A few vile wretches for purely selfish reasons felt no qualms in collaborating
with foreigners who were within the country and others who were brought
in for the express purpose of invading Zanzibar and removing the
elected government of the people . Those vile wretches were willing
to be led by alien mercenaries like John Okello from Uganda, Injin
from Kenya and Mfaranyaki from Tanganyika. They served under them, and
took orders from them to invade and conquer and subdue their
country. They killed, raped and looted as if they were not human
beings at all. The victims were their own kith and kin. Ferocious animals
were more humane than these wretches who joined forces with alien invades
to pounce upon their own country and their own flesh and blood, only a
month after our liberation from colonial rule. According to the book that
their commander and self-styled Field Marshall John Okello the people
killed during the invasion were 13,000. That may be an understatement.
The cruelty, barbarity and bestiality committed in these islands
which had a history of an unsurpassed civilization, can hardly be described.
Many who knew Zanzibar of the past could hardly believe what they heard
had taken place in the country during the so-called "revolution". The depravation
of the "revolutionaries" reached the extent when some of them sexually
assaulted dead women! Such deeds have not taken place anywhere
else in the civilized world. What is even more surprising is
to hear the leader of the so-called "progressives" to say that the number
of dead during those terrible days did not exceed 491 ! The commander under
whom he was willing to serve says that the people killed were 13,000.
Even if they were as few as you allege, does that reduce the enormity of
your crime? Whether you have killed five persons for no legitimate reason
or killed a thousand your accountability before heaven and earth is the
same. You are still a murderer. What earthly reason did you and your
hangers-on have for associating with men like John Okello in invading your
country and killing 491 (admitting your assessment) of your countrymen,
your friends and your kinsmen? And what have you gained by those
murders?
What is also surprising - unless that it is admitted that the whole
plot had been hatched very much earlier - is the shortness of the period
in which the independent democratically elected government was in power,
only a month, before their overthrow. Was it possible that during that
month the ZNP/ZPPP government so misruled that there could be no alternative
but to engulf the whole country in a bloody invasion of unprecedented scale?
Even if the elected government was indeed evil there were constitutional
and democratic means of removing such a government if need be. There was
certainly no need for violence. The truth is that the whole thing had been
planned and plotted a long time ago. Only the execution was left to take
place at the right time, the time when the British were no longer responsible
and the new government had had no time to consolidate itself in matters
of security. We all remember Mwalimu's oft-quoted statement: "If I had
the power I would tow those islands (of Zanzibar) out into the Indian Ocean."
That is what he has been trying to do all along even today. He is pushing
them out into the deep sea. The difference between yesterday and today
is that the tug-o-war between him and the people is becoming more and more
intense. The people's side is getting stronger. Mwalimu's life-span is
limited, but the people's is for ever.
MURDER OF MUHSIN, SULEIMAN
AND AHMED
On 13 January 1964, the day after the so-called revolution some self-styled
"Progressives", Comrades, took three young men, Muhsin Badr, Suleiman Badr
and Ahmed Suleiman from Raha Leo, one of the concentration camps put up
by the revolutionaries where prisoners were kept allegedly for their safety
and protection. They then tied their hands with a rope and dragged them
behind a lorry from Raha Leo to Chukwani, a distance of five to six miles,
while the young men were undergoing the torture of hitting themselves against
stones, tree trunks and thorny bushes all along the way. On reaching Chukwani
they were more dead than alive, although they were still breathing. In
that pitiable condition the young men were subjected to abuses and insults
and finally shot. Then they dug a hole and put all three together. Such
conduct of the ""progressive left" came to be known from their own bragging
and boasting. Time will come. If they escape the punishment of this earth
they will never escape the recompense of the hereafter. They will be paid,
everyone - those who do good and those who do evil.
DEATH OF ALI MZEE MBALIA
Suicide under any circumstances is a serious enormity before Almighty God,
but God encompasses all the obvious and the hidden secrets. We crave the
indulgence of the All-Merciful God to forgive the sin of this young man,
who felt compelled to take away his own life.
From the inhuman tortures to which he was subjected in the prison
section of "Ba Mkwe" (Father-in-law) , this young man Ali Mzee Mbalia preferred
death rather than continue to live under such horrible torture.
Ali Mzee was a presentable youth, pleasant of appearance and manners.
