ZANZIBAR

HC Deb 02 May 1957 vol 569 cc491-504

Motion made, and Question proposed,That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Barber.]

9.52 p.m.

Mrs. Eirene White (Flint, East)

It is some time since the affairs of Zanzibar have been discussed in this House, and I am, therefore, happy to have the opportunity once more to raise certain matters which concern that small but very delightful island.

I had the great pleasure of visiting Zanzibar for the first time a few months ago, and I should like to pay a tribute to the very great kindness and hospitality that I received on that occasion. I was, in fact, a member of an official delegation to Kenya, and my visit to Zanzibar was purely unofficial and private, but, although it was a brief one, I had an opportunity of discussing at first hand a number of matters which I should like to bring to the attention of the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.

When we last discussed Zanzibar in this House, when the present Secretary of State for War occupied the position of Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, our main concern was with political matters, in particular with the constitution and the proposal to institute elections on a common roll basis. Before I conclude my observations tonight, I should like to return to some of those political questions. Before I do so, however, there are other matters of interest on which I believe many of us would like to have the observations of the hon. Gentleman.

One of the interesting and rather technical points which were raised when I was there is a matter of interest to the Muslim population of Zanzibar and also, I suggest, to the Muslim population of some of the coastal areas of East Africa. In these areas there is a system of Muslim courts, and it was put to me that while the courts themselves function satisfactorily there is a particular grievance that cases which are taken to appeal from these courts go to the High Court of East Africa, where the judgment is given by a learned judge but one who is not necessarily learned at all in the Muslim law and who has no religious or cultural background which would enable him to appreciate some of the niceties of the cases which are brought before him.

I can see that there is some substance in this point. It was put to me very strongly in Zanzibar that in these matters of Muslim law they felt that there should be an appeal to a court the members of which were themselves versed in the Muslim traditions. It would not apply to other cases which would go through the normal channels. This is obviously a matter of considerable legal importance. and I would hesitate to pass an opinion upon it except to say that, on the face of it, there seems to be some reasonable case.

I cannot expect the Under-Secretary of State to give a complete answer on this matter tonight, but I would ask him, even if he is not able to give me that answer now, to take advice on the matter to see whether anything could be done to meet the very strongly felt wishes of some of Her Majesty's Muslim subjects.

One method for dealing with the matter suggested to me was that as the Sultan is now being provided with a Privy Council there might be some committee of that Privy Council analogous to the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council here. It was suggested that that might be a suitable body in Zanzibar to hear appeals on points of Muslim law from the Kadis' courts. I very much hope this matter will be given consideration. It seems one of substance. While one does not wish to encourage a narrow religious basis for political or social life, I should have thought that there was something to be said for trying to meet by a reasonable compromise difficulties of this sort on these matters of law.

Among the many problems which face a very small community like that of Zanzibar is that of the very great expense of administering a modern society, and it was put to me with great emphasis that the cost is high of the pay of the expatriate officers, as they are called, the European officers who hold important administrative and technical jobs in the island. It was suggested to me that Zanzibar suffers from several disadvantages because it is small as compared with other parts of the Colonial Territories.

I was told that the people who go there as expatriate officers, if they are any good at all, stay there only a very short time. I was told, "If a man is any good he comes as a bird of passage and leaves as soon as he can obtain promotion." The only men who stay for any length of time normally are those who are not very competent. As an example of the difficulties under which they labour, I was told that in the last fifteen years there had been no fewer than seven directors of education. That number takes no account of officers acting in addition to the substantive holders of the office. How can we possibly expect continuity of policy when there are so many changes in the expatriate staff?

The expense of having expatriate officers is very considerable. In addition to the basic salary, they have to be paid what is called an inducement allowance. There are air passages for themselves, their wives, and up to two children each, I think it is. There is an education allowance for the children. These officers also receive fairly expensive housing accommodation at what seems to me a more or less nominal rent. When one adds up all those items and adds them to the basic salaries one finds that they are a considerable burden on the resources of the island.

One cannot help having very great sympathy with the local population who suggest that much more should be done towards educating local Zanzibari to take some of these posts, because, as they say, "We should thus obtain some continuity of policy, and avoid many of these additional expenses." With which sentiment I have the greatest sympathy. They admit, of course, that for a long time certain people with very high qualifications will be needed, but there seem to be administrative jobs to do which we ought to be able to find competent persons locally.

