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Love story between Tanganyika and Zanzibar !By Valentine Marc Nkwame History must be a Lovey-dovey thing, as it is rather melancholiac, sometimes tear-jerking and like any other mushy romantic affair, has this tendency of repeating itself! The romantic history of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is no exception, the two met, allegedly fell in love and got married in the 1964 sized, melodramatic, wedding ceremony. But as time went by, it became apparent that, Romance wasn’t exactly the issue there, and people started to punch some rather deep holes in the reportedly successful matrimony ship. In other words, it was claimed that, none of the two parties was in love with each other and that the Tanganyika and Zanzibar marriage was an arranged one, resulting from some political blind date .... Or something. Whether that is true or not, is irrelevant here, after all, even the Holy Bible insists clearly in the book of Genesis that, "... What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!" Mind you, that statement could also be expressed the other way round, "... Whatever man has joined together, let no god (or politician) put asunder!" and so on and so forth. Tanganyika by the way, is what is known today as the, " Tanzania Mainland!" while Zanzibar is what is known as "Zanzibar" or the Isles. It was widely believed at first that Tanganyika is the ‘Mister’ in that arrangement, but considering the fact that Zanzibar is the better half which has managed to retain its identity to date the situation could be vice versa. Last month, Tanzanian high commissioners abroad were summoned in Ngorongoro and cautioned that it is high time they start promoting the country in their embassies or be sent packing. It was during the same meeting that the envoys were warned that, during the proposed "promotion" exercise, the issue of whether Zanzibar is male or female should not arise and in fact, there should be no questions about the 1967 wedding party .... After all, the "Pilau" was already belched and the "Anameremeta!" song belted. Never mind, but Zanzibar is an island whose size is suspiciously close to that one of a town located in the Northern hemisphere of Tanganyika or Tanzania. The town of course, is none other than Arusha! Arusha and Zanzibar are quite similar but at the same time also, extremely different. One being an island floating on the Indian Ocean, surrounded by water on all sides, while the other is a land locked patch, which is allegedly situated between Cape Town and Cairo city ... or vice versa! Both however, have almost the same population, bear the same geographical size and each claims to be a tourist destination of some kind. Now when it comes to Tourism, Arusha capitalizes on its wild animals menagerie, while Zanzibar heavily relies on its old ruins and sandy beaches .... However, the Zanzibar state minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, recently commented that, Backpackers are the only tourists who venture near the Isles. Come May and Arusha holds a Tourism related outdoor fair called "Karibu," but come June and Zanzibar retaliates with its Tourism focused, "Dhow festival!" In1967 an Arushan declaration was launched in Arusha. The declaration put it very clearly that anybody who amasses wealth must be a "Nyang’au" "Mnyonyaji!"A "Bepari!" Or a "Kabaila!" Who should never become a leader. Apparently, there are no possible English translations for Bepari, Kabaila or Mnyonyaji, but considering what those words mean, it may be just as well .... As for "Nyang’au" ask any Kenyan. The Arusha declaration of course, died in Arusha a few days after it was launched. It however managed to survive though with difficulties in some other parts of the country until .... ..... In 1994, twenty seven years later, Zanzibar’s own declaration was launched in Zanzibar. This declaration not only killed the Arusha’s one officially but also put it very clearly that anybody who does not amass wealth should be a "Mshamba!" "Mjinga!" "Mwehu!" plus "Amepitwa na wakati!" who should be kept in a lunatic asylum and certainly never be allowed anywhere near leadership. Again there are probably no possible English translations for such words .... Okay there could, but we all happen to be civilized people around here. Anyway, those are some of the similarities, between Arusha and Zanzibar. Now, as for the, "Love story between Tanganyika and Zanzibar!" .... Well it used to be a title of some local film.
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