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It looks like we’ve been here before with Joseph Warioba and Samuel Sitta

Saturday September 13 2014

In 1964, an organisation was founded in Tanzania to unite the nation’s students. It would advocate for students rights and galvanise their efforts in nation building. It was called the National Union of Tanzanian Students and was given the acronym NAUTS.

The founding chairman of the organisation was a young law student by the name of Joseph Sinde Warioba. Under him, NAUTS seemed quite cosy with the government, and Warioba was facilitated by the government as he went around the country to mobilise and recruit.

This was at a time when the nation was, in many varied ways, still trying to find its feet. Tanganyika had attained Independence in December 1961, and had become a republic a year later.

Zanzibar had been given a spurious independence in December 1963, which was quickly cancelled out by a mass uprising in January 1964. In April 1964, three months after the Zanzibar revolution, the two countries merged to form what was then called the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Prior to the Union, however, there had been significant events in Tanganyika, including a mutiny of the Tanganyika Rifles (TR), which was the country’s army, a relic of the King’s African Rifles of the colonial era.

That mutiny, in which the African soldiers — mainly non-commissioned officers and a sprinkling of junior officers — demanded higher pay, better living conditions and the removal of white officers, was put down only after Julius Nyerere had called in help from the former colonial masters Britain.

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That was a painfully humbling experience for the founding president, who was made to eat humble pie and forced to acknowledge the utter emptiness of the hollow “independence” he had celebrated in 1963; but he was now eager to transform his country into a more meaningful and conscientious entity.

The measures Nyerere took included the dissolution of the TR and the formation of the Tanganyika People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), which was dubbed a “liberation army.” Indeed, at this time, Tanzania was firmly engaged in liberation support in Southern Africa.

Another measure was the introduction of a compulsory National Service for all Tanzanians who had attained a certain level of school instruction.

The law required all graduates of secondary school and university to join designated camps where they would undergo training in military matters as well as doing manual work and getting doses of patriotism and discipline.

The students organised under NAUTS had issues with the law, and they demanded that certain sections of the legislation be removed, which the government was unwilling to do, so there appeared to be a stalemate.

In the meantime, Warioba, nearing graduation, retired as chairman and his successor was another young law student who had served as his vice-chairman: Samuel John Sitta.

Under Sitta, NAUTS persisted in its rejection of certain aspects of the National Service law, and in October 1966 forced a confrontation with the government.

By this time, Sitta had already handed over the mantle to one Onesphoro Chawe, a medical student. However the decision to organise an anti-government demo had been taken under Sitta three months earlier.

Nyerere’s response was fast and sharp. The demonstrating students were rounded up and sent home, NAUTS was banned and the law was retained as was. Sitta was among those rusticated.

After apologising, Sitta rejoined the varsity three years later to complete his law degree and went on to serve in Nyerere’s administration, then under Ali Hassan Mwinyi, then under Benjamin Mkapa, and now under Jakaya Kikwete.

It would now seem that the fortunes of Warioba and Sitta are once again coming together, albeit in a slightly different way.

Warioba was the man charged with collecting and synthesising public views on a new Constitution, whose draft was presented to the Constituent Assembly for legislation. The way Sitta’s assembly has been working has divided the nation, and the thought is that Warioba’s efforts will die in Sitta’s hands.

It would be a repeat of 1964-66 all over again, only the main protagonists are grey-haired gentlemen in the twilight of their lives, not bright young lads in the prime of their academic journey.

Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: [email protected].

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