Mungai and his ups, downs in really long political career

Arusha.Joseph Mungai joined the cabinet in February 1972 as one of the youngest ministers at the age of only 29.

He was tasked to head the ministry of Agriculture which was to play a key role in the Decentralisation Policy which took effect in July that year and which saw the disbanding of the local councils.

The local authorities disbanded included the city, town and district councils. These were to be reinstated years later as the donor-crafted policy failed to deliver.

Mungai was appointed in a major cabinet reshuffle- not related to the elections - by President Julius Nyerere as the Head of State yearned for a new team to oversee government operations in a new arrangement devoid of the local government.

Among those picked to join the cabinet for the first time were John Malecela, the then powerful minister of the former East African Community (EAC), Alli Hassan Mwiny, a politician from Zanzibar and Cleopa Msuya, a long service permanent secretary.

Mr Mungai had high expectations when he joined the government. It was the period of massive nationalisations of the few private firms that still existed -five years after the Arusha Declaration - or creation of new ones to become key pillars of the state-controlled economy.

Among them were those under the ministry of Agriculture and included huge estates which had been placed under the government.

It did not take long for the young minister to taste the bitter side of the ministerial job or the effects of state-controlled production activities.

Towards the end of 1975 -shortly before that years’s General Election - he was caught up in a crisis which involved sugar production and distribution from one of the estates in Morogoro region.

He was forced to step down. The Agriculture docket later went to Mzee Malecela who for three years earlier held the influential Foreign Affairs ministry.

The sugar debacle, notwithstanding, Mr Mungai would never say die and consolidated his political base by repeatedly seeking the verdict of his Mufindi voters as an MP.

Mwalimu Nyerere did not let him down as he saw great potential of him. After the 1980 General Election, he -reappointed him the minister for Agriculture.

But less than two years later (in 1982), the man in charge of the ministerial docket was caught up with another yet more serious sugar scandal.

It was during the height of the economic crisis the country had endured and which was characterised by shortage of basic and essential commodities like sugar which had to be rationed in order to reach the bottom line consumers although its availability was more or less dictated by the law of supply and demand.

It was a time of critical shortages and sugar was among the essential items that was not spared.

At the time, the commodity was missing on the tables in many homes, restaurants, kiosks, hotels, offices, schools and training institutions, hundreds of tonnes of sugar was rotting in some godowns at Chang’ombe in Dar es Salaam.

The bulk of it was no longer fit for human consumption having been soaked in water. Mr Mungai staunchly defended his officials-in the ministry and relevant parastatals under the ministry-as a Parliamentary probe team uncovered the mess.

Finally, Mr Mungai had to take political responsibility and resign again over sugar crisis. This was during the era of Mwalimu Nyerere.

At the advent of Mzee Mwinyi era, he again vied for the Mufundi North consitutency and was an ordinary MP during 1985-1990. His political limelight nearly dimmed when he was defeated in the race for the parliamentary seat at home in 1990.

He regained his seat in 1995 but had to wait until 2000 for President Benjamin Mkapa to recall him in the cabinet and was given the education docket.

That set in another wave of political crisis for the senior minister. At the ministerial headquarters, he found documents collecting dust in the shelves and among these was an expert report on the proposed Technical Education for the country.

He started to implement it by, among other things, effecting some changes in the teaching of science and technical subjects in the secondary schools, teachers’ training colleges and allied institutions.

He soon lost popularity among the education technocrats and to some extent lost favour with his in-coming boss Mr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who not only reinstated the old system but placed him in Home Affairs for a few months and later ditched him from cabinet posts until he stepped down from contesting the Mufindi North seat.