Background
Edwin was born on 12 July, 1932, near Moshi, in Chagga country.
Edwin was born on 12 July, 1932, near Moshi, in Chagga country.
He was educated at the Old Moshi Secondary School, Tabora Secondary School and Makerere University College where he graduated with a BA in 1957.
He spent the next two years as a management trainee with the East African Tobacco Company before getting a job in the Tanzanian civil service, soon in charge of Africanisation and Training.
In 1963 he was seconded to the East African Common Services Organisation becoming personal assistant to the secretary-general and clerk to the Common Services Authority and in 1964, secretary to the EACSO treasury, before returning to Tanzania as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.
He became governor of the Bank of Tanzania in 1966 and has since managed to preserve the strength and independence of Tanzanian currency and its parity links with the Kenyan and Ugandan currencies. Mtei has carefully husbanded Tanzania’s foreign exchange reserves and helped with the nationalisation of the commercial banks in 1967. He has been honorary treasurer of Dar es Salaam University College 1966-70 and chairman of the University Grants Committee since 1970.
A shrewd central banker, by training and position, and a radical Tanzanian socialist at heart. This unusual combination makes him an important government advisor. He established the independence of the Bank of Tanzania in June 1966, following the break-up of the East African Currency Board.
In 1971, after the world currency crisis, he advocated Tanzania’s devaluation; this policy was accepted after much hesitation by Kenya and Uganda. He has worked intimately with ex-Finance Minister Amir Jamal and remains close to President Nyerere.