Who was Tanzania's longest serving Foreign Affairs minister?

Arusha. Following the death of Bernard Membe, there had been conflicting reports as to whether he was the longest serving Foreign Affairs minister or not.

Others have pointed to the retired President Jakaya Kikwete as having been one. His presidency was preceded by ten straight years at the ministry.

But records may show otherwise. Mr Kikwete's predecessor, Benjamin Mkapa, is considered to be the longest serving holder of the docket.

Mr Mkapa, a former journalist, was appointed to the docket in February 1977 after having served briefly as the High Commissioner to Nigeria.

He took over the ministry as the country's body politic was undergoing some changes caused by internal and external factors.

It was early that year (1977) that the East African Community (EAC) collapsed with Tanzania leaving with little assets save for the Arusha International Conference Centre.

The common border with Kenya, where most of the EAC assets remained, was closed and was to remain for the following seven years.

On the local front, it was time (February 1977) that CCM was born after the independent parties TANU in the Mainland and Afro-Shirazi merged.

It was Mr Mkapa who was to handle the country's diplomacy when the country went to war with Idi Amin's Uganda in 1978 which impacted the economy.

As the intensity of the fire went higher after Tanzania troops crossed into Uganda, Mkapa told foreign journalists point blank; war has no boundaries, thus defending the country that it had invaded a neighbour.

In late 1980, as the country grappled with severe economic problems and after that year's polls, it was time Salim Ahmed Salim was recalled back from New York.

After his sterling job at the United Nations, he was appointed the new Foreign Affairs minister. Mkapa was sent to the Information docket.

Mwalimu Nyerere knew too well that Information and Broadcasting was not a suitable place for Benjamin Mkapa, although the latter was a trained editor.

In less than two years, Mkapa was sent to Ottawa as Tanzania's High Commissioner where he served for only one year before he was transferred to serve in the same capacity in Washington.

In April 1984 one of Nyerere's trusted lieutenants and sitting prime minister Edward Moringe Sokoine died in a road accident.

Mr Salim was made the prime minister and Mr Mkapa recalled to head the Foreign Affairs ministry for a second time.

He served in the docket from April 1984 until late 1990. After that year's General Election, he was appointed in different ministries.

The next place the often not-so-outspoken Mkapa could be found was at the State House as president following the 1995 polls.

Mkapa's Foreign Affairs minister was none other than Jakaya Kikwete, the person he competed with for the highest office in land.

Kikwete was to hold the docket from 1995 to 2005 when he himself was elected the fourth phase president; a feat reserved for the country's top diplomats 1995 to 2015.

Mr Kikwete's initial foreign minister was Dr. Asha Rose Migiro. There was nothing that could get her out of that job; at least for most years of JK.

Apparently an omen came from the benevolent heavens in early 2007; she was appointed the UN deputy secretary general - another feat for Tanzania's diplomacy.

After some mini cabinet changes, triggered by among others the resignation of Edward Lowassa as PM, the late Membe was appointed the Foreign Affairs minister in 2007.

Ever since the former Mtama MP's fallout with the fifth phase government, no minister has held the docket may be for over four to five years.

If records are laid bare, John Malecela, the former prime minister, was the first to hold the docked for a record of four years.

He was appointed Foreign Affairs minister in February 1972 and held the position until the end of 1975. He was replaced after that year's polls.

Other personalities who held the docket since independence in 1961 were short lived in those positions. However, this could be misleading.

In the Tanzanian context, and may be the case in other African countries, those who manage to hold the Foreign Affairs docket are people to watch.

They may have not made their way to the top seat but they are not very far from the seat of power.

Two of the country's Foreign Affairs ministers became presidents while two others (ex-Foreign ministers) at one time or another served as prime ministers.

The rest of ex-Foreign Affairs ministers from Oscar Kambona in the 1960s to Bernard Membe as late as 2020 have either vied for the top seat or came into collision with those holding power.