Former Tanzanian Parliamentary Speaker Job Ndugai is dead

The immediate former Speaker of the National Assembly in Tanzania, Job Yustino Ndugai has died aged 62 years and 6 months.

It has been a shock among many Tanzanians, especially the residents of Dodoma, when the news of Job Ndugai’s sudden death went rife in the country.

An official statement from the Parliament of Tanzania (Bunge), which was signed by the current speaker, Tulia Ackson Mwansasu, confirmed the demise of her predecessor, Job Ndugai in Dodoma.

The parliamentary dispatch however did not explain further regarding the cause of the former speaker’s death, though other reports say he was undergoing treatment at one of the hospitals in Dodoma.

The former parliamentary speaker who served under the presidency of the late John Pombe Magufuli and managed to stay briefly when President Samia Suluhu Hassan took over power in March 2021 was forced to resign after he vehemently spoke against the piling up of national debt.

Ndugai was among the various contestants who had recently expressed interest to vie for parliamentary position in the 2025 ‘elections.’

The former speaker even took the parliamentary forms ready to defend his seat at the Kongwa constituency of Dodoma, which he has been serving for more than two decades now.

He had even won in the primary nominations.

The process to that effect was ongoing but Job Ndugai’s return to the parliament dream was cut short by his sudden death which has left many questions unanswered.

The late Ndugai was born on the 22nd of January 1963 and was officially pronounced dead on the 6th of August 2025.

Ndugai has been serving as the member of parliament for the Kongwa constituency since 2000.

He was declared the most active Member of Parliament during the 9th Assembly of the Tanzanian Parliament.

Previously, the late Ndugai was Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly from 2010 to 2015.

He was elected as Speaker of the National Assembly on 17 November 2015 under Anna Makinda.

Ndugai was also elected as Speaker for a second term in November 2020. Ndugai resigned on January 6. 2022.