Alumni of the Month

At present Deputy Secretary-General of the East African Community (EAC) based in Arusha, Tanzania, Eng. Steven Daud Malekela Mlote is an alumnus of the University of Dar es Salaam at the second, postgraduatestage of his university career. The first stage was at the SokoineUniversity of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro back in the 1980s.

Mr. Mlote was born on 1^st September 1957 in Lupembe village in the southern Tanzanian region of Njombe [formerly Iringa]. He obtained his primary education in the same region, at Ukalawa Primary School (1967-1970) and Mtwango Upper Primary School (1971-1974). After this he proceeded to secondary school in Dodoma region at Mpwapwa Secondary School (1975–1978for the Certificate [O-Level] Secondary Education) and at Mazengo Secondary School (1979–1981 for the Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education). On completion of advanced-level secondary education, with distinctions, Steven spent the next one year and half in 1982/1983at Uyole Agricultural Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture as a research assistant in landuse planning before formally joining the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Dar es Salaam to undertake an undergraduate study programme in agriculture.He joined the Faculty only one year before it was hived off from the University of Dar es Salaam to form an autonomous national university—the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)—in 1984. At SUA, he specialised in agricultural engineering, with certain parts of the course programme arranged to be undertaken at UDSM’s Faculty of Engineering in Dar es Salaam.

On graduating from the degree programme in 1988, Mlote was posted to several areas of professional work assignment related to his field of training. The postings included the Tanzania Sisal Authority (TSA) where he served as an estates engineer in Morogoro (June1988–July 1990), in Tanga asfield service engineer (July1990–January1992), at KimambaFibres Ltd as chief engineer (January 1992–December 1993) and at Ubena Sisal Group (Jan.1993–Oct.1997) as group engineer. It was at this point in time that Engineer Mlote decided to apply to the University of Dar es Salaam to undertake a twoyear postgraduate programme in engineering (1997-99) at the College of Engineering and Technology, focusing on environment. He completed it successfully, earning his MSc (Environmental Engineering).

With effect from January 2000, well up to August 2003, he was engaged by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in Dar es Salaam as senior scientific officer, tasked with coordinating research on environment. For one year—from September 2003 to October 2004—he served as environmental manager at the Golden Pride Project of Resolute Tanzania Limited in Dar es Salaam. The thirteen years that followed, from November 2004 to May 2017, were spent with the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) first as Assistant Registrar (November 2004–December 2005) handling the professional development matters within the engineering field, then as Acting Registrar (January 2006–May 2006) and, finally, as full Registrar of the Board (June 2006–May 2017). He left service with the ERB in May 2017 following an appointment by the East African Community Authority to serve the Community in the positionof Deputy Secretary-General of the East African organization,headquartered in Arusha. At the headquarters, he is principally responsible for matters of planning, infrastructure, finance and administration.

There is no doubt that the assignments involved with planning, infrastructure, finance and administration in the EAC region have kept Eng. Mlote busy,profoundly dedicated, focussedand profesionally challenged. They keep him well-tuned to a number of complex and strategic issueson which he and his colleagues are expected bythenow-seven memberstates—Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burudi, South Sudan and DR Congo—to deliver. He has been handy in that capacitywithin the organisation, but alsoa helpful resource in other roles in society,suchas his membership on governing boards of various public and private institutions. The institutions include the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at Mzumbe University,the Arusha Technical College (ATC),the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT),the College of Engineering and Technology (CoET) of the University of Dar es Salaam, St. Joseph College of Engineering and Technology in Dar es Salaam,the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) in Dar es Salaam and the Tea Board of Tanzania.

Eng. Mlote has several works and publications to his credit, spanning a period from the 1990s to 2007, for example:

• Mlote S.D.M (1999). Utilization of sisal wastes and sisal bole for sugar production, with a view of resource utilization and waste minimization in the sisal industries. (A dissertation for a M.Sc. in environmental engineering , UDSM);
• Mlote, S.D.M (2000). “Water Scarcity in Tanzania as related to poverty and environmental degradation” (Paper presented to the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) workshop on Water Scarcity and Poverty - Reducing Want and Eliminating Waste (Montreal, Canada July 2000);
• Mlote, S.D.M (2000). “The State of Global Environment and the Tanzanian Contribution to Global Environmental Problems: Are Tanzanian Priority Areas for Environmental Research Real Priorities?” (Paper presented to the Scientific Conference organized by the Commission for Science and Technology, COSTECH (September,2000);
• Mlote, S.D.M (2000). The state of global environment and the Tanzanian contribution to global environmental problems: Are Tanzanian priority areas for environmental research real priorities?” (A paper presented to the Scientific Conference Organized by the Commission for Science and Technology, COSTECH, September,2000); and
• Mlote S.D.M (2007).“The water and environmental acts and policies in the Horn of Africa region: Tanzania case study”. (A paper presented at ATPS Policy Forum, Nairobi Kenya).

The University congratulates alumnus Steven Mlote on the many accomplishments and responsibilities  associated with his career.