President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who inaugurated the parliament on 14th November, 2025 provoked many troubling questions. She looks hungry to chart a new course but is decorously depleted of new ideas! It was a matter of recycling old failed platitudes, nothing else.
For example, she promised a ministry dedicated to the youth, but Tanzania has had a ministry for youth, sports and arts for almost four decades. What went wrong is muffled but reshuffling ministry names or resizing a ministry is anchored as a charm for past failures! It is inexplicable even to weigh in on the ramifications.
So this is a “regurgitation” of an existing idea. Nothing is new there, and worse, she didn’t say how this” brand” new ministry will perform differently. It was a missed opportunity to chart a new course!
She peddled more of the same without saying how different this time it will be. She promised new loans without accounting for why the last time loans designated for the youth were looted by CCM cadres well placed in the local government. The cadres recently conceded they have no records of whom they had doled out the bootleg but we know they helped themselves first, and were unwilling to pay back so they shredded the records lest they be taken to task.
Government largesse has been reduced into avenues of buying support and punishing those who are against it. Even in campaigns, anti CCM voters were threatened for specified retaliation. President Samia on campaign trail warned:
“….if you vote for an opposition MP, how is he going to beg the CCM government for development of such a new road or water project to be constructed in his constituency?” Are our representatives a bunch of beggars or part of a participatory process notwithstanding their political affiliations?
She didn’t address the elephant in the room, which is an “illegal representation” manifested by the presidential appointed election commission and election laws that ensure CCM illegal dominance, irrespective of its unpopularity as loudly rebuked in the recent mammoth demos across the nation.
CCM deludes herself that it can govern despite her palpable unpopularity by controlling the treasury, pampering top brass in the security apparatchik and deciding who benefits or not! Political abductions, criminalization of dissent and illegally re-categorizing it as incitement, enforced disappearances, false charges and murders are “red flags” of a regime that has outlived its ”expiry date” and is attempting to overstay and gatecrash her invitation.
She didn’t appear remorseful of the crimes against humanity most suspect committed by security forces to prolong CCM illegal stay on power beyond promising another ineffectual presidential commission that aims to buy more time without necessarily resolving the issues at hand. Many deem her as weak on national security, for a reason: All top brass there is business as usual while axing most of them could have restored faith in her in this tectonic realm.
Former president Benjamin Mkapa on first day as president did it, what is stopping her from repeating it beyond reciting his irrelevant election remarks to justify grandstanding on issues of utmost national importance? We will never capitulate to abduction, torture and killing machines at behest of government tutelage, sponsorship and protection.
Of telling significance, her investigative commission is unconstitutional for overlapping with a constitutional organ: The Tanzania human rights commission. This body has already declared it was pursuing the same investigation but now is imperilled to be hijacked by presidential interference and meddling!
Equally significant, President Samia stands to be accused of pre-empting international efforts of the UN that has a broad support for ICC to step in and carry out forensic investigations which will either indict her government or exonerate it. Unless an independent body unearths all the crimes against humanity in Tanzania a presidential commission will be dismissed as a cover up rather than a genuine effort under the ICC principles of complementarity.
She hankers for reconciliation without answering a basic question: why? Reconciliation decisively means one side must have committed an offence, and is willing to admit and seek mercy. However, in her evasive gesture, reconciliation is a mere stratagem to permit her and her cronies to continue governing without accountability while snatching back lost legitimacy to reign with impunity!
This will allow CCM to repeat the same malfeasance every election season while profusely genuflecting for reconciliation after stealing an election. This nation has enough of this, and will not tolerate it anymore. Whoever thinks infrastructural enticement can be traded for repression must be suffering from bipolar.
No nation but Germany takes gold in this area despite checking all the boxes almost a century ago. If infrastructure is the “real deal” let us conduct a referendum and if the majority decides let us be the Germany colony forever. They will treat us better than our own black colonisers!
Reconciliation isn’t possible without taking responsibility for the bungled election, willingness to resign and pave way for a transition government that will investigate the election mayhem, punish the convicted culprits, rewrite a new constitutional order without pulling strings to help their political vehicle, CCM, illegally bag the next election. All members of the transition government ought not form the next elected government to avoid the aforementioned conflict of interest.
Governing Without Consent: Samia’s Plan for More of the Same.
An in-depth analysis of her speech.
This is a sharp and critical analysis of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s parliamentary address. My deconstruction highlights a significant gap between the rhetoric of change and the substance of the proposals. Let’s break down my analysis into its core arguments, which present a coherent and damning critique.
Summary of My Core Thesis.
My central argument is that President Samia’s speech, while framed as a new beginning, is in fact a stratification and a continuation of the status quo, devoid of genuine innovation or accountability. My posit that her promises are a form of political repackaging designed to create an illusion of change while carefully sidestepping the fundamental structural issues that perpetuate the ruling party CCM’s illegal dominance and systemic corruption.
Old Wine, New Bottles: Deconstructing Samia’s Hollow Agenda.
In-Depth Analysis of The Key Points
1. The “New” as a Repackaged “Old”: The Youth Ministry Example.
I’ve identified a seminal example of this repackaging. The promise of a new ministry dedicated to the youth is revealed as a hollow gesture because:
· It Already Exists:
The Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts, and Sports has long had a youth development mandate. Renaming or splitting a ministry is an administrative change, not a policy innovation.
· Lack of Operational Clarity:
The critical failure was not explaining how this new entity would achieve different results. Without a new philosophy, a new budget allocation, or a clear plan to circumvent existing failures, it is merely a “regurgitation,” as I put it. This signals a government that is “depleted of new ideas.” All this piles up to CCM’s sheer incompetence and questionable legitimacy.
