Julius Nyerere (1922-1999): A theology on human development

Julius Nyerere (1922-1999) was born on April 13, 1922 in Butiama, on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria in North West Tanganyika. Nyerere initially trained and worked as a teacher but after studying at Edinburgh University from 1949 to 1952 he became the country's first graduate. On returning home he became involved in nationalist politics and founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) in 1954. His oratory skills and integrity helped to achieve TANU goal for an independent country without war or bloodshed. He was elected chief minister in 1960 and became the Prime Minister when Tanganyika was granted self governance in 1961 and he became its first Prime Minister. A year later Nyerere was elected President of Tanganyika when it became a Republic

Nyerere’s major contribution:
Nyerere had developed the outlines for the policies which his economically poor country should follow. With the motto of Uhuru na Kazi (Freedom and Work), he at once mounted a major attack on what he considered the three major enemies of his people - poverty, ignorance, and disease. Nyerere believed that it was unwise for a poor country to depend on the uncertain aid of the richer nations for progress. Instead, he encouraged to utilize their own strengths, especially their ample manpower, to develop their country themselves.
Nyerere was a great historical figure not only in Tanzania but also in the rest of Africa in establishing peace and stability, and to developing economic and educational opportunities in Tanzania while preserving human rights and dignity. Julius Nyerere devoted much time to two major issues - the search for justice and reconciliation. More than thirty five years earlier he had been one of the first African leaders to support the liberation struggle in Southern Africa. His primary contribution was, of course, in Tanzania to accomplish a socialist transformation.

His concerns were fourfold: (1) The development of the economy, (2) Securing and retaining national control of the economic development; (3) Creating political institutions that would be widely participatory and sustain the extraordinary sense of common purpose. (4) Building a just society that would be genuinely equitable for all its citizens.
Nyerere shared the preoccupation with economic development with almost all of the Third World leaders of his generation. From Nehru to Nkrumah to Manley, all were determined that their peoples should more fully enjoy the improvements in personal welfare that economic development should entail.

Philosophy versus practice:
First of all, it should be pointed out that the United Republic of Tanzania’s attempts to build a socialist and self-reliant society through political, economic, social and educational actions.

Tanzania’s development ideology:
Taking Julius Nyerere as the path maker for the development in Tanzania the ideology is that ‘The objective of socialism is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering.
He emphasized the need for mobilizing human resources for self-reliant development rather than relying on capital or material resources: ‘The development of a country is brought about by people, not by money. Money, and the wealth it represents, is the result and not the basis of development’. The three prerequisites of development identified were land, good policies and good leadership. The focus of development was realistically put on the rural areas, since about 90% of the people live there and the majority of them depend on subsistence agriculture. Rural development was further based on encouraging people to live and work together on a cooperative basis through the formation of organized villages.

Nyerere’s major concepts for human development:
Poverty is not the real problem of the modern world. For we have the knowledge and resources which could enable us to overcome poverty. The real problem--the thing which causes misery, wars, and hatred among men--is the division of mankind into rich and poor.
There are few wealthy nations that dominate the whole world economically--and therefore politically--and a mass of smaller and poor nations whose destiny, it appears, is to be dominated.
Nyerere noted that the major causes of civil conflicts were poverty, greed for power, and tribalism. Using his international influence, Nyerere launched a campaign for the cancellation of debts owed by poor countries. The campaign, which was continued by many other organizations worldwide, persuaded some rich countries to cancel the debts of developing countries.

Freedom and development
Freedom and development are as completely linked together, without freedom we get no development, and without development we very soon loose our freedom.
When we talk of freedom firstly we think of national freedom; that is the ability of the citizens of Tanzania to determine their own future, and to govern themselves without interference from non-Tanzanians. Secondly freedom from hunger, disease, and poverty.
And there is personal freedom for the individual; that is his/her right to live in dignity and equality with all others, his right to freedom of speech, freedom to participate in the making of all decisions which affect his/her life, and freedom from arbitrary arrest because he/she happens to annoy someone in authority- and so on. All these things are aspects of freedom, and the citizens of Tanzania cannot be said to be truly free until all of them are assured.

Nyerere’s Political and Economic policies:
Nyerere’s concerns were not to surrender control of the direction of its economic development to international capitalist interests or international agencies dominated by the major industrialized states, this would bring little advantage, especially to the poorest countries, if they were unable to manage skilfully. Third World had to find ways to avoid being dominated by the developed countries.

The democratic one-party state:
Nyerere saw it as an interim arrangement which would provide for genuine political participation by ordinary Tanzanians. The democratic one party state was never without its flaw and contradictions even then constitution must be judged an extraordinary feat of creative political engineering. It fitted Tanzanian realities. For over 20 years it provided a largely unchallenged framework within which Tanzanians ordered their public affairs, enjoyed continuous and stable civilian rule and engaged in the public discussion of party and government policies more freely than was then possible in most African states.
Nyerere's commitment to equality separates him from western liberalism with its primary emphasis on individual liberty. It was the equality enjoyed in closely integrated and caring societies. Many politicians in Africa embraced rationalization. But Nyerere knew very well that Tanzania would long be a very poor country and that the building of a just society would become vastly more difficult once severe class differences were entrenched. Nyerere feared that unless development could be pursued in socially equitable ways Tanzania will lose chance of remaining united and harmonious. In the African communities income differences were still not vast, if only because most were still very poor.

