Sukumaland: An African People and Their Country by D. W. Malcolm

Author:D. W. Malcolm [Malcolm, D. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138595705
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

The term ‘chief’ has come to be associated in some people’s minds with ‘the noble savage’. A picture is conjured up of a befuddled old gentleman sitting on a stool and wearing long robes and strange ornaments. It is often suggested that in continuing to use them we are perpetuating an anachronism; preserving a museum in the guise of government. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are some chiefs who appear befuddled old gentlemen to European eyes but often under an uncouth exterior they have great qualities of leadership, great sympathy and understanding for their people, and great wisdom. Even so the exterior is rapidly changing. The new generation of chiefs in Sukumaland is leading its people in both education and culture. The process of election is capable of change and will certainly undergo progressive modification in accordance with the needs and wishes of the people.

Encouraged to develop along indigenous lines, I have no doubt that African local government will steadily maintain and expand the position of advisors and councillors to include important citizens. This process is already visible in many parts of Tanganyika, where important traders, medical men, and other citizens of acknowledged standing are becoming more closely integrated with the machine of local government without regard to their educational qualifications. I feel it is of the utmost importance that evolution should not be coerced and that outside pressure based on ignorant assumptions should not be allowed to stampede us into interference with one of the most excellent and most democratic systems of government to be found anywhere today. Experience indicates only too clearly that a high level of academic attainments is no criterion whatever of good citizenship and no qualification to become a legislator. The most highly educated people in Great Britain are not necessarily to be found congregated in the Houses of Parliament, rather they may be sought in the Universities. It would be the gravest possible error to attempt to influence and mould the existing structure into an oligarchy of intelligentsia.

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