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Why did president nyerere step down

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Answered by abhinavkoolath
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President Julius K. Nyerere, who is retiring as President Tuesday after 20 years in office, met with judges, was feted by the Chamber of Merchants and given three dairy cows, a lion skin and ''assorted household items'' by various women's organizations. Prime Minister Salim Ahmed Salim, who is also leaving office, received a gold watch from the City Council. Several ministers were seen clearing out their desks while others were said to be lobbying for reappointment.

''The Government is at a standstill,'' said William Mbunga, an official of the Ministry of Information. ''Everybody is waiting to see what happens. Everybody is tense.''

The remarkable is happening in this East African nation of 20 million people - a sitting President has chosen to retire, declaring that he wished to pass the reins peacefully to a new generation. Cameroon's Ahmadou Ahidjo retired in 1982, but was later implicated in a coup attempt. Only Leopold-Sedar Senghor of Senegal, who returned to his writing, managed to retire uneventfully. More typically in Africa, changes in leadership have occurred at gunpoint.

That a nonviolent transition has occurred here represents in great measure Mr. Nyerere's skill in nurturing a political stability that many Tanzanians believe has been his greatest legacy. On Sunday, nearly 5.1 million voters went to the polls to approve as the new President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, a relatively obscure Government official and former schoolteacher from Zanzibar who was chosen by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. In results announced Friday, 92.2 percent of the voters cast ''yes'' ballots for Mr. Mwinyi.

But despite the newspaper advertisements and public pronouncements by officials wishing Mr. Nyerere well, there is little doubt that his voice will still be heard at State House, the sprawling presidential office which looks out over Msimbazi Bay. ''Nyerere will be very much there,'' said Ulli Mwambulukutu, managing editor of the Government-owned newspaper Daily Times. ''He is still chairman of the party, and the party is very powerful.'' Indeed, Mr. Nyerere has decided to remain until 1987 as head of the party, a post from which he will continue to exercise considerable - perhaps even controlling - influence over Government policy.

Part of Mr. Nyerere's reluctance to leave public life completely reflects an unwillingness to see any dramatic shift from his vision of ''African socialism,'' a set of policies that has encouraged the linguistic unification of the country with Swahili as the national language, raised literacy rates to about 75 percent and maintained a genuine ethnic and religious accord rarely seen in Africa. To some extent, Mr. Nyerere has simply preserved a tranquillity that endured before independence, but in comparison with the strife that has overwhelmed such countries as Uganda and Ethiopia, it seems a substantial achievement.

At the same time, Mr. Nyerere also leaves an economy struggling with foreign debt, a crippled industry and a fragile agricultural sector. Nonetheless, he has repeatedly discussed the need to institutionalize the succession, and because he regards this moment as both symbolically and substantively crucial to Tanzania's political stability, he has said he intends to make sure the processproceeds smoothly.

Whether Mr. Mwinyi will have any leeway in charting Tanzania's course is the subject of debate. Professor Samuel M. Wangwe, an economist and dean of arts and sciences at the University of Dar Es Salaam, argues that the new President will be impeded by the presence of Mr. Nyerere and party ideologues. ''The party is the main policy-making organ, and this change does not affect the party,'' he said. ''Mwinyi will not, cannot, make any major changes in the next two years. His principal problem is how to improve the performance of the economy, how to make people accountable for their performance.''

In any event, Mr. Nyerere's avowed goal of passing leadership to a new generation has not been fully accomplished for another reason. Mr. Mwinyi, at 60, is only three years younger than his predecessor. And with Mr. Nyerere declaring his intention to relinquish the chairmanship of the party when he reaches 65, many here find it hard to believe that Mr. Mwinyi will be permitted to serve more than one five-year term. That possibility, coupled with what is reputed to have been a fierce battle within the party over Mr. Mwinyi's nomination, suggests that the real struggle to succeed Mr. Nyerere is yet to come.

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