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Jakaya Kikwete

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Dr Jakaya Kikwete
4th President of Tanzania
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 December 2005
Vice PresidentAli M. Shein (2005–10)
Mohamed Gharib Bilal
Prime MinisterEdward Lowassa (2005–08)
Mizengo Pinda
Preceded byBenjamin Mkapa
6th Chairperson of the African Union
In office
31 January 2008 – 2 February 2009
Preceded byJohn Kufuor
Succeeded byMuammar al-Gaddafi
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
In office
November 1995 – 21 December 2005
PresidentBenjamin Mkapa
Succeeded byAsha-Rose Migiro
Minister of Finance
In office
1994–1995
PresidentAli Hassan Mwinyi
Preceded bySteven Kibona
Succeeded bySimon Mbilinyi
Member of the Tanzanian Parliament
In office
1990–2005
Succeeded byRamadhani Maneno
ConstituencyBagamoyo (1990–95)
Chalinze (1995–2005)
Personal details
Born (1950-10-07) 7 October 1950 (age 73)
Msoga, Tanganyika
NationalityTanzanian
Political partyCCM
Other political
affiliations		Tanganyika African National Union
SpouseSalma Kikwete
Children
9
  • Ridhiwani
  • Salama
  • Miraj
  • Ally
  • Khalifa
  • MwanaAsha
  • Khalfan
  • Rashid
  • Mohamed (adopted)
Residence(s)1 Ocean Road,
11400, Dar es Salaam
Alma materUDSM (BA)
ProfessionEconomist
Military service
AllegianceUnited Republic of Tanzania
Branch/serviceTanzanian Army
Years of service1976-1992
RankLieutenant Colonel
On board the USS Nicholas
Kikwete was the first African Head of State to meet U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009
Kikwete at the G8 Trade, Tax and Transparency conference

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (born 7 October 1950) is a Tanzanian politician who has been the fourth President of Tanzania since December 2005. Previously, he was minister of foreign affairs from 1995 to 2005. He also served as the chairperson of the African Union from 31 January 2008 to 2 February 2009. He is known for taking neutral independent and democratic driven speeches[citation needed] that sometimes creates disagreements with his colleagues. One recent example is his suggestion in May 2013 for direct peace talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which was promptly rejected by Rwanda.[1]

Education

Between 1959 and 1963, Kikwete went to Karatu Primary School in Tanzania before continuing with middle school education at Tengeru School from 1962 to 1965.[2] After Tengeru, Kikwete moved to Kibaha Secondary School for his O-levels, which took place between 1966 and 1969, and he remained at this school for his advanced level education.[2] His final educational step was completed when he graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1975 with a degree in economics.[2]

Personal

Kikwete is an avid sports enthusiast and played basketball competitively in school. He has been a patron of the Tanzania Basketball Federation for the past 10 years.[2] He is married to Salma Kikwete, the First Lady of Tanzania, and they have nine children.[2]

As of 4 April 2013, Kikwete was the sixth most followed African leader on Twitter with 57,626 followers.[3]

Leadership and political career

Kikwete was born at Msoga, located in the Bagamoyo District of Tanganyika, in 1950.

As a party cadre, Kikwete moved from one position to another in the party ranks and from one location to another in the service of the party. When TANU and the Zanzibar’s Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) merged to form CCM in 1977, Kikwete was moved to Zanzibar and assigned the task of setting up the new party’s organisation and administration in the Islands. In 1980, he was moved to the headquarters as administrator of the Dar es Salaam Head Office and Head of the Defence and Security Department before moving again up-country to the regional and district party offices in Tabora Region (1981–84)and Singida Region and Nachingwea (1986–88) and Masasi District (1988) in the country's southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara respectively. In 1988 he was appointed to join the Central Government.

In 1994, at 44, he became one of the youngest Finance Ministers in the history of Tanzania. In December 1995, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, being appointed by President Benjamin William Mkapaa of the third phase government. He held this post for ten years, until he was elected President of the United Republic of Tanzania in December 2005, hence becoming the country's longest serving foreign minister. During his tenure in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tanzania played a significant role in bringing about peace in the Great Lakes region, particularly in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Kikwete was also deeply involved in the process of rebuilding regional integration in East Africa. Specifically, several times, he was involved in a delicate process of establishing a Customs Union between the three countries of the East African Community (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), where, for quite some time, he was a Chairman of East Africa Community’s Council of Ministers.

Kikwete also participated in the initiation, and became a Co-Chair, of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy. On May 4, 2005, Kikwete emerged victorious among 11 CCM members who had sought the party's nomination for Presidential candidacy in the general election. After a 14 December 2005 multiparty general election, he was declared a winner by the Electoral Commission on December 17, 2005 and was sworn-in as the Fourth President of the United Republic of Tanzania on 21 December 2005.

