Dropped minister played key EAC role
Dr Susan Kolimba
What you need to know:
- Dr Kolimba’s appointment was revoked by President John Magufuli on Wednesday September 26. No reason was cited.
- But Dr Kolimba says she has no hard feelings on the President’s decision.
Dar es Salaam. Dr Susan Kolimba, who was fired on Wednesday September 26 from the Foreign Affairs ministry was one of the longest serving deputy ministers in President John Pombe Magufuli’s administration.
She took over the position almost immediately the fifth phase government came into power towards the end of 2015.
Speaking to The Citizen in an interview on Wednesday September 26 Dr Kolimba said she did not hold any bad feelings following President John Magufuli’s decision to replace her with Dr Damas Ndumbaro.
Dr Kolimba described the decision as a ‘marathon relay’, which demanded a leader’s readiness to hand over responsibilities to others, following decisions by appointing authorities.
A statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communication revealed that Dr Ndumbaro will take Dr Kolimba’s place.
The President also replaced the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Adolf Mkenda, who heads to the Natural Resources and Tourism ministry. He is replaced by Dr Faraji Mnyape. Her ascendancy to the second-most powerful position at the ministry coincided with President Magufuli becoming the chairman of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit.
Taking over the Summit chair by Tanzania swung Foreign Affairs ministry into full action as it meant the country would take charge of policy issues on behalf of other partner states.
It meant the minister whose docket covers the EAC automatically became the chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, the policy organ of the Community. In the absence of the minister deputy took charge, including chairing ministerial meetings of the Community and representing the EAC Secretariat, and by extension, the partner states in the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) plenary sessions and Committee meetings.
Dr Kolimba was quite visible in that area. Although not a full minister, she chaired nearly all the meetings when Tanzania was the Chair of the Community and managed despite her short stint in the job.
She presided over all the meetings, especially the Eala sessions, such that there had been questions on whether they were not the preserve of Foreign Affairs minister, Dr Augustine Mahiga, the cabinet member.
