An attorney by profession, Mwanaidi Sinare Maajar was chosen to be Tanzania’s ambassador to the United States in March 2010 and presented her credentials on September 7.

 

Born January 12, 1954, and raised in Moshi, Tanzania, Maajar earned a bachelor of laws degree in 1977 and a master of laws degree in 1982, both from the University of Dar-es-Salaam.

 

Maajar worked as senior legal advisor with the Central Bank of Tanzania (1978-1983) and then as business manager with Coopers & Lybrand (1983-1991), the predecessor firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, in Tanzania.

 

In 1991, she helped found the law firm MRN&M (Maajar, Rwechungura, Nguluma & Makani) Advocates, and was the lead partner of the firm’s mining, natural resources and corporate law portfolio. She also has practiced as an advocate of the high court of Tanzania specializing in corporate and mining law litigation.

 

Maajar was a partner at Rex Attorneys, a leading law firm in Tanzania established in early 2006 following the merger of MRN&M and Epitome Advocates, another leading law firm in the country.

 

Before being selected to serve as ambassador to Washington, she was Tanzania’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom from April 2006 to July 2010. The post of high commissioner between two Commonwealth countries is the equivalent of the position of ambassador.

 

Maajar was a founding member in 1990 of the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association, a non-governmental organization established to help women and children access the justice system and to advocate for women’s rights, and served as its chair from 2001-2003. She helped establish the East Africa Law Society (EALS) in 1995, and she was chair of the Social Action Trust Fund (SATF), a joint venture of the governments of the United States and Tanzania, the profits from which were used to help organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS orphans.

 

She also has been a member of the board of several public enterprises, government entities and private companies, including the non-profit Muslim Development Fund (MDF); the non-profit Women and Development Company Limited (WAMA); the African Banking Corporation, DAWASA, the company responsible for building infrastructure for clean water and sewerage in Dar es Salaam; and Tanga Cement Limited.

 

Maajar speaks Kiswahili, English and French. She is married to Shariff Hassan Maajar.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Official Biography (Embassy of Tanzania)

Profile (World Services Group)

Profile (Diplomat)