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230 Chapter 9
African extended family as it helps us to think differently about the basis for
ethics:
The extended family system constitutes a social security scheme, which has the
advantage of following the natural pattern of personal relationships rather than
being the responsibility of an institution. It also provides for richness in
knowledge and experiences for those fortunate enough to be part of it. Granted,
I have been describing the character of small-scale societies and it could be argued
that such a system would not work where hundreds of thousands of people are
gathered together in cities or towns. But the attitudes to human beings, which I
have set out, are not solely a function of social organisation. They are now part of
the African psychology. I am deeply concerned with this high valuation of Man
and respect for human dignity, which is our legacy. Our tradition should not be
lost in the new Africa, however ‘modern’ and ‘advanced’ in a Western sense the
new nations of Africa will become. We are fiercely determined that this
humanism will not be obscured. African humanism has always been Man
centered. We intend that it remain so. 12
Julius Nyerere echoes Kaunda in his summation of the Arusha
Declaration; the Arusha Declaration is also a commitment to a particular
quality of life. It is based on the assumption of human equality, on the belief
that it is wrong for one man to dominate or exploit another and on the
knowledge that every individual hopes to live in a society as a free man to
lead a decent life in conditions of peace with his neighbors. The Declaration,
in other words, is Man-centered. Inherent in the Arusha Declaration, therefore,
is a rejection of the concept of national grandeur, as distinct from the wellbeing
of its citizens, and a rejection too of material wealth for its own sake. It
is a commitment to the belief that there are more important things in life than
amassing riches, and that if the pursuit of wealth clashes with things like
human dignity and social equality, then the latter will be given priority. 13
Kaunda further argues that there are three key social virtues that are crucial
to African humanism: mutuality, acceptance and inclusiveness. The intrinsic
worth of a human being, which justifies an egalitarian ethic, is not based, as it
is in Kant, in that being’s potential to act in accordance with the dictates of
reason. Nor is the worth of a human being derived from his of her actual
achievements. As Kaunda emphasises:
The success-failure complex seems to be a disease of the age of individualism –
the result of a society conditioned by the diploma, the examination, and the
selection procedure. In the best tribal society people were valued not for what
they could achieve but because they were there. Their contribution, however
limited to the material welfare of the village was acceptable, but it was their
presence, not their achievement which was appreciated. 14
12 K Kaunda A humanist in Africa (1976). 22.
13
J Nyerere ‘The purpose is man’ in J Nyerere Uhura na Ujamaa (1968) 316.
14 Nyerere (n 13 above) 26.