Biography
Mkapa was born in 1938 in Ndanda, near Masasi in southern Tanganyika. He graduated from Makerere University in Uganda in 1962 with a degree in English. He also attended Columbia University in 1963 and was awarded a master's degree in international affairs. Previous posts include being the administrative officer in Dodoma and the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education. He also led the Tanzania mission to Canada in 1982 and to the United States from 1983-1984. He was the Foreign affairs Minister from 1977 to 1980 and from 1984 to 1990.
In 1995, Mkapa was elected president based on a popular anti-corruption campaign and the strong support of former president Julius Nyerere. Mkapa's anti-corruption efforts included creation of an open forum called the Presidential Commission on Corruption (Warioba Commission) and increased support for the Prevention of Corruption Bureau.
Mkapa's second five-year term of office as president ended in December 2005. During this term in office, Mkapa privatized state-owned corporations and instituted free market policies. His supporters argued that attracting foreign investment would promote economic growth. His policies won the support of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and resulted in the cancellation of some of Tanzania's foreign debts.
He has been criticized for some ineffectiveness of his anti-corruption efforts as well as for his lavish spending. He spent £15 million on a private presidential jet, as well as almost £30 million on military aviation equipment which experts deemed beyond the limited needs of the country's armed forces. It was over the latter purchase that then British International Development Secretary Clare Short expressed public outrage, resulting in her becoming known as 'Mama Radar' in the Tanzanian press.
Having left office due to a two-term limit, Mkapa is dogged by many accusations of corruption among them improperly appropriating to himself and his former finance Minister Daniel Yona the lucrative "Kiwira Coal Mine" in the southern highlands of Tanzania without following procedures. By privatizing the Kiwira Coal Mine to himself, he broke the Tanzanian constitution, which does not allow a president to do business at the state house.
He was appointed to Aga Khan University Board of Trustees in November 2007.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin Mkapa
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