Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania’s second president and the man who started the clear-up of Julius Nyerere’s failed socialist economic policies, once said his own reforms had “opened the windows for fresh air to come in”. But the president, who ruled from 1985 to 1995, added: “Along with fresh air come flies, mosquitoes and other insects.”

Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania’s new leader, recalled the comment in his first policy speech at the end of 2005 and said his own predecessor, Benjamin Mkapa, had “dealt with the flies and mosquitoes” by achieving macroeconomic stability, introducing fiscal discipline, and repairing relations with international donors. Mr Kikwete inherited a country geared up to breathing the oxygen of liberalism and achieving the three main goals of his party’s 2005 election manifesto: modernising the economy, making more Tanzanians part of it, and reducing poverty.