Dar wiping out colonial history
(A man walking past Forodhani building in Dar es salaam, the buiding is said to be due for demolition Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
The building overlooks Dar es Salaam harbour - a building that now houses the Appeal Court of Tanzania is due for the builders hammer anytime. The public, however, will have none of this demolition deal.The Swiss-owned Kilimanjaro Kempinski hotel bought the old edifice just when it was seeking to sell to Hyatt Hotels of USA, a move that has led many to think the Kempinski hotel bought the prime property to increase it sale value of the Kilimanjaro.
The Tanzania Architects Association and the National Assembly aren't pleased by the sale of the historical building, and the Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Ms Celina Kombani has denied of any such demolition plan.
The Minister assured the public last week in Dodoma that the former Forodhani Hotel which houses the Tanzania Court of Appeal in Dar es Salaam has not been sold, but there are negotiations between the Government and the Kempinski hotel on development of the historic structure.
Every person has a history, and that applies to buildings too. In Tanzania, during the colonial period and soon after independence there was a trend that required every constructed building to be dated so that the public can know when such structure was erected.
(Vehicles packed around Forodhani building in Dar es salaam, the buiding is said to have beein sold to an investor and is due for demolition Photo by Kenan Kalagho)
It was one way through which a country wanted to record its history so that generations to come should have the knowledge and appreciation about the good things that were done by their forefathers.No wonder, if you walk in Dar es Salaam City Centre you see quite a few old buildings that date back to the early colonial period way back from 1850's, identifiable by their architecture of the era they were built in. Most of these buildings were built by the German colonialists.
Some of the magnificent old buildings in Dar include the Ocean Road Hospital which was built in 1897, the Luther House along the Kivukoni area in 1897-1903 overlooking Dar Harbour, the jail house at the junction of Morogoro/Sokine Drive, the buildings next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Court - all near the Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel along the Kivukoni Road. Several others along the sea-side such as those being used by the Prison Department, the Commercial Court of the High Court of Tanzania, the department of Land and Survey, and the Bureau of Statistics - all overlooking Dar Harbour - they were all built in the 1880's - are a few buildings that carry the city's history.
There is another, the Aryansamaji building along Morogoro road in Dar's City Centre near the old bus depot that was built in 1911. It is today one hundred years old and when buildings reach such a period of a century, like the demolished Salamander building along Samora Street which till its demolition in 2008, was 106 years old, officials from the office of conservation of antiquities in Dar es salaam say they become internationally recognised as preserved buildings.
Like this building around Morogoro road, and those along the Kivukoni area including the soon to be demolished Forodhani building that currently houses the Court of Appeal, these buildings needs to be preserved for the sake of Tanzania's country's history, but alas for the Forodhani building, the Government is in the process of demolishing after selling it to the Swiss-based Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel. It did so just when the Kempinski was preparing to sell the real estate to the US Hyatt hotels.
These old buildings help Tanzanians to know where they came from, where they are and where they are going. They tell Tanzanians and visitors about the kind of persons we were years back, our social and political history.
Their structural designs is of great importance, tourists who come to Dar aren't really interested in the modern high-rise glass structures - they have taller ones in their own countries - no matter the beauty or expensiveness in construction they might have cost, they carry with them no worthwhile history at present.
These old buildings on the other hand carry the pride of Tanzania, they carry with them the political and social history and tell Tanzanians who we are today because from these buildings people know about our past.
In other countries there is a trend that differentiates the current from structures being built and the old ones. Thus, these countries have let the old be old and new cities to be new. Old cities consist mainly of old structures and preserve their history. Malawi is one amongst countries observing this trend. One will always come across the new town and the old town or the new city and the old city if he makes a tour of a country.
On entering Malawi from Mbeya in Tanzania one come upon a sign post as soon as one gets to Malawi's northern town of Karonga reading: "You are now entering Karonga old town" and one is sure to find another which reads, "You are now entering Karonga new town" as you progress.
In the capital city Lilongwe one experiences the same, there is the old city located some five kilometres apart from the new city. That is what is called city planning and that is how a country with a vision and focus of the future, that wants to leave the legacy of its predecessor to see their deeds, does.
Old buildings carry the same symbol just like the replica of the famous New York city Statue of Liberty or one could speak of the "Askari Monument" at the Samora street/Azikiwe street roundabout in Dar es Salaam with its clearly written words saying, "This is a memory of the Native African troops who fought, to the carriers who were the feet and hands of the army and to all other men who served and died for their King and country in East Africa in the great War of 1914-1918, If you fight for your country even if you die your son will remember your name". I ask myself where are these sons to protect the structures which they left to us as a memorial when these very same sons are pulling their memories down.
Dar es Salaam has many historical buildings but all these buildings with a history need to be preserved and dutifully protected, that is what officials from the office of the conservation of antiquities in Dar es Salaam say.
"We should never allow these structures to be sold to investors in the way the Forodhani Hotel building has been sold to Kilimanjaro Hyatt Regency because such a trend will destroy our history". The Parliament too has expressed concern over the deal that looks sealed but some officials claim the sale is done and sealed. The Forodhani building as it is well known has a very long history that dates back from the German colonial era, when it was used as a hotel club and politicians, that is where they socialized while gazing at ships and dhows ply in and out of the Dar harbour bay.
Upon the defeat of the Germans, British troops continued to use the building using it as residence for the Governor of the British colony- Tanganyika. There was at the time, a kitchen, a store room and a bedroom for the British Governor as well as other facilities of the hotel.An official from the Department of Antiquities in Dar es Salaam who preferred anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said part of Forodhani area was initially sold to the Sukari plantations and the Zambia government which had to erect its embassy building.
At independence the British Governor handed the building over to the Government of Tanzania. In the initial years, almost 50 years ago, the building was turned into the first tourism training institute.
The official from the office of conservation of antiquities further says that the college thereafter given to High Court of Tanzania which renovated the building to house the Court of Appeal.
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