In conclusion the adviser noted the rooms were badly main-
tained and dirty; that the standard of food was deteriorating; that
prices were too high compared to the Nairobi Hilton and that
while the Tanzanian staff were willing and cheerful, service was
poor due to inadequate supervision. ‘It is a hotel which is being
run on a shoestring as though the operator were anxious to
squeeze the maximum out before the competition gets too strong.’
The fact that Mlonot made profits while the hotel and the
Government made losses did not pass un-noticed. As early as
December 1970 the Government was reported to be trying to
renegotiate the agreement.

A little progress was made in recruiting Tanzanians into top
management positions. However, their training (rubbing elbows
with the expatriates?) did not make them polular with the
workers. On 4th April 1972 two of them, Mr. Micky Mdoe the
Assistant General Manager and Mr. A.T. Gondwe the Reception
Manager were accused by the workers of favouritism and of
using abusive language, and there was a five-hour strike in which
the workers were demanding the suspension of the two Tan-
zanians and one expatriate. A few days later the attempt of the
Milonot management to exchange the three officials with three
from the Africana brought the Africana to a standstill for twenty
hours. The TANU Chairman at the Kilimanjaro, Mr. Hemedi
Saidi, accused the management of failure to recognise or work
with either the workers’ Committee or the TANU Branch, while
the Chairman of the Africana Workers’ Committee, Mr. Zyambo
said that the proposed transfer of the officials had not been
discussed by the Workers’ Committee. Mr. Zyambo indicated that
the workers were well aware of the abuses between the Kiliman-
jaro and the Africana by showing his employment card stamped
‘Kilimanjaro Hotel’. He claimed that the majority of the Africana
workers were in fact employees of the Kilimanjaro. Mr. Saidi got
so angry that he told the Assistant Commissioner for Labour that
had it been possible he would have asked the President of TANU
to ask all members of the Party to contribute 50 cents each to pay
off the outstanding amount of money Tanzania owes to the
Israelis ‘rather than be abused like animals in our own country’.*

Mr. Saidi's prayer was answered on 6th October 1972 when the
Government announced termination of the management
agreement with Milonot, and that the Tanzania Tourist

101