The President of Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi has conferred numerous honorary medals to various personalities for their distinguished and exemplary services to the nation.
As part of the commemoration of the 62 Anniversary of the Revolution in Zanzibar, Dr Mwinyi has issued the distinguished mementos to 18 different individuals for their selfless dedication in building the current nation.
The Zanzibar Revolution Medals
Among the recipients is Mama Fatuma Abeid Karume, the widow of the first president of the Islands, Abeid Amani Karume and the Isles’ maiden First Lady.
She is also the mother of the former and 6th President of Zanzibar, Amani Abeid Karume.
Another Presidential Medal of honor has been accorded to the first and the only Grand Mufti of East Africa, Islamic Jurist and religious leader, the later Sheikh Hassan Bin Ameir Al-Shiraz, who was among the pivotal forces in the struggle for the Tanganyika Independence.
Other recipients of the medals of honor, include the Grand Mufti of Zanzibar, Sheikh Saleh Bin Omar, Bin Kaab bin Ahmed Baalawly, the late Sheikh Musa Mukungu Ali, the late Bimvita Musa Kibendera and the late Bishop John Ackland Ramadhan.
President Mwinyi also conferred honorary medals to Professor Jose Piquer and Mr Gulam Abdallah Rashid.
Medals for outstanding services
These awards have been issued to Brigadier General, Said Hamis Said, the Zanzibar Commissioner of Police (CP) Kombo Hamis Kombo and the Commissioner for Immigration (CI) Hassan Ali Hassan.
Under the same series, the Isles President has commissioned honorary medals to Commodore Hassan Msingiri, Colonel Makame Abdallah Daima, Commissioner Rashid Mzee Abdallah, Commissioner Khamis Bakari Khamis, Colonel Burhani Mzee Nassor, Lieutenant Colonel Said Ali Shamhuna and Mr Ali Abdallah Ali.
An official dispatch from the State House spokesperson in Zanzibar, Raqey Mohamed, explains that the commissioning of the medals of honor apply to all individuals, dead or alive who in one way or another, had played a major role in the 1964 revolution process in the isles.
The Zanzibar Revolution took place on the 12th of January 1964. It led in the ousting of the last Sultan of the Isles, Jamshid bin Abdullah Al Busaidi, who later escaped to the United Kingdom. Jamshid died in December 2024.