Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan is sworn in as Tanzania’s sixth President on March 19, 2021 at State House in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE
Summary
· President Hassan has since presided over a raft of reforms that have changed the direction the country was taking under her predecessor
Dar es Salaam. When Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan came into office nearly two
years ago, Tanzania was on a completely different trajectory.
President Hassan has since presided
over a raft of reforms that have changed the direction the country was taking
under her predecessor, Dr John Pombe Magufuli, who died in office on March 17,
2021.
Ms Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania’s
first female President on March 19, 2021 when the nation was still mourning the
death of Dr Magufuli, who was nicknamed “the bulldozer” for his uncompromising
leadership style.
Dr Magufuli and Ms Hassan, who was
then Vice President, were re-elected in the October 2020 General Election,
which was fiercely disputed by the main opposition party, Chadema.
After she was sworn in, President
Hassan declared 14 days of national mourning and called for unity among
Tanzanians.
“This is the time to stand together
and be united. It’s time to bury our differences, promote love among us and
look into the future with confidence.
“This isn’t the time to start
pointing accusing fingers at one other. We should hold hands and move forward
in building a new Tanzania that President Magufuli endeavoured to build,” she
added.
However, two years down the road,
Tanzania has made a clean break with Magufuli’s mostly hardline policies in
various spheres.
Covid-19 stance
The first major test President
Hassan faced was the raging Covid-19 pandemic, which Magufuli had dismissed as
a hoax.
Read: President Samia receives
Covid-19 jab, quiets fears
Magufuli scoffed at proven Covid
protocols and even refused to allow vaccines into the country. At one point, he
declared that the virus had been eradicated from Tanzania by prayer.
However, President Hassan, then in
office for only a few weeks, appointed a committee of experts to advise her on
the way forward and propose measures to keep Tanzanians safe.
Not surprisingly, the team’s
proposals included the resumption of regular publication of Covid data, some 13
months after the government last released statistics on the disease.
President Hassan also appeared in
public wearing a facemask and encouraged Tanzanians to do so to protect
themselves and others, something her predecessor had never done.
Read: Samia: Evaluate Covid-19
status, suggest measures
She also allowed the entry of
Covid-19 vaccines, which Magufuli had warned were “very dangerous”. The Head of
State made it clear that people would not be forced to accept vaccination.
President Hassan also pledged that Tanzania would be guided solely by science
in its war on Covid-19.
Teen mothers back to school
In November 2021, the government
announced that teen mothers would be allowed to continue with their studies,
reversing a policy that was unilaterally imposed by Magufuli.
Read: Tanzania lifts ban on pregnant
school girls
In 2017, Magufuli banned public
schools from taking back schoolgirls who had dropped out after becoming
pregnant.
“I provide money so that students
can study free of charge, but you find a schoolgirl getting pregnant, giving
birth and returning to school. That will never happen under my watch,” he said.
Read: Uproar over JPM ban on teen
mothers
The decision was widely condemned by
development partners and human rights campaigners.
The World Bank suspended a $300
million loan for girls’ education following Magufuli’s ban.
More freedom
A few weeks after her swearing-in,
President Hassan reached out to the Opposition, vowing to defend democracy and
basic freedoms.
In April 2021, she directed that the
indefinite ban slapped on a number of media outlets by the previous
administration be lifted.
“I’m told that you revoked the
licences of some media outlets, including online television stations. You
should lift the ban, but advise them to follow the law and relevant guidelines.
Let’s not give them an opportunity to say that we are limiting press freedom,”
she added.
Read: Govt lifts ban on Tanzania
Daima, Mawio, Mwanahalisi and Mseto
In early 2022, the licences of
Mwanahalisi, Mawio, Mseto and Tanzania Daima newspapers were reissued as part
of the promise to uphold press freedom.
President Hassan also restored
political freedom in January 2023 when she lifted the ban imposed on Opposition
political rallies in 2016.
Read: President Samia lifts ban on
political rallies
She said the government would ensure
security during rallies and urged politicians to practise “civilised politics”.
“Bunge Live”
Last year saw another milestone in
the information sector with the resumption of live broadcasts of parliamentary
sessions in Dodoma, which were stopped six years earlier.
National Assembly clerk Nenelwa
Mwihambi, who announced the resumption of the live broadcasts, popularly known
as “Bunge Live”, said they would begin afresh following renovation of
Parliament’s studio and approval by the Steering Committee.
Read: Tanzania Parliament to resume
live broadcast
The government pulled the plug on
live broadcasts in 2016, citing “high operating costs” and the need for people
to concentrate on their work instead of watching what was going on in
Parliament.
Reforming justice
President Hassan is currently
focusing on reforming the justice system and has already appointed a team to
review the institutions responsible for justice.
The team will investigate, among
other things, the performance of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption
Bureau (PCCB), Police Force, Judiciary, Drug Control and Enforcement Agency, as
well as Tanzania Prisons Service.
Read: Samia forms committee to
investigate performance of security forces
These are some of the State
institutions that are frequently at the receiving end of criticism and
complaints from the public.
Pending issues
Despite these reforms, there are
still pending issues which the Opposition and activists think President Hassan
needs to act on to further improve human rights and other basic freedoms.
Read: What Samia's meeting with
opposition leaders is likely to focus on
These include a new constitution and
an independent electoral commission.
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