Mama Kuku remembers Nyerere for his compassion, concern, fairness and humility

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We at Kibo would like to present to his widow, Mama Maria Nyerere a post humus recognition “will provide a living memorial through the Foundation’s program to further international understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.

Though time was flying we still referred to this period as the “Dangerous Years” because we lived in continued fear. I remember being investigated for Economic Sabotage and the claim was that I was wasting foreign exchange. This was because before we were nationalized, encouraged by Bob Makani of the Bank of Tanzania, I had started up breeding broilers locally. The charge was because I was bringing these day old breeding chicks from the UK by air instead of bringing by sea. At first, I thought it was a joke, but when I was instructed to attend a meeting at the Bank of Tanzania to answer questions, I had to request my lawyer to accompany me because I was so afraid as I had read a remark at the bottom of the letter which said “Hii ni kesi nzuri sana” on seeing that, my heart plummeted – however, after the interview at the Bank of Tanzania we did not hear from them anymore on the subject!

A few years later he visited us; it was such a great honour to meet him again. I still remember how nervous I was as I walked him around the farm to show him the development. He was very polite and asked many questions, as I was explaining why we usually separate the young male from the females because the females bullied the males at feeding time, I totally forgot the English word for ‘bully’ and finally blurted out the word - ‘Wanaonewa’ I still remember how he looked at me as he said politely ‘I do speak Kiswahili you know’! I immediately relaxed. Understanding the disease risks with visitors entering a poultry farm; Mwalimu left his entourage outside the gate but a few minutes later he sent for his Minister of Livestock to show him what I had accomplished after nationalization with so little money. This was very encouraging to me.

Mama Kuku remembers Nyerere for his compassion, concern, fairness and humility

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