Jeremiah Kasambala

Jeremiah Kasambala was one of the first ministers in the cabinet of Julius Nyerere after Tanganyika won independence from Britain on 9 December 1961. He rose to prominence when he was the head of the Rungwe African Cooperative Union in Rungwe District in the Southern Highlands Province.¹

The Rungwe African Cooperative Union was one of the largest farmers' unions in the country. Like the other agricultural cooperatives, it played a major role in mobilising its members and other people in the 1950s to support the struggle for independence which was led by the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU).²

TANU was the largest political party in the country. It was formed in Dar es Salaam, the colonial capital of Tanganyika, on 7 July 1954. Nyerere was elected president of TANU.

During the sixties, Kasambala served in different capacities in the government under President Nyerere, including being minister of trade and cooperatives, a portfolio that reflected his background as a leader of the cooperative union in Rungwe District; and minister of industries, minerals and energy among other posts.³

References

1. Godfrey Mwakikagile, Tanzania under Mwalimu Nyerere: Reflections on an African Statesman, New Africa Press, Pretoria, South Africa, 2006, p. 17; G. Mwakikagile, Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, New Africa Press, Pretoria, South Africa, Fifth Edition, 2010, p. 103.

2. Jeni Klugman, Bilini Neyapti, and Frances Stewart, Conflict and Growth in Africa, Vol. 2: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, Development Centre Studies, OECD, Paris, France, 1999, p. 79; Francis Fanuel Lyimo, Rural Cooperation in the Cooperative in Tanzania, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2012, p. 37; John Illife, A Modern History of Tanganyika, Cambridge University Press, 1979, p. 288.

3. Tanganyika News Review, Volumes 1 – 15, Tanganyika Information Services, Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, 1961, p. 14; Africa Report, 1965, p. 30; EAPH Political Studies, Volume 3, East African Publishing House, Nairobi, Kenya, 1967, pp. 128, 227.

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