The Criminalization Of State In Tanzania from 1962 To 2008
Much has been said and written about the pathetic state of The African Continent majority of whom are nearing five decades of Independence.

Many Writers and researchers have noted that African States are much poorer now then at Independence. Kenyan trade Unionist turned Politician Mr. Martin Shikuku who was one of the Delegate with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at the Lancaster Conference on Kenya's Independence in the early Sixties, has openly proclaimed that had he known how the plight of the majority of Kenyan's been under despotic and successive
rules of Kenyatta, Moi and now Kibaki turned majority of Kenyan's as pathetic, he Martin Shikuku would not have struggled for Kenya's Independence.

When Tanzania became Independent in 1961 our population was eight million. The Mainland Tanganyika had only eight provinces the British Colonialists ruled the Country with a lean manageable bureaucracy with no profligacy at all. Our Agriculture was sound with food crops in plenty. Cotton, sisal, coffee, tea etc; plantations were very much productive under Private Sector. Peasant used to grow enough maize, cassava, beans, groundnuts, millet, etc. Food was so cheap that nobody went hungry. If one goes through government budgets during Colonial times one can notice there was strict control on Expenditures, Corruption, embezzlements, mismanagement, profligacy was unheard of. The little number of Schools, Primary, Secondary, technical schools run by the Colonial government, Christian Missionaries including Asian Community Schools had very high standards of education and affordable fees for majority of its citizens. Although few Tanganyikan's went to higher Institut ions of learning like the prestigious Makerere University for Africans, many Asians mostly went to India, Pakistan and few to U.K. paid for by either their wealthy parents or by their Community owned Institutions like Ismaili Community's Scholarship programmes.. Immediately after Independence in December of 1961 and especially after 1962 when Tanganyika became a Republic we went on a spending frenzy. Colonial Civil Servants including high ranking ones had small British made Cars like Hillman. Our Cabinet Ministers were instead given Humbler and Mercedez Benz costing many times over. In order to accommodate political patronage, croynsm tribalism etc. we started recruiting more Civil Servants then required. Work culture and discipline was virtually ignored. State visits by Heads of States mostly African Countries and few other countries became the order of Day. Foreign state visits by Mwalimu Nyerere and his Cabinet Ministers were too common squandering huge amounts of Foreign currencies. Those of us who were Adults remember how working hours both in government and Private Sectors were lost in order to line up along our City streets to cheer-up visiting dignitaries Motorcades. Corruption, thefts of Public funds, mismanagement of State institutions crept in slowly till then it became so rampant that we can no longer control it, today. Mwalimu Nyerere's corrupt oligarchic rule of Twenty four years virtually institutionalized corruption, embezzlement of Publ ic funds, Parastatals, Cooperatives etc. so much so that by the time Mwalimu Nyerere left office towards the end of 1985, the Country was virtually bankrupt shortages of essential commodities, medicines, spare parts, pharmaceuticals and many other products virtually disappear from shelves. Mwalimu Nyerere's experiment with Ujamaa, African socialism was a SPECTULAR FAILURE devastating economic and social structures. Mwalimu openly proclaimed that his Ujamaa policy under the 1967 Arusha Declaration which nationalized Banks, Farms, Trading Companies, Insurance etc, which has assumed the COMMANDING heights of the economy that he said had turned Tanzania into a Workers and Peasants state was sheer nonsense. What his Ujamaa policy did was to turn Tanzania into an Oligarchical State of Bureaucratic, Military, Parastatal and other Security apparatuses like Police intelligence, Political Commissions Cadres into virtual beneficiaries while the Peasants who worked hard to fill their plots found their cash crop like coffee, tea, cashew nuts, groundnuts etc. had to compulsorily sell to State owned marketing boards which paid only to Farmers fifteen percent of the World price, the rest was absorbed by the Marketing Board Corporations bureaucratic elite. No wonder Farmers used to smuggle Crops across the Borders or in many cases decided to uproot coffee trees and plant Maize, Bananas