By Sylivester Ernest
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam.
As Zanzibaris celebrate the 49th anniversary of the Revolution, analysts are of the view that the quality of lives of the Islanders have been hampered partly by the Union with Tanganyika.
The Revolution took place in January 12, 1964 effectively ending 200 years of Arab dominance.
The historic undertaking, organised by African revolutionaries succeeded to overthrow the Sultan of Zanzibar and his suppressive, mainly Arab government.
Even after Zanzibar got independence from Britain in 1963, a series of parliamentary elections that followed, resulted in the Arab minority retaining its hold on the power it inherited due to Zanzibar’s former status as an overseas territory of Oman.
Despite winning 54 per cent of the vote in the July 1963 election, Zanzibaris were underrepresented in Parliament, prompting Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume of the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) to form an alliance with the left-wing Umma Party in a bid to remove the Sultan.
Sheikh Karume went on to become the country’s new president.
Pundits say that real independence for the people is yet to be fully realised, with some administrative arrangements especially on revenue collection and the so-called “Union challenges” worsening the lives of the Zanzibaris and threatening the existence of the Union itself.
Mr Hamad Salim, a lecturer at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), himself a Zanzibari, said in an interview with The Citizen on Saturday that there have been a lot of successes in the last 49 years, but these have been negated by the people’s poor living conditions.
“All administrations from that of the Sheikh Abeid Karume to the current one under Dr Ali Mohamed Shein have done well in maintaining unity and pride…Africans no longer feel marginalised.”
Mr Salim said there were no visible gaps in the lives of the Zanzibaris with every opportunities open to anyone regardless of his or her colour.
“Social services in education, health, water, and infrastructures have b een improved ever since and we are moving in the right direction…we only need to improve on quality, especially on education.”
His views were echoed by former CCM youth wing (UVCCM) deputy secretary general for Zanzibar, Jamal Kassim Ali, who say the availability of five universities in Zanzibar was an indication that the country had achieved a lot in the last 49 years.
Mr Ali also observed that the formation on the Government of National Unity in 2010 and the writing of the new constitution were other milestones since they have brought calm in the Isles.He, however, says the success of the revolution would be meaningless if the youth don’t grab the new opportunities in tourism, infrastructures and communication.
The analysts think the youth and people of Zanzibar in general have been frustrated by the harmonisation of tariffs between the Zanzibar and the Union governments meaning that the price of goods have skyrocketed making life difficult. |
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