Samia will offer no respite to Tanzania’s opposition

Significance

Mbowe and other Chadema leaders were arrested on July 20-21 ahead of a planned party meeting on constitutional reforms. Chadema has denounced the charges as a politically motivated vendetta orchestrated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.

Impacts

• International partners may engage with Samia’s nation-building project with increasing caution.
• As physical political spaces close again, social media will return as the key avenue for political groups to communicate with supporters.
• An unpopular new law taxing mobile money transactions will add to the pressures on Samia’s administration.