Mrisho S.H. Sarakikya was the first chief of the

Tanzania People's Defence Force The Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) ( sw, Jeshi la Ulinzi la Wananchi wa Tanzania) is the military force of the United Republic of Tanzania. It was established in September 1964, following a mutiny by the former colonial military force ...

(TPDF). He was given command of the TPDF soon after the army mutiny of 1964, when either a captain (Reuters 1967) or a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

(Kaplan 1978).

Early life

He was born at Meru, Tanzania in 1934. He attended Nkoaranga Lutheran Primary School and then moving on to Old Moshi secondary school. Due to his performance he was then invited to the prestigious

Tabora Tabora is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,999. ...

Government Secondary School. Once graduating, he entered the Tanzanian portion of the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions withi ...

as a private in 1958; and later attended the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

Military career

During the mutiny within the newly form

Tanganyika Rifles The Tanganyika Rifles was the sole regiment in the Tanganyikan army, from 1961 to 1964. History With the independence of Tanganyika in December 1961, the two battalions of the King's African Rifles which had been raised in the colony were trans ...

in 1964, Sarakikya was in Tabora and remained loyal to

Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lak ...

. Following the aftermath, other senior officers were dismissed or sacked and he was given command of the newly formed

. From 1964 to 1974, he commanded the TPDF. He was succeeded by Lieutenant General Abdallah Twalipo.Irving Kaplan, Tanzania: A Country Study,

Library of Congress Country Studies The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain a ...

, First Edition, 1978, p. 249, says that Twalipo took command in 1974.

References

Tanzanian generals {{Tanzania-bio-stub