How Mtei transitioned to agriculture after his tumultuous spell in Cabinet

Edwin Mtei narrates in his autobiography From Goatherd to Governor how he embraced farming after resigning from the powerful post of Finance minister.


Dar es Salaam. When Edwin Mtei resigned as Tanzania’s Minister for Finance, few would have imagined that the former technocrat, once at the centre of global financial decision-making, would soon be waking before dawn to ferry coffee pickers across the foothills of Mount Meru.

Yet that is precisely how Mtei’s unlikely transformation from public financier to large-scale farmer unfolded.