ELUSIYAN FRANCIS ‘TOLULOPE
Akinlawon Anthony
triggered my reflections on the concept of Ujaama
when he asked this pertinent question: do you think we can actually have a
humble leader in a community? He conjectured that the possibility of a
humble-human leader is very slim because the position of power is exposed to
pride and exercise of authority. I have been ruminating ever since we had that
discussion, though many of us understand Nyerere’sconcept of Ujaama, the more
important question is the possibility of anything like that in the interplay of
power, pride and fame.
The word Ujaama was chosen by Julius Nyerere
basically for special reasons. Firstly, it is an African word that emphasizes
and connotes the “African-ness” of his policies. Secondly and more importantly,
its literal meaning is “family-hood”, so that it recalls the idea of mutual
involvement in the family as known in Africa. Ujaama implies a deliberate decision to grow “out of our own roots,
but in a particular direction and towards a particular kind of objective:
Nyerere maintained, “we cannot, unlike other continents, send rockets to the
moon, but we can send rockets of love and hope to all our fellow men wherever
they may be. Here we find the basic inspiration that motivated Nyerere to
embark on this significant path of communal life?
Primarily it is the
abolition of the division between master and servant. Secondly, the restoration
of respect for the African and his human dignity by eradicating fear and the
habit of evading responsibility inherited from the colonial masters. Nyerere
sustained that: “our aim is to remove fear from the minds of our people. Our
aim is to hand over responsibility to the people to make their own decisions.
Thirdly, the elimination and eradication of exploitation and oppression so that
the human dignity and equality of every man become the basis of development”.
In the African setting,
where Ujaama exist, there is no
privatilization of properties, no one monopolize things, no oppression, and in
fact family hood is very crucial in Nyerere’s concept of ujaama. And it is also
crucial to bear in mind that Nyerere’s objective is to make everybody a master.
According to him, a true master is the one who serves the community.
What Nyerere is saying
is that, leadership entails humility. When a person is selected among others to
lead his community, it does not mean such a person is better or more
intelligent than others. A leader is not supposed to befeared. A leader is someone
who is called to serve and that is the prominent aspect of Nyerere’s concept of
Ujaama. In different parts of the
world today, we have seen leaders who have subscribed to the autocratic system of
leadership, they are not ready to serve, for them, their function is to command
and rule people with their authority. Some are even ready to serve, but because
of what they are made of (perhaps they are not intrinsically good themselves
“what Hausa people called“kirki mutumi”)
they keep on oppressing the people under them because they have forgotten that
one day they shall vacate their positions either by death or by time.
Also today, the
increasing chasm between the poor and the rich nauseates us and pricks our
consciences. Equality and human dignity are losing grounds. The law is deviated
in favour of the “haves” while the poor cry endlessly. Thomas More has warned that “all laws are promulgated to this end:
that every man may know his duty; and therefore the plainest and most obvious
sense of the words must be put on them. To put it concisely the precepts of the
law are: to live honourably, to injure no other man, to render to every man his
due. Choosing a man when is ignorant of his duty illustrates intolerable
foolishness and unspeakable stupidity. If you cannot open your eyes, you will cry!
You will open fire with indebted weapons that the poor will pay for till
theirelimination! In this chaotic situation we recall Nyerere’s call to the Church:
that she must be the conscience of the society.
Unless the Church, her
members and organizations, express God’s love for man by involvement and
leadership in constructive protest against the present condition of man, then
it will become identified with injustice and persecution. If this happens, it
may cause cohesion, because it will then serve no purpose comprehensible to
modern man.
Therefore, assemblies
of the faithful must daily become more conscious of themselves as living
communities of faith, liturgy and charity, especially in this season of lent,
we must strive to establish in our community an order of love and justice by
means of civil and apostolic action without putting aside humility in
everything we do.
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