Mwezi Julai 2017 nilifanyiwa mahojiano na Hawa Bihoga wa Sauti ya Ujeruamni (DW)
kuhusu Baba wa Taifa Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.
Julius Nyerere: Tanzania's philosophical teacher and president
In 1922, in what was then the British colony of Tanganyika, a chief of the Zanaki people in Butiama got a son and named him Kambarage after the rain-spirit. This boy would soon rise to fame, carrying the dreams and hopes of the country. He would later influence the entire continent.
After training as a teacher in neighboring Uganda, Nyerere taught for several years. Even later in his life, Nyerere was respectfully addressed as "Mwalimu", meaning "teacher" in Kiswahili. In 1949, he gained a scholarship to study in Scotland — the first Tanganyikan ever to study at a British university. In the country of the colonialists, he was increasingly drawn to politics — a path he continued on his return home.
Read more: Julius Nyerere: Undeterred African leader
To help build peace, national unity and cohesion, Nyerere encouraged the use of Kiswahili as the national language, rather than English. But probably Nyerere's biggest legacy is his policy of African socialism based on cooperative agriculture, called "Ujamaa", which is named after the Kiswahili word for familyhood. To implement Ujamaa, people relocated into village collectives. The policy met with increasing resistance, and eventually Nyerere introduced forced relocations and collectivization. By the 1980s, Tanzania's agricultural production plumetted and the concept of Ujamaa was dropped.
Nevertheless, Tanzanians remember Nyerere as a leader untainted by corruption or personal scandals, as explained by Tanzanian historian Said Mohammed. "In my research, whoever you ask will tell you, Mwalimu was special. He was incorruptible. Money and wealth did not matter to him."
More stories will follow soon.
DW's African Roots series is produced in cooperation with the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
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