Nyerere, 10 years today since he went away

Today, 14 October, is a public holiday in Tanzania to mark the passing of The Father of Nation, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

Such a vision for this country that Nyerere had, if things had gone the way he had in mind, Tanzania might be an economic giant, at least among neighbouring African countries. He had correctly figured that with lots of arable land, growing cash crops that would bring in the much needed foreign exchange was the way to go. This was coupled with industries to process those crops, in the process creating wide employment base.

While still in power, Mwalimu saw the industries failing one after the other, and farming going down. Certainly the reason was, the persons given mandate to run the country, the industries, oversee agriculture etc did not share the vision that he had, and misinterpreted appointments as some kind of present to be shared with relatives and friends.

Time pressed on, different leaders took over, each with own style, but none seemed keen to bring the country back to track Mwalimu had intended. More recently there was massive privatization whereby the state-owned industries and businesses were offered for a song to would-be investors, mostly foreign companies. Even industries that were performing well were put up for sale.

Today we are seeing such a situation that very few individuals own a large chunk of national cake, salaries are dismal, crime rate, prostitution and other society vices are on the rise, schools grow in number and sizes but the education these kids get leave lots to be desired. That is not a problem for nouveau-riche who plundered industries and entered into warped mining contracts, stashing away dollars in Swiss banks: their kids receive quality education outside the country, and they have a cheek to brag about it in public, as if they deserved the thieved spoils.

Throughout the week, radios and TVs had been playing clips of Nyerere speeches, and they all address the things that shouldn't happen but are now happening. At least they will haunt the bad people who shot down the Nyerere vision, and, meanwhile, someone from rank and file is bound to come up, action packed and lead this great nation to its rightful place up front: who would have known that Obama would be US present today a year ago? Who would have even in wildest dreams imagine two weeks ago that Obama would get Nobel Peace prize?