Who is Mwalimu Nyerere?

Mwalimu Julius Kabarage Nyerere was the first president of Tanzania. He is widely regarded as the father of the Tanzanian nation, and one of the most selfless leaders to have ever come out of Africa. There was even a time when there were talks of Nyerere being canonized (as in, being declared a saint). Such is his stature!

In a certain interview that I came across somewhere on YouTube, Nyerere can be heard asserting that his biggest achievement was creating a nation out of the various tribes he found in Tanzania. And this is indeed a worthwhile achievement, because Tanzania is one of the nations with the highest levels of social cohesion in Africa.

Nyerere is also credited with putting Tanzania on a socialist path (Ujamaa) through his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM party), which is the foundation for the nation’s high levels of cohesion, as well as the current well-balanced economic development that it is experiencing now. If Nyerere was a dictator, he was a truly benevolent one. To be sure, at some point, Nyerere ‘apologized’ for his socialist pursuits, but looking back, there was really nothing for him to apologize about: the systems he put in place have worked well for Tanzania. Still there are some people who feel that the leaders who came after him failed to tweak the systems in line with the reality of the times, leading to a somewhat rigid system.

What you can’t take away from Nyerere is the fact that he is a leader who took the burden of leadership with the seriousness it deserves: a selfless leader who wanted nothing but the best outcomes for ordinary Tanzanians, and a courageous leader who made difficult decisions when they had to be made.