Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has rallied behind President Samia Suluhu Hassan ahead of Wednesday’s General Election in Tanzania.
Duale has become the senior-most government official of Kenya to render moral support to the Tanzanian leader, who is expected to win the one-sided election.
On a Facebook post, Sunday evening, the CS described Samia, who rose to power after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magufuli, in 2021, as a visionary leader.
“I extend my very best wishes to Her Excellency President Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan as the United Republic of Tanzania heads to the polls on 29th October,” Duale said.
He added, “Under your visionary leadership, Tanzania has made remarkable strides in growth, unity, and development.”
The Health CS said Kenya and Tanzania share deep bonds of friendship, history, and cooperation, and remained confident that these ties will continue to strengthen in the years ahead.
“I also take this opportunity to wish Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar, my friend Hon. Bashe Hussein, Minister of Agriculture, and the entire Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) fraternity great success in the forthcoming elections.”
Tanzania has been criticised heavily over its clampdown on opposition figures to eliminate or reduce competition against the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
“Not since before the advent of multi-party democracy in Tanzania has the ruling CCM party, in power since independence, faced so little competitive opposition,” British Think Tank Chatham House wrote last weekend.
Opposition leader Tundu Lissu has been imprisoned since April on treason charges, with his CHADEMA party banned from the election. Another prominent contender and ruling party defector, Luhaga Mpina, is barred from running.
“A coronation, not a contest - Tanzania's first female president faces little opposition,” the BBC wrote in its headline on one of today’s stories.
The BBC story states that with no heavyweight opposition candidates cleared to compete in Wednesday's election, many Tanzanians feel the vote is less like a contest and more like a coronation for the President, 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 the 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
