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12 Things You Didn’t Know About Tanzanian Presidential Hopeful January Makamba

12 Things You Didn’t Know About Tanzanian Presidential Hopeful January Makamba

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Considered one of Tanzania’s rising political stars, January Makamba is a former aide to President Kikwete currently serving in the president’s cabinet as the deputy minister of communication, science, and technology. He’s vying for a 2015 presidential bid in October, and this politician remains an integral part of the current administration. Here are 12 things you didn’t know about January Makamba.

Sources: ITNewsAfrica.com, TheGuardian.com, AfricanArguments.org, AllAfrica.com, JanuaryMakamba.com, Forbes.com, DailyNews.co.tz

BongoCelebrity.com
BongoCelebrity.com

Makamba was raised in a political family

Makamba grew up in the world of politics. His father, Yusuf Makamba, served as secretary general of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, and was described as a “charming but loud local government functionary.”  His mother worked as a nursing trainee.

BongoCelebrity.com
BongoCelebrity.com

He was internally displaced during the Uganda-Tanzania War

In his youth, Makamba was briefly separated from his parents during the Uganda-Tanzania War, and became internally displaced within Tanzania. He spent his early childhood in his ancestral home in Mahezangulu village in the Lushoto District, but was shuffled to his maternal grandmother’s village in the Kagera region after fighting broke out.

PapaJohnClinton.Wordpress.com
PapaJohnClinton.Wordpress.com

Managing a refugee camp inspired him to go into politics

In 1994, Makamba, then 20, spent his gap year before university as the assistant manager of Mtabila refugee camp, overseeing more than 120,000 Burundi refugees. The experience was critical. Tanzania was seeing a mass influx of refugees from all sides from the Rwandan genocide. He has said, “Witnessing that misery made me political.” He said it inspired him to study conflict resolution.

Source: TheGuardian.com

BongoCelebrity.com
BongoCelebrity.com

Makamba’s university education was primarily in the U.S.

After finishing secondary school, Makamba traveled to the U.S. to attend university. He took a preliminary course at Quincy College in Massachusetts before transferring to Saint John’s University in Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in peace studies. After a brief stint as an intern with the Carter Center, he returned to school, this time to earn a master of science in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University in 2004.

KonnectAfrica.net
KonnectAfrica.net

He returned to Tanzania and joined the Foreign Ministry

After completing his studies in the U.S., Makamba returned to Tanzania in 2004 where he joined the Foreign Ministry as a foreign services officer. It was at this time he was introduced to Jakaya Kikwete, then foreign minister, who went on to win the presidency in 2005. Makamba joined the campaign team in its early days, after which he was appointed as an aide to the president following Kikwete’s landslide victory.

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

Makamba served as aide to President Kikwete for five years

From 2005 to 2010, Makamba served as personal assistant to the president special duties (PAP-SD). During five years in this role, Makamba gained critical experience and insight into Tanzanian politics. He contested an election as a member of parliament in his home district of Bumbuli. He won the election unopposed, and was later named deputy minister of communication, science and technology by Kikwete in May 2012.

TheCitizen.co.tz
TheCitizen.co.tz

He launched Bumbuli Development Corp. to aid his constituency

Though he is a member of the president’s cabinet, it’s not seen as a conflict of interest that Makamba maintains his role as an MP for Bumbuli and continues to work for his home constituency’s interests. In July 2012, he launched a personal initiative — the Bumbuli Development Corp. The corporation borrowed $10 million from philanthropists in the international business world and invested in relatively safe bonds with the dividends to be spent in his constituency. He said, “We decided not to find an NGO to help us but start our own – and not make it a charity. We have had a flurry of NGOs with little impact. This corporation would be a driver for development and private enterprise. It would be a social business with huge potential.”

Source: TheGuardian.com

IPPMedia.com
IPPMedia.com

He was named a young global leader in 2013

In 2013, the World Economic Forum named Makamba as one of its Young Global Leaders, recognizing his professional achievements and commitments to society. The YGL 2013 class includes 198 people from 70 countries. In the same year, he also received a Democracy Award by the National Democratic Institute for his commitment to and leadership in democracy and human rights.

Source: DailyNews.co.tz

IPPMEedia.com
IPPMEedia.com

He is an enormous football fan

Makamba has always been passionate about football, and follows both Tanzanian and international leagues. He is a big supporter of Chelsea in the English Premier League, Real Madrid in La Liga in Spain, and Coastal Union in the Tanzanian Premier League.

Bongo5.com
Bongo5.com

Makamba helped launch a text message anti-corruption campaign

In his attempts to curb corruption in Tanzania, Makamba helped launch a text message campaign aimed at becoming a global naming-and-shaming project. As he described it, “Only 6.9 percent of corruption cases are currently reported. We want to solve the problem. Almost everyone in Tanzania has a mobile…At a hospital you are asked for a bribe. You have a USP code, you enter the location and details of the bribe and send it to a web platform: it will appear as a dot on a map so everyone can see that at a certain hospital a bribe was asked for.”

Source: TheGuardian.com

IPPMedia.com
IPPMedia.com

Makamba has been a leader in fighting Tanzanian cybercrime

In his role as an MP, Makamba introduced three bills to fight cybercrime in Tanzania. These bills seek to increase enforcement of cyber security laws, to secure personal data protection, and strengthen safewalls to guard Tanzanians from computer and cyber crime.

TheGuardian.co.uk
TheGuardian.co.uk

He was named one of the 10 most powerful men in African in 2014

In 2014, Forbes Magazine named Makamba as one of the most powerful men in Africa, along with Nigerian tech entrepreneur Chinedu Echeruo, Senegalese CEO of the African Media Initiative Amadou Mahtar Ba, and Ghana’s Komla Dumor, lead presenter on “Focus on Africa.” The Forbes list included people it described as Africa’s most outstanding male game changers — “men who are innovative, courageous, daring and often disruptive in their fields.”

Source: Forbes.com