from ALLOYCE KIMBUNGA in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Tanzania Bureau
DAR-ES-SALAAM, (CAJ News) – FOR 65 years, Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has stood as Africa’s longest unbroken ruling party, a symbol of political predictability in a turbulent continent.
Today, that absolute stability has been shattered, plunging the nation into its deepest and most volatile political crisis since independence.
In an unprecedented executive breakdown, the Vice President has been forced into a sudden resignation, instantly expelled from the ruling party and reportedly placed under house arrest after demanding constitutional reform.
Emmanuel Nchimbi has stepped down as deputy to President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Reports indicate Nchimbi is to be charged with treason.
Maria Sarungi Tsehai, an activist, media and communications expert, said, “Instead of trying to de-escalate the already highly tense situation, she (Hassan) is escalating. This says a lot about her leadership and general discernment capacity.”
Deogratius John Ndejembi, relatively a youngster (43) in the CCM’s scheme of things, has been appointed as his successor.
This comes as Hassan ruthlessly consolidates power through an aggressive autocratic lockdown.
Suluhu assumed power in 2021, following the death of John Magufuli, who critics had labelled as the worst autocrat post-independence, but five years later, government opponents believe Hassan is more iron-fisted.
Political observers point out democratic moderation has been replaced by an imperial presidency as the leader chooses absolute structural control over institutional survival.
With the ongoing upheaval, the East African nation is navigating arguably its most volatile political crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1961.
Never in Tanzania’s post-independence history has a sitting Vice President been pushed out of office.
The CCM (Swahili meaning: Party of the Revolution) has historically prided itself on internal consensus, displaying a unified front to the public and utilising orderly leadership transitions.
Analysts point out the sudden, hostile ousting of Nchimbi, followed by his immediate expulsion from the party and subsequent disappearance, proved the internal mechanism for peaceful conflict resolution within the CCM elite had completely broken down.
Analyst David Omari said CCM had for decades maintained a tight, cohesive grip on power, hence the public falling-out between Hassan and Nchimbi signalled a severe internal power struggle.
“This level of visible fracture at the highest level of executive power is entirely unprecedented in Tanzania’s post-independence history,” he said in an interview with CAJ News Africa.
Omari said the convergence of a historic internal party split, massive post-election state violence, the silencing of independent media and an unaccountable executive indicates that Tanzania’s political landscape is the most volatile in decades, testing the limits of its citizens’ patience.
Because it has never lost an election or relinquished control of the executive branch, CCM has held uninterrupted power for 65 years.
The 2025 election that retained Hassan in power was highly controversial and drew widespread criticism from both domestic opposition and international observers.
The systematic arrest, disqualification, and targeting of opposition political figures both before and after the vote heavily marred the electoral exercise.
– CAJ News