About Company
History of the Nation Building Army
The history of the establishment of JKT begins in 1958 during the visit of national leaders to Ghana, where the Father of the Nation Mwl. Nyerere and Hon. Rashid Kawawa (Simba wa Vita) went to attend the celebrations to celebrate one year of the country’s independence.
While in the country, Hon. Kawawa was invited to dinner with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Ms. Golda Meir.
Hon. Kawawa had the opportunity to speak with the leader, who explained how the State of Israel prepares its youth to serve their nation with a patriotic spirit.
‘Lion of War’ was impressed by the information given by Mrs. Meir, the type of procedure used by the State of Israel to gather and prepare young people for military service and later to perform other national duties with courage, patience, cooperation and discipline.
When he returned to the hotel where he and Mwalimu Nyerere, Hon. Kawawa told him about his conversation with Mrs. Meir, which attracted him and instructed him to work on it when they return to the country.
When they returned, Hon. Kawawa presented these ideas to the General Secretary of the TANU Youth Union (TYL), Joseph Kizurira Nyerere, assisted by Nangwanda Lawi Sijaona. The leaders agreed to these ideas and sent them to the General Meeting of TYL held in Tabora on August 25, 1958 to be discussed further by the members.
However, the TANU meeting failed to approve the establishment of the training, since Tanganyika was governed by the United Kingdom under the supervision of the United Nations (UNO). After the Independence of Tanganyika on December 9, 1961, the idea was presented for the second time at the General Meeting of TANU Youth on August 25, 1962 in Tabora.
The meeting decided to implement the idea of ​​officially establishing an institution to prepare the youth to build patriotism and national unity. The members of the session were Joseph Nyerere (MP and Secretary General TYL), Isack Malecela (Secretary General for Financial Affairs TYL), Moses Nnauye, HSJ Zingaro (Executive Secretary General TYL) and Major Yaffer Ben Amots of Israel (expert consultant for the program that).
After the meeting, proposals to establish an official national body to prepare young people to become patriots, were presented to the government and approved by the Council of Ministers in April 1963.
The government approved the body to be called the Nation Building Army under the Ministry of National Culture and Youth. The Ministry was led by Minister Nangwanda Sijaona (Chairman TYL), Joseph Nyerere (Deputy Minister and Secretary TYL) and Mzee Harubu Saidi (General Secretary of the Ministry).
On July 10, 1963, it was officially established without the enactment of sharia by the Tanganyika Parliament.