He had his fiancee with whom he was betrothed. While they were planning
to get married there entered the scene the head of the Zanzibar army, Brigadier
Yusuf Himidi. He fell head over heels, but the girl did not respond to
the advancements of the old man. When the Brigadier found out that the
girl was in love with the youth Ali Mzee he arrested him and delivered
him to the tender mercy of the chief torturer, Mandera at the back of the
central prison. He instructed that the young man be subjected to all the
punishments that the thugs had been trained to administer, and others of
their own invention.
It is indecent even to write down the sort of tortures that these
thugs administered to the young man. From the tortures inflicted he suffered
all sorts of diseases. Still he was left suffering in the cell. When
he was desperately ill he was sent to Mnazi Moja hospital where he received
enough to be able to walk about by himself. When the doctor told him that
he would be discharged the following day and be returned to prison to the
same section of "Ba Mkwe" he made up his mind that it was better to die.
He threw himself from the third floor of the hospital to the ground. That
ended his earthly life of torture and humiliation. May Allah forgive him.
As a result of this the poor girl became even more bitter against
the Brigadier.
Such were the deeds of many of the leaders of the invasion called
"revolution", particularly at the time of the first phase, during Karume's
reign of terror.
EGYPTIAN SCHOLARSHIPS
In 1958 Sh Ali Muhsin set out on a journey to Egypt in search of educational
assistance for Zanzibari children. After meeting with a number of Egyptian
leaders and ultimately with President Nasser himself he was awarded at
one go with 40 scholarships and as many teachers as he needed and could
take to go to Zanzibar. The Egyptian Government established a special house,
which came to be called "East Africa House" at Manshiat-el-Bakry, the same
locality where the President himself lived. The house was so-called
because Sh Ali after getting the educational assistance for Zanzibaris
he requested President Nasser to extend similar facilities to the other
countries of East Africa. Nasser welcomed the suggestion. Our children
were provided with every equipment needed, beds, bedding, furniture, utensils,
food, cooks and domestic servants. They were provided with free medicare.
They had Zanzibari matron in the person of Bi Aliya Barwani, Bi Mwalimu
Riyami and Bi Saniya Mgeni. That was in response to President Nasser's
personal suggestion, for he told Sh Ali: "If you send girls and young children
I suggest that you send also with them matrons from your country who will
act as their mothers. This will help the children to remain Zanzibari in
character and manners while they imbibe what we can impart to them
in the way of education. We do not want to turn your children into
Egyptians. Manners and character should remain your own."
Through the instigation of people like Nyerere and Francis Khamisi
of Kenya the governments of Kenya and Tanganyika prohibited their citizens
from benefiting from this generous offer of Egypt that Sh Ali Muhsin had
been instrumental in getting for Zanzibar as well as for the whole of East
Africa. The British government in Zanzibar could not toe that line openly.
However all airlines, and at that time they were all of Western countries,
refused to take our children to Egypt on the pretext that they had
all been fully booked all the time. It was only through the efforts of
the travel agent, M. Takim, who went specially to Addis Ababa that our
children were ferried to Cairo by the Ethiopian Airline.
The selection of the children for the Egyptian scholarships was done
by the Parents Association. The secretary of that Association was a member
of the ASP. Sh. Ali Muhsin through whose personal efforts the scholarships
had been obtained did not sit on the selection committee, nor did he have
any say in the selection. Indeed when the Egyptian government suggested
that he included for scholarships three of his children who had already
been schooling in Egypt at his personal expenses he totally refused. He
did not want to give professional agitators any reason to allege that he
had done all that for the benefit of his children or relatives. Hence neither
he nor the Party had any say in the selection in the island of Unguja.
It was only in Pemba where the Parents Association was not represented
that the party, under the leadership of the late Sheikh Rashid Hamadi of
OLE, handled the selection of applications for scholarship.
Some among the children who had been sent to Egypt were afterwards
lured into a rebellion by Ahmed Rashad who was working in Cairo as a radio
announcer, and who was a supporter of the Afro-Shirazi . Those children
refused to attend classes and hurled insults against those Egyptians who
were in charge of students' affairs and were looking after their interests.
The scholarships of those students were terminated. Some of them returned
to Zanzibar and some others managed to be sent to communist countries through
the agency of Rashad's troublesome nephew Ali Sultan.