2. The Failure to Address Past Corruption.
This is perhaps my most potent criticism. I point out a direct causal link between past failures and future promises without accountability. We are where we are because past offences were buried under the sand. A nation devoid of accountability is unlikely to forge a new political culture that will value and enforce legal representation.
· Unanswered Questions on Loans:
By promising new loans without accounting for the previous ones “looted by CCM cadres,” the government ignores the root cause of the problem: systemic graft and impunity. This suggests that the new loans will simply become another cycle of “government largesse” used to buy political loyalty and punish opponents, rather than a genuine tool for economic empowerment.
3. Ignoring the “Elephant in the Room”: Illegitimacy and Electoral Injustice.
I argue that any talk of progress is fundamentally undermined by the unresolved issue of the political system’s legitimacy.
· The Unaddressed Foundation:
The “illegal representation” grossly perpetuated by the election commission and the laws is, in my view, the original sin that taints everything. A government that comes to power through a disputed process lacks the moral authority and legitimacy to pontificate on reconciliation or chart a national course.
· The Theory of Governance by Control:
My analysis of CCM’s mindset—that it can govern through control of the treasury and appeasement of top security apparatchik rather than hedging on popular consent—is a classic description of an authoritarian regime. The “mammoth demos” I referenced are presented as irreproachable evidence of this growing disconnect that will sporadically persist until CCM is sent packing, once and for all. There is no middle ground on this foresight. It is a generational change that quests accommodation rather than repellency.
4. The Critique of “Reconciliation” as a Political Stratagem.
My dissection of the reconciliation theme is the philosophical core of my analysis. I reject it as a dishonest and self-serving concept.
· Asymmetrical Reconciliation:
I correctly note that true reconciliation requires an offender and a victim, admission of guilt, and a desire for atonement. President Samia’s version, as I see it, snubs and mocks this asymmetry. It is a call for the opposition and the public to “move on” without the government admitting any wrongdoing. It perpetuates the same atrocities since the perpetrators are rewarded and emboldened to commit even more gratuitous crimes against humanity knowing they are in a system that protects cruelty and impunity.
At worst, she blamed the victims without conceding that the complexity of the matter demands an independent arbiter- the ICC – rather than the accused controlling the narratives.
· A Tool for Legitimacy and Impunity:
I frame her reconciliation not as a healing process but as a “stratagem” to achieve two goals:
1. Secure Illegitimate Legitimacy:
By calling for reconciliation, she seeks to normalize her government’s position without addressing the claims of its illegal origin.
2. Guarantee Future Impunity:
It sets a precedental pendulum where election “mayhem” is ping-ponged by a call for reconciliation, entrenching the vicious cycle to recur every election season without consequence!
5. The Prescribed Solution:
A Radical Transition.
My proposed alternative is not a cosmetic reform but a complete reset, highlighting the depth of my critique of the current system.
· The Non-Negotiables:
I argue that true reconciliation is impossible without:
· Admission of Wrongdoing:
Acknowledging the election was ”stolen” is a baby step the President needs to take. Then healing will commence in earnest. The legitimacy of an election is not confined to INEC but to the electorate, and the electorate has spoken: There was no election on 29th October 2025 but confirmation of a pre-rigged verdict. Everything stunk to the core.
From the voter turnout to declared outcomes, the world, not only Tanzanians knew we were taken to the cleaners without our consent. INEC impressed many as a “robotic clown” rendition of a Zee-comedy! INEC was reduced into a laughing stock. We truly deserve better given the billions burnt in this wastrel. Now we know why it was baptized “independent” because it was never intended to be!
· Resignation:
The incumbent government calls it quits to permit an independent transitional government to steer a nation into a new era freed from neocolonial clutches CCM ensnared herself in with an unapologetic relish! Recalcitrance to this will translate into senseless bloodshed like that of Boer South Africa with CCM attempting to outdo them albeit will ultimately succumb to the same fate: defeat.
Blacks murdering blacks was understandable in Boer South Africa but is very bad news to CCM, I must humbly not sternly remind you.
· Neutral Transition:
A caretaker government to investigate, punish culprits, and rewrite the constitution.
· No Conflict of Interest:
Members of the transition government being barred from the subsequent, popular elected – future government.
This bitter prescription underscores my belief that the current system of governance is irredeemably compromised and cannot be the agent of its own reform.
The Illusion of Change: Samia’s Repackaged Promises and the Reconciliation Stratagem.
Conclusion: A Speech of Continuity, Not Change.
The gist of this analysis concludes that President Samia’s speech was a “squandered opportunity.” It was a performance of change meant to manage public perception without altering the fundamental dynamics of power. The promises were vague, the difficult questions of corruption and legitimacy were brushed aside, and the concept of reconciliation was reluctantly co-opted to serve the parochial interests of the ruling party, CCM, rather than the nation.
This critique presents President Samia not as a “hungry reformer”, but as a leader constrained by, and committed to, a system that prioritizes CCM’s survival above genuine democratic renewal and accountability.
Without embarking on a journey of genuine reforms, not constrained by CCM archaic survival appetites, I am afraid to presage doomsday for a nation that is slowly but surely sliding into anarchy and self destruction.
This is a calling for true leadership, and not cherry-picking what is tolerable to retain CCM and what is intolerable. Once Tanzania is under the ashes there will be no CCM to babysit, to begin with, but young armed men roaming the streets, deciding which life to spare and which to waste as the Sudan civil war has abundantly taught us.
Let us rise to an occasion refusing to hurtle down to our demise. Future generations also expect us to think about them, not just our own ephemeral survival mode.
