President Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday assured of presence of political democracy in the country and denounced propagated political chaos. In an interview with BBC Swahili programme, Ms. Samia said she was ready to meet political parties' leaders to discuss different national matters and give direction of her Government, for mutual understanding and bringing unity for the national interests.
Elaborating, she pointed out that her Government offers room for politicians to practice their political activities freely within their parties. The Head of State added: "The Government will continue promoting and embracing political democracy, but will not tolerate political chaos. We should differentiate between political democracy and political chaos. Political democracy is when we have political parties, which discuss their matters freely. But, political chaos is when political parties keep on organising demonstrations."
Equally, she cited an example of her political party - CCM that after the General Elections normally focuses on discussing political matters through internal party meetings to implement what is in their Manifesto. "Politicians are free to conduct meetings within their parties, what we don't want is freedom of conducting political chaos," she clarified. On her intention to meet leaders of political parties, Ms. Samia, said she was waiting for political parties to get unified under Tanzania Political Parties Council (TPPC) that recently elected its leaders.
"Any time from now I will convene a meeting with leaders of all political parties to discuss and give them direction of my government. It should be noted that I am always ready to meet with opposition members and other stakeholders to discuss changes to the constitution when the time is right," further said the Head of State. In a related development, President Samia noted that the country has been embracing media freedom and freedom of expression, adding that the Government gives the media and citizens room to expresses their grievances.
She said: "Journalists are free to work as long as they followed the country's laws... I listen to criticism on social media also by the opposition members and activists and that helps us know what people are thinking, if we ban it we won't have that platform. As the Government it is better to let people express what they want to air so that you get to know what troubles them."
President Samia also clarified that arrest of CHADEMA Chairman Freeman Mbowe was not for political interest, saying: "Mr. Mbowe has been under investigation since September last year... He was out of the country for a long time. I don't know why he fled, but when he returned he started creating trouble with calls for a new constitution. I suspect that, knowing the charges he was facing, he calculated that if he was arrested he could claim that it was because he was pushing for a new constitution."
On the ongoing public campaign to increase vaccination uptake, President Samia said she led it by example to get the jab publicly to reassure those who were worried about its safety. "But my main worry now is not vaccine hesitancy but availability of vaccines, we have received donations from the US and acquired some from COVAX facilities, but they will soon run out," Ms. Samia added.