A Moment of Truth in Tanzania
Samia Suluhu’s unrestrained ambition revealed
It has been a year since my last article. I am having an extremely difficult, stressful year. The last thing I want to do is write another article. Yet, here I am, digging deep, scraping the bottom of the barrel as it were, to find the energy and the will to marshal my thoughts and put pen to paper. Because, the past week, a tragedy occurred in Tanzania. Namely, on the 8th of June 2023, Parliament passed an amendment to the Intelligence and Security Service Act which basically renders the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service (TISS) the single most powerful state organ in the country and allows it to operate without oversight as well as arms its operatives and places their actions above the law.
First, check out the link above. Note the headline in the Citizen: “Tanzania’s national intelligence agency set for reforms”. “Reforms”, for God’s sake, as if this, the strengthening of dictatorship, is a step in the right direction. Yet again proof that the “free and independent” media of “democratic” Tanzania is free only as long as it spins in favor of the rulers. Then note some blatant lies and misdirection:
“[the amendment] … will align with the nature and operations of other intelligence services around the world.” Not a single intelligence agency in the democratic world has the kind of power and impunity that TISS is being granted. And, neither is oversight limited to a single person, not a president or a prime minister, as is the case here. Maybe Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have such setups, but they hardly constitute the world; and neither are they examples we should emulate.
“The bill adds immunity to the intelligence officers by protecting them from [criminal] suits in case they make mistakes in their legal operations”. This is ridiculous. Civil servants are not held accountable for genuine mistakes; however, it is easy to declare their misdeeds mistakes. Clearly, Magufuli’s law that had granted immunity from prosecution to the President, Vice-President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and the Chief Justice are being extended to henchmen and enforcers. Obviously, the blackmails, abductions, tortures, and murders attributed to “rogue elements within TISS” under Magufuli will now be ascribed to “mistakes”.
In a nutshell, the amendment removes the Attorney General, the Ministers of State and of Foreign Affairs and the Chief Secretary from TISS oversight. And enables the President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and the recently appointed Director General of TISS, Said Nassoro Hassan Masoro, to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want, under the guise of “national security threat” and declare any criminal action a mistake. With this amendment, Tanzania has officially become an Authoritarian Police State, or in this case an Authoritarian TISS State, heralding an onslaught of oppression and persecution the like of which we have not experienced before.
I believe that Samia is too obtuse to have come up with this amendment by herself. No, she has “problems” and Masoro offered to solve them. His price is extraordinary powers and absolute impunity to get the job done. As a benefit he becomes Queen Maker, and the Queen’s Enforcer-in-Chief. Well, presumably until, a la Putin, he makes himself King that is. While exploiting a weak president may make him appear devious, it in fact makes him look particularly nasty, not suited to be a senior public servant in a society ambitioning to be democratic.
Obviously, Samia’s most pressing political problem is to ensure a second term for herself. With this amendment, I promise you, the terror we had lived through under Magufuli (the blackmails, abductions, imprisonments, torture, and murders) will seem positively mild next to what she and her personal enforcers — an empowered and emboldened TISS — have in store for us.
Also, Samia has problems imposing her will on an “unruly” populace. Notably, she unleashed the might of the entire government on the Maasai to get them to vacate Ngorongoro. And yet, they continue to resist; and seek remedy, denied to them at home, internationally including at the UN and the Parliament of the European Union.
Well not to worry, Enforcer-in-Chief has been empowered to take care of such inconveniences. Indeed, this past week, one major problem has been addressed effectively. Qualified by many experts as exceptionally bad and extremely unpopular with the citizenry, the agreement handing Tanzania’s mainland ports over to DP World has been passed by Parliament with reports of threats and bribes. In fact, getting CCM MPs to toe the line is routine for TISS. Getting Samia to believe that it can protect her from the wrath of the entire population of mainland Tanzania is the real feat here. The key question though is: why would a politician, desperately seeking to ensure re-election, enrage 90% of the electorate because of an agreement? Presumably, this is her deal, her “turn to eat”; she has gotten her cut, her baksheesh, it is now time to deliver.
I had argued in the past that Samia is incompetent. I had also argued that she is extremely cruel for the fate of penury and depravation that she had condemned the Maasai to., I therefore would like to argue further that she is also corrupt considering that this deal is detrimental to national interest and security beyond anything we have experienced in Tanzania before, even though we have had some exceptional contenders in the past.
Unfortunately, times are terrible and worse is coming.
You know, I close my eyes and hear some of you collectively whimper: “God will help us! At least Samia is not as bad as Magufuli!”. This is your standard? The demon is not as bad as the devil?
Well sorry to wake you up to a harsh reality: economically, politically, socially we, collectively, are in a downward spiral. Things are deteriorating at an accelerating rate. So, either we find a way to, collectively, pull ourselves out of trouble and put our society on the right track, or, like Somalia and Sudan, we become a failed state.
I truly believe that the best way out of our troubles is to enshrine a new constitution, a solid foundation on which we can build afresh. And, with the Warioba draft, we already have a good starting point; we only have to adapt it and complement it with a Constitution of Tanganyika.
This is an important struggle. The beneficiaries of the current system, be they top politicians, senior civil servants, or big businessmen, will not relinquish their hold on power voluntarily. This is an entrenched cabal fronted by CCM, a failed, degenerate political party that does not need members, does not need voters, does not need elections, but that holds to power through lies, deceit, manipulation, and terror.
But this cannot be the fight of a few. It requires many. Not everyone, not even a majority, but enough to achieve a tipping point. Enough to be able to deter and stand up to the forces that the oppressors will undoubtedly unleash. Ultimately though, this is a personal decision for everyone. Ask yourself: as the going gets tough, am I the tough who gets going or the coward who points to others?
