Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
TANZANIA has been plunged into mourning after the death of former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi Thursday night.
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced Mwinyi’s death Thursday night, saying the former leader died in a hospital in Dar es Salaam.
He was 98.
The late Mwinyi was the second post-independence President of Tanzania between 1985 and 1995 after succeeding Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
He is credited for landmark reforms, including permitting the sale of mobile telephones, computers and television sets.
He also pushed for higher prices for crops grown by farmers and a greater role for private businesses.
Born on the 8th of May 1925 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial centre Mwinyi trained as a teacher in Britain.
He taught in Zanzibar before joining the government as a Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry.
He went on to hold a series of government posts including representing Tanzania as its ambassador to Egypt, where he studied Arabic between 1972 and 1974.
Mwinyi became President of Zanzibar in 1984 before Julius Nyerere chose him as his successor in 1985.
