Benjamin William Mkapa- A Life Well Lived.
In the early ours of July 24th, President Magufuli announced to the nation the death of President Benjamin William Mkapa, the 3rd president and first to be elected in a multiparty election. An untimely passing of a man who was riding the high of new public popularity and a second act in his life as an elder statesman after the publication of his book My Life, My Purpose.
I was born in 1989 and thus President Mkapa was the first president I ever got to experience with my mind aware of my surroundings. My earliest memory of him was of the late president, clad in black attire, announcing to the nation the death of Mwalimu Nyerere, the first president and father of the nation. In deed President Mkapa was a student of Mwalimu Nyerere having been mentored by him and fondly called Mr. Clean by him during his campaign for the presidency in 1995. In his open remarks of his memoir he writes: To my parents, William and Stephania, The Father of our Nation, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, and those others who know they have inspired me.
He was born at a Catholic mission hospital in Ndanda, November 12, 1938. His father had three dreams for him, for him to become a priest, a doctor or if all else fails, a teacher. He himself at first wanted to be a policeman. He was the first of his family to attend grades 11 & 12, which he did at St. Francis College (now Pugu), at that time a school for academically gifted pupils, coincidentally the same school his mentor taught before going into politics full time. President Mkapa proceeded to go to university and graduated from Makerere University in Uganda in 1962 with a degree in English. He subsequently took his master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
President Mkapa was hired by the Foreign Service as a foreign service officer grade 3 in 1963 where he worked on the African desk and from time to time as assistant to then foreign minister Oscar Kambona (My Life, My Purpose, pg 46). In mid 1966 he was appointed as the managing editor of The Nationalist, which was TANU’s English language newspaper My Life, My Purpose, pg 55). In 1974 he was appointed Mwalimu Nyerere’s press secretary (My Life, My Purpose, pg 70), a job he held for two years and was his first job within the executive branch of government. In 1976 he was appointed as Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Nigeria tasked with restoring relations between the two countries after Mwalimu had supported the secession of Biafra from Nigeria My Life, My Purpose, pg 71).
Mkapa’s true political journey begun in February 1977 when he was appointed minister of foreign affairs. In the same year he was nominated as member of parliament through the cooperatives wing of the party. In 1985 he was elected member of parliament for Nanyumbu constituency, a post he held until he was elected president in 1996. Other posts he had held included High Commisioner to Canada, Ambassador to the United States, minister of information and culture, minister of science, technology and higher education and ofcourse minister of foreign affairs on two occassions for both Mwalimu Nyerere and President Ali Hassan Mwinyi.
President Mkapa expressed his reasons for seeking the presidency in 1995. First reason he gave was the souring relationship between party/government and the co-operative movement, second was the trade unions and their dissatisfaction with the government, third was weakening bilateral relations especially with donor partners, and fourth was Tanzania’s relationship with international financial institutions (My Life, My Purpose, pg 105). He was nominated by CCM as its presidential candidate and he recieved 61% of the vote versus his primary opponent Mrema who recieved 27%. He was sworn in as the 3rd president of our republic on Novemeber 23, 1995. The next day after his first briefing as president he had a realization that should be in the heads of every individual seeking the highest office in the land. He said, “You don’t appreciate the gravity of the problems facing a country until you are the one who has the power to make the ultimate decisions.” My Life, My Purpose, pg 114).
His time in office is well documented thus I will leave the readers with the task of researching on it. May I just say that President Mkapa made an incredible transition from president to an elder statesman and his contributions to our country and his legacy are cemented in our history. I urge everyone who can, to read his autobiography and learn about a man who for better or for worse has left an undeniable mark in our lives.
Thomas Joel. Kibwana
