Arusha Declaration

The Arusha Declaration (Swahili: Azimio la Arusha) and TANU’s Policy on Socialism and Self Reliance (1967), referred to as the Arusha Declaration, is known as Tanzania’s most prominent political statement of African Socialism, 'Ujamaa', or brotherhood (Kaitilla, 2007). The Arusha declaration is divided into five parts: The TANU "Creed", The Policy of Socialism, The Policy of Self Reliance, the TANU Membership, and the Arusha Resolution.

Background

In December 1966, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere toured through half of the country, urging unity to pursue national goals of self-reliance and socialism.

On February 5, 1967, in the town of Arusha, Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration. It provided the overall ideological framing of Ujamaa and an approach to Tanzania's national development focusing on collective hard work, agrarian transformation, and anti-colonialism.

Contents

Creed

Part one of the Arusha Declaration, The TANU “Creed”, outlines the principles of socialism and the role of government:

That all human beings are equal;

That every individual has a right to dignity and respect;

That every citizen is an integral part of the Nation and has a right to take an equal part in Government at local, regional and national level;

That every citizen has a right to freedom of expression, of movement, of religious belief and of association within the context of the law;

That every individual has a right to receive from society protection of his life and of property according to the law;

That every citizen has a right to receive a just return for his labour;

That all citizens together possess all the natural resources of the country in trust for their descendants

That in order to ensure economic justice the State must have effective control over the principal means of production; and

That it is the responsibility of the State to intervene actively in the economic life of the Nation so as to ensure the well being of all citizens and so as to prevent the exploitation of one person by another or one group by another, and so as to prevent the accumulation of wealth to an extent which is inconsistent with a classless society (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 1).

The aims and objects of the Arusha Declaration are:

To consolidate and maintain the independence of this country and the freedom of its people;

To safeguard the inherent dignity of the individual in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

To ensure that this country shall be governed by a democratic socialist government of the people;

To cooperate with all the political parties in Africa engaged in the liberation of all Africa

To see the government mobilizes the resources of this country towards the elimination of poverty, ignorance and disease;

To see that the Government actively assists in the formation and maintenance of cooperative organizations;

To see that wherever possible the Government itself directly participates in the economic development of this country

To see that the Government gives equal opportunity to all men and women irrespective of race, religion or status;

To see that the Government eradicates all types of exploitation, intimidation, discrimination, bribery and corruption;

To see that the government exercises effective control over the principal means of production and pursues policies which facilitate the way to collective ownership of the resources of this country;

To see that the Government co-operates with other States in Africa in bringing about African Unity;

To see that the Government works tirelessly towards world peace and security through the United Nations Organization (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 2).

Socialism

Part two of the Arusha Declaration focuses on socialism and some key features of socialism which include a policy of receiving a just return for one’s labour and the necessity for the leadership and control of major resources, services and government, to be in the hands of the working class.