Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa (born 22 December 1961) is a Tanzanian politician who has been

Prime Minister of Tanzania The prime minister of Tanzania is the head in the National Assembly (Tanzania), National Assembly of the United Republic of Tanzania. The position is subordinated to the president, who is the actual head of government. The functions and powers o ...

since 2015. He was appointed by President

John Magufuli John Pombe Joseph Magufuli (29 October 1959 – 17 March 2021) was the fifth president of Tanzania, serving from 2015 until his death in 2021. He served as Minister of Works, Transport and Communications from 2000 to 2005 and 2010 to 2015 and wa ...

after the 2015 general election. He is a member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party and has been a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Ruangwa Ruangwa is one of six districts of the Lindi Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Liwale District, to the south by the Nachingwea District and to the west by the Morogoro Region Morogoro Region (''Mkoa wa Morogoro'' in ...

constituency since 2010.

Background and education

Majaliwa was born into a Muslim family on December 22, 1961. He completed his schooling from Kigonsera Secondary School in 1983. He then worked as teacher for sixteen years until 1999. Meanwhile, he obtained a teaching diploma from Mtwara Teacher Training College in 1993 and a Bachelor of Education from the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ...

in 1998. He then joined the trade union movement and served as district secretary and regional secretary in the Tanzania Teachers' Association between 1999 and 2006. He was tapped to become the district commissioner for Urambo district in 2006. He remained in this role until his election to Parliament in 2010.

Political career

Majaliwa was first elected to Parliament in the 2010 general election on the Chama Cha Mapinduzi ticket from Ruangwa. He was Deputy Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office for Regional Administration and Local Government from 2010 to 2015. In the 2015 general election, Majaliwa was reelected from Ruangwa, defeating Omari Makota of the

Civic United Front The Civic United Front (CUF; sw, Chama Cha Wananchi, ) is a liberal party in Tanzania. Although nationally based, most of the CUF's support comes from the Zanzibar islands of Unguja and Pemba. The party is a member of Liberal International. His ...

by a margin of 31,281 to 25,536 votes. After

was sworn in as President of Tanzania following the 2015 general election, he appointed Majaliwa as Prime Minister on 19 November 2015. His appointment was a surprise, even to himself, given he was a relative newcomer to electoral politics. His selection was attributed to his humility, honesty, work ethic as well as regional considerations - the new Prime Minister was expected to be from the southern part of the country, where Majaliwa is from. His experience in education as a teacher, trade unionist and deputy minister was also expected to be an asset in President Magufuli's stated desire to reform the sector. The opposition criticized his selection, citing his lack of experience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majaliwa, Majaliwa K. 1961 births Living people Prime Ministers of Tanzania Chama Cha Mapinduzi MPs Tanzanian MPs 2010–2015 Tanzanian MPs 2015–2020 Tanzanian MPs 2020–2025 Deputy government ministers of Tanzania Kigonsera Secondary School alumni University of Dar es Salaam alumni Tanzanian schoolteachers Tanzanian Muslims