One must, however, recognise that this requires far better provision for education than is now generally available. On this, in Zanzibar, as in most other parts of Africa, I found the most intense feeling. I was told that of an estimated number of children of school age of 56,000 only about 14,800 attend school, that is to say, roughly 27 per cent. of the children of school age. Of these children only about 700 have the benefit of secondary education.

It being Ten o'clock, the Motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Motion made, and Question proposed,That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Hughes-Young.]

Mrs. White

That is a very small proportion of the children who should be receiving education, and one cannot build the kind of structure in local or national government administration which is needed if one has this very inadequate foundation. It was suggestion that not only is more needed in the training of teachers but also that reorganisation is required at the primary stage. Zanzibar is the only country I know where the primary course extends over as long as nine years. In most parts of East Africa the primary and middle course extends certainly no more than eight years. Those in Zanzibar who are interested in education feel that it is time to tighten up their primary course to see that their children advance a little more rapidly.

Another suggestion made was that further consideration should be given to priorities in education and in the expenditure of their very limited resources. It was explained, for example, that a relatively large sum has been spent recently on sending students to the Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education, which is an institute for technical education.

I was told that in order to educate 43 students to only a very moderate level of technical competence they had to spend £21,000, and they pointed out that for this sum they could have educated 30 students at university level in this country or as many as 100 at the University of Khartoum. They feel that the amount which they are asked to spend on sending students to Mombasa is out of proportion to the results achieved, not only because the absolute expenditure is excessive but because when the students return they find it impossible to obtain the kind of work for which they have been trained in Mombasa and either go back to the mainland to look for jobs there or hang around in Zanzibar finding great difficulty in getting any suitable appointment.

It was also suggested to me that when a country has very slight resources it is a luxury which it cannot easily afford to send a relatively large number of more senior people for short courses such as British Council courses which are, no doubt, very enjoyable to them, but on which, I gather, there is some local feeling that the money might, perhaps, be more wisely spent.

Another suggestion made to me was that as the majority of people in Zanzibar are Muslims with a Muslim tradition, it would be very interesting to learn whether anything has been done to provide an institute of higher Muslim education in the Commonwealth. I understand that it has been suggested to them from time to time by various representatives of Her Majesty's Government with whom they have discussed the matter that there are some proposals for such an institution somewhere in the Middle East. I do not know what those proposals are, but I think that the Government have been in contact, for example, with people in Aden.

At the moment, of course, if they do not send their students for higher education to the United Kingdom, they send them to Cairo or Khartoum, and it was suggested by some who are anxious to have a Commonwealth link that an institution of academic education with a Muslim trend was something which Her Majesty's Government ought to consider, if they are not already considering it. They told me that although they send some students to Makerere they feel that this is not as suitable for many of their young people as a Muslim institution. I put that point forward for consideration; I know there are arguments which can be advanced both for and against it. It would be interesting to know the views of Her Majesty's Government on this point.

A number of other matters were raised with me concerning health, housing, agriculture, economic development, and so on, on which we could spend a long time. Had the Navy occupied a little less time earlier this evening, as at one moment I thought was likely, we could have gone into greater detail. As we do not have so much time available, however, I do not wish to go into much detail on these matters except to say that it is quite clear that there is a great deal still to be done in Zanzibar in development in all these directions.

I turn now to a political matter which has a direct bearing on some of these problems of social and economic development—that is, the position of the unofficial members of the Executive Council, who, at the moment, have no ministerial status but who are associated with certain Departments. There are three of these gentlemen. It was suggested to me that their position was not an entirely happy one and I am inclined to sympathise with the arguments that were put forward.

It is possible to be a little too timid in this matter of political development. To have a member of an Executive Council who is said to be associated with a Department without having any real responsibility for it is not a satisfactory halfway house. He does not feel happy about it and very often the civil servants are not very happy about it, either. It is neither one thing nor the other.

It was put to me, for example, that the amount of influence over policy which any of these members have is entirely dependent upon their personal relationship with the permanent civil servants, that they do not have the sort of status which would give them real responsibility and that if for any reason permanent civil servants wished to embark on a certain policy, they were under no obligation to discuss it with the associate member.

I was told, for example, that the member who was meant to be concerned with the Department of Health awoke one morning to find that there had been a sharp increase in hospital charges. I can only state what I have been told; on my short visit I did not have an opportunity to investigate. The member in question, apparently, had not been consulted although the matter was, obviously, one of considerable popular interest. Other similar examples were suggested to me.

