The current events in the Isles leave no one in doubt that the 48-year old Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar is on the rocks.
As the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) went around the islands collecting people’s views on the new Constitution, there were reports that a committee of six people, including powerful CCM and CUF politicians, was also busy traversing the country on a “sensitization” campaign for Zanzibar’s secession using the banner of “treaty-based Union”.
People were being told what they should tell the Commission; and this was called “civic education!”
Thus, most of the views that the CRC will collect from Zanzibar regarding the Union won’t be those of the people; those will be opinions of the leaders who, because of their parochial interests, want the Union to break up.
Polycarp Machira, in his analysis in The Citizen of October 17, informs us that the committee which is spearheading the campaign for Zanzibar’s secession in the name of treaty-based Union is the one that was instrumental in setting the stage for the establishment of the government of national unity (GNU) in the Isles; and that this committee, which is headed by a CCM stalwart and one of the founders of the Zanzibar revolution Mzee Hassan Nassoro Moyo, had the blessing of Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein to go out and sell the idea of a treaty-based Union to the people, which I found interesting!
Incidentally, the goals of the “sensitization committee”, are not fundamentally different from those of the so-called Islamic Awakening group (Uamsho) led by the controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Farid Hadi Ahmed, which has caused mayhem in the Indian Ocean archipelago in recent days.
In principle, both are preaching the anti-union gospel. The only difference is, perhaps, the manner, language and style in which those goals were being pursued by the two groups.
A treaty-based Union is nothing but a disguised way of breaking up the Union.
While Uamsho has been vigorously mobilizing Zanzibaris, through fiery rhetoric, rallies and street demonstrations (that often turned violent due to confrontation with security forces) to reject the Union, Mzee Moyo’s committee has been a bit “scientific” in its approach: using the platform of well-organised, “officially recognised” and properly coordinated meetings and seminars to deliver the message to the public.
But, at the end of the day, both groups would be spreading the same message: restore Zanzibar’s full sovereignty!
Of course the other stark difference is that Uamsho, because of its combative approach and the violent (and unlawful) acts of its followers who burnt churches and vandalized public property, has earned itself public disdain and indignation.
For such actions made some people suspect that some elements in the group were bent on sowing discord between Muslims and Christians in pursuit of political goals. It is for this reason that there have been impassioned calls on the state to take firm and decisive action against the organization to safeguard our long-cherished peace and stability.
But the issue is not Uamsho which is just one of those “interest groups” in Zanzibar that have seized upon the opportunity offered by the Constitution review process to express their sentiments about the Union.
The real issue is that there is now in the Isles an irreversible political current for change in the relationship between Zanzibaris and Tanganyikans.
The political climate generated by the demand for a new Constitution has provided the spark for such change and, unfortunately, the false belief that separation would bring about rapid development in the islands seems to hold sway in the minds of most Zanzibaris!
It is regrettable that the leaders who are supposed to have the foresight to guide the people through the correct path are the ones that are spearheading the inglorious campaign for disintegration!
They seem to have lost what the late Haroub Othman called the “capacity, honesty and patriotism that looks beyond sectarian interests”.
I don’t know how my compatriots feel about the Union breaking up at a time when we should be preparing to celebrate the Union’s golden jubilee; and when great nations are seeking more unity .
Mr Kagaruki is a political analyst based in Dar es Salaam
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