Page 78 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 4
P. 78
TRUE AFRIKAN LEADERS TRUE AFRIKAN LEADERS
many different cultures have de- none; fair sharing of resources against other African leaders
veloped many different knowl- which are produced by joint ef- and regimes like Idi Amin’s
edge systems, none of which forts; and equality and respect Uganda that were tyrannizing
has had any monopoly on know- for human dignity. Nyerere’s their fellow citizens.
ing. belief in Ujamaa was largely As I have argued in the recent
The notion that Africa is cast driven by the fact that Africans past, to date Tanzania, thanks
as an epistemological vacuum are people who work together to Nyerere’s all-embracing vi-
precisely because of the histo- for the benefit of all communi- sion, and justly so, continue
ry of colonialism, coupled with ty members. He as such stood to be portrayed as an African
the way the present paradigms firm against exploitation that he success story of state and na-
of development and of knowl- saw being perpetuated by the tion-building, surrounded by
edge are constructed, compels capitalist economic system as nervy neighbours like Kenya
a rethink. With the exception of this encouraged individualism at whose 2008 post election vio-
Afrikology as advanced by Pro- the expense of the community. lence left an indelible scar on its
fessor Dani Nabudere, a sys- He argued that capitalism fos- political conscious, or Uganda,
tematic and theoretically ade- tered excessive individualism South Sudan, and more recently
quate account of the relation of that promoted the competitive Pierre Nkuruzinza’s Burundi, all
theory to practice, one capable rather than the cooperative in- of which have been ridden by
of countering the hegemony of stinct in man. Nyerere’s Ujamaa conflicts and grave human rights
scienticism on all fronts, is still advocated for unity among Afri- violations. Worst still when com-
outstanding. However, meeting cans. He envisaged Tanzanians pared to Rwanda, its immediate
this need has been an abiding and Africans from other part of neighbour on the north west,
concern of Nyerere’s work ex- the continent living together as whose 1994 genocidal orgy re-
pressed largely in his various a family – it is this aspect that mains a scar on the world’s con-
publications: Freedom and Uni- gave principal meaning to his scious and an acute reminder of
ty (1966), Freedom and Social- political philosophy. Ujamaa how low humanity let alone ‘de-
ism (1967), Ujamaa: Essays on was as such aimed at restoring mocracy’ can get.
Socialism (1968), Freedom and the cooperative spirit that Afri-
Development (1973), Man and can people had before their vi- Democracy
Development (1974), and Free- olent encounter with the colonial
Nyerere understood democra-
dom, Non Alignment and South- system.
cy as a universal aspiration for
South Co-operation (2011). Under the Ujamaa political sys-
popular self-rule and as a his-
From these books alone, one tem, Tanzania took strong and torically bounded form of gov-
sees the growth and evolution of principled international stands. ernance that had to conform to
Nyerere’s philosophical under- Tanzania was at the forefront
traditional African structures. His
standing of Ujamaa. of the Frontline African States
attachment to democracy is in-
His theory of Ujamaa was more which supported the libera-
strumental for entirely pragmatic
concerned with practical political tion struggle against apartheid reasons. He saw it as effective
intent and in my view, it emerged South Africa, white settler-ruled in meeting the ineluctable cir-
from extended reflections on the Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), and
cumstances of contemporary
nature of cognition, the struc- Portuguese-ruled Mozambique
life: value, pluralism and con-
ture of social inquiry, the norma- and Angola. From early on, Tan-
flict. He however warned that
tive basis of political, economic zania also supported Congo- democratic institutions such as
and social interactions of not lese revolutionaries seeking to those found across East Africa
only his Tanzanian compatriots dislodge CIA-installed dictator
today were pegged on western
but also of Africans in general. Mobutu Seseseko. Tanzania
democracy and that this will cre-
He saw social justice as an im- welcomed Black revolutionaries
ate a ‘crisis of modernity’ where
portant element that could only from the world over, who debat- communities will lose their cul-
be achieved by having human ed various forms of Marxism and tural heritages and identities un-
equality. Pan-Africanism. One venue for
der the current wave of the so
As such, the foundation of the these discussions was the Sixth
called ‘globality’.
Ujamaa philosophy is based Pan-African Congress, held in
Nyerere through Ujamaa urged
on three principles: work by Dar es Salaam in 1974. Nyer- that African communities and
everyone and exploitation by ere also took a strong stands
cultures must strive to improve
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