Zanzibar Attorney General Dr. Talib Haji

Dr. Mwinyi Talib Haji was sworn in by President Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi on 6th November 2025, following his reappointment as Attorney General (AG). 

The AG was first appointed by President Dr. Mwinyi shortly after replacing Said Hassan Said as head of state. Dr. Haji was reappointed to the role following Mwinyi’s re-election for a second term. Prior to his appointment as Attorney General in November 2020, he served as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation.

Prior to this, in 2018, he became Director of the Institute of Public Administration, serving until his appointment as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation in July 2020. 

His career began as Legal Advisor to Zanzibar’s Ministry of Water, Energy, Construction and Land from 2005 to 2007. He then joined Zanzibar University as an Assistant Lecturer from 2007 to 2012, advancing to Senior Lecturer between 2012 and 2017 while also directing its Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research from 2013 to 2018. 

Dr. Haji began his education at Kidongo Chekundu Primary School and continued with O-Levels at the same secondary school in the same village. He completed his A-Levels in a single year at Lumumba Secondary School in 1999. He studied Language Studies at the Institute of Swahili and Foreign Languages and graduated with a diploma in 2000. He earned his Bachelor of Laws and Shariah from Zanzibar University in 2004, after which he pursued a Master of Comparative Laws. The AG holds a PhD in Law from the International Islamic University Malaysia.