FORMER LEADERS’ BENCH WITH DAILYNEWS: ‘Self-reliant country with skilled citizens’

Mzee Joseph Simbakalia
  • Simbakalia speaks his heart on TZ he wants
  • Singles out NMB, CRDB as proof of Tanzanians’ ability 

FORMER senior army officer-government leader, Joseph Simbakalia has spoken out his desire and specifically the type of Tanzania he wants.

Speaking recently with the team of journalists from Tanzania Standard Newspapers (TSN), retired Col Simbakalia said he wished to see Tanzania that embraces and implements objectives of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and the Arusha Declaration.

“First I desire the Tanzania of TANU and that of the Arusha Declaration because the challenges that led to formation of the two are still here today,” Mzee Simbakalia argued.

Advertisement

The TANU was the principal political party in the struggle for sovereignty in the then Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

The party was formed from the Tanganyika African Association by Julius Nyerere in July 1954.

The policy of TANU was to build and maintain a socialist state aiming towards economic self-sufficiency and eradicating corruption and exploitation, with the major means of production and exchange under the control of the peasants and workers.

Its objectives, among others, were to prepare the people of Tanganyika for self-independent government, to destroy tribalism and develop national unity for the people of Tanganyika, to struggle for democratic government and to have representative in local districts and central government as well as to break up racialism and discrimination among the people.

On other hand, the Arusha Declaration emphasised self-reliance, frugality, and self-denial.  It stated that everyone in the state, whatever his or her actual occupation, was a worker and that all means of production would be nationalised for the people.

The Arusha Declaration as a whole sought to reduce the income inequality among all citizens and shift development efforts towards rural areas.  It argued that the country was involved in a war against poverty and oppression.

In addition to aiming for a self-sustaining economy, it reformed the education system.

The three significant changes that it made were putting more emphasis on primary rather than secondary education, commending practical knowledge more than book knowledge, and gearing education more towards agricultural skills.

Mzee Simbakalia stated that some individuals have been giving misleading information about the Arusha Declaration which also condemned exploitation, harassment, and torture.

“I am not sure that the Tanzania that I want is the one that the current generation wishes,” he said as he called upon Tanzanians to reflect back and see what the past generation did when fighting for independence and the goals they had during that time.

“Our founding fathers had stated that enough was enough because colonialists exploited and harassed us so much. We should ask whether such a situation is no longer there. We see harassment, exploitation and unfairness is still there,” he said.

Mzee Simbakalia stressed that he wished Tanzania with Tanzanians who believe and practice what the founding fathers had stated on how the country was extremely exploited and unfairly treated.

“Let’s now make Tanzanians take control of key economic means on their own because we have been exploited so much, let us say enough is enough,” he said.

He recalled that when Tanzania experienced economic downfall, the big nations said Tanzania’s problem was as a result of nationalising companies.

The big nations were not in favour of nationalising companies; hence they wanted the firms to be left to the private sector to run.

He, however, criticised the stance, saying the decision to nationalise companies was successful, pointing out the financial sector as a living example.

He cited one of successful cases of nationalised companies, the NMB Bank which is owned by the government and the Tanzanians, through their shares in the bank.

The bank traces its origins to 1967 when the Tanzanian Government nationalised financial institutions, including banks. In 1991, the banking industry was deregulated.

Six years later, in 1997, the institution then known as National Bank of Commerce was split into three new entities namely; (a) NBC Holdings Limited (b) National Bank of Tanzania (1997) and (c) National Microfinance Bank (NMB).

“Compared to other banks under the private investors, the NMB is doing better,” he said as he referred to a recent move by the bank to approve a record dividend payout of 143.1bn/- for the financial year 2022 after an impressive rise in its profitability.

The government which owns 31.78 per cent of NMB via the Treasury Registrar received a cheque of more than 45bn/-.

“This bank is now among the giants in the country competing with its close partner, the CRDB which has also been brought up by Tanzanians themselves, including Dr Charles Kimei,” he said.

“Currently, the leading banks in the country are managed by Tanzanians, meaning that the banking sector is run by the Tanzanians themselves…This is the Tanzania I desire that everything we run is our own. Tanzanians have been able to run this country from scratches and the nation is calm and things are going well,” he stated.

To achieve that, he said, only commitment was needed to build capacity among the Tanzanians and let them do it on their own.

Pointing out that capacity building could be done through the education system, the system which imparts skills like what the TANU and Arusha Declaration had been insisting.

“Briefly, without hesitating or apologising, the Tanzania I want to see is that built under the foundations of the objectives of the TANU and the Arusha Declaration,” he stressed.

Citing another capability of Tanzanians, he said, was the fact that the country helped other African countries such as South Africa to gain independence without even using massive weapons.

“Even during the war with Uganda, some people thought that it would take 10 years but it took only a few months to win, hence Tanzanians are capable,” he emphasised.

Add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *