Francis Nyalali
Francis Lucas Nyalali (3 February 1935 - 2 April 2003) was Chief Justice of Tanzania who promoted easy access to Justice, Rule of law, Constitutionalism, and Human rights. He served as the Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania 1977-2000, a total of 23 years; to date, he remains the longest serving Chief Justice in not only Tanzania but also the Commonwealth countries where an average serving time for a Chief Justice is 3.6 years.
Francis Lucas Nyalali | |
|---|---|
| 4th Chief Justice of Tanzania | |
| In office 1977–2000 | |
| President | Julius Nyerere |
| Preceded by | Augustine Saidi |
| Succeeded by | Barnabas Samatta |
| Chairman of the Nyalali Commission In Office 1991- 2002 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 3, 1935 Kasubuya, Mwanza, Tanganyika Territory |
| Died | April 2, 2002 (aged 67) Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
Early life
Francis Nyalali was born 3 February 1935 in Kasubuya Village, Rural Mwanza District, Mwanza Region in Tanzania to Lucas Isangi, his father, and his mother, Salome Madia. He was named Francis after baptism in a Catholic Church. Francis, famously known as ‘Nyalali’, was the only child to his mother. The name ‘Nyalali’ is neither his birth name nor original surname, however, it is a name that was used by people to refer to him since he was young, eventually he took it up as his official surname. Nyalali is derived from a Kisukuma word “Kanyalali” which means “one with a beautiful face”; the people in his community referred to him as Kanyalali and later Nyalali due to his attractive features since he was a child.
Salome Madia, Nyalali’s mother was unable to conceive any other children after Francis, this led to a divorce between the parents since the culture at that time considered families with many children as superior and with a better chance at life than those with few or no children. Following the divorce of his parents, Nyalali lived with his mother who taught him more of his faith as a Catholic, Salome was known for her commitment and would recite the rosary for up to six times a day. Nyalali’s father married another wife and had more children but his mother never remarried, she remained a small-scale farmer, and later a traditional midwife, roles she performed until she was elderly. Salome Madia passed away 04th March, 2002 in Dar es salaam where she was buried. Nyalali had a very close relationship with his mother, according to his wife, Loyce Phares, “it was a very unique kind of love. Even God blessed that love; they were buried next to each other, coincidentally”.
Born to ‘Wasukuma’, the culture and traditions during that time involved young boys taking care of livestock; having a large herd of livestock like cows and sheep was considered wealthiness. Therefore, as a young boy, Nyalali was taught how to be a shepherd and he took care of his grandparent’s livestock. It was during that same time that foreign education and schools were being introduced in Tanzania by the British missionaries. Though he was at the right age to attend school, the conflicting views of the foreign education among his caregivers delayed the process. The British missionaries were promoting formal education and they had identified children they wanted to provide this education to, Francis Nyalali was among those selected. His mother had embraced the Catholic faith and was keen for her only child to gain the education provided by the missionaries, she believed it would result in success for Nyalali. On the other hand, Nyalali’s father and grandparents strongly disagreed; they believed the proper way was the traditional method of oral education through stories and narration of events by older members of society, livestock keeping, and knowledge of traditional herbal medicines that Wasukuma are good at. However, after a few years, Nyalali’s mother was finally able to convince his father and grandparents to allow him to go to school; Nyalali began his education when he was relatively older (11 years old) than most children.
Education
Francis Nyalali began his primary school education at Misungwi primary school, in Sengerema District, Mwanza region. The colonial education provided in schools at that time insisted on English speaking, and a European way of life, it also based the knowledge in a European and American context, creating a conflict with the reality of the students it was provided to. This foreign education, language, and culture conflicted with the traditional Wasukuma and Tanganyika education, languages, and culture; creating a clear division between the formally and informally educated, making it difficult for many students to continue with school. However, despite this challenge, Nyalali stayed in school and due to his intellectual capabilities, he was moved to a class higher than he was supposed to. After grade 1, he was moved to grade 3 instead of 2. He continued to excel in his studies and was finally able to get to university.
At Misungwi primary school, Francis Nyalali was known for his gentleness, this behavior led to him being nicknamed ‘the sheep’. After, he joined Bwiru Boys Secondary School 1951 - 1954, where he was known for his sportsmanship and readiness to help others. Nyalali was a member of the Bwiru swimming team and a leader of the Mwanza District Swim Team at the time. He completed his secondary education successfully as the first (highest performing) student in Mwanza region and later joined Tabora Boys High School 1955 - 1957. At Tabora High School, he was known for his debating skills resulting in him being elected as the Chairman of the Tabora School Debating Society.
Nyalali went to Makerere University in Uganda where he majored in History graduating with an Honours Degree in History in 1962. During his time at Makerere he was elected as the ‘President of the Students’ Guild’ 1960 - 1961, as the second non-Ugandan to become university president at the time. Apart from his leadership skills, his resemblance to a traditional Chief of Buganda at the time, Kabaka Mutesa II, also made him a preferred candidate. The resemblance with the Chief Kabaka was such that some security officers mistake him for the Chief and salute him as he walks by. After the completion of his degree from Makerere, Nyalali went to the UK (United Kingdom) where he studied law and graduated in 1965 as a member of the Lincoln Inn.