The steps taken for the economic reform were:
The conversion of all free hold land into lease hold ownership (on that ground the land must belong to the people as a whole), the public purchase of the electricity service company, and the increasing ownership or participation in the economic development activities, are certain action taken by the government.
The nationalization of the banks, Growing Tanzania's export crops and parts of the limited industrial sector; The introduction of a stringent leadership code which sought to contain corruption. Block the emergence of private economic activities by political leaders and by senior party and governmental officials. Peasants to farm collectively to regulate a wide range of private economic activities. State takeover of household properties that were not occupied by their owners.
By the late 1970's, Nyerere recognized that most were inappropriate, indeed counter-productive, to the accomplishment of their objectives. These socialist measures cannot alone be blamed for the dramatic economic decline that Tanzania experienced, for these were also the years of soaring oil prices, the collapse of world commodity prices and the severe and extensive drought, which together reversed the development accomplishments of a great many African states, whatever their ideology may be.

Socialism and self reliance:
It is particularly important that we should now understand the connection between freedom, development, and discipline, because the national policy of creating socialist villages throughout the rural areas depends upon it. For we have known for a very long time that development had to go on in the rural areas, and that this required co-operative activities by the people. What we were doing, in fact, was thinking of development in terms of things, and not of people. As a result, there have been very many cases where heavy capital investment has resulted in no increase in output where the investment has been wasted.
The objective of socialism in the United Republic of Tanzania as already mentioned is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering or imposing injustice, being exploited, or exploiting; and in which all have a gradually increasing basic level of material welfare before any individual lives in luxury.
The focus, given the nature of Tanzanian society, was on rural development. People were encouraged to live and work on a co-operative basis in organized villages or ujamaa (meaning ‘familyhood’). The idea was to extend traditional values and responsibilities around relationship to Tanzania as a whole. The Ujamaa village is a new conception, based on understanding that what we need to develop is people, not things, and that people can only develop themselves. Ujamaa villages are intended to be socialist organizations created by the people, and governed by those who live and work in them. They cannot be created from outside, nor governed from outside.
The socialism he believed in was ‘people-centred’. Societies become better places through the development of people rather than the gearing up of production. This was a matter that Nyerere took to be important both in political and private terms. Unlike many other politicians, he did not build up a large fortune through exploiting his position.

Education for self-reliance:
Nyerere’s educational philosophy can be approached under two main headings: education for self-reliance; and adult education, lifelong learning and education for liberation. His interest in self-reliance shares a great deal with Gandhi’s approach. Nyerere defined education as the development of one's consciousness to think, decide and act; hence it should be aimed at improving people's physical and mental freedom, in order to increase their control over themselves, their own lives, and the environment in which they live.
Many features of his educational philosophy have a universal relevance and have inspired many educators and educational and development organizations around the world. In particular, his
educational philosophy has often been regarded as an appropriate and rational educational
alternative for many Third World countries. It has to be understood in the light of the realities of underdevelopment.
Education had to work for the common good, foster co-operation and promote equality. Education for Self-Reliance proposed the following changes in the educational system:
1. It should be oriented to rural life.
2. Teachers and students should engage together in productive activities and students should participate in the planning and decision-making process of organizing these activities.
3. Productive work should become an integral part of the school curriculum and provide meaningful learning experience through the integration of theory and practice.
4. The importance of examinations should be downgraded.
5. Children should begin school at age 7 so that they would be old enough and sufficiently mature to engage in self-reliant and productive work when they leave school.
6. Primary education should be complete in itself rather than merely serving as a means to higher education.
7. Students should become self-confident and co-operative, and develop critical and inquiring minds.
Adult education, lifelong learning and learning for liberation:
Nyerere made a ringing call for adult education to be directed at helping people to help themselves. For him adult education had two functions.
To inspire both a desire for change, and an understanding that change is possible.
To help people to make their own decisions, and to implement those decisions for themselves.
In terms of method, two aspects stand out:
1. Educators do not give to another something they possess. Rather, they help learners to develop their own potential and capacity.
2. Those that educators work with have experience and knowledge about the subjects they are interested in - although they may not realize it.
Nyrere’s message to the church:
Nyerere was a committed and professing Christian and church member and, as a result, he felt it was his responsibility as a politician to challenge the church to remember her responsibility to society.
As president of Tanzania from 1961 to 1985 and even afterwards. Nyerere continued to challenge the church until his demise in 1999. He often had the opportunity of speaking to church leaders and the laity and told them that the church had to serve the whole person, mentally, spiritually, and physically. Furthermore, he said that church had to serve people beyond the church. For instance, schools, hospitals, and income generating projects would not only benefit churches and Christians but also non-believers. This was a means of witnessing the Word of God to unbelievers

Conclusion:
In Nyerere's view, people, land, good policies, good leadership and hard work are more important prerequisites for development than money. Money, and the wealth it represents, is the result and not the basis of development. At the same time, Nyerere did not dismiss the necessity of financial resources, and thus did not reject international assistance. However, he refused the inherent right of any foreign power to dictate development pattern and limit its freedom to determine its path. Nyerere and TANU hoped to break down emerging class barriers and promote universal human dignity.
Looking toward Africa as a whole, Nyerere said its countries needed time to develop their own "people-centered" democratic political systems, able to forge their futures cooperatively across national boundaries, rather than be pressured by rich European countries to adopt those systems.