In spite of this hitch the majority of the students continued with
their education, and more others followed them. The number of Zanzibari
students in Egypt swelled to a considerable degree. In addition to these
scholarships of the Egyptian Government other parents in Zanzibar who could
afford it sent their children and maintained them at their own private
expenses. The initial impetus was that of the ZNP.
When Zanzibar was invaded in 1964 the Invasion Council decided that
the Zanzibar children studying in Egypt should have their education curtailed
and the children sent back home.
Nyerere and Karume went all the way to Cairo to demand that the scholarship
scheme initiated by Nasser should be stopped. At that time Diria was the
Tanzanian ambassador in Cairo. Maalim Hija Saleh was working in the embassy.
Those two took it upon themselves to hunt down the Zanzibari children in
the streets and homes and pack them by force back to Zanzibar. They got
some but others continued with their education in spite of many impediments
created by the usurping authorities in Zanzibar. The East Africa House
established by President Nasser had to be closed down to placate Nyerere
and Karume. The matrons and other employees were dismissed. Bibi Aliya,
one of the matrons, stayed on in Cairo on her own to look after those children
who were being maintained by their parents. Allah will reward her for her
dedication and sacrifice. She spent half a lifetime in exile, leaving
a husband and an aged mother, in order to enable children of her country
to pursue their studies in far off Egypt. It is hoped that the children
she helped bring up will appreciate the good work that their Mama Aliya
had done for them. One wonders what would have been the fate of a
whole generation (and generations to come) of Zanzibaris had not the ZNP
leadership the wisdom and inspiration to devote their energy on educating
their children at the same time as they were engaged in the liberation
movement. This was a unique characteristic of ZNP among all anti-colonial
movements in Africa. The wisdom of that policy is now seen clearly. Although
the country has been lost to the invaders it is the Zanzibari young men
and women who have studied in Iraq, Qatar, Europe, America and, primarily,
in Egypt who have come ultimately to rescue themselves, their relatives,
the countries they came to take asylum in and their own native land. Without
these educated Zanzibaris our plight would have been much more disastrous.
If the ZNP had done nothing to Zanzibar except the establishment of the
tradition of giving priority to education it would have been sufficient
to deserve the eternal gratitude of even those who were against the Party
for other reasons. Conversely if the ASP and TANU leaderships had done
nothing more damnable than the abolition of the Egyptian scholarship scheme
and the obstruction of the incipient University for Muslims of East and
Central Africa which was to be built in Zanzibar it would have deserved
the eternal condemnation of everyone including their own devoted followers.
Most of the children who were initially on scholarships were Africans,
and almost all were of a low-income group. One of the criteria in
allocating scholarships was the poverty of the parents. And most of those
whose scholarships were terminated by Nyerere and Karume were indubitable
Africans. Is this, one may well ask, for the good of humble Africans that
an African government can claim to be doing?
Nothing whatsoever was done in the way of continuing further studies
of those children who were forcefully brought back from Egypt. They were
left to loiter in the streets and ended their lives as they have done.
Such is the vindictiveness of the snake in killing the man he cannot
eat.
Karume knew not the value of education, he himself having had no
education at all. But when the "Revolutionary Council" passed the resolution
to terminate the Egyptian scholarships, there were in that council: Professor
Babu, Al Haj Aboud Jumbe, Comrade Ali Sultan, Comrade Badawi, Comrade Khamis
Abdulla Ameir, Comrade Salim Rashid, Comrade Colonel Ali Mahfoudh, Comrade
Kassim Hanga, Maalim Saleh Saadala and Twala. How could it be that these
leaders of varying grades of education could support such a suicidal decision
as to terminate a working generous educational aid, willingly and freely
given by a brotherly and friendly country with no obligation whatsoever
on us?
It is from such facts and many others of a like nature that the patriotic
people of Zanzibar have come to the conclusion that there is none
among those who have usurped authority in Zanzibar from 1964 onwards, who
has the least concern for the good of the country or the people.
It is a significant indication of what motivated the massacres of
1964 that the very next day of the revolution the leaders became hectically
engaged in commandeering people's cars, houses, and Arab and Indian girls.
Now that so many of the leading figures of the first two or three
phases of the "revolutionary government" are outside the country, one hears
from them statements as if they never participated in those iniquities.!
