mwalimu, 10 years after. Final part

Mwalimu gives Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete a bear hug after the latter conceded defeat during the CCM presidential nominations in which Benjamin

Mkapa won to become the third president of Tanzania.

Recollections on President Julius Kambarage Nyerere by Father Arthur H. Wille, M.M.

His second move to diminish tribalism was to mix up the secondary students who were studying in boarding schools. Instead of attending schools in their own district or tribal area they were sent to other parts of the country so that they would learn to live with and appreciate students of other ethnic groups.

Perhaps the greatest attack on tribalism came from the emphasis that he put on Swahili as the national language. Everywhere it was very evident how much the government was pushing Swahili. English continued to be a legal language of the country, but it took a second seat far behind Swahili. There was a big push in adult education throughout the country.

The widespread adult education classes throughout the country also helped Swahili to spread not only among students, but among the population in general. It was also a unifying force in the country. Today Tanzania remains as a model for ethnic group harmony. Another of the great legacies Nyerere left his people.

In January, 1967 following a three-day meeting in the town of Arusha, the TANU National Executive Committee Nyerere declared the Arusha Declaration. This declaration was hotly contested during this meeting.

A member of this National Executive Committee, Philipo Hosea, who participated in this meeting told me that Oscar Kambona was against this declaration and challenged Nyerere during it. On two occasions when the delegates were deadlocked, Nyerere, Kambona and Kawawa left the general meeting and went into discussions about it among themselves. After each of these discussions it was evident that Kawawa sided with Nyerere against Kambona.

The main point of the Arusha Declaration was that Tanzania would follow a political philosophy of Ujamaa. In 1955 when Julius was teaching me he explained to me his hopes of establishing a government that would be based on African culture. He saw the weaknesses of both Communism and Capitalism which at that time was engaged in the Cold War.

He felt that it would be better for his country to have a government that would follow the principles that had governed the lives of the Africans before foreigners came to Africa and took control of their country politically. He explained Ujamaa as a way of life as it was lived in the African extended family. In the extended family all shares all that is needed for life.

There is also private ownership of all that one produces or makes. Land was always tribally owned. Everyone in the tribe had a right to have land so that he or she could raise the food necessary for life. Water was also shared. No one could claim a spring of water as his own property. Everyone needs water for life. On the other hand if someone builds a house, this person owns it. The food one grows belongs to the person who raised it.

Nyerere felt that these same principles should be used as the basis of the government of Tanganyika so that the wealth of the country would benefit everyone in the country. He knew that Tanganyika had great mineral wealth. There are very large deposits of iron and coal in southern Tanganyika. At this period of their development, the people of the country were not capable of developing these resources.

He felt it was better to let them remained undeveloped until the time Tanzania would be developed enough and could exploit these resources rather than allow large foreign companies come and exploit this wealth for themselves while they paid only minimal wages to the Tanganyikan workers.

It was interesting to me that Father John Civille wrote his doctorate dissertation on “Ujamaa Socialism: An Analysis of the Socialism of the Julius K. Nyerere in the Light of Catholic Church Teaching.” It is found in Tanzania and Nyerere: A Study of Ujamaa and Nationalism by William R. Duggan and John R. Civille published by Orbis Books in New York in 1976.

The book points our how close are Nyerere’s political philosophy of Ujamaa and the Catholic Church’s teaching on human rights and the relation of the citizen to the state. I remembered how Julius had told me how eager he was after his baptism to understand his Catholic Faith. He not only read, but studied all of the Papal Encyclicals while he was at Makerere University.

Mwalimu welcomes Nelson Mandela to Dar es salaam

A second emphasis of the Arusha Declaration was to build self-reliance. This would be possible only by promoting rural development. Ninety percent of the populations were rural peasant farmers. They lived off the food they raised. Many were subsistence farmers, barely able to raise enough food to feed themselves and their families.

This is because of their primitive implements of farming, mainly their dependence on the hoe. They also needed to depend on the rainfall that in some areas of the country is erratic. There was also encouragement to return to the custom of farmers working together and sharing together in the harvest.
This concern of Nyerere for the poor rural people extended to his concern for their medical needs.

The doctors wanted to use what limited resources that Tanzania had for building large hospitals in urban areas. Nyerere realized that these hospitals would not meet the every day medical needs of the peasants. He also knew that highly educated doctors would find it difficult to live in rural areas. He therefore opted for training Medical Assistants and Rural Medical Assistants and for building small Health Centers in the rural areas.

