Joseph Warioba

Who is Joseph Warioba?

Joseph Sinde Warioba served as Prime Minister of Tanzania from 1985 to 1990. Furthermore, he served concurrently as the country's vice president. He is currently a judge on the East African Court of Justice and chairman of the Tanzanian Constitutional Review Commission.

He was born in Bunda, Tanzania. He graduated from the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he served as state attorney in Dar es Salaam, and from 1968 to 1970, as solicitor for the City Council. In 1970, he graduated from the Hague Academy of International Law. From 1976 to 1983, he served as the attorney general of Tanzania. From 1983 until his election as prime minister, he served as minister of justice.

Following his tenure as prime minister, he served as a judge on the Hamburg, Germany-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea from 1996 to 1999. Furthermore in 1996, President Benjamin Mkapa appointed him as chairman of the Presidential Commission Against Government Corruption, better known as the Warioba Commission.

Warioba was chosen to lead the Commonwealth Observer Group in the April 2007 Nigerian elections. He gave a positive assessment of the elections, deeming them to be progress while also saying that there were irregularities.