Tanzania Vice President resigns citing president's desire for change
Tanzania Vice President resigns citing president's desire for change
Vice President of Tanzania, Emmanuel Nchimbi, has resigned less than one year after assuming the position.
Nchimbi resigned from office and also announced his retirement from politics on Tuesday, August 25, saying he had become convinced that President Samia Suluhu Hassan wanted a different deputy
He said he had written to Hassan to inform her that he would leave the vice presidency and retire from public service and active politics.
He said he had promised the president in August 2025 that he would step aside if she ever wanted a different vice president. Nchimbi said he was now convinced "beyond doubt" that Hassan desired a change.
Tanzania President, Samia Hassan, has accepted the resignation letter from Nchimbi, a government spokesperson said.
Nchimbi will leave office on September 4, having served since November 2025, the spokesperson added in statement on X.
"Constitutional procedures to appoint another Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania will be undertaken," it said.
Nchimbi was earlier the Secretary General of the President's ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi, CCM.
He drew criticism from some in the party for remarks in July they considered unnecessary, when he told an event hosted by a rights group that he would urge Tanzanians to fight for a new constitution.
"A constitution that leads us toward development, not just material and economic development, but the development of dignity and the human worth of every person living in Tanzania," Nchimbi said in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.
President Hassan emerged the winner of 2025 presidential election, securing nearly 98 per cent in a vote marred by deadly violence.
A government-appointed inquiry panel said at least 518 people were k!lled in the unrest, spurred by the exclusion of leading opposition candidates from the elections.
- Linda Ikeji's Blog Original article