These would have male, female, children, maternity, and isolation wards. They would also have laboratories as well as facilities to handle outpatients. Medical assistants and trained nurses staffed these Health Centers. They were located throughout the rural areas where the farmers could easily reach them. I saw them in operation many times. They provided excellent service to the people. Many cases of people with severe malaria and other common ailments need a period of rest when getting their treatment. They could do this in these Health Centers. In dispensaries when the people get treated they are obliged to walk long distances after treatment. This nullifies the treatment that they are given. The more complicated cases that the Medical Assistants felt that they could not handle were sent to the hospitals in the urban areas. These Medical Assistants could after a short experience in the Health Centers continued their studies in the Medical Schools and become fully qualified Medical Doctors.

I will not attempt to go into many aspects of the work and decisions Nyerere made together with his government after independence. He was living in Dar es Salaam and I was living in missions in Musoma Diocese of. He made mistakes. But he was always willing to admit his mistakes.

When he made a mistake and saw that it was a mistake he would change the policy to correct it. From my understanding of him I know that even when he made a mistake, it was not for any personal gain for himself or any particular group to profit from this action. He made his decision because he thought that it would be for the good of the whole country and especially the poor people in his country. An example of this was villagization.

He explained to me that he felt that when people lived together, they would exchange ideas more frequently. This would bring about speedier development in the country. He also wanted to promote universal primary school education. He wanted the schools to be close enough to the people so that the children could get to school easily and especially get home at noon to eat and then return to classes. This could only be done if the children lived in villages.

Mwalimu leads the way during the walk to second the Azimio la Arusha from Mwanza to Butiama

It was his intention to bring good drinking water to all the people in rural areas. Again this would be impossible with the limited finances of the country if the people lived scattered over the countryside in their small peasant farms. Again the solution to this water problem was to move into villages. A third benefit that he saw for the poor peasants was to have medical facilities close at hand. In each village the government could provide a medical dispensary with a Rural Medical Assistant. Being close to a medical dispensary they could get early treatment.

It was his hope that these villages would develop and be able to have their own markets, shops, and workshops. With these attractions he wanted the youth to remain in the villages and be able to have a social life and also have opportunities of making money. If this took place then they would not flock to the large cities that cannot provide them with jobs. Also in the cities many could get into crime, prostitution, and other difficulties.

At the time of villagization there were some tribes and individuals who rebelled against moving into villages. In some cases this was due to the poor location of where the village was to be located. From the directions that we were given by the government for the location of a village, we were told to select a site at an established mission, a school, a trading center, or cotton store. Each family was given an acre of land in the newly formed village area. Most people could choose which plot they wanted.

It was unfortunate that this policy of moving the people into villages in our Mara Region took place when there were four years of famine, 1970-1973. The people blamed the famine on the government. It is true that there was less agricultural work done when the people were moved a mile or two away from their fields.

They continue to work the same fields as they had done previously. However, because of the distance they had to walk to get to their fields, the time that they spent working on them was reduced. Another problem was protection of their crops from cattle being herded nearby and wild animals. When they lived next to their fields they could protect them better.

The people with large herds of cattle, sheep, and goats were probably the most affected. When the government agreed and gave permission for the people to return to their small peasant farms, the ones who did so were mostly those with large herds of cattle. Most people were happy to continue to live in the villages.
During the serious famine in 1974 the Tanzanian government provided famine relief, but the food was not getting to the people who complained to the authorities.

President Nyerere heard about the complaints and decided to visit all the storehouses of the National Milling Company (NMC) where the food was being kept.

One day Nyerere visited the NMC in Shinyanga. He disguised himself as a beggar wearing worn out clothes and an old hat. When he arrived at the gate of the NMC no one recognized him. He passed through the gate without permission and went straight to the office of the manager. He knocked on the door and yelled out, “Hey, you people in there. Help me. I don’t have any food.” The manager answered, “Stop bothering us, old man. We don’t have any food here. Go to the market and buy some for yourself.”

Mwalimu with Mama Maria Nyerere and Foreign Minister John Malecela in a rare moment with Uganda's strongman Iddi Amin Daddah

Nyerere continued to cry out, but no one paid any attention. The manager and his assistants were busy with some local business men who were buying the famine relief food that was supposed to go to the Tanzanian people. Finally Nyerere opened the door and walked into the office.

He immediately took off his hat and made himself known. Needless to say, the manager was speechless. After President Nyerere returned to Dar es Salaam, it was announced that the manager of the NMC in Shinyanga had been fired together with some of his assistants.

