Tanzania’s president removed a prohibition on opposition gatherings imposed by her strongman predecessor in 2016, in outreach to political opponents seeking the restoration of democratic traditions.
“I am here to say that the ban on political rallies has been abolished,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took over after John Magufuli died in 2021, told a gathering of party leaders at Dar es Salaam’s State House.
“While the government will be responsible for guaranteeing security during rallies, I urge all politicians to practice civilized politics as well,” she said.
President Suluhu has been under pressure to abandon some of Magufuli’s most severe policies after he came to office in 2015 as a no-nonsense man of the people but was accused of stifling opposition.
Magufuli, nicknamed “the Bulldozer” for his tough attitude, outlawed political demonstrations early in his first term, but detractors claimed the order primarily applied to opposition parties.
Under his leadership, freedom of speech and the press were also restricted, and opposition leaders were jailed, in a broad crackdown on dissent in a country that was previously seen as a democratic beacon in East Africa.
Suluhu has attempted to reach out to the opposition since gaining office, but she has previously been labeled a “dictator” by her adversaries, and concerns about political and media freedoms persist.
In 2021, the ruling party’s journal was suspended for printing a report claiming Hassan will not run for election in 2025.
