The recent wave of abductions, arrests and the brutal killing of an opposition official in Tanzania seems to be dimming the ray of political hope that came with President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s rise to power in 2021.
There was huge relief when Samia – Tanzania’ first female president – took office, with opposition parties allowed to organise rallies and criticise the government without the fear of grave repercussions.
But concern is growing that Tanzania is sliding back to the era of her autocratic predecessor, John Magufuli.
In the span of weeks, two of the most senior opposition leaders have been arrested twice, and another opposition official, Ali Kibao, was abducted, killed and his body doused in acid by unknown assailants.
“The political situation in Tanzania is worrisome in the extreme,” said the deputy leader of the main opposition Chadema party, Tundu Lissu.
He was speaking to the BBC a week before his arrest on Monday, when his party had planned to protest against the killing of Kibao and the alleged disappearance of several other government critics. Lissu was later released on bail.
He was also released on bail last month, following his arrest on the eve of a banned opposition rally in the south-western town of Mbeya.
Chadema said about 100 of its members had been detained to prevent the rally from taking place.
“We’re beginning to see the kind of the wave of repression and state-orchestrated violence which was characteristic of the period from 2016 to 2020 [during the Magufuli administration],” Lissu told the BBC. (BBC News)