I am sure that historians will deal with the many difficulties that Nyerere had to deal with as president such as the Army Mutiny in 1964, the detention of individuals, the revolution in Zanzibar, the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to create Tanzania in April, 1964, the conflict with apartheid in South Africa and Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia), the war with Idi Amin in Uganda, and other problems that Nyerere had to deal with during his 24 years as president.

I did meet him occasionally during this time, mainly when he came on vacation to his village of Butiama. In all our conversations I saw that he continued to be concerned with justice and peace for his own people in Tanzania and the people of Africa in general.

There is a commonly used Swahili proverb translated into English as: When elephants fight the grass (reeds) gets hurt. It means the feeling of powerlessness in the midst of larger forces. In the 1970s Julius Nyerere used this proverb in a speech at the United Nations in New York. He explained that in the Cold War between the (then) two great super powers -- the United States and Russia -- it was the poor Third World countries such as those in Africa who suffered and were victimized.

For many years Nyerere was the chairperson of the South-South Commission. This commission was an organization of the developing countries. It tried to promote justice on the world market by showing the injustices that the wealthy countries practiced since they were able to control the prices both of rare materials and manufactured goods on the world market.

He was also the leader of the Frontline States that assisted the South African Blacks in their pursuit of independence and the end of apartheid. At his inauguration as the first president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela recognized Julius Nyerere’s contribution to overcoming apartheid. He did this by giving him at the independence celebrations the first seat of protocol.

The humility of Julius Nyerere was very evident to me. The two earliest biographers of Julius K. Nyerere were Judith Listowel and William Edgett Smith. Judith Listowel’s book is The Making of Tanganyika published by London House & Maxwell, New York in London in 1965. William Edgett Smith’s biography is called We Must Run While They Walk published by Random House in New York in 1971. Both of these authors came to visit me at Zanaki Mission. I helped them with information especially on Nyerere’s life as a youth.

Both of them told me that Nyerere had agreed to give them interviews. However, he would only give these interviews on the condition that their books would not be called Julius K. Nyerere. He was very much against any self-glorification. He would not allow statues to be erected to honor him.

He did not want titles of honor, but preferred the title Mwalimu ((Swahili for “Teacher”). He was always the enthusiastic teacher and animator.


I was with Julius Nyerere when he died in St. Thomas’s Hospital in London on Thursday, October 14, 1999. When I returned from the states a short time prior to this, Father John Sivalon, our Maryknoll Regional Superior, had informed me that Julius was ill and had gone to London for routine treatment.

Dr. Robert Carr first diagnosed Nyerere as having chronic lymphocyte leukemia in August, 1998 and started his treatment. He returned to London again in November, 1998 for further treatment. A week before he left for London in August, 1999 he was in poor health. This trip to London was described in the local newspapers as a routine medical check-up.

Maria told me that previously he had developed shingles which bothered him greatly. However, he had recovered from these.

President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania after visiting Nyerere in the hospital on September 25 gave a press conference in Dar es Salaam when he returned there the following day. He announced that Nyerere was in critical condition and asked the nation to pray for him.

When I got word that he was not improving I flew to London on Sunday, October 10 and went directly to see him. I found him in a coma in intensive care. He had a smile on his face. With him was his wife Maria, his two sons, Charles Makongoro and Madaraka as well as his three daughters, Anna, Rose, and Paulette. President Mkapa had sent as his personal representative to be with Nyerere, Mr. Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru, the Minister of Regional and Local Government. The Tanzanian High Commissioner in London, Dr. Abdulkadir Shareef was also in attendance.

Joseph Butiku who had served as Julius’ personal secretary when he was president and was also a relative was present. General Masuburi who was a retired general in the Tanzanian army that defeated Amin was also in attendance. Rashidi Kawawa also came to pay his respects to Nyerere while I was there.

Near his bed in intensive care was a small shrine with a crucifix, pictures of our Blessed Mother, and a rosary. His family took turns of sitting at his bedside praying and being with them. I was privileged to take my turn at his bedside. His two daughters, Anna and Rose, spent each night praying the rosary throughout the night.

On Monday, October 11 Dr. Carr decided to do a Cats Scan on Julius. When they returned him to intensive care, Dr. Carr called together Maria, his family and others in attendance. He said, “I am sorry but I have to tell you that your husband and father has gone to God. He has had a massive stroke. There is nothing that we can do to repair or help him.”

