TANZANIA MAP
9. Problems encountered during the Research
3.2 The Second Phase: 1950-1970
The period between 1950 and I960 was occupied mainly by political independence struggles. The political and the social revolution that took place at this period had effects on the spread of Uamsho. The Uamsho vigour of the Rev. Yohana Omari gave him a chance of becoming the first African Assistant Bishop of Central Tanganyika for the Mororgoro area.
Although Morogoro was Omari's motherland, the same factors that had impacted on Mpwapwa also faced Morogoro and so the place was as difficult to open up to Uamsho as Mpwapwa.
Furthermore, TANU a political party formed in 1954 under the leadership of Julius K. Nyerere had at once opposed racial parity on principle and irritated the colonial government by criticizing the prevailing system of Indirect Rule in Tanganyika. TANU also advocated an end to the old reliance on native authorities. Nyerere, being a faithful Roman Catholic, united people to lobby for independence. TANU gained popularity from the majority as compared to the interracial United Tanganyika Party (UTP).
Three years later, TANU declared Kiswahili its official language. By
December 1961. TANLTs political ascendancy had become so complete that as the Tanganyikan nation achieved its freedom, it did so in the form of a single-party state. TANU had therefore become the uniting factor for most people in Tanganyika leaving issues of faith and race untouched. The political pressures for change facilitated the appointment of three Anglo- Catholic assistant Bishops discussed in the preceding chapter.
The year 1964 has three religious and political significances. First, Bishop Omari died in this year and Rev. Yohana Madinda (another mwanauamsho) was appointed his successor. Like Yohana Omari, Yohana Madinda (who was not a native of Morogoro) could not influence many people to turn to Uamsho partly because of the political changes and the effect of Islam on the people of Morogoro.
Second, although the number of Christians in Zanzibar was small, John Okero, a Ugandan policeman, baptized in Kenya, had in January 1964, led Africans, in a clumsily planned but totally successful revolution which overthrew Arab control of the Island.60 With the history of Christianity in the Islands (see chapter two) still in people"s memory, the revolutionists placed in power Abeid Aman Karume, instead of Okello. Karume, a committed Muslim, pressurised his government to use Islamic Sharia Law.
The European missionaries opposed him. In return Karume ordered them to leave the country within twenty-four hours as he thought that they were
'" William B. Anderson, " A Brief Account of Christianity in Tanzania," in Occasional Research Papers. Vol.8. No.67. p. 12
among those who did not want Africans to be in power. In order to prevent possibilities o f persecution o f the minority Christians, Neil Russell (the U M C A assistant Bishop for Zanzibar) opposed the order. He was therefore put into prison and later sent to the mainland. It was realized then that Christians in Zanzibar would be in trouble. In order to stop the possibility o f persecution o f the minority Christians in Zanzibar, Nyerere proposed Unity between Zanzibar and Tanganyika.61
Third, on 26th April 1964, a United Republic o f Tanzania was formed from Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The Arusha Declaration that followed three years later imposed Ujamaa (community village- influenced by Roman Catholic'Christian village') policy. The Declaration nationalized all means o f production and allowed freedom o f worship. Christians in Tanzania reacted to the policy in different ways. In developed regions people deeply resented it on the basis that its introduction not only prevented capitalist exploitation but also inhibited private enterprise and initiative.
In less prosperous regions people welcomed the security it brought, together with new opportunities for education, medical care and involvement in the life o f the community.62 O f course the hunger for human fellowship o f the kind that transcended racial and religious boundaries had existed for many years at the Coast and the Islands especially where Islam had taken strong
1 There are various political and socio-economical reasons for the union but this was the immediate Theological aspect of it.
": Oral interview. John Ramadhani. Zanzibar. 27lh May 2003.
root. Warren describes the crises as "ferment" in the lives of large numbers of people that was related to critical sociological and cultural conditions:
"There was a deep hunger for human fellowship of the kind which would be an effective demonstration of the power of God to establish right human relationships.'63 Admittedly this was the result of the rupture of human relations that had become a problem of particular generations due to the disintegration of many traditional patterns of life and the destruction of so
. . 64
many ancient unities.
One way the Uamsho had profiled itself as a reaction against such unsatisfactory social conditions was as a new clan of Christ, thereby offering an alternative system to an old one as previously discussed. Bishop Sendero remembers one incident when wanauamsho had contributed money for a convention and at the end of the convention there was more money in reserve. The wanauamsho decided to open a bank account. When the bank teller asked them who would be their signatory they replied, "Jesus Christ".
The bank teller emphasized that they should elect one of themselves as signatory: that was the beginning of the 'New Life Crusade' group.65
It was interesting however that while those who joined Uamsho were calling for awakening of the church (a small community within the larger
1,1 Max Warren, Revival: An Enquiry. London: SCM, 1954, p.38-41, Munga, Uamsho, p.81.
Warren. Revival, p.39. A.A. Lema. "The impact of Christianity on a traditional Education System" in C. K. Omari (ed.). Essays on Church and Society in Tanzania.
Arusha: ELCT, 1976. pp.65-86.
6S Sendoro, Uamsho na Karama. p.24.
Tanzania society), there were also wanaujamaa (communalists) calling for awakening and reform o f the whole society at large. In this case the effect o f Ujamaa on Uamsho was obvious. With the coming o f Ujamaa villages for example, many pastors including wanauamsho were overjoyed to find that their visitation work and house-to-house witnessing (kushuhudia nyumba kwa nyumba) were cut short since the congregations had all come to live in the new Ujamaa village.66 The increased realization that Ujamaa was based upon fundamentally Christian principles- community life, openness, solidarity, sharing, respect and equality- astounded the wanauamsho who thought that Ujamaa was more acceptable than what they were teaching which resulted in the stagnation of the spread of Uamsho.67
These factors even had forced many Independent Churches to return to their parent churches.68
The effect o f independence struggle on Uamsho can be observed from the fact that the first phase o f Uamsho had very little impact in the rural areas where the majority of people lived. The struggle for independence and the series o f events that followed after independence gave hope to the learned wanauamsho that the government was moving in the right direction. This however was not really true. The majority o f people were in search o f solutions to their various spiritual problems, which could not be met
hh Anderson, The Church in East Africa, p. 138.
5 Anderson, The Church in East Africa, p. 137-138, The Amsha Declaration ana" TANU's Policy on Socialism and Self-Reliance. Bulletin. 1967, p.2.
,K Terence O. Ranger, "Christian Independence in Tanzania", pp. 123-124.
through politics. Therefore, while Tanzanians were celebrating ten years of Tanganyika's independence by 1971. the church was in mess spiritually.
Canon Martin Mbwana (the then Principal of St. Marks Theological College in Dar es Salaam) described the situation: "even my Archdeacon had asked me to go overseas and search for the Holy Spirit as he felt that the spiritual state of the church was at dearth."6 It is clear that something new was needed to revive the church from that spiritual slumber.70