Controversy about Kikwete's encouragmeent of negotiations between Rwanda and the FDLR

On 26 May 2013, Kikwete said at a meeting of the African Union that if President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could negotiate with the March 23 Movement (M23), President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda should be able to negotiate with the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), respectively. In response, Museveni expressed his willingness to negotiate.[4]

An anonymous person on 31 May then posted on a blog hosted by the Tanzanian Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports,

Rwanda has a tendency of not taking kindly any form of criticism, from within or without. And its leadership comes across as snobbish and delusional. May be the Western countries' plaudits about its so-called success story have finally got to the heads of Rwandan leaders so much that they think they know it all.[5]

In early June 2013, Tanzania's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Bernard Membe, said in the Tanzania National Assembly,

Rwanda has issued a statement opposing the advice by President Kikwete that this was the right time to hold peace talks with the country's rebels, most of whom are in DRC forests and against whom the government has unsuccessfully fought for nearly 17 years. President Kikwete will not apologize because his statement was based on facts. ... We and Rwanda are friends. We have nothing to negotiate. But they should know that principally we ought to make peace with enemies and negotiate with our enemies and not friends. We say that President Kagame should admit that the time is now and this is not a new phenomenon because in all the areas where liberation movements are, talks have been made. What we are saying is that President Kagame and [the] Rwandan government should know that it is time for talks with [the] opposition.[5][6]

A week later, Kagame said about Kikwete's statement,

I [initially] kept quiet about this because of the contempt I have for it. I thought it was utter nonsense. Maybe it was due to ignorance but if this is an ideological problem for anyone to be thinking this way, then it better stay with those who have it.[7]

Kikwete's encouragement of negotiations between Rwanda and the FDLR has been interpreted as showing support for perpetrators of genocide. The organization known as the "19th Commemoration of the Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda in the U.S.A." wrote an open letter on 27 May 2013 to President Barack Obama requesting that Kikwete withdraw his comments and apologize.[8]

Honours and awards

Kikwete at the 34th G8 summit

Honours

Awards

  • Sullivan Honor
  • 2007: The AAI African National Achievement Award (on behalf of Tanzania).[13]
  • 2009: US Doctors for Africa Award.[14]
  • 2011: Social Good Award from the United Nations Foundation[15]
  • 2011: South-South Award for Global Health, Technology and Development[16]
  • 2012: FANRPAN Policy Leadership Award from the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network.[17]

Honorary degrees

Legacy

Eponyms

References

  1. ^ Genocide Survivors Condemn Kikwete On FDLR Remarks, allAfrica.com, retrieved 2 June 2013
  2. ^ a b c d e Biography: Jakaya Kikwete, NewsAfrica Magazine, retrieved 14 September 2012
  3. ^ President Mahama among top ten African Presidents most followed on Twitter, Ghana Business News, 4 April 2013 {{citation}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Africa fights to free itself of malcontents", IOL News, reported by Peter Fabricius, 27 May 2013
  5. ^ a b "Unease in Kigali over Kikwete's call for talks with FLDR", The East African, reported by Gaaki Kigambo, 8 June 2013
  6. ^ "Tanzania: President Kikwete Says No to Kigali Demand for Apology", Daily News, reprinted at allAfrica.com, reported by Abdulwakil Saiboko, 2 June 2013
  7. ^ "Kagame speaks out on Kikwete's call for negotiations with FDLR rebels", The East African, 10 June 2013
  8. ^ Genocide Survivors Demand Apology from President Kikwete, Igihe, retrieved 2 June 2013
  9. ^ "How Obiang spoilt Museveni, Kagame party in Kapchorwa". The Independent, Uganda. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "COMOROS CELEBRATES AU ANJOUAN ACTION ANNIVERSARY", Cable from the United States Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar to the United States Department of State, cable reference no. 09ANTANANARIVO225, 31 March 2009
  11. ^ "President Kikwete Awarded Order of Excellence". Jamaica Information Service. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "HM confers Oman Civil Order on Tanzania leader". Oman News Agency. October 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ "AAI'S 23RD Annual Gala Dinner". Africa-America Institute. 19 September 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "US Doctors for Africa award goes to JK". IPP Media. 22 May 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Social Good Award". United Nations Foundation. September 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "South-South Awards Journal 2011" (PDF). southsouthawards.com. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "FANRPAN salutes the best in agriculture" (PDF). fanrpan.org. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Tanzania's president touts country's progress at St. Thomas appearance". tcdailyplanet.net. 30 September 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Kenyatta University Newsletter Vol. 4, Issue 15 (Special Graduation Edition)" (PDF). Kenyatta University. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Honorary Doctorate to the president of Tanzania from our university" (Press release). Turkey: Fatih University. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 2013-02-07. {{cite press release}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |trans_title= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "MUHAS Annual Report 2010-2011". Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "'Beware of political opportunists'". Daily News (Tanzania). 26 November 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jakaya Kikwete.
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Party political offices
Preceded by National Chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi
2007–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Steven Kabona
 Minister of Finance
1994–1995 		Succeeded by
Simon Mbilinyi
Preceded by
Joseph Rwegasira
 Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
1995–2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Tanzania
2005–present 		Incumbent
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Chairperson of the African Union
2008–2009 		Succeeded by


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