The family saw him breathing well as he had previously done. They found it difficult to accept that he had died. I was able to explain to the family that due to the development of medical science the Catholic Church now recognized that a person was dead when his brain was dead.

Dr. Carr was very gentle and took time to spend with the family. We also prayed together. We were allowed to celebrate mass in the Anglican Chapel of the hospital. Maria mentioned to me that she suspected that he had this stroke on the previous Thursday.

The Catholic chaplain, Father Bradley, who came two days a week, had previously given Julius the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Later Maria asked another Catholic priest, Canon John Devane, to give her husband Extreme Unction. He did and later explained to Maria that the Anointing of the Sick was new name for the sacrament of Extreme Unction.

On Monday night Charles Makongoro and Joseph Butiku asked to speak to me in private. They told me that the Tanzanian government officials had decided they would pull the plug on the life supports for Nyerere on Tuesday and that a plane would come on Wednesday to take his body back to Dar es Salaam.

However, Dr. Carr spoke with Maria and her family when I was with them and said that he would only follow the wishes of the family in this matter. He saw that they were struggling with accepting that Julius was dead when they saw him continuing to breathe.

When his daughter Rose asked Dr. Carr to explain, he said that he was continuing to breathe because the machines were keeping him breathing. She replied. “Well, in that case we can keep him breathing indefinitely.”

Dr. Carr told her that it would be better if the doctors in intensive care would explain what the machines were doing as this was their specialty. One doctor from intensive care did come and talk to all of us. He said that if you want to know what we are doing in intensive care now with your husband and father I can only say, “We are prolonging his death.”

Even with this the daughters found it difficult to make a decision.

Finally after prayer and much discussion they agreed that on Thursday morning, October 14 that the monitors could be removed. They did not agree to remove the life supports. However, God is good. At 2:00 a.m. on Thursday Nyerere took a turn for the worst. Maria and his sons were called to his bed. The daughters were already there.

The doctors worked on him until 6:00 a.m. when he stopped breathing completely. I arrived at 8:00 a.m. at the hospital. Dr. Carr met me and told me that Julius had stopped breathing. All were gathered around his bed praying. Dr. Carr asked that we give the nurses the opportunity to remove all the wires and instruments and to clean him up. We left his bedside.

When we all returned we found him covered with a sheet except for his face. His wife Maria immediately went to his side. She uncovered his hand from under the sheet, grasped it between her two hands. The way she did it showed how great was their life long love that they shared during their 47 years of marriage.

She then intertwined a rosary between his fingers as all of us prayed and said the rosary. At that time I wished that all the Catholic married couples in Tanzania could have witnessed this expression of love that Maria and Julius had for each other throughout their life long faithful marriage.

The Requiem Mass, which was celebrated by Monsignor George Stack in Westminster Cathedral, London, was filled to capacity. Large crowds of Africans filled the plaza outside the cathedral because there was not enough room inside. After the mass they came to pay respects in a side chapel until it was necessary to stop because another mass was going to be said at the main altar.


I was privileged to accompany Nyerere’s body together with Maria, his wife, his children and many government dignitaries on the plane that brought him home to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is impossible to describe the huge crowds that waited for his arrival at the airport in Dar es Salaam.

Looking down from the plane, all one saw was a never ending sea of people, all standing in quiet respect for their beloved Baba wa Taifa (Swahili for “Father of the Country”).

If as in the early days of the church, saints were recognized by the Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”), Julius Kambarage Nyerere would have been canonized that day. Not only were the people there at the airport, but they lined the 15-mile route that the entourage took carrying his remains in state to his home at Msasani.

This day, Monday October 18, was reserved for members of his extended family to pay their respects to their beloved father. His wife Maria sat near the coffin as members of the family came to view and pay respects to his body. Next to Maria was Mrs. Nelson Mandela who had flown from South Africa to assist Maria. Fortunately when she recognized how tired Maria was from the long flight from London and then the funeral procession from the airport to her home, Mrs. Mandela persuaded Maria to go rest.

The following day, October 19, there was a Requiem Mass for Julius Kambarage Nyerere in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dar es Salaam. Cardinal Polycarp Pengo presided at this celebration. There were 13 archbishops and bishops assisting including the Apostolic Nuncio.

Because this cathedral is not too large, only VIPS such as President Benjamin Mkapa, his wife, members of the diplomatic corp. and a limited number of 50 priests and religious were able to attend. Crowds remained outside in prayer and respect. After this mass his body was taken to a house in the National Stadium.

