Nyerere retires as president in 1985, Mwinyi nominated
Dar es Salaam. Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere ended his 23 years of presidency in 1985 when he retired voluntarily.
After holding different positions and leading the struggle for Tanganyika’s independence that was gained on December 9, 1961, Mwalimu was Prime Minister from 1961 to 1992, then became president from 1963 to 1964, and was later sworn-in as president on October 29, 1964 until November 5, 1985 when he quit office.
Those 23 years were for surely taking Tanganyika/Tanzania through different leadership phases before Mwalimu Nyerere fulfilled his dream of leaving office for another person as he had desired to do so since 1975.
The desire of Mwalimu Nyerere was to see that he handed over power to Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, who, by then, was prime minister, but that was not to be the case and instead Ali Hassan Mwinyi took the mantle of the country’s top office.
Mwalimu Nyerere had first retired in 1980, but his name was picked by his CCM party’s special meeting that met September 25, 1980, so that he could become the sole presidential candidate to contest for presidency in the October 26 General Election.
He put it clear that that election would have been his last to participate in even if his name would be proposed again.
Former minister Mateo Qaresi, who served in both second and third phase administrations, reveals that Mwalimu Nyerere had prepared Salim Ahmed Salim to become his successor, but it was not to be the case and as a result delegates to a meeting of the party’s Central Committee picked three names, including that of Mwinyi, to vie for presidency.
The other picked names included those of Rashid Kawawa and Salim, “however, Kawawa opted out of the presidential race, leaving Mwinyi and Salim. “Votes were cast and the results showed Mwinyi was the victor to contest for presidency as Mwalimu Nyerere had nothing to do, but to accept the results.”
Mateo goes on to explain that after Mwinyi had ascended to power he started to boost the country’s economy that had already begun to sway while slowly detaching itself from the socialist economy, which Mwalimu Nyerere initiated and that the socialist economy was impacted following the establishment of the Zanzibar Declaration in the early 1990s.
He says the Zanzibar Declaration also brought about changes to the Arusha Declaration of 1967, paving the way for public servants to also become businesspersons while the private sector starting to work in some areas to stimulate the economy. The University of Dar es Salaam’s former senior lecturer, Dr Azaver Lwaitama, describes Mwalimu Nyerere as a person, who believed that Dr Salim would have been his successor, because there were some signs for that.
After the announcement that the General Election would be held on October 27, 1985, then parliamentary seat campaigns were officially launched in all constituencies on October 14, 1985.
The decision to reschedule the date of campaigns for rural constituencies was made on October 1, whereby the electoral commission met in the Office of Speaker Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa, who was the chairman.
Initially, the rural campaigns were to be launched on October 7 while urban campaigns were programmed for launch on October 14.
Then director for elections Elias Kazimoto said the changes on the dates of the parliamentary seat elections were due to a scarcity of petroleum that was expected to be distributed across the country on October 8-9. On the issue of voters who had relocated, the Electoral Commission directed that on October 15 would be the final day of the voters to inform returning officers, who could grant them with permits to vote in the areas they had shifted to.
The Electoral Commission also printed samples of voting papers for both presidential and parliamentary seat elections as the presidential voting papers had the name of the presidential candidate, Ali Hassan Mwinyi.
On the left side of the presidential voting paper had a shadowed space, whereby underneath there was the word ‘NO’ while on the right there was a picture of Ali Hassan Mwinyi under which there was the word ‘YES.’ Parliamentary seat voting papers were with names and photos of contestants, whereby under those pictures there was a space to mark ‘V’ by a voter. Preparations for Zanzibar’s presidential election had been completed much earlier than that of the mainland. Zanzibar’s director for elections, Idi Pandu Hassan, said since October 1 already equipment such as ballot boxes, stamps and ink had been brought at head offices of districts in both Unguja and Pemba islands.
As the election preparations continued, the head of the Organisation of the Secretariat of the National Executive Committee, Moses Nnauye called upon leaders of the party not to campaign for parliamentary seat contestants and House Representatives.
He said district chairpersons and secretaries, according to the electoral regulations, article 13, their main duty is to be overseers and chief spokespersons during presidential election campaigns for the United Republic and Zanzibar.
“Although campaign rallies are to be led by a person appointed by a district council, when it comes to speaking about the issue of a presidential contestant then the party’s chairperson or the party’s secretary will be responsible for that,” said Brigadier Nnauye.
For Zanzibar, where one district had many constituencies, Nnauye said district councils could appoint emissaries to go and address presidential election rallies for both the United Republic and Zanzibar on behalf of district chairpersons or secretaries.
The party made a special request to residents of Zanzibar, asking them to attend both presidential campaign rallies for the United Republic, Zanzibar including campaign rallies for choosing House Representatives.
“The residents of Zanzibar have a tough job because they are supposed to attend two campaigns. So, on behalf of the Central Committee, I ask them to attend both campaigns,” said Brigadier Nnauye.
Mwalimu Nyerere’s stand
When the name of Mwalimu Nyerere was picked to contest for presidency for another five year-term in the 1980 polls and he himself agreed, he had this to tell the meeting, “Hon Mr Chairman, members of CCM, and invited dignitaries, when I was nominated as in 1975 I spoke a bit long before I accepted this burden. I spoke about two things.
“First, I spoke about the intention of merging TANU and ASP to become one party and we have already done that as its result is that now we have Chama Cha Mapinduzi.
“Our country that we called a one-party country that in reality was a country of two parties, it is now a country of a true one-party system. So, I think we have the right of congratulating one another over that achievement.”
Five years later, on August 15, 1985, Mwalimu Nyerere as president of Tanzania and CCM chairman, attended a special meeting of the party to pick a presidential candidate.
Responding to those who wanted him to continue to be president of Tanzania, Mwalimu Nyerere said, “...I understand the arguments of those who want me to reelection, which really depict the fear of changes in the top leadership amid great economic problems in our nation. A new name will be sent to people for approval.
“I made my argument of changing our top leadership in 1975 and it is still valid to-date. When one person becomes president for too long, people will start fearing changes to come.”
He said: “Although I’m the one who spoke about the importance of bringing about these changes since 1975, I proved it in that speech that I would not have agreed to be picked to vie for president in 1980. However, I agreed my name to be picked and voted for by voters five years ago.
“I gave two reasons that made me agree to be nominated in 1980. First —and that reason which I said more important—is that our party at that had no good procedure for Tanzanians to obtain a new presidential aspirant.
“Second, the adverse economic situation that beset us between 1980 and 1985. I agreed with the argument that I were to refuse to be nominated at the time, I would be viewed as if I had run away from the battle field while the war was on.”
Tomorrow, we are going to focus on a number of issues including what happened during the casting of votes, the swearing-in of Mwalimu Nyerere and what he said after his swearing-in the formation of his first Cabinet and the aftermath of the Zanzibar polls.