Now that the Constitution of Zanzibar is advancing in several directions, I would think that this is one direction which Her Majesty's Government might consider whether the rather anomalous position of these associate members could not be turned into proper ministerial jobs. I have just been considering another small territory, that of the Gambia. If the Gambia can have Ministers, I should have thought that Zanzibar should have them, too.

As the Minister knows, Zanzibar is preparing for its first direct elections on a common roll basis, although with a restricted franchise which are due to take place in July. One would expect that there would be certain difficulties—there always are—in the initial stages of an experiment of this kind, but I should like to draw the Minister's attention to one difficulty which has arisen and which is peculiarly acute owing to the geographical position of Zanzibar.

When the conditions of the franchise and the Constitution were being discussed, it was decided that electors should be confined to those who were subjects of the Sultan and who had been resident in Zanzibar, I believe, for the preceding twelve months, but mere residence for twelve months was not sufficient: they had also to be Zanzibari. As the Minister knows, Zanzibar is not far from the mainland of East Africa and at certain times of the year in particular a large number of persons come over from the mainland. There is considerable coming and going.

I have been sent information, which I received only yesterday, so that I have not been able to give it in detail to the Minister, that there has been difficulty because it has been suggested that some of these persons who have come over from the mainland fairly recently, or who may have come over a considerable time ago but who are, nevertheless, not Zanzibari, have been registered or have attempted to get themselves registered as electors in the forthcoming election.

This is of some considerable political importance, because their general outlook might quite well be very different from that of the majority of those who are genuine Zanzibari, Therefore, I should be very glad if the Minister would give me some assurance that he will look very carefully at the precautions which are being taken to make certain that those on the electoral roll are entitled to be on the roll.

I have before me a very detailed letter which Sheik Ali Muhsin al Barwhani sent to the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Penney, on 2nd April, and I think a copy was also sent to the British Resident and the Chief Secretary, in which he made a number of detailed complaints about what he believed were the shortcomings of the system. It appears that the superintendent of the elections admitted that some kind of observer system was desirable at the registrations, but, according to the information given to me, these observers, who were appointed and paid by the Government, were told simply to sit there and say nothing and take no notes. It does not seem to me that they are really very effective observers, and, while I do not expect an answer tonight, I would ask the Minister to assure me that he will look into this, because I hope very much that the forthcoming elections in Zanzibar will be a success and that they will be an example to the rest of East Africa.

I myself have urged in this House on previous occasions that a common roll system should be tried in Zanzibar, because I feel that it would be the best place, possibly, in East Africa in which such an experiment might succeed. I was very much encouraged when the Government accepted the common roll basis of the franchise, though there were a number of restrictions, and I hope very much that when the election comes in July we shall see that this experiment has been justified, because it would be extremely encouraging if, in Africa, where we have a mixed society, as we have in Zanzibar, people could show sufficient political maturity by voting not on a racial and communal basis, but according to the policies and ideas which they favour.

If Zanzibar can see itself free of racial prejudice, it will be setting a most valuable example to some of the other neighbouring territories, and I hope very much that the forthcoming elections there will be carried out in a vigorous manner and that the people will fully observe the intent and aims of the common roll which has been granted to them. It is with these hopes and aspirations that I bring before the House tonight these various matters of great concern to a small but extremely interesting and beautiful island.

10.14 p.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. John Profumo)

I am indeed grateful to the hon. Lady the Member for Flint, East (Mrs. White) for giving me advance notice of the matters that she has raised this evening. I am also grateful to her for giving me the opportunity which this debate affords me of bringing up to date the statement made by my right hon. Friend the then Minister of State—because he was not Under-Secretary, but Minister of State, and is now Secretary of State for War—on 3rd February last year in reply to a similar debate.

As the hon. Lady recalled, at that time the situation in Zanzibar was still under the shadow of the refusal of the important Arab community, or at least a number of its leaders, to co-operate with the Sultan's Government in constitutional advance. I am glad to say that since then, as the hon. Lady herself knows from experience, things have taken a turn for the better.

