Zanzibar’s presidency announced on Friday that Ali Hassan Mwinyi, the former president of Tanzania, was admitted to the hospital.
According to a family statement released on February 2, 2024, and given by Mr. Mohamed Hashim, Deputy Director of Presidential Communication at State House Zanzibar, Mwinyi, now 98 years old, is being treated by physicians for a chest ailment.
The family asked for privacy and prayers for the former Head of State during these trying times.
“With advice from his doctors, the family has decided that it is good that he gets privacy while receiving treatment.
The family asks the public to pray for him,” wrote Abdullah Mwinyi, the former leader’s son and family spokesperson.
Mwinyi was the second President of Tanzania between 1985- 1995.
The Life of Hassan Mwinyi
Ali Hassan Mwinyi was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on May 8, 1925. Born in the island of Zanzibar, Mwinyi is the son of Hassan and Asha Sheikh Mwinyi. He grew up in the region.
In 1954–1956, he graduated with a diploma from the University of Adult Education in Dublin, England.
As a professional teacher, Mwinyi worked in the Mangapwani and Bumbwini Primary Schools in Zanzibar.
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Additionally, he holds two certificates of excellence: one in Arabic language from Cairo, Egypt in 1972–1974 and one in English language from the Institute of Regent, England in 1960.
From 1945 to 1964 he worked successively as a tutor, teacher, and head teacher at various schools before deciding to venture into national politics.
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Mwinyi The President
President Julius Nyerere chose Ali Hassan Mwinyi to succeed him after he retired in October 1985.
Tensions over economic reform surfaced between the party and the government when he was still the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) head in 1990.
Statistics indicated that Tanzania’s economy suffered during the handover of power from Nyerere to Mwinyi.
Between 1974 and 1984, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 2.6%.
By the early 1980s, wages in both rural and urban areas had decreased in spite of the nation’s minimum wage laws.
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In addition, the nation’s foreign debt had ballooned to almost three billion dollars and its currency was overvalued. Essential items were in short supply, Tanzania’s agricultural productivity was at a low level, and the Ujamaa policies put in place by Nyerere were widely perceived as failed economically.
Many questioned changes when Ali Hassan Mwinyi replaced Nyerere in politics. As a devoted follower of Nyerere, most people assumed that Ali Hassan Mwinyi would uphold the beliefs of his forebears.
Mwinyi, however, demanded political and economic progress. He examined current socialist doctrines and liberalized the market. Ali Hassan Mwinyi ousted three cabinet members and other ministers who did not share his ideas, surrounding himself with reformists.
The initiatives of Ali Hassan Mwinyi were endorsed by the former prime minister Joseph Warioba and the minister of finance, Clement Msuya.
In 1986, Ali Hassan Mwinyi promised to resume talks with financial institutions at his inaugural speech to the Tanzanian Parliament, with the understanding that any deals that came from this would be beneficial to Tanzanian citizens.
