Bandali Alarakhia

"As this discussion has shown, the building project was designed and spearheaded by British inhabitants of Zanzibar. Fragments of evidence, however, indicate how a wider range of Zanzibar’s inhabitants was involved during the building process. European officers were invariably preferred by the Government to supervise and oversee major projects. This was made abundantly clear after the delay caused by the collapse, when Bandali Allarakhia Contractor, an Indian builder, wrote to Sinclair offering his services: Tt grieves my heart to see that such an important memorial should be thus left unattended owing to the lack of a skilful supervisor. I shall be willing to accept anything as my wages to supervise this erection which Your Excellency may deem fit. I am even willing to offer my free services to this noble work’.109 Sinclair instructed his Private Secretaiy to reply thanking Contractor for his offer and to explain that he was unable to accept ‘in view of the fact that Government has only agreed to the completion of this work in condition that European supervision is employed’.110

Quoted in "Cracks in the Dome: Fractured Histories of Empire in the Zanzibar Museum ...By Dr Sarah Longair" regarding the rebuilding of the Zanzibar Museum in 1925.