This development of better relations happily coincided with the memorable visit to Zanzibar by Her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret during her tour last year in Mauritius and the East African territories, which symbolised the enduring relationship of friendship and harmony between this country and His Highness the Sultan and his people. When the House last discussed this matter Her Majesty's Government were experiencing difficulties in putting into practice proposals for a greater measure of self-government in the Protectorate. At that time the Elections Commissioner, Mr. Coutts, was engaged on his task of inquiring into the most suitable methods of choosing the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, and his Report was published on 3rd March last year.

As the hon. Lady knows, its principal recommendation was for the introduction of elections on a common roll, to which she has referred, for half of the representative members in the Legislative Council, and he proposed that when these six seats had been tilled by election, the various racial communities should be asked to put forward suitable names for nomination by His Highness to the remaining six seats. Immediately after the publication of the Report the leaders of the Arab Association decided to end their boycott of the Legislative Council, and since that time they have co-operated with the Government.

It was, therefore, with support from all the communities that the Zanzibar Legislative Council approved the proposals for the introduction of the elections, subject to certain modifications by the Sultan's Government, the most important of which were the restriction of the franchise to subjects of His Highness the Sultan and the decision that after six of the representative seats had been filled by election, the remaining six should be filled by nomination from among persons qualified to be candidates who had the support of not less than 100 registered electors.

It was felt that that method corresponded more closely with the non-racial idea incorporated in the inception of elections on a common roll, but at the same time made it possible to ensure, during this experimental period, that all main interests retained some representation on the representative side of the Legislative Council, whatever might be the outcome of the first elections. Once that agreement had been reached on policy, the Council's Decree of 1956, which had not of course been brought into operation pending a declaration of attitude on the part of the Arab community, came into force on 17th September last year.

Under that Decree constitutional changes were made whereby a Privy Council. to which the hon. Lady referred, was established to advise the Sultan on matters particular to himself as a constitutional ruler, and the Executive Council was reconstituted with the addition of three representative members who were associated with the work of particular departments of Government. The hon. Lady has suggested that this association has fallen short of expectations. and that the unofficial members would have preferred to have been given greater executive responsibility from the outset. I can assure her that it is the intention of the Sultan's Government to give those members increasing opportunity to acquaint themselves with the business of government, but I think that at the same time some period of apprenticeship is desirable in the not altogether easy matter of exercising a form of Ministerial responsibility. As a matter of fact, the particular matter to which the hon. Lady referred, the introduction of hospital charges, was, I understand, decided as a matter of policy before the new system was introduced.

I was sorry to hear of the complaints the hon. Lady has received about the procedure which has been followed for the registration of electors. The present position is that preliminary lists of those applying to be registered have been compiled by registration officers, and those lists, containing the names, addresses and occupations of the applicants, have been posted in public places.

It is now open to those whose names do not appear on the list to claim to be registered, or for electors to object—this, I think, is the point—to the inclusion in the lists of persons whom they believe to be unqualified. They have a period of one month for making such objections. In one constituency alone, I understand, more than 300 notices of objection have already been lodged. It does seem to me that the difficulty to which the hon. Lady has referred may well be overcome by the alertness of the electorate itself.

On the other hand, the hon. Lady has raised a point regarding the action and attitude of the registration officers which clearly deserves study. I will most certainly make inquiries into it, and if she wishes, I will let her know the outcome of my inquiries.

Nomination day for candidates has been fixed for 1st July. The intention is that polling shall take place on 21st July, as was originally planned. Perhaps I should say in passing that in spite of what I have just said about registration and the point that the hon. Lady raised, all those concerned with this matter in Zanzibar are to be commended for the expedition and general smoothness with which they have introduced to an inexperienced electorate what is to them a novel feature of democratic life.

There is much that I could and would like to tell the House about Zanzibar, but in the short time that remains I had better concentrate on the points that the hon. Lady raised, particularly with regard to education. She contrasted the nine-year primary course in Zanzibar with the eight-year course on the mainland, and suggested that the educational system required scrutiny.

The reason for the longer course in Zanzibar is that the first year of education is taken up with instruction in the Koran in response to the sentiments of a Muslim community. The remaining eight years form a unified, primary course for all children undergoing education; whereas in the mainland territories —they are perhaps less fortunate in this —the first eight years of instruction are divided into primary and intermediate courses, with a reduction in the numbers of children at school in the intermediate stage.

