Joseph Sinde Warioba is a prominent Tanzanian politician and jurist who served as the Prime Minister and Vice President of Tanzania from 1985 to 1990. Born in the Bunda District of the Mara Region in 1940, Warioba pursued a career in law, graduating from the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam in 1966 and later from The Hague Academy of International Law in 1970. He served in various legal capacities early in his career, including as state attorney, city council solicitor, and eventually as the Attorney General of Tanzania from 1976 to 1983, followed by a tenure as Minister of Justice.
Beyond his executive service, Warioba has had a distinguished judicial and advisory career both nationally and internationally. From 1996 to 1999, he served as a judge on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany. In 1996, he was appointed by President Benjamin Mkapa to chair the Presidential Commission Against Government Corruption, widely known as the Warioba Commission, which produced an influential report on state corruption. He has also served as a judge on the East African Court of Justice.
In his later career, Warioba played a pivotal role in Tanzania's constitutional history. In 2012, he was appointed by President Jakaya Kikwete to chair the Constitutional Review Commission, leading public consultations to draft a new constitution, though the process ultimately stalled in 2015. In 2016, President John Magufuli appointed him Chancellor of Sokoine University of Agriculture.
