By APOLINARI TAIRO

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Since June this year, the 'Silent African Askari' statue in Dar es Salaam's city centre has been besieged by heavy road construction machinery, with many residents fearing it would be demolished.

Residents took to mainstream and social media to express their concerns about the safety of the iconic, historical monument at the junction of Azikiwe and Samora Avenues, which represents the Africans who fought alongside the British in Tanzania against the Germans in the First World War and is a popular site for visitors.

Among those who spoke out was Lusuga Kironde, a professor of land and urban economics in Tanzania, who wrote a newspaper article headlined "Why the iconic Askari Monument in Dar es Salaam shall not die".

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But now the worst is over, as the bulldozers, excavators and earthmovers of the Chinese construction company have moved on, leaving the Askari still standing, pointing his gun towards the Indian Ocean.

Sinohydro Corporation Ltd, the contractor for the Bus Rapid Transit Phase 3, has had to address public concerns with a banner stating that the monument will remain as a national historical landmark.

I visited the site where I was met by taxi drivers who expressed their initial concerns about the monument. I also found food and newspaper vendors who had also protested against the apparent threat to the statue.

“We get visitors from various places who hire our taxis for daylong or half-day tours of Dar es Salaam City. This monument is one of the places they visit. It is attractive to all, not only foreigners, and we want to see it remain untouched,” said Hassan Kombo, one of the drivers.

Regular visitors include conference delegates, students and holidaymakers.

“We were worried the excavators would pull it down,” said a newspaper vendor.

Such was the concern that the Tanzania National Roads Agency (Tanroads) had to go out to reassure the public that the monument would not be affected.

The statue has an interesting history. The Germans erected a statue of Major Herman von Weissmann, who crushed the Arab revolution in 1888, at Samora Avenue and Azikiwe Street, but it was pulled down after their defeat.

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The British replaced it with the present bronze African Askari, which was inaugurated in November 1927.

It was designed in Britain by James Alexander Stevenson and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts before being shipped to Dar es Salaam and installed in its present location.

The soldier faces the Indian Ocean, the direction from which British troops entered Dar es Salaam to fight the Germans on September 3, 1916.

Other Askari monuments in the region can be found in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.