However, after a tour of China’s countryside, the kind of abject poverty Mwalimu witnessed was such that it was not different from his own country, hence his decision to shelve his request for Chinese assistance.
But during discussions with Chairman Mao a few days before his departure for home, Mwalimu was asked more than once by the Chinese leader what kind of assistance he needed from China.
According to Mwalimu’s personal assistant and speech writer, Ambassador Charles Asilia Sanga, the way Chairman Mao had asked Mwalimu it was clear that China wanted to help Tanzania and Zambia realize their railroad project dream.
“But Mwalimu had changed his mind after witnessing the untold abject poverty in China’s countryside,” said Mr Sanga who served for six years as Tanzania’s ambassador to Beijing.
“Finally,” ambassador Sanga says, “Mwalimu gave in to the Chinese assistance after Chairman Mao assured him of his country’s ability to accomplish the 2bn US dollars project.”
The 1860 kilometre railway from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia would later turn into the biggest Chinese project abroad.
Ambassador Sanga who worked for Mwalimu as personal assistant until his death from blood cancer at London’s St. Thomas Hospital in 1999 was told the Tazara story (also dubbed the Uhuru railway) by Mwalimu himself.
Ambassador Sanga who was elected chairman of an African group that visited China recently, narrated the story to the author during the African group’s three week tour in China.
The construction of the railroad was completed early in 1976 and has since then served as China’s showcase to the world, especially developing countries, on its ability to take on multibillion dollar construction projects.
Since then, China has constructed 50 stadiums and five railway systems in developing countries and mostly in Africa.
The Tanzania Zambia railway is not only the highest rail-point in the continent (over 1000m above sea level), but also traverses through most difficult terrain in the continent.
There are 22 tunnels along the railroad that includes Mlimba where the train disappears through a tunnel for over some minutes, like a snake, only to emerge later at the other end.
One question that had vexed a section of Tanzanians was Mwalimu’s failure to make use of his Chinese friends to complete Tanzania’s infrastructure by linking Tazara to the rest of the country.
In fact, no time the need to embark on such a project was more important than in 1977 after the collapse of the East African Community, EAC.
The unfortunate development had presented Mwalimu with the best opportunity of changing his country’s rail system from meter to standard rail which is similar to that of Tazara.
Could the abject poverty Mwalimu had witnessed during his China’s tour later in 1960s have contributed to his failure to seek further Chinese assistance?
If the foregoing is to be believed, then it would mean that Mwalimu had been oblivious of China’s development something that is not true given his hungry inquisitive for knowledge.
According to Ambassador Sanga, until his death, Mwalimu had visited the Peoples Republic of China fourteen times.
This means that Mwalimu was well aware of the economic leaps and bounds that China had achieved.
In short, Mwalimu knew fairly well that the China of 1960s was quite different from that of 1980s before he finally stepped down as President and later chairman of United Republic of Tanzania and the ruling party respectively.
But the question is why have successive Tanzanian governments also equally failed to make use of the Chinese government in completing the country’s railroad infrastructure by linking Tazara with other parts in the country?
For a country the size of Tanzania (13 in size in Africa with 947,000 square kilometers) rail infrastructure ought to be given priority followed, of course, by roads.
However, a glimpse at our present priorities, roads have been given priority to rail infrastructure for reasons that only the powers that be understand!
But the fact that China, which is currently the second economy in the world after the United States (having replaced their former occupier, Japan, to the spot) was almost as poor as Tanzania late in 1969, should make Tanzanians sit up and ask themselves serious questions why their economy is not as good as that of China.
Such searching questions are more pertinent now as the country marks 50th independence anniversary.
It is important that Tanzanians asked themselves what went wrong.
Published by The Citizen on December 9, 2011
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