Bernard Membe

Bernard Membe trumpets vocally Tanzania's commitment to foreign investment. Albeit on a small scale, the British investors in the Silverdale issue had the opportunity to provide truly sustainable development in Tanzania and to improve the lives of the poor. The Silverdale issue illustrates how the climate of governance in Tanzania discourages private investment. It also works against the promotion of the well-being of Tanzania’s own citizens yet, as foreign Minister Bernard Membe has not condemned Reginald Mengi's corruption or any aspect of his government's failure to uphold the laws of Tanzania in respect of the British investor's legal rights.

In January 2013, Membe informed his constituents that he would not be vying for a seat in the next parliamentary elections in 2015 thus giving rise to speculation that he may be considering to run for the presidency.

In March 2012 Edward Hosea Tanzania’s most senior anti-corruption officer and head of Tanzania’s Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) was reported to have stated that no Tanzanian was involved in the BAE radar scandal. The rising levels of corruption in Tanzania under the Kikwete regime is well documented, but this statement by Hoseah, reported in Tanzania’s part State owned newspaper the Daily News on 31 March if accurate, demonstrates an arrogant refusal to address it. No comment from Bernard Membe was forthcoming after this statement by Hoseah.

Reginald Mengi sued Sarah Hermitage for Libel in the High Court in London in October 2012 after she alleged that he had used IPP Media to run a campaign of journalist terrorism against her, her family and Tanzanian staff to support his brother’s campaign to grab their investment.

In July 2012, Membe informed his Malawian counterpart that oil and gas exploration on the eastern side of Lake Nyasa (also known as Lake Malawi) should henceforth cease immediately until the ownership of the lake is resolved. Tanzania maintains that the international border runs through the middle of the lake whereas Malawi insists the border is at the Tanzanian shore citing the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty of 1890. In December 2012 he presented a letter of application for mediation on Tanzania's behalf to Joaquim Chissano, the chair of the Forum of Former African Heads of State and Government requesting the forum to mediate the dispute. He ruled out the belated intervention by the Malawi Council of Churches and the Christian Council of Tanzania to mediate as the matter had now been handed over to the African Forum.

In May 2011, Membe rejected BAE Systems decision to pay Tanzania the ex gratia amount of £29.5 million via a charity. The amount in question was due to the sale of an overpriced radar to Tanzania in 2002. He insisted the charity would not be allowed to operate in the country if the payment was to proceed. Membe was quoted as saying, "These people are desperately trying to exonerate themselves of a graft scandal and pass the buck to the government, for the world to believe that Tanzania is so corrupt that it cannot be trusted."

On 21 September 2011, Membe appeared on the Straight Talk Africa talkshow hosted by Shaka Ssali. He was asked if Tanzania had helped to overthrow the Seychellois President James Mancham in 1977 and put into power the socialist France-Albert René; Membe responded by saying that Albert Rene had asked for Tanzania's assistance and Tanzanians did not hesitate to go all the way to Seychelles to transform that archipelago.

In November 2010 at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People held in Dar es Salaam, he said that Israel needed to halt the siege of Gaza, cease illegal construction in the occupied land and also dismantle the separation wall. He was also dismayed by Israel's excessive use of force saying that the Palestinians fight using stones and catapults but the Israelis retaliate with disproportional power by using bullets and bombs. In October 2011, Membe stressed that Tanzania fully supports Palestine's bid to join the United Nations.

In June 2008, Membe spoke on behalf of three SADC countries saying that if the Zimbabwean runoff election were to be held it would never be free and fair due to the violence. Joram Gumbo of the ruling Zanu-PF accused Membe of bias. On 2 September he said that Tanzania would like to see a 50-50 power sharing agreement in order to avert the Zimbabwean economic crisis.

As foreign minister, Membe served as the chairman of the Executive Council of the African Union for one year when Tanzania assumed the rotating chair of the continental body in January 2008. During his tenure, Mauritania and Guinea had their membership suspended after the 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état and 2008 Guinean coup d'état respectively. Their delegations were barred from attending the biannual summit in January 2009. Membe was quoted as saying, "There is no good coup or bad coup. A coup is a coup and it cannot be tolerated." He also said the AU was against the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court.

In January 2007, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation after his predecessor Asha-Rose Migiro was appointed as the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General by the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He has also served as a member of the National Executive Committee of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party since 2007; having been re-elected in 2012 at the 8th CCM Congress in Dodoma.

In 2004, British investors Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage purchased a 45-year lease to Silverdale & Mbono farms, situated in the Hai District of the Kilimanjaro Region from Benjamin Mengi, brother to Reginald Mengi owner of IPP Media a close friend of President Kikwete and Chairman of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation.

In 2000, he was elected as a CCM member of parliament representing Mtama constituency in the general election. He was re-elected in 2005 and 2010. He was appointed as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs by President Jakaya Kikwete after the 2005 general elections. After a cabinet reshuffle in October 2006, he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Energy and Minerals .

Membe served as a national security analyst at the President's Office from 1978 to 1989. He thereafter attended Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. where he studied international relations from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he was assigned to serve as an Advisor of the Tanzanian High Commissioner in Ottawa, Canada, where he served until 2000.

Bernard Kamillius Membe (born 9 November 1953) is a Tanzanian CCM politician who was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania from 2007 to 2015. He served as a Member of Parliament for Mtama constituency from 2000 to 2015.