Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete

Kufuor has company in Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania. After multiparty general elections in Dec. 2005, Kikwete was declared winner by the Electoral Commission and was sworn in as the fourth president of the United Republic of Tanzania on Dec. 21, 2005. If his track record of integrity is anything to go by, he will be handing his office over to an elected successor at the end of his tenure.
Kikwete drank from Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s fountain of wisdom. Kikwete, being very close to the Mwalimu (teacher), has a governing philosophy and political views that were greatly influenced by Nyerere. He has been celebrated at home and abroad, especially in the donor community for fighting corruption, investing in people, particularly in education, and pushing for new investments.
His successes led the United States government to grant Tanzania $698 million under the Millennium Challenge Account assistance program. Indeed, then-President George W. Bush voiced a vote of confidence in Kikwete: “I’d like to express my happiness and satisfaction on the way you are committed to improving the economy, good governance and maintaining peace, not only in Tanzania but also Africa and the world at large.” Kikwete’s first notable success as African Union chairman was to help bring a two-month political crisis in Kenya to an end by brokering a power-sharing deal between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
The benchmarks used to select Tanzania for the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement were good governance, investment in manpower through education and health care, and economic policies. The U.K. government also granted the country the equivalent of $500 million for education. In recognition of the giant leaps made by the small country, the New York-based Africa-America Institute awarded Tanzania the Africa National Achievement Award in September 2007.