By Lake Zone Watch Writer
Tanzanians today celebrated six decades of the union between the two sister countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar which joined in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan led thousands of people, including foreign dignitaries, in inspecting a guard of honour mounted by members of the armed forces at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
The union is principally credited to the able leadership of two personalities: Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of the Mainland and Abeid Amani Karume of the Zanzibar archipelago, who mooted the idea of uniting their two countries at a time when Africa was undergoing liberation against colonial rule.
Critically, the union has weathered some storms in its existence but has remained firm and become the envy of other African countries which also tried to unite to no success.
The union’s founding fathers had laid a strong foundation rooted in the ordinary people of both sides as they trace their routes to their forebears.
Bothe Mwalimu Nyerere and Karume believed that the union was for the people and not for leaders, a belief that has been inculcated into the spirit of 80 per cent of Tanzanians born 60 years ago today.
With shared wealth of the two sides of the union, in the next 60 years this marriage of the twin countries will blossom and become stronger and stronger each passing day for the benefit of the coming generations of Tanzanians.