“An Autobiography is a self-written lifestory. A writer who writes an Autobiography is like a painter who paints a self-portrait. An Autobiography provides an opportunity for learning. As almost all the World Leaders and the Most Influential people in this century have published their Autobiographies, I urge my fellow Presidents and other Influential People in Africa to write their Autobiographies too”
NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MADIBA MANDELA, 7.3.1997.
Introduction:
Writing an Autobiography is pretty standard practice these days all over the world. In the West, since time immemorial, it is an unwritten law that Presidents and other Public Figures document their ups and downs, detailing crucial hitherto untold stories. H.E ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the 16th US President and arguably the Most brilliant US President ever, for example, wrote three Autobiographies!.
Autobiographies, since they are personal accounts, have become the most accurate source of information about Public leaders’ success and failure secrets. For them, this is not only an opportunity to tell their lifestories but also it is an opportunity to put the record straight regarding various issues including controversies that were misrepresented or opinions they could not air while holding certain positions. It is their means to excercise their right to reply.
In the African continent, where for decades history was mostly narrated by oral tradition, few Public leaders have published their Autobiographies. In BONGOLAND, as shown herein below, about 99% of serving and past leaders have not published their Autobiographies!.
In my humble view, the absence of these Autobiographies denies the current and future generations in BONGOLAND the right to hear it from the horse’s mouth considering that this country has gone through numerous undocumented momentous happenings.
1. H.E Mwalimu Julius Kambarage NYERERE:
The Founding Father of our nation, the late Mwalimu NYERERE, served as the first President of our beautiful country. When died on 14.10.1999, he left a good number of books. However, I have noted with grave concern that although Mwalimu was a man of great knowledge and wisdom, he died without having written his Autobiography!.
I fail to understand as to why Mwalimu, of all people, did not deem necessary to leave the world with anything in the form of an Autobiography bearing in mind that H.E President BENJAMIN WILLIAM MKAPA said, on the occassion of State funeral, on 21.10.1999, that “Mwalimu NYERERE was a voracious reader of books who had unquenchable thirst for knowledge and an unending desire to impart knowledge to others”.
May be Mwalimu was uncomfortable with his domestic scorecard or may be events like the 1964 army mutiny, the blanket nationalizations, the two treason cases, the forcible removals of peasants or the acute shortage of commodities, would have been embarassing episodes to narrate!.
Mwalimu, in his heyday as President of TZ, did a commendable job. He took over a country with 85% of its adults illiterate. The British ruled Tanganyika for 42 years and when they left, there were only 2 engineers and 12 doctors. But when Mwalimu steped down in October 1985, there was 91% literacy and nearly every child was at school and hundreds of engineers, doctors and lawyers had been trained! Furthermore, Mwalimu was the archtect of our unique Union and the one who fused TZ’s 120 tribes into a cohesive state.
On the international scene, Mwalimu was one of Africa’s independence heroes and a leading light behind the creation of the OAU on 25.5.1963. On several occassions during his presidency, Mwalimu sent his armed forces abroad, either to expel an invader (Uganda), to stablize a friend (Seychelles) or to shore up another friend (Mozambique).
In his retirement, he did more than any other person to chaperone TZ into Multi-party politics, often in the teeth of opposition from bigwigs within his party, CCM. On this basis, surely, Mwalimu ought to have documented his life.On a number of occassions when confronted, Mwalimu used to say that he was averse to writing his Autobiography claiming that his life amounted to nothing to write home about!.
Just before Mwalimu died, three intellectuals; to wit, Prof. AHMED MOHIDDIN, Prof. HAROUB OTHMAN and former ambassador FERDINAND RUHINDA, had approached him to seek his consent to assist him to write his Autobiography. After lenghthy discussions, Mwalimu finaly obliged and duly granted his consent. The modus operandi was that the trio were going to sit with him whenever he had time and write his own words and then he would go through the manuscript because they wanted it to be his own work. They were just going to assist him to write. It is just sad that he departed before the project could take off.
It is our loss that Mwalimu passed on without having written an Autobiography!.
2. H.E Alhaj Ali Hassan MWINYI;
H.E MWINYI, who served as the 2nd President of TZ, is yet to write the story of his life and it seems, at 94, it will remain a secret known to him and a few close allies!. This is sad bearing in mind that H.E MWINYI, who is the only person in history to serve as President in both parts of the Union, has an avalanche of stories to tell.
During his tenure as President, he was admired by many people who nicknamed him “Mzee Rhuksa” as it was during his presidency that TZ made some of the crucial decisions towards the liberization of its economy that paved the way for economic growth after he had inherited a near bankrupt country!.
His tenure was, on the other hand, clouded by a number of challenges such as the IMF conditions, the push for ERPs and a series of unending strikes at Udsm like the infamous 1991 Kunji that, inter alia targeted him personally, with some radical students calling him names “Matusi ya nguoni”!.
Furthermore, between 1990 and 1995, he rode the waves of the Multi-party system introduced in 1992 and also faced rabel MPs from his own party, CCM, popularly known as G55 who were strongly demanding a Tanganyika government within the Union, forcing Mwalimu to step in and majestically silence all the dissenters!.
Living in the shadow of Mwalimu was, ipso facto, a challenge. We all remember how Mwalimu used to frequently launch thinly-veiled attacks on MWINYI’s leadership, accusing it of corruption and failing to defend the Union.
In view thereof, it is unfortunate that H.E MWINYI has not published his Autobiography hence denying us important detailed information regarding his lifestory.
3. H.E Benjamin William MKAPA:
H.E MKAPA served as the 3rd President of TZ. Though I believe that his recollections are worth penning, it seems and I stand to be corrected, he has chosen to follow the path of his two predecesors. This is, indeed, very sad as he is the one I was expecting to be a trailblazer considering his background in journalism and the fact that it is well documented that he is a bookworm/a great lover of books!.
