By Former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa, is dead! The government announced on Friday that he died at the age of 81, in a Dar es Salaam hospital.
He was the country’s third President after independence from Britain in 1962, and ruled between 1995 and 2005.
President John Magufuli, in a short televised speech, expressed sadness at Mkapa’s death, describing it as a big loss for the country. He however did not reveal the cause of the ex-President’s death.
The late Mkapa was born in 1938 in south-eastern Mtwara. He earned a degree in English in Uganda, and worked as a Journalist before his appointment as Press Secretary to the country’s first President, Julius Nyerere.
According to AFP, Tanzania will hold a period of seven days mourning, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast.
