After 50 Years: The Promised Land is Still Too Far! 1961 - 2011

1. The Country

1 The Country 2 CHAPTER 1 Tanzania has everything that nature can bestow on its 343,317 square miles (858,292.5 km2 ) of land. Situated in the east coast of Africa, Tanzania is a beautiful and well-endowed country with abundant riches in terms of very fertile land, water sources from rivers and lakes as well as remarkable flora and fauna. Buried underground is a wealth of minerals. From its towering Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa and the world’s highest free-standing mountain, to the spectacular national parks of Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Manyara and Selous, teeming with wondrous species of wildlife, this is a strikingly beautiful country. The Indian Ocean, which spans the eastern border of our country, is another natural resource that opens our country to the outside world, not to mention other marine activities notably fishing and recreation. Not only did God give Tanzania the Indian Ocean but also surrounded it with at least six neighboring countries without harbors, naturally leading them to become Tanzania’s dependents when it comes to shipping and transporting cargo. Fig 1: Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro, popularly known as “The Crown of Africa” or “The Roof of Africa,” graces the skyline to the northern border; it stands at 19,650 feet above sea level. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world are attracted to this beautiful scenery, both to view and climb. I would not like to tire you with long tales; neither would I want to sound like a nineteenth-century romantic poet, but just bear with me as we explore this beautiful land. You probably have never seen a parade of animals in your life. Do yourself the one little favor of traveling across miles of the magnificent land of the Serengeti National Park. THE COUNTRY 3 Popularly known the world over for the migration of animals, the Serengeti has up to two million animals on the march during the months ofMayandJuneeveryyearashugeherdsofwildebeestandotheranimals trek across the border into Kenya and back in search of grazing land. There are also other parks and game reserve like Ngorongoro crater, which is home to one of the world’s largest craters and is a stunning site. The Olduvai Gorge has been termed the “Cradle of Mankind”, and has been an important center for historic studies and a good attraction point for tourism. We have hundreds of thousands of square miles of very fertile land for production of food and commercial crops. Tanzania also boasts great mineral resources, making it one of the richest depositories of minerals on the African continent: diamond, gold, tanzanite, copper, bronze, tin, aluminum, uranium, and many more. Natural gas is also found here. Water in lakes, rivers and streams is everywhere in this beautiful country. Two of the world’s important fresh-water lakes are also found in Tanzania: Lake Tanganyika, with about 250 species of fishes, and the second largest fresh water lake in the world, the largest in Africa – Lake Victoria – with various species of fish, some of which are not found anywhere else. Both of these lakes, serving as links to our neighboring countries: Uganda, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Burundi are great natural resources. The list could go on and on, but I do not want to make it sound like an idealized, fictional paradise. But probably the most important asset that Tanzanians can be proud of is that it has enjoyed unparalleled peace and tranquility at a time when other countries, both in Africa and across the World, have been rocked by war, civil strife and instability. With such incredibly rich natural resources, I still cannot figure out why this well-endowed and beautiful country is so poor economically; there is no vocabulary that can capture the dimension of this paradox. This is why I am forced to agree with the paradox of the economists that, “all wealth comes from resources. Yet resource-rich countries are poor; and the resource-poor countries are wealthy.” It is almost incomprehensible for such a country to be poor. With the amazing gift of all these resources, Tanzania is not only among the countries with least food exports but also her people suffer from hunger from time to time. The abundant mineral wealth has not been exploited fully and has not been translated into any meaningful contribution to the nation’s economy; consequently the economy has not been impacted...