Fundikira III

Who was Fundikira III?

Abdallah Said Fundikira III was the Ntemi of Unyanyembe 1957–1962, when he was deposed by the Tanzanian government. He died as a member of the Chama Cha Mapinuzi party.

Early life

Chief Fundikira attended his primary education at Tanga Primary School. He undertook middle school education at the same school and later joined Tabora School for secondary education where he graduated in 1939. The late Chief Fundikira joined Makerere University in Uganda from 1940 to 1946 and was conferred with a first degree in Agriculture. In 1957, he was ordained as chief of the Wanyamwezi in the Nyanyembe chiefdom.

In 1961 soon after independence, the first Chief Minister Julius Nyerere appointed Fundikira as minister for water, a portfolio he served for one year. He was appointed the first local justice minister when Tanganyika became a republic in 1962. He resigned from Cabinet in 1963 to protest the imminent legislation introducing a one party state.

In 1964, he resigned from the civil service. In 1967, he was appointed as board chairman of the defunct East African Airways until 1972 when his term of office came to an end.

The late Chief Fundikira continued running private business until 1990, when he spearheaded the debate on multipartism in Tanzania in collaboration with other politicians such as the late Kassanga Tumbo, Prince Bagenda, Mabere Marando, Ndimara Tegambwage, when they formed a national political reform committee.