and vegetables. In order to sustain his corrupt oligarchic rule Nyerere had to resort to a lot of unethi cal practices such as creating slush funds for his sole Political Party first TANU and later C.C.M. to seek patronage from the Military, Police, intelligence and the Bureaucratic Institutions. Had it not been for Donors especially the Nordic Countries, who pumped a total of Ten billion U.S. Dollars a lot of money for Nyerere's rule from1961 to1985, things in Tanzania would have been very harsh for its Citizens. Nyerere first established the Country's first Anti-Corruption body in 1972/73 when people started murmuring about the harsh reality of Corruption as people were not allowed to write in State Controlled two Newspapers only Daily News in English, Uhuru for the Kiswahili Language, there was only one State controlled Radio called Radio Tanzania which mainly carried programmes on the virtues of his Ujamaa policies. Prior to Ujamaa Policy, the private sector which consisted of British owned Banks, Trading Companies Export and Imports, Insurance, plantation companies owned by a mixture of British, German and Greeks and a few Indian's manufacturing industries like Beer, Cement, Cigarettes, shoes etc. including Dukawallah i.e. Shop keepers mostly owned by Indians majority of whom Citizens of Tanzania had operated their Businesses profitably with affordable prices since the Tanzanian shilling was strong, a U.S. Dollar was changed for Seven Shs. And a British Stg. Pound for Twenty Shs. Compared to now 2008 whereby a U.S. Dollar fetches Shs. 1,200/- and Stg. Pound20 for Shs. 2,600/-. Since the economy was not yet criminalized there was virtually no Tax evasion since tax rates were low and therefore compliance was full. Crime was virtually nil since there was no unemployment. Dar es Salaam City's population at the time of Independence was hardly Two hundred thousands, it rose to Two hundred seventy six thousands in late sixties. City's population today approaches Four million people. The Ujamaa policy of confiscating land and forced villagization led to young and able bodied people flocking to Urban areas like Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Moshi, Arusha, Tanga, Mbeya, etc. Under the forced Valorization policy of Ujamaa no Peasant was allowed to own more than three acres of land to Farm, of the eight thousand Ujamaa Villages set up totally all over Tanzania only eight of the were successful and these eight ones were owned by Christian Missionaries, Nyerere, inspite of establishing an Anti Corruption Body wayback in 1972/73 Corruption kept on accelerating gradually and engulfing the entire Nations body Politic and Society. No visible action was taken by Nyerere's government to tackle Corruption, many observers said that Nyerere was only able to survive for Twenty four years because he tolerated Corruption, embezzlement of Public Coffers which was being practiced by the rank and file of his establishment that eventually engulfed Citizens at large in their day to day practices. In April of 1971 N yerere confiscated all privately owned Buildings majority of which were owned by Asians and various few British owned Oil Companies, trading houses including British Shipping and Insurance Companies. A total of Four hundred Parastatal Companies were formed since February 1967 to end of 1985 all of them loss making due to mismanagement, inefficiencies, corruption and embezzlements. All such huge losses including those in the Civil Service, Security forces, defence drained away a lot of money which if utilized properly would have uplifted the standard of living, developed infrastructure and Social Services. Nyerere was adamant that his Ujamaa Policy was the right one for Tanzanian's inspite of all the problems Tanzanian's faced. In December of 1982 a group of Army Officers mostly from the Defence Forces Airwing plotted a Coup to overthrow him. The Coup wasfoiled by a tip off from British intelligence as the master mind of the Coup plot a certain Tanzanian Civilians a former Bureaucratic in the Ministry of Agriculture turned businessman was based in London and often travelling to Dar es Salaam to liaise with the Coup Plotters. The Coup Plotters were only arrested after a British and a New Zealand Naval frigates arrived in Dar es Salaam with special commandos. Though of the some thirty two Army Officers arrested towards the end of December of 1982. All Coup plotters including three Civilians and the master-minded Coup plotter based in London on a visit to Dar es Salaam w ere arrested. During the treason trial which took place in the