Salma Maoulidi unpacks Nyerere's legacy in the realm of racial and religious tolerance. “As Nyerere became more exposed to politics and other races,” she observes, “he attained the sophistication of tolerating mutual coexistence where acknowledging the humanity of others in lieu of settling scores informed a more encompassing political strategy.” However, despite all his efforts and those of the liberation struggles, prevailing racial and religious tensions continue to find expression in post-independence Tanzania. Salma concludes that “Tanzania’s inability to overcome the vestiges of racial and religious exclusion exposes the government’s and the ruling party’s inability (or unwillingness) to address racial and religious discrimination that continues to dominate Tanzania’s political culture in a forthright and objective manner.”

In this memoir, Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, first assistant secretary-general of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU), recalls Mwalimu Nyerere’s historical role in the creation of its Liberation Committee. Nyerere’s “lucidity and his strategic skills”, he reminisces, “were remarkable at all levels, as was his courage, bearing in mind that his own country was newly independent [1961] and that its state institutions were also at their formative stage.” When “conflicts occurred, as they inevitably did at the OAU and in the area of liberation politics, Nyerere, as the mwalimu that he was, used his gifts of analysis and reasoning to reach the right resolutions”. Sahnoun thus affirms, “It was a unique privilege to have worked with such a leader.”

From the perspective of a fellow artist, Vicensia Shule, Mwalimu Nyerere’s role in the promotion of art and the welfare of artists is reviewed in this article. “Mwalimu”, Vicensia observes, “produced various pieces of theatre works” and “in his mission to decolonized theatre” he translated Shakespeare plays into Kiswahili. She further notes that he was able to link his Ujamaa philosophy with fine arts, as the case of renaming the famous ‘Dimoongo’ Makonde sculpture ‘Ujamaa’ illustrates. However, Vicensia asserts, Mwalimu “was not lucky enough to nurture his fellow politicians especially in his party to appreciate art out of political propaganda.” She thus calls for the re-implementation of Mwalimu’s ideas on art.

Following the resignation of Justice Aaron Ringera from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) last week, L. Muthoni Wanyeki argues that rather than celebrating a supposed triumph of 'popular will', we should actually question the opportunity costs associated with a prolonged stand-off.

Following the troubling deaths of Guineans under the repressive rule of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Okello Oculi argues that Camara's action represents the latest incident of a 'lethal psychotic disorder' manifested by an African leader. Camara's actions are reminiscent of those of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Oculi contends, and necessitate an immediate response from ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group).

In this week’s Pambazuka News, Okello Oculi reminisces about the relationship between Makerere University alumni, the late Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem and Professor Ali Mazrui. In particular Oculi contemplates how Tajudeen might have responded to a recently announced joint initiative between Ugandan President Museveni and Makerere University to honour Professor Mazrui by establishing a new centre for Global Studies and scholarship fund in his name.

The West African Students Union (WASU) was a key organisation in the de-colonisation process of the African continent and one of the first pan-African organisations. In his historical analysis, Daniel Yao Dotse brings us closer to understanding the organisation itself and how it nurtured the growth of the great pan-Africanist and President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah. In this week's Pambazuka News, Yao Dotse discusses the heydays of the organisation, its demise and ultimate rebirth in 2004.

The Pan African Reading for All Conference, sponsored by the International Development Committee for Africa, the leadership of African councils of the International Reading Association, took at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in August. The ideas of presenters were distilled into a set of resolutions and recommendations, which will be presented to bodies concerned with improving education in Africa.

Mohamed Bakari reviews Issa G. Shivji's 'Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism? Lessons of the Tanganyika–Zanzibar Union' in this week's Pambazuka News. The first study of the Tanganyika–Zanzibar Union from a Pan-Africanist perspective, Shivji's book represents a very effective interdisciplinary approach, Bakari writes. If the book is perhaps slightly dominated by elitist narratives at the expense of popular discourses, the work is a valuable and comprehensive addition to the literature on Pan-Africanism, Zanzibari politics and the Tanganyika–Zanzibar Union, Bakari concludes.

The centenary of African revolutionary and Pan Africanist Kwame Nkrumah, Nigerian outrage at the depiction of their countrymen in a new South African science fiction film, and an inventive blackboard 'blog' from Liberia are among the topics covered Sokari Ekine's fortnightly round-up of the African blogosphere for Pambazuka News.

Kenyans have plenty to be angry about with their parliament, Muthoni Wanyeki writes in Pambazuka News, from the ‘outrageous remuneration’ it has given itself, to ‘its refusal to stand up for justice for the families of the dead and displaced’ during last year’s political crisis. But parliament’s disappointing performance is partly down to ‘the limited options available to the House, as representatives of the people’ when ‘either the Executive or the Judiciary behaves badly,’ Wanyeki argues. If Kenya is to ensure government accountability to the people and ‘real checks and balances among the three arms of government’, constitutional reform is imperative, says Wanyeki.

Willy Jackson

Olivier Sagna

As tensions between Uganda's Buganda region and the national state continue, Okello Oculi urges the country to resist the exploitation of ethnic and religious divisions in this week's Pambazuka News.

Commemorating the centenary of Pan-African ‘political prophet’ Kwame Nkrumah on 21 September, Ama Biney pays tribute to ‘a titan of the anti-colonial struggle and African history that all people of African descent – both young and old – should be proud of.’ But what would Nkrumah make of ‘retrogressive developments that have taken place during the last 50 years of Africa’s history’ if he were alive today?

Ama Biney reviews , edited by Anne V. Adams and Esi Sutherland-Addy. Finding the book to be a stimulating work on Sutherland's life and influence, Biney argues that Sutherland's ideas around the role of theatre in community development should be integrated into national curricula across Africa.

Reflecting on the words of female participants at a recent gender festival, Chambi Chachage laments the continued bruising of African pride. The need to prove oneself as an African has never gone away, Chachage writes in this week's Pambazuka News, something which is only compounded in Tanzania by a 'collective imbecilisation'. It is now time that Tanzania and Africa as a whole make their own 'history' and 'herstory', to combat others' discrimination and restore the continent's pride, he concludes.

Eugène Tavares

Honorat Aguessy

This is a call for papers that address many issues involving all aspects of Africans in China: issues of history, society, culture, language, and Africa - China relations, among others. How are these Africans being influenced by their Chinese hosts and how do they in turn influence their hosts? How does their presence in China impact on trade between Africa and China and how do these Africans contribute to the economies of the countries they originate from? Is this new and emerging African diaspora different from other African diasporas? What theoretical and methodological insights does the study of these African migrants in China have on general theories of migration and diasporan studies?

The first 'node' of a Pan-African University (PAU) — a continental network of institutions training postgraduate students and promoting research — could open its doors as early as February next year, an African Union (AU) official has confirmed. The node at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa would be the first of five hosted by existing institutions across the continent, said Jean-Pierre Ezin, AU commissioner for science, last week (28 August).

In the face of an ever greedy, self-interested ruling class, L. Muthoni Wanyeki considers what the majority of Kenyans could do to challenge the seemingly relentless ravaging of the public purse perpetrated by those in office. Firstly, Wanyeki suggests a tax boycott, taking the cue from the Langata Residents’ Association’s response to the Nairobi City Council, and secondly, preparing for new elections, albeit within a political system still in need of broad change. With the political settlement evidently having long reached its limits, Wanyeki argues for the need for the Grand Coalition Government to be entirely deprived of funds if Kenya’s politics is to move forward.