By Rael Ombuor / Max Bearak, NAIROBI Kenya
The sudden death of Tanzanian president John Magufuli in March plunged much of the East African country into mourning but prompted some to hope his successor would reverse his government’s authoritarian tendencies.
Much of that hope was dashed in
recent days, after the chairman of Tanzania’s most prominent opposition party
was arrested last week and charged Monday with plotting to assassinate
government officials.
The opposition leader, Freeman Mbowe, had been campaigning for changes to Tanzania’s constitution that would lessen the central government’s power and create greater parliamentary oversight.
The party he leads, the Party for Democracy and Progress, commonly
known as Chadema, is focused on rooting out corruption, which it says worsened
under Magufuli.
For many, the arrest was
reminiscent of crackdowns on the opposition and journalists under Magufuli.
The charges against Mbowe, which
include accusing him of paying three men to blow up gas stations and other
“terrorism-related” activities, were farcical, said his lawyer, Peter Kibatala.
“It is too much of a coincidence,
the timing,” he said. “Why arrest him at this moment right when agitations for
a new constitution are taking shape?”
Police and government spokesmen
did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
“They are saying: ‘We will not
accept any kind of conversation around any kind of reforms,' " said Maria
Sarungi Tsehai, founder of Change Tanzania, an online platform that advocates
for democracy.
Samia Hassan, Magufuli’s
successor and the country’s first female president, had made some overtures
during her first months in office that had given activists reason for hope. She
moved away from Magufuli’s pandemic denialism that had left Tanzania without
any public monitoring of covid-19’s spread or a plan for procuring vaccines.
Tanzania received its first
vaccine doses through the global Covax program this week and has released some
new case data. Hassan received her jab on
Wednesday and urged all Tanzanians to get vaccinated.
Hassan also replaced numerous officials, including the top public prosecutor, and travelled to neighboring Kenya, lowering tensions over tariffs that had flared under Magufuli.
Kibatala said he was not notified
by the court where Mbowe was arraigned, that charges were being read, which
Edward Hoseah, president of one of Tanzania’s biggest federation of lawyers,
said was unlawful.
Magufuli’s authoritarian
tendencies brought about a new era in Tanzania that saw widespread intimidation
of the opposition, the arrests of dozens of journalists and curtailing of
freedoms of speech. But he was also admired for his fierce nationalism and
focus on infrastructure projects that earned him the nickname “the Bulldozer.”
He had won reelection just months
before his death, which leaves Hassan, formerly his vice president, with most
of a five-year term to finish.
Magufuli’s pandemic response —
which centered at first on denial and then on playing down its severity —
earned him international reprove. Rumors swirled around the cause of his death,
but officials said he succumbed to a long-standing heart ailment.
Mbowe’s son, James, said that
while his father had been arrested before, the seriousness of the charges this
time came as a shock to the family. A day after Mbowe’s detention, the health
of his beloved uncle Alfayo Mbowe, 88, quickly deteriorated, and he was taken
to a hospital where he died.
“We thought that things had
changed when Mama Samia said that this is not the time to look back,” the
younger Mbowe said. “But we are seeing that things are not as she promised.”
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