By PETER MADAKA
Tanzania is one country with a long, proud history of willingly sacrificing its own sons and daughters to advance the cause of freedom elsewhere in Africa.
It was Tanzanians, under founding President Julius Kambarage Nyerere, who spearheaded the liberation of major chunks of Africa - from South Africa to Namibia and from Angola to Zimbabwe. It was the clearheaded and steadfast thinking of Nyerere that broke the long-held policy of non-interference by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), when he directed the Tanzanian Peoples Defense Forces to run Idi Amin out of Uganda. That OAU policy had shielded Amin and other thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko, Jean Bedel Bokassa, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Siad Barre and other dictators as they killed Africans with impunity.
Yet, in spite of these and many other sacrifices, Tanzanians have always remained humble and in the background, preferring to offer advice privately. That is why it is worth mention that Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa broke this silence in Uganda last week, scolding African leaders for cultivating destructive personal cults and not turning the idea of leadership into an impersonal and objective process with wider appeal to the rest of the continent.
Mkapa recently dismissed sycophants within his own ruling Party of Chama Cha Mapinduzi who had urged him to amend the constitution in order to extend his term in office beyond the mandated two. This noble and patriotic act now adds Mkapa to a select few principled African leaders like Nelson Mandela; men who have placed national stability and continuity over personal ambition, greed and power.
Mkapa stopped over in Uganda on his way to the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, where he is due to receive his last briefing as Tanzania's president, with regard to the progress made regarding the creation of the East African Community and the creation of the African Union Parliament.
Mkapa addressed the Ugandan Parliament in the presence of a seemingly shameless Yoweri Museveni (who selfishly amended the constitution of Uganda to extend his own term in office). In a hard-hitting and insightful farewell message to the legislators, the Tanzanian leader warned them and the rest of the African leadership to shun the politics of intolerance, exclusion, selfish ambition and to end the prevalent mentality of life terms.
Mkapa's speech was bold and daring. Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo has began his own campaign to extend his control of Africa's most populous nation; Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi just rigged his way back to power and Museveni just weeks ago bribed legislators to lift term limits imposed by the constitution.
"As I reflect on my 10 years as president and as I look over the African political landscape in the last half century, I am convinced that the time has come for Africa to go back to the drawing board and design a new paradigm of governance in Africa -democratic governance with African characteristics," Mkapa said.
He noted that Africa needs to develop a synthesis based on history, experience and on global realities.
"Free, fair and regular periodic elections in a multi-party political system are important.
But these are not enough for a new democracy for Africa that I envisage. We must also properly prepare our people for leadership, not simply expanding enrolments at different levels of education systems but also by improving the quality and relevance," he said.
"We must now create systems of political and economic management that are strong, resilient and capable of outliving their founders and current leaders."
Tanzania stands among the very few African states not marred by the scourge of ethnic violence since decolonization and has successfully kept its military forces shielded away from politics.
After operating under a single party system with a socialist model of economic development from independence in 1961 until the mid-1980s, Tanzania embarked on democratic reforms in the early 1990s and surprisingly transitioned successfully and peacefully into a functioning multi-party democracy without suffering from the politically inspired bloodletting common elsewhere in the continent.
Mkapa is due to hand over the leadership of Tanzania to Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete in November. According to the Tanzanian constitution, President Mkapa, Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein, Prime Minister Fredrick Sumaye and National Assembly members will serve until the next general elections scheduled for October 30, 2005. Similarly, Zanzibar President Karume and members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives, will complete their terms of office in 2005. The rest of Africa still has a lot to learn from Tanzania, particularly how well to manage political and ethnic differences as part of a slow and difficult process of nation building.