IN every generation, the youth stand at a crossroads: one path leading towards construction, creativity and progress; the other towards disillusionment, disorder and decline. For Tanzania, a nation founded on ideals of unity, justice and collective responsibility, the role of young people has always been central to the national project.
Today, as social tensions, economic frustrations and digital mobilisation shape the behaviour of young citizens, it is vital to reflect on what nation-building truly requires and why the youth must resist the lure of destructive demonstrations and unlawful acts. Tanzania is a young nation not only historically but demographically.
Over 60 per cent of its population is under 35. This demographic reality represents both an opportunity and a challenge. With energy, ideas, digital fluency and resilience, the youth hold the potential to accelerate innovation, drive economic growth, and strengthen democratic institutions.
Yet the same attributes, when channelled through anger, misinformation, or manipulation, can destabilise the very foundations that generations fought to establish. Youth activism is important; it has shaped political landscapes globally. But the key question is: what form should youth involvement take in a peaceful, developing nation like Tanzania?
From Independence to Ujamaa:
The Founders’ Vision To appreciate the contemporary role of youth, one must revisit the early days of the Republic, when Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere and Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume mobilised men and women across all ages to build a unified country out of colonial fragmentation.
After independence, the government placed youth at the heart of national development. Through the National Youth Service (JKT), young Tanzanians were not only taught vocational skills but also imbued with discipline, patriotism and a spirit of service. The idea was simple: a nation cannot be built by spectators.
It requires participation rooted in a sense of ownership and responsibility. During the ujamaa village-building campaigns of the late 1960s and early 1970s, young volunteers played a vital role in constructing schools, health centres and irrigation schemes.
They walked long distances, worked with minimal resources and engaged communities with a shared purpose, showing that youth energy, when channelled constructively, becomes a backbone of progress. On the Isles, President Karume implemented similar ideals.
After the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964, he championed reforms in land redistribution, education and health. Many of these reforms relied heavily on youth engagement. Young men and women participated in literacy campaigns, agricultural cooperatives and community-building projects that laid the groundwork for modern Zanzibar.
Karume often reminded young Zanzibaris that revolution was not an event but a continuous process. Its success depended on responsible citizens, not unruly mobs. Stability, he argued, was the foundation upon which opportunities could be built for generations to come.
This historical context matters because it demonstrates that Tanzanian youth have never been passive observers. They have always been essential contributors to shaping national identity and development.
Today’s youth experience challenges vastly different from those of the independence era. Unemployment, rising cost of living, rapid social change and digital pressures often leave many feeling unheard or impatient.
In such contexts, demonstrations, sometimes peaceful, often not appear to offer an outlet. Yet when demonstrations turn violent, the consequences are severe: destruction of property, economic disruption, loss of life and long-lasting wounds in national cohesion.
Tanzania, blessed with decades of peace in a volatile region, must treat this stability as a priceless inheritance. It is important to distinguish between legitimate civic expression and destructive behaviour.
Peaceful protests are a democratic right. But when demonstrations turn unlawful, fuelled by vandalism, intimidation, or politically manipulated chaos, they cease to be expressions of citizenship and become threats to the state and society.
Why youth must reject destructive pathways
Destruction undermines the rights of the very citizens claiming to speak for change. When infrastructure is destroyed; roads burned, shops looted, public offices vandalised, who suffers most?
Ordinary citizens: mothers seeking healthcare, students attending school, small businesses relying on daily trade. Violence rarely affects the powerful; its victims are usually the powerless. A damaged reputation costs the youth future opportunities. In a globalised world, investment depends on perceptions of stability. Investors choose countries where young people are seen as innovators, not insurgents.
Destructive demonstrations risk branding an entire generation as hostile to progress, closing doors that young Tanzanians need open. The nation’s hard-won unity is fragile. Mwalimu Nyerere famously declared that “without unity, there is no future for this country.”
Tanzania’s peace is not accidental; it is the product of deliberate nation-building choices, including the promotion of Kiswahili as a unifying language and the rejection of ethnic politics. Violent acts, particularly those fanned through social media misinformation, can fracture this unity quickly.
Violence benefits political actors, not the youth. History, globally and locally, shows that when young people are drawn into unlawful activities, they are often exploited as foot soldiers while political elites negotiate or retreat.
The youth bear the consequences (arrests, injuries, lost opportunities), while those who incited them move on. What the country needs from its youth Instead of destructive pathways, Tanzania needs youth engagement that aligns with national interests. This includes: innovation and entrepreneurship.
Thus, Tanzania is experiencing an emerging tech and creative economy. Young people are founding start-ups, digital service companies, entertainment brands and mobile enterprises. These sectors create jobs and new solutions, exactly what Nyerere envisioned when he spoke of “developing the mind and capability of every citizen.” Tanzania youth should offer community service and volunteerism.
Reviving the spirit of JKT does not require government compulsion. Community-led clean-ups, education tutoring initiatives, climate-action projects and skill-sharing workshops are ways the youth can show leadership from below. Importantly, youth should advocate for constructive political participation.
Youth voices are essential in shaping public policy, but such participation must be informed, peaceful and strategic. Engagement through forums, political parties, student organisations and digital advocacy, grounded in fact and civility, can influence decision-makers without resorting to chaos.
Tanzanian youth are custodians of a cultural identity admired across Africa. Promoting arts, music, sports and Kiswahili strengthens the national brand and enhances unity.
The stories of Nyerere and Karume remind the nation’s youth that nationbuilding is difficult, continuous and collective. They built a stable, united Tanzania not through anger but through dialogue, discipline, and shared sacrifice. They encouraged the youth not to wait for perfect conditions but to shape the country with their own hands. Today’s generation stands on the shoulders of those efforts.
The schools they attend, the peace they enjoy and the identity they carry as Watanzania are not coincidences, they are an inheritance. And with inheritance comes responsibility. Tanzania needs the courage, creativity and idealism of its youth, but not in the form of stones thrown, streets blocked, or institutions burned.
The nation needs young people who question, innovate, debate, challenge and organise, yet remain committed to peace, order and progress. In the words of Mwalimu Nyerere: “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. But tomorrow’s leadership demands preparation today.”
Preparation does not come through chaos. It comes through education, discipline, constructive engagement and a genuine desire to serve the nation. Tanzania’s future will be shaped by its young people, whether for better or for worse. The choice, now more than ever, lies in their hands.