Mpwapwa

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Mpwapwa is a market town, in the Dodoma Region of Tanzania.

1 Overview
2 Transport
3 Geography
4 Wards
5 References

[edit] Overview

It was one of the oldest colonial districts in Tanzania, boasting local German colonial government headquarters, or bomas, in the early 1890's, and British administrative offices after World War I. It has long been an important educational town, with one of the oldest teachers colleges in Tanzania (Mpwapwa TTC) and a secondary school dating back to the turn of the century that was originally called the central primary school. This was the only school for local residents who would form the work force for the colonial administration. The school was renovated during colonial rule to become a secondary school for boys. The school had the first African secondary school headmaster in the country, Mr Matthew Ramadhani, a Zanzibari, who died in a subway accident in the UK while on a study tour. Mpwapwa had one of the oldest veterinary research institutes in Tanzania, at Kikombo, which was later moved to Temeke in Dar es Salaam in the late 1950's. Mpwapwa was a resting post for the explorer Dr Livingstone, where he is believed to have etched a note on a rock that is still present near the Anglican missionary church at Vingh'awe. The district is populated by the Gogo (ethnic group) ethnic group in the center and north, and the Hehe ethnic group in the south bordering Iringa region. It is located at 6°21′S, 36°29′E, with a population of about 30,000 serving an area about the size of Wales.

Traditional ways abound with the fabric of society still enriched by a strong embodiment of the predominant Gogo culture as typified by the sound of gourd lutes and 'Morris' leg bells.

[edit] Transport

Mpwapwa is a fairly mountainous area and takes many hours to travel by car from north to south along the dirt roads that serve the district. The one time well-kept main road north from Mpwapwa town to Kongwa eventually links to the tarmac road that connects Dar es Salaam to Dodoma. The central line, the railroad from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma and western Tanzania passes directly through Mpwapwa District, at Gulwe station approximately 12 miles south of Mpwapwa town. On June 24, 2002, the Igandu train disaster occurred along the central line at Igandu station close to Dodoma town when a runaway passenger train with over 1,200 people on board rolled downhill into a stationary goods train, killing 281 people, the worst railroad accident in Tanzanian history; many of the injured were treated at the small district hospital in Mpwapwa town. This hospital was opened in 1964 at the behest of the first member of parliamnet Mr Ali Saidi Mtaki. He was instrumental in rebuilding the current down town shortly before independence. Kongwa, a nearby town had all the amenities left behind after the failed groundnuts scheme in the late forties and early fifties. During the project, Kongwa had a robust European community with schools and paved roads the remanants of whihc can be seen in Kongwa today. After independence, Mtaki managed to bring the main electrical power station to Mpwapwa the main district town then.

[edit] Geography

Most Mpwapwa residents live on the central plateau at about 3,500ft above sea level, though others, mainly from the minority Hehe ethnic group, live atop the 7,000ft mountains that benefit from better rainfall. The district is fairly arid and only gets good rains 2 years out of every 7.

The Mpwapwa District is bordered to the north by Kongwa District (site of the failed British groundnut scheme, to the east by Morogoro Region, to the south by Iringa Region and to the west by Dodoma Urban District.

According to the 2002 Tanzania National Census, the population of the Mpwapwa District was 254,500.