President Samia Suluhu Hassan has stated that the country’s brutal election unrest could jeopardize the international financing that has long sustained its development agenda.
During a speech on Tuesday, she cautioned that donor confidence may dwindle in the aftermath of the country’s deadliest electoral crisis.
“We have to look for funds internally using our God-given resources,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan said, urging her newly announced cabinet to rethink how the government pays for major projects.
Her comments follow the October 29 elections, a vote marred by widespread anger after candidates from the two main opposition parties were blocked from the presidential race.
READ ALSO: Tanzania launches inquiry as President Samia moves to heal election wounds
Three days of fierce demonstrations took place across the country. Opposition leaders claim that more than 2,000 people were killed, while hundreds of others were rounded up and charged with treason. Hassan ultimately won with more than 97 percent of the vote, a result that deepened public backlash.
As the unrest spread, youth protesters torched vehicles and vandalized polling areas, police stations, and bus terminals. The military was deployed to contain the mayhem. The president later ordered that some of the young people arrested during the clashes be freed.
“During our first term we mostly relied on international funding, but what happened here may reduce our access to loans compared to how we were accessing funds during our first term,” she said, noting that the violence had likely shaken donors.
This week, Hassan unveiled her new cabinet lineup, which includes her daughter and son-in-law, AP reported. She called on ministers to locate domestic sources of revenue at a time when foreign support may tighten.
In her first address to Parliament since the disputed election, Hassan announced the formation of an inquiry commission that will investigate the turmoil and guide national reconciliation. The move comes after U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk urged Tanzanian officials to probe the deaths and examine reports that evidence had been suppressed.
The president also spoke about the young Tanzanians caught up in the protests, stressing that compassion should be shown to those who were swept along by peer pressure. “For those who were just following the wave, let them be counselled and released,” she said, adding that “as a mother,” she believed in forgiveness.
Chadema, the country’s most prominent opposition party, continues to demand deep political reforms and insists that the reconciliation process must include constitutional changes. Hassan responded that her administration would launch a constitutional review within its first 100 days.
Chadema had called for electoral reforms well before the election and was blocked from participating after insisting on change. Its leader, Tundu Lissu, remains in prison on treason charges, with his trial yet to resume after the chaos. The party’s deputy leader, John Heche, was arrested on election day and released three weeks later.
READ ALSO: 76 charged with treason in Tanzania’s disputed election unrest
