 |
Ahmed Rajab |
Chairperson:
Muhammad Yussuf
Speaker:
Mr. Ahmed Rajab
Subject:
"The Life and Times of Abdulla Kassim Hanga";
Date
and Time: Saturday 26 November 2016 at 4.00PM
Venue:
ZIRPP Conference Room; Third Floor, behind Majestic Cinema, Vuga.
ABSTRACT:
Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, the President of the newly-established People’s
Republic of Zanzibar, surprised all the attendees at the first meeting of the
Zanzibar Revolutionary Council when he brusquely turned down the post of a
non-executive Presidency.
“I
refuse to accept the straw turban (kilemba cha ukoka),” Karume bellowed.
He
had good reason to turn down what was essentially designed to be a ceremonial
post in which effective powers were vested in the hands of the Soviet-trained
Prime Minister, Abdulla Kassim Hanga, a Marxist. The wily Karume was reluctant
to play second fiddle to him.
The
older man's emphatic reaction had come as a shock to Hanga. The newly-minted
Prime Minister was flummoxed and was left almost speechless. Ever polite to a
fault and deferential to the elder ASP leader, Hanga buckled under the strain
of Karume’s bellowing.
“No,
Mzee, you have all the powers,” said Hanga.
With
those words, the fate of Zanzibar was sealed. Had Hanga stood his ground,
Zanzibar would have followed a different trajectory. However, his utterances
acquiescing to Karume’s grumbling, undid him as they undermined the Revolution.
In
this presentation, Ahmed Rajab will try to bring to life this enigmatic but
tragic figure and a forgotten hero of the so-called Glorious Zanzibar
Revolution.
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