This house had been built with air conditioning so that people could come to pay their respects. The lines began and continued all Tuesday night, all day and night Wednesday until Thursday morning when ecumenical services were held and speeches given. People had to walk many miles. But even in the middle of the night there were crowds of people that came to show their respect.

After this service in the National Stadium his body was flown to Musoma and from there taken to his home in Butiama. Once again in Musoma and then in his village of Butiama there very large crowds waiting to show their respect and love for him.

At Butiama crowds of people came from all over Tanzania to view his body and pay their respects. This went on from the time the body arrived there, then all day and night long Thursday, and all day Friday until it was time for his burial mass.

The people sang and prayed for him during all this time. Archbishop Anthony Mayala was the principal celebrant. Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, Bishop Justin Samba of Musoma Diocese and five other bishops assisted.

There were a number of speeches by President Mkapa, President Museveni of Uganda, the Vice President of Tanzania and others at the grave. He was laid to rest in a simple grave.

One day when I was visiting Maria after the death of Nyerere, she mentioned that Julius had wanted to build a small shrine to our Blessed Mother.

This shrine would be built among the large granite rocks near where he would be buried. After his death Maria started to build this shrine. Julius had chosen the type of statue he wanted.

When I saw a picture of the statue I recognized that it was Our Blessed Mother, Lady of Grace. I was able to temporarily borrow such a statue from the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa at their Baraki Postulancy. The Maryknoll Society agreed to donate a permanent statue.

We ordered a marble statue from Italy that was placed on the top of the large granite bounder near Julius’ grave. At the insistence of Maria a sign was placed on the mount holding this statue that acknowledged that it had been donated out of Maryknoll’s respect for Julius Nyerere.

Over many years we Maryknoll missionaries had a close friendship and working relationship with Julius Nyerere and his family. . Six weeks after his death picture this moving scene.

Thirty-one members of the Maryknoll Family in East Africa gathered in the Catholic Church at Butiama, 35 miles from Musoma on Saturday, 4 December, 1999: eight lay members of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners (MLM); 11 Sisters of the Maryknoll Congregation, and 12 members of the Maryknoll Society (10 priests, one Brother and one seminarian).

They joined with Mama Maria Nyerere and other relatives and friends to pray for Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who had died on October 14, 1999. I was Principal Celebrant and John Sivalon the homilist. Maryknoll Lay Missioner Liz Mach and Sister Gertrude Maley read the Scriptures. The feeling was a family spirit: small, informal, personal and friendly.

It was a day of mourning. With heavy hearts we remembered this outstanding Catholic, husband and father, teacher, Founding Father of the Nation and international statesman Julius Kambarage Nyerere. It was a day of celebration. Wearing white vestments and using the Mass of the Resurrection we prayed for Nyerere’s final journey to heaven and his joining our ancestors in Christ.

A special time in the liturgy was the introductions of the Maryknollers present. It was a touching moment when Maryknoll Lay Missioner Lisa Nolan walked over and personally greeted Maria before introducing the MLM members.

Sister Mary Reese did the same thing before inviting each Sister to introduce herself. In their introductions many of the priests and Sisters recalled a special moment or anecdote in our long relationship with Nyerere. In fact, from Maryknoll’s arrival in Tanzania in 1946 there has always been a warm bond of friendship and collaboration with Nyerere and his family. In his homily Sivalon emphasized that Julius Nyerere promoted the spirit and practice of the equality of all people at all levels of life.

He recalled Nyerere’s simplicity and closeness to the ordinary Tanzanian people. He described a scene during the viewing of the body of Nyerere at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Among the thousands of Tanzanians who patiently waited in line for hours, a woman with a baby on her back, a man on crutches and a simply dressed young boy each walked by the casket, paused a moment, bowed and quietly passed on. A moving tribute to a great man of the people!

Julius Nyerere has always been an inspiration to so many people. People come from distant regions in Tanzania to visit his grave to show how much they loved him. They realize how much he loved the poor of his country and tried to help them.

Maria mentioned to me that even when he was seriously ill Nyerere told her that he needed to go to Arusha where he had been involved with the leaders of those fighting in Burundi to try to bring peace among them. Nyerere’s whole life was a testimony of his efforts to bring justice and peace to Africa.

He had worked with the former president of the USA, President Jimmy Carter, in other efforts to bring peace among warring groups. What now remain for this nation of Tanzania and its people is to adhere to Julius Nyerere’s teachings on unity and respect for each other despite racial, religious, or ethnic differences.