Tanzania’s Unfurling Turmoil Under Samia Hassan

By Mobolaji Sanusi

What a man can do, a woman can do…. If not better, is a feminist mantra that has been accorded brutal credence in faraway Tanzania. This is thanks to no less a person than Samia Suluhu Hassan, who, against all odds, emerged as Tanzania’s first female president. Her providential opportunity came in Y2021 when President John Magufuli died. She was Vice President to Magufuli from 2015 until March 19, 2021, when she was sworn in as president.

But the modus of her re-election bid in October 2025 through an election that was mired in controversy, violent protests, and killings has put her and the country in the global spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Early this week, the political beast in Samia Suluhu Hassan manifested when at an event in Dar-es-Salaam, she haughtily downplayed the killings of over a thousand defenceless protesters that expressed their disgust at her purportedly rigged October 29, 2025 re-election by describing such as ‘necessary to prevent the overthrow’ of her government.

Again, what a man can do, a woman can indeed with ruthless candour do better manifested in Samia Suluhu’s case when she heartlessly declared: “The force that was used corresponds to the situation at hand. When we are told that we used excessive force in that incident…..were we supposed to simply watch that mob of demonstrators who were prepared to overthrow the government until they succeeded?”

Suluhu must indeed have mastered the art of rigging at any cost, more than the politically minded male gender when Jacob Mwambegele, the country’s electoral henchman conjured unbelievable figures that she curiously secured; “about 31.9million votes of the 32 million ballots cast, or 97.66% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters…”. While sensing that her magical victory might lead to mass protestations, she ordered that the internet of the country be shut down, inflicted unbelievable brutality on defenceless protesters thereby making it difficult for the world to see his tyrannical rage on her fellow countrymen.

Her electoral victory’s masterful planning will make the male gender cringe with envy. She lied when she cunningly described her opponents as being subdued by a “defeatist mentality” by erroneously claiming that they “refused to enter themselves because they already knew they would not succeed.”

The reality is that she started her power-perpetuation ambition by persecuting and intimidating her two main opposition contenders: Tundu Lissu was held for treason which carries death penalty while Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo Party was excluded from the ballot on legal technicality. She then ensured that sixteen (16) other insignificant fringe political parties with no known public appeal were allowed to partake in the elections with her.

Unfortunately for Tanzanians, Samia’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and its predecessor Tanu have been dominating Tanzania’s politics and have never lost any elections since independence. This fact helps in entrenching her repressive rule that is now clothed in the democratic garb of deception.

Amnesty International observed that a “wave of terror “involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures reigned supreme under her leadership. United Nations Chief, Antonio Guterres, has also said that he is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Tanzania. But the African Union is looking the other way until the situation in that country gets worse and out of control.

Now, an unrelentingly disenchanted voters of that country who felt shortchanged in the October presidential election have slated fresh protests for December 9, 2025. And no one knows how many Tanzanians will be killed this time around, just to illegitimately sustain Suluhu in power.

She seems determined to call the bluff of anyone or country poke-nosing into the ‘internal affairs’ of her country as she has since rebuffed European Union parliamentarians’ votes suspending aid to Tanzania over the violence. She sounded so deceitfully Pan-African and nationalistic in her vain pursuit of power to wit: “They still think they are our masters, they are our colonisers.” What a realistically truthful statement deceitfully coined to justify democratic brutality on defenceless Tanzanians.

Suluhu of Tanzania’s feminine tyrannical conduct is not new. The world’s history is replete with the misdeeds of women like her who deployed the power of their appointive/elective positions to inflict pain and anguish on their people.

For example, Indira Gandhi of India was renowned for being an “Iron Lady” because of her controversial fistic rule. She imposed an emergency order on Indians, ruled by decree that denied them their civil liberties while her political opponents were indiscriminately jailed from 1975-1977. Jiang Qing of China is also another feminine tyrannical figure and the wife of Mao Zedong. She was during that epoch of cultural revolution acknowledged as a powerful and ruthless figure.

Posterity has also documented the barbarity of Empress Wu Zetian of China who to date remains the only female emperor in Chinese history. She was reputed for being a ruthless and effective ruler. Also to be included in this category is Golda Meir of Israel. She remains the first and only female Prime Minister of Israel in history. She reigned from 1969 to 1974 and was known for her unyielding resolve. The list of other women in this category of feminist-brutes who misused power is inexhaustible.

Nonetheless, Samia Suluhu Hassan is a testament to how power-ruthless, most women can be when put in positions of authority and influence. Suluhu’s tyranny is just unfurling but no one across Africa seems bothered about the antics of this budding dictator in faraway Tanzania, the land of the highly revered African statesman, Julius Mwalimu Nyerere.

The world needs to pay attention to what’s going on in Tanzania for humanity’s sake. Samia Suluhu Hassan must not be allowed to decimate defenceless Tanzanians on December 9, 2025. She should allow them to exercise their inalienable right to peacefully protest against democratic iniquities.

•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency, is currently managing partner at AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS.