{{Short description|Tanzanian politician (1920–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Adam Sapi Mkwawa | image = File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-159-91.jpg | caption = Mkwawa in 1954 | office = Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania | term_start = 26 April 1964 | term_end = 19 November 1973 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = Erasto Andrew Mbwana Mang'enya | term_start1 = 6 November 1975 | term_end1 = 25 April 1994 | predecessor1 = Erasto Andrew Mbwana Mang'enya | successor1 = Pius Msekwa | office2 = Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanganyika | term_start2 = 27 November 1962 | term_end2 = 26 April 1964 | predecessor2 = Abdulkarim Yusufali Alibhai Karimjee | successor2 = ''Position abolished'' | birth_date = {{circa}} 1920 | birth_place = Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region, Tanganyika Territory | death_date = {{death date|1999|6|25|df=y}} (aged 79) | death_place = Tanzania | party = | education = | profession = }} '''Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa''' ({{circa}} 1920 – 25 June 1999) was a Tanzanian politician and statesman who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanganyika from 1962 to 1964 and then as Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1975 to 1994.
==Biography== Sapi was born in {{circa}} 1920 in Tanganyika Territory.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tzaffairs.org/1999/09/obituaries-30/|website=Tanzanian Affairs|date=1 September 1999|title=Obituaries|publisher=Britain-Tanzania Society}}</ref> A member of the Hehe people, he was of noble birth as the grandson of Chief Mkwawa, who was famed for resisting the Germans for seven years.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TntSUQ-KFQoC&q=%20Adam%20Sapi%20Mkwawa|title=The Flags Changed at Midnight: Tanganyika's Progress to Independence|author=Longford, Michael|isbn=9780852445518|publisher=Gracewing|date=2001|pages=80–81}}</ref> He was the son of Chief Sapi Mkwawa.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16--sm53nX4C&dq=Chief+Adam+Sapi+Mkwawa&pg=PA570|title=Tanzania|page=570|publisher=Rough Guides|author=Finke, Jens|date=2003|isbn=9781858287836}}</ref> He attended Makerere University in Uganda.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3QEAQAAIAAJ&q=%22adam+sapi%22+%22Makerere+University%22|title=New Ministry|journal=Africa Research Bulletin|page=3,012|date=1973|publisher=Blackwell}}</ref> After his father's tenure as chief, Sapi was installed as chief of the Hehe people himself, a position he served in from the 1940s until 1962, when the chiefdom was abolished.<ref name="auto4"/><ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/160800730/|newspaper=Dayton Daily News|agency=Associated Press|via=Newspapers.com|date=1 October 1948|page=26|title=African Chief Wants Grandfather's Skull}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Sapi was appointed to the Tanganyika Legislative Council, established by the British Parliament in 1926, on 3 June 1947, having been the third African to be appointed to the legislature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA683776537&sid=sitemap&v=2.1&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E530a72ad&aty=open-web-entry|website=allAfrica|via=Gale|date=25 November 2021|title=Tanzania: 60 Years of Independence - Reflections On Bunge's Post - Independence Performance.|author=Msekwa, Pius}}</ref> In the 1948, he began an effort to return the skull of his grandfather, Chief Mkwawa, to his people, as it was held by Germany, which had promised to return it in the Treaty of Versailles but did not.<ref name="auto"/> In 1953, the governor of Tanganyika, Sir Edward Twining, located the skull in a German museum and returned it to Sapi in 1954.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-sentinel/160801538/|newspaper=Evening Sentinel|author=Davis, William|date=19 August 1955|via=Newspapers.com|page=8|title=Chief Who Defied The Germans}} {{Open access}}</ref> The return of the skull was completed at a ceremony in June 1954, which 30,000 members of the Hehe tribe attended and the ''Evening Sentinel'' described as "probably the biggest gathering ever to take place in Tanganyika."<ref name="auto2"/>
After Tanganyika became independent, Sapi was appointed Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanganyika on 27 November 1962.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.go.tz/pages/history|publisher=National Assembly|title=History}}</ref> He remained speaker as the country became Tanzania in 1964 and thus served as the first Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania.<ref name="auto1"/> He served in the position until 1973, when he was appointed Minister of State for Capital Development.<ref name="auto4"/> Two years later, he returned as speaker of the legislature.<ref name="auto1"/> He also was in charge of Tanzanian elections from the 1960s to at least the 1985 in the position of chairman of the electoral commission.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XFfDIvk7AsC&dq=Chief+Adam+Sapi&pg=RA1-PP11|page=16|date=3 September 1965|title=General Elections To Be Held On Two Days|journal=Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch/160803591/|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|via=Newspapers.com|date=3 November 1985|page=41|title=Lone Candidate Wins Easily In Tanzania|agency=Associated Press}} {{Open access}}</ref> Sapi ended up serving as Speaker of the National Assembly until 25 April 1994, when he was succeeded by Pius Msekwa.<ref name="auto1"/> Afterwards, he served as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Parks.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrLsCgAAQBAJ&dq=Chief+Adam+Sapi&pg=PA204|title=If I Am To Be Remembered: Correspondence Of Julian Huxley|page=204|isbn=9789814505192|date=June 1993|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company|author=R. Dronamraju, Krishna; Needham, Joseph}}</ref>
Sapi was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) and later given the Order of the British Empire (OBE).<ref name="auto1"/> He was also the only African to serve as honorary captain of the King's African Rifles.<ref name="auto4"/> Sapi was married, being the first Hehe chief to have only one wife, and had at least three children.<ref name="auto4"/> He died on 25 June 1999, at the age of 79, of high blood pressure.<ref name="auto4"/> He was described in his obituary by the ''Daily News'' as "the country's most decorated legislator, politician and leader."<ref name="auto4"/> His funeral was attended by Julius Nyerere and Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, among others.<ref name="auto4"/> He was buried in Kalenga near the grave of his father and near the museum which holds the skull of his grandfather.<ref name="auto3"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Speakers of the National Assembly of Tanzania}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mkwawa, Adam Sapi}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1999 deaths Category:People from Iringa Region Category:Tanzanian chiefs Category:Hehe people Category:Tanzanian Muslims Category:Tanganyika African National Union politicians Category:Chama Cha Mapinduzi politicians Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Tanganyika Category:Members of the National Assembly of Tanganyika Category:Speakers of the National Assembly (Tanzania) Category:Tanzanian MPs 1965–1970 Category:Tanzanian MPs 1970–1975 Category:Tanzanian MPs 1975–1980 Category:Tanzanian MPs 1980–1985 Category:Tanzanian MPs 1985–1990 Category:Tanzanian MPs 1990–1995