologies
from the Perspective of Latin American Liberation Theology And North American
Black Theology (Ph.d. Dissertation, University of London, 1987), p.400
[79]
G. Fawehinmi, People’s Right to Free Education
(Ibadan: The Sketch Publishing Co., 1974), p. 29
[80]
Olusegun Oladipo, Philosophy and social Reconstruction in
Africa (Ibadan: Hope Publications, 2009), p. 95
[81] Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Development, op. cit., p. 47
[82]
Julius Nyerere, Man and Development (London: Oxford
University Press, 1974), p. 27
[83]Ibib.
pp.25-26.
[84] Julius
Nyerere, Ujamaa: Essays on socialism (Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1968),
p. 115.
[85] Matthew Nwoko, Basic World Political Theories (Owerri: Claretian Institute of
Philosophy, 1988), p.247
[86] The
Nationalist, (Dar es Salaam) February 14, 1967.
[87] Julius Nyerere, Man and Development, (London: Oxford University Press, 1974), p.37
[88]
http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/1962/Arusha-Declaration.html">Arusha
Declaration - Excerpt From the Arusha Declaration</a>
[89] Goran
Hyden, Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania
(London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980), p. 104.
[90]
Olusegun Oladipo, Philosophy and Social Reconstruction in
Africa Op. Cit. p.98
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