A coronation not a contest – Tanzania’s first female president faces little opposition

BBC:

With no heavyweightopposition candidates cleared to compete in Wednesday’s election, many Tanzanians feel the vote is less like a contest and more like a coronation for President Samia Suluhu Hassan, as she faces her first presidential election.

The 65-year-old became the East African nation’s first female head of state after the death in 2021 of sitting President John Magufuli. He was admired on the one hand for his no-nonsense drive to stamp out corruption but criticised on the other for his authoritarian clampdown on dissent and controversial attitude towards the Covid pandemic.

President Samia, who had been vice-president, seemed like a breath of fresh air – and with her warmer and friendlier style, she initiated reforms that seemed to represent a radical departure from her predecessor’s policies.

Her four Rs policy – “reconciliation, resilience, reform and rebuilding” – reopened Tanzania to foreign investors, restored donor relations and mollified the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

“She made a difference, the lost relationship between Tanzania and international organisations such as World Bank was restored,” political analyst Mohammed Issa told the BBC.

But over the last two years or so, the political space has drastically shrunk – and the targeting of government critics and opposition voices is said to be more ruthless now than it ever was under Magufuli, with regular abductions and killings now reported.

“Samia came in with a conciliatory tone, but now she has become bold and makes tough decisions that many did not expect from her,” said Mr Issa.

“She is now widely blamed for some things like abductions, killings, repression of opposition and other issues on security.”

This is reflected in reports by Freedom House, a US-based democracy and human rights advocacy group, which ranked Tanzania as “partly free” in 2020 and “not free” last year.

The government has not commented on the allegations.