Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan. PHOTO | POOL
With election season fast approaching, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan this week displayed a rare streak of ruthlessness to quell disruptive internal politicking within her government, dismissing two of her key Cabinet members and several parastatal heads for apparently straying off course.
On July 21, the President sacked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation January Makamba, alongside Information and ICT Minister Nape Nnauye, as part of a mini-Cabinet reshuffle which caught many by surprise, especially Mr Makamba’s case.
She followed that up on July 23 by revoking -- again in an abrupt manner -- the appointments of the top officials of three communications sector public entities that posted public adverts “congratulating” Mr Nnauye for his service in the ministry, a day after his dismissal.
Companies under the ministry that were affected by President Samia’s wrath over the adverts are Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL), Tanzania Posts Corporation and Universal Communications Services Access Fund (UCSAF).
The two dismissals, announced through State House in quick succession, were both brief and curt, giving no reasons for the presidential decision and subsequently triggering speculation in the public domain, especially online.
But, for those in the know and who could read between the lines, these are the latest signal of a president getting tougher on officials with questionable loyalty or commitments to implementing her stated 4Rs leadership mantra— Reconciliation, Resilience, Reforms and Rebuilding.
In her speech during the swearing in of the new officials on Friday, the President said: “Madaraka ni nguo la kuazima, aliyekukopesha anaweza kukuvua muda wowote,” meaning she retained the power to hire and fire and igniting more speculation about cutting Mr Makamba to size.
President Samia has in recent weeks implemented a series of significant changes in the national security apparatus, in what pundits see as her efforts to consolidate her position, ahead of nationwide civic elections in three months’ time and the General Election next year.
Mr Makamba was the third foreign minister she has picked and dropped, equal to the number of intelligence chiefs, since taking over the reins after the death of President John Magufuli in March 2021.
Mr Makamba’s removal after serving for 11 months in the position remains shrouded in mystery, in the absence of an official explanation. Other past foreign ministers under Samia are Liberata Mulamula and Stergomena Tax, who is currently the Defence minister.
The current spy chief, Suleiman Abubakar Mombo, was appointed just two weeks ago, and his two predecessors lasted eight and 11 months respectively.
The new docket holder at Foreign affairs is Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, who was recalled from his posting as Tanzania’s ambassador to Italy, specifically to take up the role. Sunday’s Cabinet shake-up also involved replacing the two deputy ministers, in a complete overhaul of the ministry’s top hierarchy.
One deputy, Stephen Byabato, was dropped alongside Mr Makamba and the other, Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk, resigned - supposedly voluntarily - just 24 hours earlier, citing “personal reasons”.
The new deputies are Dennis Londo, who will be handling EAC affairs, and Cosato Chumi.
In other notable Cabinet changes, Jerry Silaa was appointed to succeed Mr Nnauye as Information/ICT minister and Ridhiwani Jakaya Kikwete, the son of the former president, was promoted from deputy minister of state in the President’s Office dealing with public service management and good governance to Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office in charge of Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability.
Mr Silaa and Mr Kikwete Jr are members of the ruling CCM party’s new generation of leaders whose political stars appear to shine brighter, with their latest appointments. Mr Silaa was moved from Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.
According to State House, the appointments of the board chairpersons Ms Zuhura Sinare Muro (TTCL), Brigadier General (Rtd) Yohana Ocholla Mabongo (TPC) and Prof John Nkoma (UCSAF) were all revoked with immediate effect from Tuesday.
Also purged were TTCL director-general Peter Ulanga, TPC postmaster-general Maharage Chande and UCSAF Chief Executive Officer Justina Mashiba. No replacements were immediately named to fill the six vacancies, which are all presidential appointments.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, President Samia presided over the first Cabinet meeting after the changes at Chamwino State House in Dodoma, details of which were not disclosed.
The speculation surrounding Mr Makamba’s exit have ranged from his being prepared for a late bid for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson’s seat next year as Tanzania’s official candidate, to punishment for nursing covert presidential ambitions while Samia was still in power.
Neither he nor the government have commented about the AUC bid rumours, which have emanated mainly from Kenya, where opposition stalwart Raila Odinga is among the leading candidates for the position. Moreover, the ignominious nature of Mr Makamba’s sacking appears to have nailed that notion. The deadline for AUC chair applications is August 6.
On the other hand, the benching of Mr Nnauye came as a little surprise after he recently committed the serious political gaffe, in CCM terms, of openly suggesting that vote-counting forgery and rigged results, were prevalent and accepted inTanzanian elections.
His utterances were clearly in violation of President Samia’s 4Rs philosophy, and sparked a huge public furore that the ruling party moved swiftly to dissociate itself from them, with propaganda and publicity chief Amos Makalla formally describing them as Mr Nnauye’s personal views and not CCM’s.
Despite their relatively young ages, Mr Makamba (50) and Mr Nnauye (46) are heavyweights within the CCM establishment, and many pundits believe they will both eventually bounce back, sooner or later.
They may choose to use their time away from the limelight to further strengthen their clout within a party that is still wracked by factionalism, while striving to maintain an outward appearance of a tightly knit outfit.
The duo has had parallel roller-coaster political trajectories since 2015 when, as CCM young Turks working with the party’s current vice-chairperson Abdulrahman Kinana, they championed Magufuli’s successful presidential campaign against the powerful opposition coalition candidate Edward Lowassa.
Political pundit Fareed Nkwabi told The EastAfrican that in view of this background, one would have expected them to play a big part in Samia’s 2025 presidential campaign.
“But by cutting them off, she has signalled that she intends to pick her own team of loyalists for the job,” he said.
Mr Makamba had been one of five candidates shortlisted by the CCM politburo for endorsement as the party’s candidate to succeed Kikwete in the 2015 presidential election, before the ticket eventually went to Magufuli.
And, under Magufuli, the two had similar fate to their latest, being sacked from Cabinet positions in similar unceremonious fashion after finding themselves on the wrong side of the iron-fisted president.
As he contemplates his current predicament, Mr Makamba for one, may be forgiven for viewing July 21 as a particularly unlucky date for him, given that it was coincidentally on the same date in 2019 when he was fired from Magufuli’s Cabinet.