High Court of Dar es Salaam, the only high ranking military official taken before the Court was an Army Colonel but reliable sources indicate much high ranking officers then the Colonel were involved in the Coup plot but Nyerere decided not to arrest them as that would make the public realize that the rank and file of the Army Corp was involved in the Coup Plot. The high ranking Military Officers not arrested involved were transferred to diplomatic and other Civilian lucratively paid posts with mounting pressures from Donors especially the Scandinavians and the realization that masses in Tanzania were fed up with his rule including the army Nyerere decided not to seek yet another term in the October 1985 elections and instead handed over the power to a docile succeeding President Ali Hassan Mwinyi. By the time Nyerere left Power the state was so highly criminalized that nobody no matter how honest and diligent he was instead of Ali Hassan Mwinyi could have been able to tackle the rot he inherited from Nyerere's 24 years rule without being forcibly removed from Power. Succeeding President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, a Zanzibari opted for Liberalizing the economy to end the rampant shortages of essential commodities like flour, sugar etc. spare parts and so many other items. The docile Leadership of Mwinyi adopting Trade liberalization and inviting Foreigner's to do business Carte blanche resu lted in further total criminalization of not only the economy but literally turned the Country into a Heaven of Foreign Mafias from India, Pakistan, Dubai, Thailand, Lebanon etc. who joined hands with their local Counterparts who had considerable Clout with powerful elements in the corridors of Power. Narcotics trafficking which was unheard off gained a firm foothold in the country with Tanzania along with Kenya, Uganda etc. becoming a safe transit point for international drug cartels and money laundering syndicates. Carte blanche Imports policy resulted in Shoddy substandard and often fake products entering the country including the Island of Zanzibar. Rampant corruption in Customs, taxation bodies Civil Service meant massive tax evasion and vicious Capital flight with the connivance of Central Bank and the Treasury. In 1991 the ruling party C.C.M. met in Zanzibar and abrogated the Party leadership code which did not allow Civil servants and C.C.M. party leaders to engage in Businesses, though the influential Civil Servants, Parastatal employees etc. all engaged in businesses prior to 1991 but their group consisted not so big compared to today work culture and discipline was totally disregarded right from the early Sixties no wonder Party members and Civil Servants were never sacked or made accountable for their misdeeds instead they were just transferred from One post to another sometimes even promoted. Majority of Civil Servants and Parastatal employees were also working for the State security and intelligence services hence no disciplinary action was ever taken against them for their misdeeds, when Mwalimu Nyerere died on 14th October, 1999, the former Chief Justice of Tanzania Mr. Phillip Telford Georges from the Caribbean West Indies talked to a Daily Nation Correspondent who happened to be on assignment. Apart from appreciating Nyerere's contribution to the liberation of remaining African countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, South West Africa, etc, Judge Phillip Telford Georges remarked to the Correspondent that he could not understand why Nyerere never took any action against those who committed Misdeeds. Phillip Telford Georges had worked as Chief Justice in Tanzania for a number of years and he experienced rough times with Judiciary Officials indiscipline and dishonesty. Sadly enough their Rot is even worse than before. There has always been Capital flight ever since the Arusha Declaration of 5th February 1967 which nationalized the Commanding heights of economy. Capital flight syndicates operating with Senior Bank of Tanzania Officials and other Officials of State controlled Banks like National Bank of Commerce (N.B.C.), Tanzania Investment Bank (T.I.B), Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (CRDB) all of which were State Controlled engaged in massive frauds and many other unethical practices. In 1984 the Bank of Tanzania (B.O.T) was gutted with fire, the entire Building along with all vital documents since its inc eption in 1966 were destroyed. Many people saw this as deliberately burnt to destroy all evidence of massive misdeeds in both foreign and local currencies. Ever since the