DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 14 -- HE just inherited the country from the hands of colonialists, at that time, the population was approximately nine million people with only 11 indigenous university graduates.

Tanzanias civil service was dominated by expatriates and an illiteracy rate estimated at between 77 and more than 80 per cent.

Imagine, too, that the majority of the population had limited access to formal education, while hunger, disease and poverty continued to undermine the prospects of national development.

This was the formidable challenge confronting Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere when Tanganyika attained independence on December 9, 1961.

The country had emerged from decades of colonial rule under Germany and Britain, but politic...