JULIUS NYERERE, THE CHURCH AND CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC POLITICIANS IN NIGERIA: TOWARDS BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Abstract

In 1995, Pope John Paul II came out with the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa. Therein, he had fervently prayed, following the Synod Fathers, that “there would arise in Africa holy politicians - both men and women - and that there would be saintly Heads of State, who profoundly love their own people and wish to serve rather than be served.”1 Eleven years later in 2006, that prayer would appear to have been answered. Reason: The Diocese of Musoma in Tanzania commenced the canonization process of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the former president of Tanzania. Born in 1922 in Butiama village, he began his primary education in 1934. From there, he moved to Tabora Boys Secondary School. In 1943, he proceeded to Makerere University in Uganda for his diploma in Education. Back home, he became a Mwalimu, a teacher, at St Mary’s Catholic Secondary School, Tabora. Three years after, in 1949, he left for the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where, in 1952, he bagged a Master of Arts. Returning home, he went back to what he had always liked doing: Teaching. This time, he taught at St. Francis’ College, Pugu, near Dar es Salaam. He would be there for only two years before he joined the Tanganyika National Union (TANU) in 1954. Seven years after in 1961, Tanganyika got independence and he became the Prime minister. But following the amalgamation of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form what is known today as Tanzania in 1964, he became the president. He would be there for over the next two decades until he resigned voluntarily in 1985. Fourteen years after the said resignation, he died of Leukemia at a London hospital. But by this time, he had become not only Tanzania’s Baba Ya Taifa – Father of the Nation, but also “one of the most respected – and loved – of all African first presidents” 2 who endeavoured, in their little ways, to build the Kingdom of God in Africa through good leadership and true patriotism.