Thus, Zanzibar children who do not proceed to a secondary school will have had the advantage of continued schooling to the age of 15. That can be considered as generally satisfactory. When the efforts of the Education Department to improve the standard of teaching and expand secondary education have been successful, this eight-year course may be compressed into seven years, and those for whom places can be found in secondary schools and who are judged capable of benefiting from secondary education will begin that after the seventh year of schooling.

We must, of course, not forget that the Zanzibar child has the formidable task of studying three languages: English, to give him contact with the wider world; Arabic, mainly for religious reasons; and Swahili, which is the day-to-day language of the people.

As regards higher education, the cost of maintaining a student at Makerere was thought at one time to be disproportionate in the case of Zanzibar, but the basis on which Zanzibar contributes has been changed since 1956. The present cost is less than £500 per annum for a student, and may shortly he reduced still further.

The criticism of the cost of education at the Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education is perhaps a little more justified. Forty-two students from Zanzibar have so far completed training there but none of these has yet completed the additional two years' practical training necessary for employment other than as an apprentice with the Zanzibar Government. In view, however, of the expense and doubtful value of these courses to Zanzibar the number of students being sent annually has already been very much reduced. It does seem likely that the future of the Mombasa Institute, which is being taken over by the Kenya Government, will lie much more in association with the Arab secondary school in Mombasa.

With regard to the suggestion that too much money has been spent on sending people on expensive short courses, I can say that 51 students—perhaps these figures may help the hon. Lady—from Zanzibar are now being supported on academic or professional courses overseas for two years or more, one is doing a teacher-training course for one year and three are doing courses of less than one year. Comparative expenditure in 1957 on long and short courses will be approximately £34,000 and £2,200 respectively.

My right hon. Friend is not, however, fully satisfied that adequate provision is being made in Zanzibar and the surrounding area for Arabic and Muslim studies. He therefore arranged for a special mission, composed of Professor Serjeant, of the School of African Studies in the University of London—an eminent Arabic scholar—and Mr. Griffiths, of the Department of Education at the University of Oxford—who has had many years experience of teacher training in the Sudan—to carry out a three-month survey in the East African territories and Aden on the existing forms of instruction in Arabic and allied subjects, more especially Islamic law. The report of that mission is expected to be available shortly, and careful consideration will be given to the suggestions or recommendations which it may contain.

In the time which remains to me tonight, I should like to say a word about the matter referred to by the hon. Lady regarding the feeling in Zanzibar that too many posts were held by officers from overseas, the cost of whom was a heavy charge on the Zanzibar Budget. Recent increases in the number of posts held by officers from outside Zanzibar have been due mainly to the expansion of the education service and various technical services for which adequately qualified local candidates are not yet available. Since 1947, however, 48 Zanzibaris have been appointed to posts then held by overseas officers, or posts which would have been held by such officers, had they existed.

The present total establishment of officers from overseas to help in the development of a population of more than 250,000 is 166. There are more than 4,000 posts held by Zanzibaris. All vacancies are locally advertised if local candidates are likely to be forthcoming, and officers from overseas are appointed only if no suitable local candidate comes forward.

The hon. Lady mentioned a criticism in Zanzibar that overseas officers do not stay long enough and referred particularly to the directors of education. I have had a look at that matter and find that of the recent directors one was released at the request of my right hon. Friend to assist with the development of the Mombasa Institute and one other, unfortunately, was obliged to retire through health and family reasons. None the less, I can assure the people of Zanzibar that the Secretary of State is fully aware of the desirability of continuity in service.

Finally, I should like to say a word about the Kadis' courts. I understand that appeals from the Sultan's court lie to the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa, as the hon. Lady said. I think that litigants in Zanzibar can rely on Her Majesty's judges in the Court of Appeal to dispense sound justice. It may perhaps take a little longer for a judge who is not particularly versed in Muslim law, but although the time taken may be a little longer, his judgment on that account will most certainly not be less effective.

I hope that I have been able to answer the majority of the points raised by the hon. Lady. I assure her that I shall read with great interest the points which she made in her speech and that my right hon. Friend is just as interested in Zanzibar and some of these smaller territories as he is in those which perhaps get more limelight from time to time. I am glad that the hon. Lady has seen fit to give us the opportunity of discussing this matter. I think that some of the answers which I have given will go further than this House and, perhaps, to the ears of those who live in Zanzibar, who love it, and are devoted to the problems which they have to face and are trying to face them in a way which will improve the status of those who live in the territory.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-eight minutes past Ten o'clock.