Throughout his education career, Nyalali was selected for various leadership positions; at Misungwi he was “Bwana Afya”, a position that concerns taking care of the hygienic conditions of the school and ensuring the welfare of others. At Bwiru he was elected ‘Senior Student’ (headboy of his cohort), throughout his four years there, he was also captain of the swimming team. At Tabora High School, Nyalali was elected prefect for one year, and Chairman of the debating society for two years. His attributes of honesty, empathy, readiness to help others, and commitment to excellence made him a good leader even at that young age.
Family
Despite his duties as Chief Justice being demanding, Francis Nyalali is still described as a ‘family man’. Nyalali was married to Loyce Phares Nyangasi, 26 April 1946 - present, in 1968. Nyalali met Loyce while serving as a magistrate in Musoma region after four of his friends proposed her at different occasions. Francis had informed his close friends at the time that he was looking for a wife and being residents of Musoma, they all recommended that he meet Loyce who was studying to be a teacher at Morogoro’s Teachers College. In 1966, after Loyce graduated, all the necessary traditional arrangements were made including dowry and formal proposal to families; they got married in 1968 until the death of Nyalali in 2003. Whenever asked about her late husband, Loyce always describes him as a loving husband, selfless, a true partner, a teacher and an inspiration in words and actions.
Loyce and Nyalali have four children, Emmanuel ‘Kijana’ Nyalali, Karoli Magero Nyalali, Victor ‘Bahati’ Nyalali, and Bernadetta ‘Lulu’ Nyalali Nyalali was a devoted Catholic.
Career
Francis Nyalali began his career as a Resident Magistrate in Musoma District Court in 1966. At first, he was reluctant about being assigned to Musoma because the people of that region were known to be ‘difficult’ but with time he grew to love them for their honesty. There was a challenge of dissatisfaction of the proceedings of the court, many cases were dismissed or delayed due to lack of evidence or the witnesses not showing up. This made Nyalali do research about the cause of the problem, he later found out that most people cannot afford coming all the way to town for a hearing so he did the revolutionary act of bringing the court to the people so as to improve access to justice in the region. He did this by scheduling hearings of cases in different villages resulting in a mobile court.
Nyalali was later moved to Tabora where he continued to practice his innovative approach, the mobile court system, however, some of the Magistrates and Judges were against the idea and tried to stop him but the Chief Justice at the time, Philip Telford Georges, allowed him to continue with that approach. A few years later he was transferred to Mzumbe University to be a lecturer. Nyalali was unhappy with this transfer, he thought it was because of the opposition in Tabora that he was now being sent to teach; Mzumbe at the time was perceived as a ‘punishment’ for judges. However, there too, Nyalali brought innovative solutions to the curriculum by introducing more of Kiswahili in his teaching, for him, it was important that the primary court magistrates learn to think and speak in Kiswahili because the cases in court were heard in Kiswahili and not English which was the language of the Syllabus at the time.
Not long after, Nyalali was moved to Bukoba as a Resident Magistrate, after a challenge of having too many pending cases in the region, the people of Bukoba loved cases in court so they opened so many, there was a case for anything they could possibly bring to court. To combat the challenge Nyalali introduced a court shift system to maximize the number of cases heard but the more cases solved resulted in even more cases opened. Therefore, Nyalali started implementing the law that assign Fines to the people who waste the system’s resources by bringing frivolous cases that they could easily solve at lower levels like family, ten-house representative’s office or even village council, to court. This solved the problem, increased efficiency of the court and decentralized conflict-solving responsibilities to other governing bodies.
In 1971, Nyalali was elected to the Permanent Labour Tribunal as a Chairperson, this was in view of his principles and innovative approaches to the justice system thus far; the tribunal faced internal conflict that made it impossible for it to fulfill its duties. He successfully resolved the issues and stayed the Chairperson of the Permanent Labour Tribunal 1971 -1974. Nyalali was then appointed a High Court Judge in Arusha in 1974. However, the judiciary system throughout East Africa at the time was in decline, its legitimacy continuously decreased and the public dissatisfaction with the system, especially the courts, increased. The main cause for the decline was dis-coordination among the ruling bodies consequently leading to the Judiciary being challenged by the Executive and Legislative authorities in various ways, further provoking the public dissatisfaction with the court. In response, a Judicial System Review Commission was set up and reported in 1977.
Nyalali had decided to step down as a Judge and take up a position with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva in 1977. However, as he was preparing to leave, he was summoned by the President at the time, Mwl. Julius Nyerere, who requested him to stay on as the Chief Justice of Tanzania. It was a difficult choice, his wife and children were already set for Geneva, the salary and work environment would be better there, but he reflected and thought back to his college days when he was committed to serving his country and bringing about change in the judiciary and decided to stay. He was Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania for 23 years, 1977-2000. Nyalali was preceded by Chief Justice Augustine Saidi, 1971-1977, and succeeded by Chief Justice Barnabas A. Samatta, 2000-2007.
