The Tanzanian president’s reform drive has endeared her to the populace but will also embolden opposition to her political ambitions.
Tanzania opposition party leader Freeman Mbowe (centre) after being released from prison in Dar es Salaam in 2020.
Photo by Ericky Boniphace/AFP via Getty Images
Despite the relative political stability over the years, Tanzania needs a new constitution to address contemporary challenges and strengthen institutions.
New Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan during her swearing-in.
Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images
Hassan, like Magufuli before her, has taken office without her own political base and will also have to contend with revived factional manoeuvring.
Julius Nyerere (second right), his successor Ali Hassan Mwinyi (right) and Mwinyi’s successor Benjamin Mkapa (left) host South Africa’s Walter Sisulu in January 1990.
Reuters/File
A balance sheet of positives and negatives for Tanzania’s president Magufuli is perhaps the most striking similarity with the legacy of Nyerere as the country marks another independence anniversary.
Integration within the East African Community has been sticky. The fact that Kenya’s main political parties haven’t spelled out their policies on the community in their manifestos is a worry.