H. E MKAPA, just like his predecessors, weathered many storms ranging from the first Multi-party General elections in 1995 to the MV Bukoba disaster on 21.5.1996.
Moreover, it was during his tenure that Mwalimu died on 14.10.1999 and it was a monumental task to ensure that the father of the nation was laid to rest peacefully. H.E MKAPA faced a bloody demonstration in Zanzibar on 27.1.2001 organized by CUF to protest the victory of then President AMANI ABEID KARUME. Dozens of demonstrators were killed and hundreds fled to Somalia and Europe.
There is also the much talked about privitization excercise. Moreover, there were his days as the Managing Editor of the Daily News and in 1974 when Mwalimu, after he had recognized his talents and potential , appointed him his press Secretary. Then there is his life as a diplomat and Foreign Affairs Minister. Furthermore, Tanzanians want to hear from the horse’s mouth as to how he defeated Hon. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE in the second round of voting in 1995 without forgetting the accident which occured in October 1995 when he narrowly survived a road accident in Mwanza while campainging when a defective bus almost hit his car. 38 people were killed in the bizzare accident, the majority being CCM members who had lined the Mwanza-Musoma road to see his entourage. Tanzanians want all untold stories, eversince he was born in Ndanda, Masasi on 12.11.1938, documented!.
H.E MKAPA’s failure to publish his Autobiography means his lifestory will be buried in the sand! I strongly advise him to put pen to paper and write about his life as he has had a remarkable life full of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, as he himself revealed at St. Immaculate, Upanga on his 80th birthday, last year.
I believe he has so many interesting untold stories that he never had the chance to tell. This is now his golden opportunity. Although he is now 80 years old but, without any shadow of doubt, he is in full control of his faculties and has a razor-sharp memory.
Your Excellency, BWM, the ball is in your court!.
4. Tanzania’s Ex-Prime Ministers:
With the exception of Dr. SALIM AHMED SALIM, none in the list of Tanzanians who have been privileged to serve as PMs and are still alive todate, namely Hon. CLEOPA DAVID MSUYA, Hon. JOHN SINDE WARIOBA, Hon.JOHN SAMWEL CIGWEYIMISI MALECELA, Hon. FREDRICK TRUWAY SUMAYE and Hon. EDWARD NGOYAYI LOWASSA, has published his Autobiography. Why they have chosen the code of silence is the Billion-dollar question!.
Dr. SALIM, a trusted protege and emissary of Mwalimu, wrote his 106 page Autography titled “SALIM AHMED SALIM: SON OF AFRICA” which was launched in January 2016.
I believe that all the abovenamed PMs have some wonderful and insightful stories to tell the current as well as the future generations.
Apart from these PMs, other Public leaders such as ambassadors and ministers have not published their Autobiographies either.
Worse still, they are not alone. Also in the list are famous athletes, artists, footballers and prominent people in the bussiness community whose success and failure are worth documenting. Hon. REGINALD ABRAHAM MENGI and Sir JAYANTILAL “ANDY” CHANDE are the only exceptions.
5. Our Influential & Inspirational Women in Tanzania:
At a time when gender equity is a global agendum, who would not want to read an inspirational account of the life of (1) Dr. ASHA ROSE MIGIRO, notable as the only woman in TZ to get a First Class Hons Degree in Law at Udsm & former UN Deputy Secretary General, (2) Mama TABITHA IJUMBA MWAMBENJA SIWALE, the First Female Minister in TZ, (3) Hon. ANNE SEMAMBA MAKINDA, the First Female Speaker in the TZ male-dominated National Assembly, (4) Hon. SABETHA JOHN MWAMBENJA, the First Female MD & CEO of a Commercial bank in TZ (5) Hon. JULIE CATHERINE MANNING, the First Female Judge in East Africa, (6)Dr. GETRUDE IBENGWE MONGELA, the First President of the Pan African Parliament, (7) Prof. ESTHER MWAIKAMBO, the First Female doctor in TZ, (8) Hon. AMINA SALUM ALI, the First Female African Union Ambassador to US, (9) Hon. Ambassador FATUMA TATU NURU, the First TZ Female Ambassador, (10), Ms ELIZABETH OLOTU, the First Female Pilot in TZ, (11) Hon. ANNA MARGARETH ABDALLAH, the First Female DC & RC in TZ and the one and only Mama MARY KAMM, the First Tanzanian Female to get a degree?!.
These are incredible women who broke new ground and achieved FIRSTS in various fields. They have a lot of life experiences to share with the world hence we can’t wait for their unique Autobiographies!.
6. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
Hon. FREDRICK TRUWAY SUMAYE has promised to write an Autobiography, to quote him verbatim:
“I will definately write an Autobiography but I have not yet started. I am seriously thinking about it. People have the right to know and there is a lot they can learn from us”.
Betterstill, while Hon. SUMAYE is seriously thinking about it, H.E JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE will, later this year, launch his Autobiography titled : “THE JOURNEY OF MY LIFE: FROM A BAREFOOT SCHOOLBOY TO PRESIDENT”. But what prompted him to write the said Autobiography? He says:
“After retiring from my presidency in 2015, I sat with my family, friends and former workmates who pushed me to write something. In April 2018, at the New York University, I was advised by one of my professors to write down my memoir. My Autobiography is focused on history and political issues and I am positive that historical and political academicians will like it”.
CONCLUSION:
Tanzanian leaders & other Public figures (Politicians, Celebrities & other Influential People) owe it to the nation to write their Autobiographies for enlightening other people especially the Dot.com generation and for posterity.
from Habari 360 | Habari mpya za Tanzania http://bit.ly/2Dp0j1a
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