era of Independence successive governments have been adopting what is called revolving door type of governance that is instead of sacking Culprits for their misdeeds they were just moved from position to another. The second phase government which lasted Ten Years from 1986 to end of 1995 institutionalized organized crime's grip on the country involving all Segments of Society be it politics, Civil Service, the Army, Police, Intelligence services, Commerce Industry etc. Massive pilferage of State Coffers, natural resources took place without any compunction. Mwalimu Nyerere publicly rebuked the Second phase government of Mwinyi for being too lax without acknowledging that his reign of Twenty four years was the root cause of the Second phase government's misdeeds since the Culprits involved in all the free for all looting spree were untouchables. In came the Third phase government of Benjamin William Mkapa a protégé of Mwalimu Nyerere. People were mesmerized by his well orchestrated political Campaign of fighting Corruption, Drug trafficking etc. After Mkapa having won the general elections by a margin of sixty percent in the Country's first multiparty elections, Mkapa established a Corruption probe Committee under Joseph Warioba, a close associate of Nyerere, Attorney General and Minister of Justice under Nyerere and Prime Minister for Five years under Ali Hassan Mwinyi. The probe committee under Joseph Warioba made a perfunctory report on the State of Corruption in Tanzania. Based on this report President Mkapa formed a rejuvenated anti-corruption body called (P.C.B.) Prevention of Corruption Bureau which was headed by an Army Major General and a Deputy Mr. Edward Hosea as Director of Operations, Hosea later on became the Head of P.C.B. after the Major General retired. The setting up of P.C.B. was a political ploy by Mkapa to hoodwink the masses since till the end of Mkapa's ten years term Corruption literally increased instead of decreasing, Cynics called PCB Preservation of Corruption Bureau. People have literally accepted Corruption as a way of life though it is having a devastating effect on the economy added to Corruption people have also been experiencing Police exertion and extortion by City Council's greedy Bureaucrat's who have gone on rampage to cook up one or the other fictitious charges under the City Councils by laws to extort bribes instead of slapping heavy fines. The trend of Corruption extortion, mismanagement, squandering of public funds, over bureaucratization, embezzlements of one sort or the other is draining away vital funds meant for delivering Social Services, developmental. The Donors are also to be blamed for such Rot in Tanzania as they tend to bridge the annual budget gap by as much as forty three percent. Suc h budget gap is due to all above mentioned malfeasances by the powers that be in Tanzania. The Academicians in Tanzania regrettably betrayed the masses who bore the burnt of reckless economic policies and lack of good governance. The Marxists and other Socialist oriented academicians saw nothing wrong with Nyerere's Twenty four years of mismanagement. One party rule which literally turned into a virtual Police State. Such academics were quite content with the prevailing environment as they themselves never experienced the Hardship the ordinary Citizen experienced. The so-called academics and intellectual class sought exile in North American or European Universities earning ulcerative salaries and Perks. Those who decided to remain in the Country lived for a few months only the rest of the year they exiled themselves to Foreign Universities, think tanks, Research centres where their pay and perks were very ulcerative. In a nutshell the State of Tanzania is in such a mess that no one can undo it. The so-called present economic growth and property, hotel, factories, etc. boom is superficial benefiting less than ten percent of the country's population. The rise of our own Oligarchs in the past two decades has further criminalized and heavily dented our economy. Oligarchs have tremendous financial power acquired through various scams such as defrauding Central Bank, Bank of Tanzania (B.O.T.) and other financial institutions, pens ion and insurance funds etc. almost the rank and file of our Civil Servants, Political Party officials, Security forces, etc. have been involving and continue to do so dealing in murky businesses smuggling tax evasion etc. with impunity, no wonder Tanzania along with other African countries are called the shackled continent. Frankly speaking with this trend there is no hope for Tanzania.