TRIBUTE TO MWALIMU JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE BY FORMER TANZANIA PRESIDENT BENJAMIN WILLIAM MKAPA

Former Tanzania President Hon. Benjamin William Mkapa

By Benjamin William Mkapa,

As Managing Editor of then ruling Party and Government Newspapers, I used to post a column regularly, entitled: What they say about US. In this I reproduce features or news analysis, both favourable and critical of Tanzania, written by journalists from all sort of local and International newspapers.

This year we celebrate fifty years of the independence of mainland Tanzania. And to-day we commemorate the passing on of its Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere. Having worked with him I have been reflecting on what I could say about him. I have decided that the best tribute I can pay to his life and work is to recall the Eulogy I made on the occasion of the State Funeral at the National Stadium in Dar Es Salaam on 21^st October 1999. Here it is.

State Funeral for Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere

One of the legacies of President Mkapa is his handling of the illness, death and subsequent funeral of the Founding President of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere. On Mwalimu’s State Funeral on Thursday, 21^st October 1999 at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, President Mkapa delivered the following eulogy.

This is the saddest day in the history of our country. It marks a life ceased and a service ended.

But, let me first thank the doctors, nurses and staff that day and night struggled to save the life of our beloved Founding Father of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

I thank everyone who stood by us, and helped us, and all those that sent messages of support and encouragement during Mwalimu’s illness, and condolences on his demise.

I thank British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Her Majesty’s Government for being so helpful and supportive throughout the illness and death of Mwalimu Nyerere.

I thank most sincerely all of you, the leaders and other distinguished people from Africa and beyond that are here to support and comfort us. We really appreciate your coming.

I ask everyone who helped us and the bereaved family to accept the gratitude of the family, the gratitude of my Government, and the gratitude of the entire people of Tanzania to whom Mwalimu has always been, and will always be, much more than a Founding Father.

To you, the people of the United Republic of Tanzania, I am also very grateful. On 26^th September, I addressed the Nation, explaining the illness of Mwalimu Nyerere and asking everyone to pray for his recovery. Across the country, across all religious faiths, prayers were said, day and night.

Now that he is no more, we have all joined hands across the country, regardless of tribe, faith, gender or race, to mourn his passing away in unity, solidarity, peace and tranquillity just like Mwalimu taught us. We have learnt well, and this is clearly a good beginning for life after Mwalimu.

Since he passed away I have received hundreds of messages of condolences from all corners of the continent and the world sent by Kings and Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers, leaders of international and regional organisations, political and civil society leaders, and yes, from ordinary citizens of the world. They are unanimous in their description of Mwalimu as a person, as a national leader, as an African statesman and as an international personality.

I cannot read all of the messages to you. But on behalf of our continent I will read part of the message sent by the OAU Chairman, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria. He refers to Mwalimu as:

“(T)he peerless leader who devoted his life to the service of his country and the continent, the tireless defender of just causes and worthy architect of the conquest by African peoples of their rightful place among nations of the world.”

On behalf of the international community I will quote the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Of Mwalimu he says:

“He set an example in Africa by voluntarily renouncing power and handing over to his successor through an orderly constitutional process.”

Mwalimu is one of the leaders of developing countries who challenged and critiqued the economic prescriptions of financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the early 1980’s when he was still President, and afterwards as Chairman of the South Commission. I believe Mwalimu had an influence in changing the perspectives of these institutions and making them more responsive to our points of view. For that reason, on behalf of international financial institutions, I will read the full message of the President of the World Bank, Mr. James D. Wolfensohn. He said:

“For the men and women who have served the great cause of development in the world, one of the lights of our lives went out today. Mr. Julius Nyerere was one of the founding fathers of modern Africa. He was also one of the few world leaders whose high ideals, moral integrity, and personal modesty inspired people right around the globe.

While world economists were debating the importance of capital output ratios, President Nyerere was saying that nothing was more important for people than being able to read and write and have access to clean water.

He gave his compatriots a sense of hope and achievement early in their life as a country. And he gave them a sense of nation with few parallels in Africa and the world – bound by a common language (Kiswahili) and a history almost entirely free of internal divisions and conflict. His political ideals, his deep religious convictions, his equally deep religious tolerance, and his belief that people of all ethnic and regional origins should have equal access to knowledge and material opportunities have marked his country – and Africa – forever.

He was a leader in the liberation of Southern Africa. He looked after hundreds of thousands of refugees forced to live in western Tanzania by political turmoil in central Africa. And he left office peacefully at an age when he could certainly have continued. He was known as “Mwalimu” (or “Teacher”) – which was his first profession. Many of us still regard ourselves as his students, and we feel very honoured to have known and worked with him in his life.

To the people of Tanzania – and to his wider family across Africa and around the world – I want to say how much we share your sadness at his passing. However, the example he set and the ideals he represented will remain a source of inspiration and comfort for all of us. That is a legacy which even President Nyerere – modest as he was – would have been proud of.”

There are very many people in this country who, like me, consider ourselves lucky that our lives were touched by Mwalimu. I for one have no hesitation to say, with pride, that I learnt politics at the hand of a true master; a man who proved that politics does not have to be, as conventionally portrayed, a dirty game; an upright man, a man who would stand for what is right and just though the heavens fell.