Farewell to Bashir

NBC ASIANS BETRAYED

<<This has not reflected back and I’m sending it again.>>

Sorry for the delay in my response. Also my apology if I sound repetitive.

I echo your sentiments. While you made headway Karanja turned me back to the socialist Tanzania. After teaching for a couple of months at the Agakhan Secondary School I was called to National Bank of Commerce (NBC). It was the post Arusha Declaration phase. The Asian exodus had begun. They queued up at the bank for ‘Immigration Treatment’. The Exchange Control regulations had to be strictly adhered to and we were even made to attend seminars conducted by Mwalimu’s Economic Advisers, Doctors Loxley, Green and Rwemamu.

It was also a critical time for the non citizen staff that was given a ‘phase out’ order. Mwalimu in his address to the nation had specifically said, “….We appointed best qualified Asians to be Managers. The work went ahead very well. In fact these people deserve the gratitude of our country, because together with other Tanzanians they enabled us to support the Arusha Declaration with deeds. Yet now, a Mzanaki goes to the bank to borrow money, he is refused a loan because he does not have any security or for some other good reason. And, afterwards he comes running to me or to the Chairman of Tanu, saying that the Asians favour each other and that they should make Wazanaki managers of the banks. Countrymen, I beg you to be aware of this kind of thinking. This is not a socialist country which practices social discrimination. We can not claim to be socialist and at the same time distinguish between the people on the grounds of colour…..”

Yet this staffs were told to quit. Some of us blundered into an unpleasant situation by taking up the issue of our non citizen colleagues and present a paper quoting Mwalimu’s speech to the Directorate of Manpower. Personally I was cautioned and issued with a 'letter of warning' by the Directorate of Manpower. It was one hell of a time.

We’ve gone through different phases. Then result the Uganda War, Crackdown and President Mwinyi’s liberalization policy. Corruption remains rampant. President Mkapa’s privatization policy sees new set ups and modern technology but at the expense of our youths. Our graduates (doctors, pharmacists, dentists, engineers, technicians) who are equally qualified are jobless or recipient of meager salaries while in many instances the totally unnecessary expatriates thrive. Our youths are in a desperate plight. This is not the way to deal with a developing economy..

Last updated November 2007