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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Governance, Local Politics and Districtization in Tanzania: The 1998 Arumeru Tax Revolt
Author:Kelsall, TimISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:99
Issue:397
Period:October
Pages:533-551
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:rebellions
1998
taxation
Politics and Government
Economics and Trade
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/723315
Abstract:The subject of this article is a tax revolt which centred in the west of Arumeru district, northeast Tanzania, in the first half of 1998. The most dramatic events in the dispute included the refusal of almost the entire population of the district to pay the development levy, the beating up of Council tax collectors, the burning of the Council Chairman's house and his subsequent resignation, a march by as many as 15,000 people on the Regional Headquarters in Arusha, the intervention of the Prime Minister, the spread of the dispute to other districts, and a subsequent tour of Arumeru by President Mkapa, who urged, among other things, a more speedy redistribution of estate land to villagers. The article analyses the course of the revolt, arguing that it was heavily conditioned by elite interests, and should not therefore be taken as evidence of the kind of popular empowerment compatible with the aspirations of governance theorists. The revolt is explained as an instance of the 'districtization' of Tanzanian politics, a phenomenon with important implications for future accountability and stability in the country. Notes, ref., sum.
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