Hubert Temba

The Sacred Will of the People Hubert Temba

From 1961 to 1985, under the leadership of Julius Nyerere, Tanzania was among the poorest countries in the world. Much of that was due to the policies of socialism or ?ujamaa? which he had introduced in the late 1960s. These policies killed the morale of the people and instead of being motivated, the people of Tanzania were in apathy. Nyerere?s brand of socialism involved persuading people to choose new ways of living in new villages while breaking ties with their customary ways of life. The media, all of which was state owned, was instrumental in persuading people to change their ways of living. The author believes the wills of the people are sacred. But ?ujamaa? did not respect the individual wills of the people to choose things on their own. In 1992 the multi-party system was introduced. Before that Tanzania was a one party state. Today in Tanzania things have changed and there are a lot of free media outlets and people are free to choose their own lifestyles due to a free enterprise that has replaced ?ujamaa.? This is a book about the use of mass media in persuading people to participate in socialism. The author analyses the use of media in persuasion in Tanzania during ?ujamaa? experimentation. This experimentation was in the shadowy footprints of soviet communism. This work is about the use of mass media, the failure of the ?ujamaa? experiment and misuse of political machineries to disrespect, dwarf and oppress the wills of the people which are sacred.