Statecraft & Independence
Landmark
Abdulwahid Sykes
1924 – 1968
Led the association that became TANU — and handed it to Nyerere
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Tanzania Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
President of the Tanganyika African Association before Nyerere. When Nyerere arrived in Dar es Salaam in 1952 it was the Sykes brothers who took him in, and Abdulwahid who proposed him for the presidency he himself held.
Abdulwahid Sykes was president of the Tanganyika African Association, the organisation out of which TANU grew, in the years before Julius Nyerere.
When Nyerere came to Dar es Salaam in 1952, Abdulwahid and his brother Ally took him in and introduced him to the political networks of the city. In 1953 Abdulwahid proposed Nyerere for the presidency of the Association — the office he was holding himself — and stood aside. Tanzanian independence history has tended to begin with Nyerere; it began with the men who made room for him.
When Nyerere came to Dar es Salaam in 1952, Abdulwahid and his brother Ally took him in and introduced him to the political networks of the city. In 1953 Abdulwahid proposed Nyerere for the presidency of the Association — the office he was holding himself — and stood aside. Tanzanian independence history has tended to begin with Nyerere; it began with the men who made room for him.
- The EastAfrican — Mwalimu in 1950s Dar
- WorldCat — The life and times of Abdulwahid Sykes (1924–1968): the untold story of the Muslim struggle against British colonialism in Tanganyika
- Wikipedia — Tanganyika African National Union
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