Benjamin Mkapa, former president of Tanzania, delivered the keynote address at this year’s awards banquet on October 29
Benjamin W Mkapa, a seasoned journalist, diplomat and politician, was elected president of Tanzania in November 1995, the third president of the republic since independence in 1961.
On December 21 2005 Mkapa relinquished his powers voluntarily at the end of his two five-year terms in office. He continued to chair the ruling party until June 2006, when he voluntarily handed the party leadership over to his successor, President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.
Mkapa was born in 1938 in Masasi District, Mtwara region in the southern part of Tanzania. He completed his primary and secondary education in Tanzania and continued his studies at Makerere University College in Uganda, obtaining a bachelor of arts degree in English (with honours) in 1962.
In 1963 he completed a Special Course for Diplomats from Newly Independent States organised by the School of International Affairs, Columbia University, New York.
Mkapa’s career began in local administration in Dodoma, where he was appointed district officer in 1962. He joined the foreign service later that year.
In 1966 he embarked on a journalism career. During the 1960s and 1970s he was managing editor of Tanzania’s leading newspapers, The Nationalist, Uhuru, The Daily News and The Sunday News.
In 1974 he was appointed press secretary to the founding president of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.
He became the founding editor of the Tanzania News Agency in 1976 and was minister for information and culture from 1980 until 1982; later he was minister for information and broadcasting from 1990 to 1992. His diplomatic career included a number of high-ranking postings in Nigeria, Canada and the United States.
He returned home in 1984 and carried out various ministerial roles prior to being elected president in 1995 and chairperson of his party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (1996 to 2006).
Throughout his political career Mkapa worked to strengthen Tanzanian democracy, entrench civil rights and fight poverty, while increasing the country’s exposure to international trade and investment.
He was active in conflict resolution in the Great Lakes region of Africa and an active player in regional economic cooperation within the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community, of which he was chairperson for 2003-2004.
After retiring in early 2008 he was a member of the African Union Panel of Eminent Persons under the former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. The panel successfully reconciled opposing political parties in Kenya after over 1 000 people died in post-election conflicts.
In January 2002 he was appointed co-chair of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation. In March 2004 he was appointed one of the commissioners on the Commission for Africa, established by then-British prime minister Tony Blair.
Mkapa continues to be active in multiple roles both regionally and internationally. In 2005 he was a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons appointed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretary general to review and enhance the role of UNCTAD within the United Nations reforms.
He served in 2006 as a member of the high-level panel on UN Systemwide Coherence in Areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and Environment, appointed by the UN secretary general.
He holds eight honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the globe and in October 2007 the Jane Goodall Institute gave him the Global Leadership Award for his leadership in wildlife conservation.
His first book in the series, Uwazi na Ukweli: Rais wa Watu Azungumza na Wananchi (Truth and Transparency: The People’s President Talks to the People) was published in 2003. Since then, three more books in the series have been published.
Mkapa is married to Anna Joseph Maro. They have two sons and two grandchildren.