Let the people speak: Tanzania down the road to neo-liberalism

Abstract

Tanzania is one of the few countries in Africa, which can still boast of political stability and a fair amount of openness. On reading these essays, the reader might wonder if this kind of debate and discussion is possible in an African country. Yet it is. Open intellectual discussions, so long as they were intellectual and did not take an organized political form, are one of Mwalimu’s lasting legacy. Whether it will survive it will survive the era of neo-liberalism will depend on how far we the intellectuals are prepared to nurture and keep it alive. The essays that I wrote in the second term of President Myinyi (1990-1995), some of which were quite open and critical, elicited a considerable amount of response and generated debate in the newspapers. But those I wrote in the second term (2000-2005) of President Mkapa, which underscored the dangers of imperialism and globalization had virtually no response. Perhaps it is the sign of the times. The National Project in Africa...