By Business Insider Reporter
Edwin Mtei – Tanzania’s first Governor of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), former Minister of Finance, and founding chairman of the opposition party Chadema – has died at the age of 93. He passed away late Monday night at his home in Tengeru, Arusha Region, the party announced on Tuesday.
Mtei’s death comes during Chadema’s 33rd anniversary week, a symbolic moment for a party he helped establish at the dawn of Tanzania’s multiparty era.
January 21, 2026 marks 33 years since Chadema received its permanent registration certificate, one year after the country reintroduced multiparty politics in 1992.
In a statement, Chadema declared seven days of mourning, with party flags to fly at half-mast nationwide. The party said details regarding public viewing and burial arrangements would be communicated later.
For Tanzania’s political economy, Mtei’s legacy reaches far beyond party politics. He was among a small cadre of technocrats who shaped the country’s post-independence financial architecture, leaving an imprint on monetary policy, regional economic cooperation, and fiscal management that continues to resonate.
Mtei served as Tanzania’s first Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, laying the foundations of the central bank at a formative moment in the young nation’s economic history. He later became Secretary General of the former East African Community, where he played a role in coordinating regional economic and institutional frameworks, before returning to serve as Minister of Finance.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in an official statement, conveyed condolences on behalf of the Government and in her personal capacity to Mtei’s family, relatives, and colleagues.
She described him as a distinguished public servant and visionary leader who contributed significantly to the establishment and strengthening of Tanzania’s economic and financial institutions. The President also acknowledged his historic role in the introduction of multiparty democracy as a founding leader of Chadema.
Born on July 12, 1932, in Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region, Mtei’s early life followed a path that mirrored the emergence of Tanzania’s first post-colonial elite. He attended Marangu Native Authority Primary School, Old Moshi Junior Secondary School, and Tabora Secondary School – institutions that produced many of the country’s early administrators and policymakers.
In the 1950s, he pursued higher education at Makerere College, earning a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, History, and Geography. After a brief stint at East Africa Tobacco in Kenya in 1958, Mtei joined the Tanganyika colonial government service, beginning a public career that would span decades and multiple political eras.
One of the most debated episodes of his career occurred in 1978, during Tanzania’s one-party period, when he exited his post as Minister of Finance. At the time, it was widely reported that he had been dismissed by President Julius Nyerere for allegedly siding with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank during negotiations, at odds with the country’s socialist economic direction. In his autobiography, From Goathead to Governor, Mtei later clarified that he had resigned voluntarily, a distinction that underscored both his independence of mind and the ideological tensions of the era.
Ideologically, Mtei was known for his market-oriented views and his criticism of Ujamaa socialism, which dominated Tanzania’s economic policy for much of the post-independence period. These convictions informed the establishment of Chadema in the early 1990s, when the party positioned itself as a right-leaning alternative advocating economic liberalism, private enterprise, and political pluralism.
Over time, as the party attracted a broader coalition of intellectuals, professionals, and politicians, Chadema moderated its stance, evolving toward a center-right position in response to internal debates and shifting political realities. That evolution mirrored Tanzania’s own gradual transition toward a mixed economy and more competitive political landscape. Mtei’s passing closes a chapter on a generation of leaders who bridged Tanzania’s transition from colonial administration to independence, from state-led socialism to economic liberalization, and from one-party rule to multiparty democracy. For the business community and policymakers alike, he will be remembered as a principled technocrat and institutional builder whose ideas often ran ahead of his time – and whose influence on Tanzania’s economic discourse endures.
