Oscar Kambona, who died in London aged 68, was the Secretary General of the party that brought independence to Tanganyika in 1961.
Kambona was a close friend and colleague of Julius Nyerere. Had he been more ambitious, he might have taken over the leadership of the party, The Tanganyikan National Union, himself. Instead he ended up being forced into exile after falling out with Nyerere.
A popular figure - his haircut was known as the "Kambona style" - Kambona held five ministerial portfolios in the early Nyerere government, including Foreign and Home Affairs. He resigned in 1967, in protest at the introduction of a Maoist one-party state.
While he was forced into exile which lasted 25 years, harsh reprisals were taken against his family and friends.
His two brothers were imprisoned without trial for ten years, and only released after repeated representations from human rights campaigners and the intervention of Robert Muldoon, then Prime Minister of New Zealand.
In London, Kambona launched a new party, The Tanzanian Democratic Alliance, which was intended to act as an umbrella for all democracy groups. In 1992 he returned to Tanzania after the introduction of a multi-party system and the return to the rule of law had been announced.
Oscar Salathiel Kambona was born on Aug 13 1928, the son of one of the first African Anglican priests. He recalled being taught under the Mango tree and writing in the sand because there were no books.
He first met Julius Nyerere, who was then a teacher at a Catholic School, when he was at secondary school in Tabora where he returned as a teacher in 1952. Kambona won a governor's scholarship to study in England and in 1957 was admitted a member of Middle Temple.
In 1959 he interrupted his studies for the Bar to return home to act as election manager for the Tanganyikan National Union (TANU) in the first general election held under universal suffrage. TANU won all seats bar one.
In 1964, as economic discontent was fomented by trades unions, there was a military mutiny in parts of Tanzania. There were also demands for better training and the Africanisation of the army at senior levels.
The rebels captured sensitive buildings and several British Officers. "After I had calmed down the soldiers," Kambona recalled, "I went to fetch the other leaders in my Land-Rover to bring them back to the city". The mutiny was eventually put down by the British Army and Kambona was praised for his bravery by Nyerere. But within a year their differences became clear.
Kambona dated Nyerere's infatuation with one-party leadership from his visit to China in 1965. The Chinese had told him that farmers were the most conservative members of society and that he must uproot them from the land if he were to build socialism successfully.
Nyerere wanted Kambona to be Minister for Rural Development, Kambona resigned because of what he saw as the brutality of the "villagisation" policy. Peasants were forcibly transferred to new villages without consultation and without compensation for the loss of their houses and farms. Kambona was also convinced that the one-party state had become a means of control.
In 1967, fearing threats to his life, Kambona left Tanzania for exile in Britain. He endured his exile with exceptional good humour and patience, despite constrained financial circumstances. He was a good friend to his exiles more unfortunate than himself.
When Kambona returned to Tanzania in 1992 he found progress towards democratization disappointingly slow.
Oscar Kambona married Flora Moriyo in 1960. They were the first black couple ever to be married in St Paul's Cathedral; Julius Nyerere gave the bride away. They had a daughter and two sons, one of whom was murdered in London in unexplained circumstances.