Book Description
A Tanzanian himself, he also looks at how life was under Nyerere since the sixties.
The work is also a critical examination of the political situation in Tanzania since independence when the country was known as Tanganyika before uniting with Zanzibar.
The author also looks at the transition that has taken place in Tanzania from one-party rule to multiparty democracy, and from socialism to capitalism since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
He also takes a critical look at globalisation and the negative impact of structural adjustment programmes in Tanzania and Africa as a whole.
The work is also a study of Tanzania's history since the advent of colonial rule and of the struggle for independence in one of Africa's largest countries in terms of area and population.
Publisher comments
I hope to strike a medium between the two. As a Tanzanian myself, it may be difficult to make an objective appraisal of his successes and failures. But that is what I have attempted to do in this book. Whether I have suceeded or not, is not for me to say. It is for the readers to decide.
Mwalimu, as he was and still is affectionately called, died when I was out of the country. His death was a shock to me, and I am sure to many others in and out of Tanzania, because of the type of leader he was. I saw him for the first time in the late 1950s when he was campaigning for independence and he left an indelible mark on me. I was under ten then, but I never forgot the day I first saw him, as I explain in the book.
As a mere mortal among mortals, he made mistakes, like the rest of us. And he admitted his mistakes, unlike most leaders. I discuss this in my book. He was also unique among leaders in many fundamental respects, a subject I also address in this work.
But my focus is not just on what type of leader he was, but on what kind of policies he pursued especially in the domestic arena, which was also his main theater of operation; although none of this diminished his stature as one of the giants among leaders in history. In spite of his lofty status, he remained what he was: of peasant origin, and a peasant at heart, at home with the masses in the villages in the rural areas unlike most leaders. His formidable intellect was equally acknowledged by friends and foes alike.
Why a leader of such high moral integrity, and extraordinary intelligence, could pursue "wrong" economic policies has baffled his critics, although the answer is very simple. They have never asked why he did what he did, and under what circumstances. It is a subject I address in this work, complemented by appraisals from some of the people who understood his policies more than most of his critics did, in order to put everything in its proper perspective for a full understanding of Mwalimu.
Those amongst us who admired him, or disagreed with him, would be better advised to look at what he did without preconceived notions, remembering that Mwalimu was a mere mortal, with frailties like the rest of us, who admitted mistakes, but who also did his best.
I have also done my best to show how life was in Tanganyika, later Tanzania, under Mwalimu, in a country where I was born and grew up. I am also fully aware that I may not do justice to a leader who was not only one of the giants in the history of Africa but in the history of mankind.
Submitted by: National Academic Press --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .
