Profile on CUF presidential hopeful Ibrahim Lipumba

Outside the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, Civic United Front (CUF) Chairman Ibrahim Lipumba presents the most formidable opposition candidate in elections on Wednesday to succeed Benjamin Mkapa as president of Tanzania, analysts say. Lipumba, 52, brings to the 10-member presidential race a strong economic background that he hopes would serve him well in his quest. If he wins he plans to reform the way government does business, improve the rule of law, and improve government's respect for human rights. Born in Ilolangulu village, in the Tabora Region of northern Tanzania, Lipumba graduated with bachelor and master's degrees in economics from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1976, as well as master's and doctorate degrees in the same discipline from Stanford University in the United States. As an economist, Lipumba is a specialist in international trade and finance, macroeconomics, development and agricultural economics. He has held several important positions in finance within the Tanzanian government, and has served as economic reform adviser to President Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Lipumba is also an economics researcher and has published scores of his writings on the subject. In addition, he has advised several African countries - among them Uganda, Namibia, and Swaziland - on economic policy. Political advantage Lipumba's close association with Tanzania’s late founding father, President Julius Nyerere, as well as with Nyerere's immediate successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, are expected to work to his advantage during the polls; but just how much is uncertain. Despite these associations, Lipumba's political pedigree has been less glamourous than that of his economics one. When Mwinyi left office before the country’s first multiparty poll in 1995, Lipumba made two unsuccessfully bids at the presidency under the CUF but claimed that the CCM rigged the 1995 and 2000 elections. This will be Lipumba's third shot at the nation's top job. Despite his impressive background as an economist, on the balance it seems that he will still have to draw on a well of political acumen to overcome presidential frontrunner Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the CCM.