INSIGHT: No signed Articles of Union

Zanzibar. Among the cases, which Mr Rashid Salum Adiy  had filed, is one that wanted the Zanzibar government to produce the Articles of Union signed by Presidents Abeid Amani Karume and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. But the case was dismissed after Zanzibar government, through its Attorney General, informed the court that it had no copy of the Articles of Union.

He says when the two countries united, it was unfortunate that Zanzibar founding President Abeid Amani Karume was not well versed in external policies, but Mwalimu was an experienced person. He says there were only few people like Mzee Salim Rashid and Abdulrahman Babu, who assisted Karume, but after the Union Mwalimu took and used them in the Union government, leaving Karume with little assistance on such important matters.

He also says there are some people who were killed because of their stand on the Union. He says he knows the names and the graves where four people, who were killed because of their stand on the Union, were buried.

“There is no need to follow such issues now because the important thing is how to make the merger beneficial to the people,” he says.

“Our main problem is that many of our leaders are not independent thinkers and innovators. Many of them depend on what they are told what to do. That is why they are worried when someone talks about the negative side of Mwalimu without knowing that we stand a good chance of learning from his mistakes,” he says.

Legal path

In 2005, Salum Adiy started his legal pursuit of the Union legality. He says they were only 10 people, most of them unknown people, behind a move to ask the Zanzibar government to produce the Articles of Union.

He says he decided to file the case without involving intellectuals, rich people and politicians because he didn’t want them to distract their aim. “I filed a demand note, saying after 14 days we will take legal action on the issue. But according to civil cases there is a 60-day period for one to file a case. It was during those days that I looked for people, very ordinary people, to include them in my case,” he says.

He says he filed the case, while knowing that he was going to win because people who were there then, like Mzee Salim, had assured him that there was no such document within the government records.

“Mzee Salim assured me that in his 11 years’ service in the government he did not even once see the Union contract,” he says. Mr Salim, who served as the first Chief Secretary after the January 1964 Revolution, also signed a sworn affidavit that Karume did not sign the Union contract.

He said after winning the case he continued with the crusade in 2009 by taking the issue internationally. Among other things, he asked the United Nations to first, provide the Union contract between Tanganyika and Zanzibar and to also outline Zanzibar’s international boundaries.

In its response, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon repeated the process, which was followed when Tanganyika and Zanzibar decided to unite in 1964.

He started to state that there was a seat for independent Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which attained its independence on December 10, 1963. He went on to state that on April 1964, 26 Tanganyika and Zanzibar united and merged their UN membership after becoming one sovereign state.

But, there are inconsistencies between what the UN says and available records. He notes, for instance, that while the UN in its letter shows that the letter to introduce the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar was received even before the then Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Oscar Kambona, wrote it.

Mr Salum Adiy says on May 6, 1964 Mr Kambona wrote to the UN notifying it that Tanganyika and Zanzibar had become one sovereign state, but the response they got from the UN shows that such a letter was received on April 27, 1964! Furthermore, the UN response, according to the communication from the two united countries, the Articles of Union were signed on April 22, 1964, but Mr Kambona’s letter states that the signing was done of April 25, 1964! It further shows that the Articles of Union were not presented to the UN and in its May 14, 1964 letter, the UN asked the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to submit immediately the Articles of Union.

“From then we have not been able to get evidence that the Articles of Union were indeed presented to the UN. What is on record is another letter of November of that year showing the change of the name,” says Mr Salum Adiy, who has employed services of many legal entities in pursuing the matter.

He further notes that all of these correspondents introducing a new sovereign state to the UN bears the Tanganyika stamp. He asks why and how could the stamp of a country, which was by then defunct, be used to validate an application to join the UN as one sovereign state?

This forced Mr Salum Adiy, using Nairobi-based Ojode Udoto & Onjoro Advocates to file a petition at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), questioning the legality of the 1964 Union, in his further pursuit of the Union issue.

A way forward

Asked for the best option for resolving the persistent criticism of the Union, Mr Salum Adiy says people should be allowed to talk about the merger. After all, he notes, it is their merger and not the leaders’.

He says in allowing people to talk about it, it will be easier to identify what is the real problem with the Union. He says this will form the basis of a solution to the problem.

Then, the crucial part is finding only four people, two from mainland and two from Zanzibar, who should be trusted with the responsibility of discussing and coming up with the solution.

“We do not need many people in resolving this issue. We need only four people. There is secrecy with number four and this will give us a way out of the stalemate,” he says.

He says the crux of the issue was on picking appropriate people for the task. Mr Salum Adiy believes that these people should be those who have not been influenced by the current system.  “And we have such people in this country,” he insists.

But, he dismisses a proposal to form one government as a solution because we have reached a point where Zanzibar is not ready to lose its identity.

He also says that breaking up the Union is not an option because of security reasons. He says the two countries are so close that they pose a security risks in case they become independent of one another.

“And in extension, if Tanganyika becomes insecure, the entire East Africa Region becomes insecure too,” he says noting that it is the interest of East Africa and the international community to ensure that the Union does not collapse.

He says Zanzibar will also not be secure in case of anything. As it is, he notes, Zanzibar will surfer more because it depends on many supplies from outside. “Therefore, if Tanganyika is not secure, there is no way Zanzibar can remain secure. Even if it is not directly affected, if things blow up in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar is somewhere close where people can run to. Can Zanzibar withhold such an influx?” he queries.

Mr Salum Adiy says that the rulers should stop their arrogance and listen to people who want the Union mistakes to be corrected. They should not think that anyone who is questioning the Union aims at breaking it up. “We cannot continue to live with mistakes. We should rectify them so as to be free and operate smoothly otherwise we will always continue to press,” he says.

Another case

Crusade by Mr Salum Adiy did not end here. He and other several people are now facing a case at the Zanzibar High Court after they were arrested when going to the House of Representatives premises to present their petition calling for a referendum in which people will be asked, first, if they still want the Union and second, if they want it in which form.