Reasons for Mwalimu Nyerere's choice of two governments for Tanzania

Ever since Zanzibar merged with Tanganyika to form the United Republic Tanzania, there have been continuous discussions on the ideal structure of government.


A two-government structure has remained in place since the union's inception on 26th April 1964 with a government for Zanzibar and a union government. Tanganyika's affairs were absolved into the union government machinery.

Although Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume of Zanzibar had initially suggested there should be a single government, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere objected. Two principal reasons were given by Mwalimu Nyerere for establishing only two governments, instead of three:

1. It was imperative that Zanzibar's position (whose population was 300,000) was safeguarded by establishing its own government. Tanganyika had a population of 12 million 
2. The additional cost of establishing a third government for Tanganyika would be carried by Tanganyikan taxpayers, a burden that was considered unnecessary  

Nevertheless throughout its existence Tanzanians from both sides continued to demand a restructuring the union. The latest of these demands arose in the recent constitutional review process whose commission, led by Judge Joseph Warioba, recommended a three-government structure, accommodating demands for a Tanganyikan government.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume exchange the signed Article of the Union at Karimjee Hall on 26th April 1964.

When a similar demand was about to be accepted by President Ali Hassan Mwinyi's administration in the early 1990s, Mwalimu Nyerere vehemently opposed it and published his defense for a two-government union in his book, Our Leadership and the Destiny of Tanzania.

He wrote:-

"Let me add that only 8.91% of the Mainland CCM members favoured a Three Government structure - so much for the "mass support" for this proposal about which we heard so much in the earlier months of last year."

The constitutional review process, launched by President John Magufuli's predecessor Jakaya Kikwete has been put on hold for the moment. If Mwalimu Nyerere was around there is little doubt he would have written another book to defend the movement towards a single government, rather than three.

Related post:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/07/to-save-union-warioba-commission.html

Esperanto is a language you probably haven't heard about

Not until early this year did I learn of the existence of this language. Esperanto is a language you probably haven't heard about.

I always thought of myself of being capable of identifying many of the world's most-spoken languages, but when a group of visitors showed up at Mwitongo in January I realized I had overestimated my capabilities.

Through their own introductions I learnt that the visitors represented several nationalities: European, Asiatic, African, and South American. But they communicated in a language that sounded familiar, and one I could not identify. Sometimes the pronunciations sounded Spanish, but I just could not figure out what language was used.

The group of Esperanto-speaking visitors to Butiama

I asked and was told they were speaking Esperanto, a language first developed by a Polish physician, Dr. Ludwig L. Zamenhof, in 1887. One of his objectives in constructing a new language was to enable all nationalities to have a common language of communication.

Esperanto's grammar is derived from Romance and Germanic languages, while its vocabulary is derived from Slavic languages.

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Here's more information on Esperanto:

http://esperanto.org/us/USEJ/world/index.html

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Worldwide estimates of users of Esperanto range from 2 to 10 million.

The visitors to Butiama had taken time off from a meeting of Esperanto users held in the nearby town of Bunda.

Butiama's image of the day

During rare moments a few times every year weather patterns over Butiama produce colourful images. It begins in the late afternoon with a dark rain cloud that hovers and moves slowly from a northerly direction towards the south. The cloud covers the sun, and a period of light rainfall begins, seen on the right edge of the photo.

At a certain point, just before sunset, the sun drops below the cloud cover and releases a bright hue of golden orange sunlight before sinking below the horizon.

We turn a page on another episode of nature and wait for the next memorable sunset.