By David Sseppuuya                                                      

Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Born: 8 May 1925                                                                                                                                                         Died: 29 February 2024

Education: Mikindani Dole Secondary School in Dole, Zanzibar; Institute of Education, Durham University, United Kingdom

Public service: President of the United Republic of Tanzania 1985 - 1995; President of Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar 1984 - 1985

“There he is”, my companion Erick signalled as we drove through the fashionable suburb of Mikocheni in Dar-es-Salaam. “Where?” I retorted, impatient and slightly exasperated. “He is standing on the balcony; drinking from a cup of coffee,” came the reply. “Ah! Okay. I now see him,” I responded, mouth slightly agape, all ‘mshamba’ (‘maalo’ in Luganda), the disbelief of a Ugandan marvelling at such scenarios.

The subject of my kneejerk admiration was Ali Hassan Mwinyi, second President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

It was February 2015, and I had just arrived in Tanzania’s largest city on assignment by the World Bank to research and document the country’s development journey, which means that Mwinyi had been retired for a cool 20 years and here he was living the relaxed free life of an ordinary citizen.

Three months later, on May 11, I walked through the gates of his fairly modest (for a former President) home, and true to his unpretentious self, he walked to the porch to greet us — in bare socks, in spite of the slight drizzle. It was a Monday morning and at the weekend, John Nyerere, the fourth born of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, had passed away.

On our way to Mwinyi’s a few minutes earlier, while driving through Msasani, the suburb that neighbours Mikocheni to the east, we had espied a ‘lumbe’ (funeral wake) at the Nyerere family home which, like the Mwinyis’, is on the roadside, within sight of ordinary folk passing by.

Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Ushering us into the three-storey white-washed family house, President Mwinyi shortly learnt that I was Ugandan, and promptly inquired about how much Swahili I knew. I said: “Kidogo — Kiswahili cha Uganda kibovu sana”, at which he guffawed — a hearty burst of laughter. We had broken the ice.

Meanwhile, his aide, Dr Makame, responded to my Ugandanness by instantly switching to addressing me as ‘kojja’ (Luganda for maternal uncle). Throughout the interaction, he would drop in the odd Luganda phrase. Though I did not remark anything, I concluded that Dr Makame’s mother is Ugandan.

When, in 1985, Founding Father Julius Nyerere introduced Mwinyi as his successor, he told the world that the individual who would be Tanzania’s second President was “a righteous man, impartial and respectful, [who] has never sought fame or used his position to advance his ambition”. I had asked Mheshimiwa Mwinyi what the experience of stepping into the truly big shoes of Mwalimu Nyerere was. He said:

“In 1985 I acceded to become the President of the United Republic of Tanzania following a stint as President of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, where I had initiated economic liberalisation in the Islands.

As such, though my accession was seemingly not natural, the boots that I was expected to put on for the decade ahead were necessary to be worn as I had a track record of undertaking transformation and spearheading transition.

Naturally it was a feeling of political achievement as most of politicians with ambition would envy to take charge of the top office. I have no regrets for whatever liberalisation that was undertaken during my tenure, as it was the beginning of private enterprise in the country. However, given hindsight, there could have been room for improvements.”

Mwinyi opened up the economy, deregulating certain sectors, freeing private media, allowing political parties to compete against Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), permitting private enterprise, and seeking multilateral support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In so doing, he dismantled the central planning that had characterised Nyerere’s Tanzania since the 1967 Arusha Declaration that ushered in a Socialist kind of Marxism.

For this liberalisation, Mwinyi was to earn the nickname Mzee Rukhsa (liberal/permission, or ‘lukusa’ in Luganda). He actually revelled in the name, eventually titling his 2021 autobiography, ‘Mzee Rukhsa — The Journey of My Life’.

He would write, “It was shortly after I came to power that we finalised negotiations with the World Bank and the IMF and began implementing their so-called economic reform programmes.”

Nyerere’s refusal to compromise with these multilateral institutions and the subsequent near-collapse of the economy was a major reason for his departure after 24 years at State House. By the time we had concluded a video recording and photoshoot, President Mwinyi cut short our farewells and offered us fruit juice and cake, upon which he announced that it was his birthday cake.

It was tasty confectionary which I believe it was lemon cake. He had turned 90 on the Friday before our meeting. I remarked that, at 90, he was still strong, and I had indeed seen pictures of him running the marathon in Kampala well into his 80s.

As in much of his life, public and private, two things stand out in his final days and at his farewell that typify the man’s nationalist credentials and integrity of personal character.

He “died local”, that is, he spent the final weeks of his life in a local institute, the Emilio Mzena Memorial Hospital in the northern suburbs of Dar-es-Salaam, and not in some fancy foreign facility that would be inaccessible to the majority of his compatriots.

Secondly, his body was buried in Zanzibar, though he was not originally Zanzibari.

Born in the coastal region of Pwani, on the Tanzanian mainland, his parents had immigrated to Zanzibar when Mwinyi was four years old, and it was a reflection of how much the semi-autonomous islands had accepted him that he would serve as their third President, before acceding to head of state of the union as second President of the United Republic of Tanzania. An all-rounder.

Asante sana, Ndugu Rais.

The writer is a media consultant and trainer

dsseppuuya@yahoo.com