Arusha landmarks in 60 years of independence – The Citizen

By Zephania Ubwani

Arusha. Maybe much is not known or documented on how the struggle for independence fared in Arusha prior to 1961.

But there is no contention it had much to do with Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere who used to traverse the country to mobilise citizens for the great day.

Old citizens who are still alive in this great city would recall Mwalimu sneaking in to create or strengthen his network of supporters.

At times he would put up at the Kilimanjaro Villa, an accommodation facility in the heart of the town, said to be the first multi-storeyed building to be put up by an African.

His supporters before Uhuru were the likes of Selemani Migire, a towering Tanu stalwart from Mbulu who would erupt like a volcano in defence of Mwalimu at all times.

The other was Jackson Kaaya, an elder from the slopes of Mt. Meru -now incapacitated due to old age. He served as the party chairman for years in the 1970s and 1980s.

For Arusha, the sunset months of the colonial era were ushered in style; with the full presence of Mwalimu when he officiated landmark projects in the city as the Chief Minister. One of them, according to accounts by elders who spoke to The Citizen, was the official inauguration of the city hall by Mwalimu a few weeks to December 9th, 1961.

The three floor building along the Boma Road is still there, with its amphitheatre-like hall for meetings of the councillors and offices for different departments.

Nyerere was also to grace an international meeting on wildlife conservation which, among other things, issued the historic Arusha Manifesto.

That was also a few weeks before Independence and was enough sign that Tanzania and Arusha, in particular, were to play an important role in conservation.

During the 1960s, though, there were not many national, regional or international conferences that Arusha used to host until about five years ago. But the city on the slopes of Mt.

Meru was to host an important meeting that charted a way forward for the countrys turn to Socialism and Self Reliance from 1967. The Arusha Declaration was crafted during a meeting of the Tanu National Executive Committee (NEC) under Nyerere which took place at a community hall in Arusha.

The building, near the main stadium, has since been turned into a National Museum with relics (documents, photos and booklets) on the countrys journey to socialism. It was in the same year (1967) that Arusha was designated the headquarters of the East African Community (EAC), a milestone for the town until then famous as a settlers paradise. Probably it was due to the importance of Arusha that a number of high profile regional institutions were allowed to set their headquarters here.

In the 1970s, these included the then Commonwealth Health Secretariat, now known as the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC).

The other prominent organization was the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (Esami), arguably one of the high profile training institutions on management issues.

With Arusha continuing to attract regional organizations despite the collapse of the EAC in 1977, the citys link to the Socialism declaration prevailed.

It was while in the same region that Mwalimu Nyerere announced officially that the villagisation programme was binding under the policies of the day.

During his visit in 1973 to Mbulu district - now in Manyara region - he firmly directed that villagisation should not be viewed as voluntary for the rural dwellers.

Mwalimus timeline was that Tanzanians living out of towns and cities should or must settle or be resettled in registered villages by 1975.

The villagisation policy - which was being implemented under the Socialism and Self Reliance policy -had its criticisms although not much said during those days.

It looked like the densely populated highlands like the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Meru, the south-western highlands and parts of Kagera region were spared.

They were spared on grounds that the majority of their inhabitants were already settled in villages, engaging in more productive agriculture or livestock rearing.

Compulsory villagisation under the Ujamaa policy appeared to target large swathes of semi-arid central and western parts of the country or the coastal areas.

Even though,criticisms reigned. Thats despite the government insisting it would enable citizens to enjoy socio-economic services when they are settled together.

Some rural planning experts argued that the move would usher in land degradation as the people would be squeezed together in small plots of land.

The exercise was equally not well received by the nomadic pastoralists or the traditional livestock keepers with large herds in general. Nomadic herders have for generations been allergic to any move by the authorities to interfere with their mode of life, including where to take their animals for grazing.

With villagisation, their concern was on how to balance their mode of production with the likely over-grazing due to concentration of large herds in small areas.

Again the scholars did not fully support the programme on fears of the carrying capacity of land would not support large herds in open grazing areas under it.

But Mwalimu Nyereres blueprint for Socialism and Self Reliance remained and on February 5th, 1977, Arusha was to host the 10th anniversary of the Declaration. In 60 years of Uhuru, Arusha has transformed into one of the major cities in the country, being a hub of the multibillion shilling tourism industry.

In the early 1960s, the city looked like a paradise for the settler community involved in commercial agriculture,tourist hunting, hotel business and missionary work. Now it is the EAC regions diplomatic city being the headquarters of allied organisations and diversified economic activities from horticulture to gemstone mining.

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Arusha landmarks in 60 years of independence - The Citizen