Diplomacy & Public Service
Landmark
Oscar Kambona
1928 – 1997
Tanganyika's first foreign minister, and Nyerere's most formidable critic
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Tanzania Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
TANU's organising secretary through the independence campaign and the new country's first foreign minister — the man who put the party together on the ground, before a break with Nyerere sent him into exile for twenty-five years.
Oscar Salathiel Kambona was TANU's organising secretary through the years that mattered, travelling the territory and building the branch structure that turned a nationalist party into a mass movement. Nyerere provided the argument; Kambona provided the organisation.
He became Tanganyika's first minister for education and then its first foreign minister at independence in 1961, and later minister of defence. In January 1964, during the army mutiny, he was the minister who negotiated with the rebel soldiers while Nyerere was in hiding, and he was widely regarded as the second man in the country.
He broke with Nyerere in 1967 over the Arusha Declaration and the turn to one-party socialism, and fled to London, where he spent twenty-five years as the most prominent Tanzanian critic of the government. He was tried in absentia, his property was seized, and two of his brothers were jailed. He returned home in 1992 when multiparty politics was restored, and died in 1997.
He became Tanganyika's first minister for education and then its first foreign minister at independence in 1961, and later minister of defence. In January 1964, during the army mutiny, he was the minister who negotiated with the rebel soldiers while Nyerere was in hiding, and he was widely regarded as the second man in the country.
He broke with Nyerere in 1967 over the Arusha Declaration and the turn to one-party socialism, and fled to London, where he spent twenty-five years as the most prominent Tanzanian critic of the government. He was tried in absentia, his property was seized, and two of his brothers were jailed. He returned home in 1992 when multiparty politics was restored, and died in 1997.
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