Nyerere was made of nobler stuff
SIR — On Monday, Mr Stephen Musisi wrote a letter entitled “Good lesson from Tanzaniâ€. He observes that the photograph of the late Tanzanian president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is still to be found in public offices. This is good news which, unfortunately, few African leaders can draw lessons f
SIR — On Monday, Mr Stephen Musisi wrote a letter entitled “Good lesson from Tanzaniâ€. He observes that the photograph of the late Tanzanian president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is still to be found in public offices. This is good news which, unfortunately, few African leaders can draw lessons from.
The reason why Nyerere is still loved is because power did not go to his head. He was a humble man who even admitted before his death that his Ujama programme which experimented on African socialism was a mistake.
That is more than we can say for most African leaders because they never make mistakes. They start with good intentions — or at least pretend to and then it is business as usual!
Do you remember how Idi Amin was welcomed? The chant everywhere was, “We are proud of our president, Amin Dada, God be with youâ€. Eight years later, his farewell was “Kumanyoko Amin Kijambiyaâ€. Our leaders simply fail to live up to their citizens’ expectations! Unless we go back to the drawing board and see where Africa’s problems really lie our continent will remain the Cindrella of the world.
All sorts of excuses and rhetoric are used to justify indefensible positions to remain in power for ever and in the end it is the poor who suffer!
James Bwambale
Makerere University
The reason why Nyerere is still loved is because power did not go to his head. He was a humble man who even admitted before his death that his Ujama programme which experimented on African socialism was a mistake.
That is more than we can say for most African leaders because they never make mistakes. They start with good intentions — or at least pretend to and then it is business as usual!
Do you remember how Idi Amin was welcomed? The chant everywhere was, “We are proud of our president, Amin Dada, God be with youâ€. Eight years later, his farewell was “Kumanyoko Amin Kijambiyaâ€. Our leaders simply fail to live up to their citizens’ expectations! Unless we go back to the drawing board and see where Africa’s problems really lie our continent will remain the Cindrella of the world.
All sorts of excuses and rhetoric are used to justify indefensible positions to remain in power for ever and in the end it is the poor who suffer!
James Bwambale
Makerere University