Jakaya Kikwete

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Jakaya Kikwete bigraphy, stories - Tanzanian President

Jakaya Kikwete : biography

7 October 1950 –

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 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.

Honours and awards

Honours

  • Grand Master of the Most Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa, 2007
    Order of the Green Crescent of the Comoros, March 2009
    King Abdulaziz Order of Merit, April 2009
    Order of Excellence, November 2009
    The Civil Order of Oman – First Class, 2012

Awards

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

Honorary degrees

  • University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Honorary Doctor of Law, September 2006
  • Kenyatta University, Doctor of Humane Letters, 19 December 2008
  • Fatih University, Honorary doctorate in International Relations, February 2010
  • Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Doctor of Public Health (Honoris Causa), December 2010
  • University of Dodoma, Honoris Causa, November 2010
  • University of Dar es Salaam, Honorary Doctor of Law, October 2011

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. 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. His final educational step was completed when he graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1975 with a degree in economics.

Legacy

Eponyms

  • Kikwete Bridge, across the Malagarasi River in western Tanzania (275 metres)
  • Jakaya Kikwete Primary School in Muleba District, Kagera Region
  • Jakaya Kikwete Secondary School in Mbulu, Manyara Region
  • J. M. Kikwete Secondary School in Mbozi District, Mbeya Region

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.

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.

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.