THE National Museum in Tanzania (NMT) has seven museums under its wings, including the Village Museum (Dar es Salaam), Museum and House of Culture (Dar es Salaam), Natural History Museum (Arusha), Arusha Declaration Museum (Arusha), Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere Museum (Butiama), Maji Maji war Memorial Museum (Songea) and Dr Mfaume Rashid Kawawa Museum (Songea).
This institution also boasts of over 90 sites and monuments nationwide that are also under its care. Since April this year, NMT has managed to secure 2.45 bn/- government funding from the Covid-19 development relief funds that the government of Tanzania has procured from international financial institutions like IMF and the African Development Bank.
Like majority African countries, Tanzania doesn’t escape the paradox of being with systems of governance barely clocking a century (Tanzania as a government is 60 years old), while its citizens are scientifically accredited to have a lineage going back to early hominids (precursors of modern man) as evidenced at the House of Culture Museum under NMT in Dar es Salaam where the original skull of a Zinjanthropus boisei or Paranthropus boisei exists.
This early man goes back 1.8 million years determined by Dr Leakey’s excavation in the 50’s at Olduvai Gorge in Northeast Tanzania.
The institution has been charged with the mandate of preserving, researching, communicating and educating the public, and is aligned with their strategy (2021-2026) vision of having a society with a strong sense of value and pride in its heritage and culture.
Theirs is a wide opportunity to wipe the amnesia that clogs our perception on what we were really up to as a people 400 years back, or even 5000 years ago. As it is evident, the particulars of this history aren’t as easily accessible to majority of Tanzanians and African natives. In seeking more insight on what this fund means for NMT in continuing to fulfill its role, the Director General of NMT, Dr. Noel Lwoga relays.
“I felt lucky to be part of the process of mapping the strategic plan for NMT for the next five years 2021-2026. I knew the challenges it was facing, particularly with regards to low attendance from the public to its exhibitions and sites. Herein there are many factors involved, some contextual while others geographical. However, we’re happy to report that in all our seven museums in Tanzania during the apex of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 till 2021, more than 350,000 people visited our museums with above 80 per cent local record,” he says.
Prior to his appointment at the NMT, Dr Lwoga was a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam with his education background focused on Archaeology and Tourism. In my thirst to uncover if this paradox concerns our government of having a nation rightly celebrated as 60 years old yet with a people linked to a history stretching back a million years plus, it was a pleasant surprise to learn as the head of Public Relations at NMT, Ms Joyce M. Mwakalobo informed me.
“Tanzania also boasts of over 25 private museums, including Kaole, Olduvai Gorge and Old Boma, many of which are communally owned and are officially recognised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania,” she says.
Sitting with these executives of NMT, it was ascertained that this funding came at an opportune time, as the institution was experiencing a dry spell of necessary funding for its sustainable development. Thankfully the fund is already being put to good use, working to repair, revamp and or renovate various spaces countrywide under its care.
These renovations are divided between sites/historical monuments and the museums. Among the sites currently being renovated is the historical town of Mikindani in Mtwara, specifically it’s old harbor, prison, as well as various decaying buildings (mosques etc) and its old fort.
“With all the renovations we’re doing, like the Mikindani old prison which was a slave port, we are always consulting various experts, including archaeologists to ensure the authenticity of the materials and arrangements are respected so as to safeguard the historical integrity of these sites,” says Neema Mbise, head of Planning Unit at NMT.
It was riveting to learn from her office that NMT is also renovating the Tenda Guru site in Lindi region. This is where two full dinosaur skeletons were excavated and taken to Germany in the early 1900’s. They are still there, with one of them holding a Guinness record since 2007 as the world’s tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton (Brachiosaurus brancai) in Berlin.
NMT has thought of allowing the site to be marked with clear identifications (photographs, info graphics) branding; so as to allow East Africans to know of their own heritage without waiting to get a ticket to go to Berlin. Other sites that are being renovated include the Kimbiji site in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam.
Lindi Old Town is also having its historical sites renovated, including its Old Tower. The sites at Mafia Kilwa Island are also in the planning for renovations this year. These renovations of sites include the installation of administration small offices, branding materials (sign posts etc) and establishing amenities like toilets and or café’s.
“As for the museums we have decided to revamp the exhibitions in six of our seven stations but we as well are in the process of renovating our collection stores. Among the exhibitions being revamped is the ones at the Museum of House of Culture, namely the customs and the natural habitat exhibitions both at the King George Hall. In this museum we’re also working on renovating the stores and installing an international standard lab for preservation.” Madame Neema Mbise informs, adding that other renovations happening in NMT museums are at the Arusha declaration, the Natural History, the Maji Maji and the Nyerere museums.
These renovations include expanding exhibitions (boosting collections, enhancing displays), installing laboratories, revamping libraries adding amenities (toilets, boosting security) et cetera. Visiting the village museum in Dar es Salaam, I got a well-rounded tour by Mr Petro Mayige, who showed me the ongoing renovations at this museum that primarily displays the traditional homes and several key ethnographic artifacts, inclusive of natural habitats belonging to all the major tribe groups of Tanzania.
The homesteads renovated with this fund include those of the Zanaki, Sukuma and currently underway the Hehe tribe. Thankfully in recent years, other homesteads have been renovated, like those of the Wasafwa, WaKinga and WaIraqw tribes.
“The interaction of persons and thing with regards to museums can’t be static,” says Dr Lwoga as he went on to emphasise the unique process of the renovations of traditional homesteads at this Village museum.
All the homesteads at this museum were built with assistance from the tribe members, many times with their Chiefs, a norm going back since the establishment of the museum in 1967.
“Towards the end of 2021, I was happy to attend a meeting pulling together various Museum Heads in Senegal. There was a hot debate that ensued following the difference of preservation for Africans in terms of cultural artifacts and the West.” Dr Lwonga says, adding that what is valued in African preservation of its heritage involves more of a living pilgrim rather than a calcified object.
Where in the west historical preservation of heritage leans more towards aesthetics and permanence, with African preservation he shared that there’s a lot of spiritual connotations that don’t look at decay as a peril rather a chance for the community to come together in its ‘ubuntu’ philosophy to renovate these pilgrims.
While the National Museum of Tanzania is doing this powerful work, it is wise to note that the institution still has a long way to go to ensure it works as an effective catalyst pulling all the cultural stakeholders (Creatives and Academicians) in the country, to work together alongside their mission of protecting, promoting and managing our national heritage for the present and future generations.
For only then will it effectively accomplish many of its strategies, including that of establishing an inventory of all the cultural resources and treasures existing outside the country. Treasures like the dinosaur skeleton in German.
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