By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Tanzania’s President, Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday announced that her administration has set up a commission of inquiry to probe into the killings that occurred during and after the country’s October 29 presidential poll, adding that she had ordered the release of some of the arrested protesters.
In her first address to the parliament since the election took place, the Tanzania leader assured that the commission would look into issues that led to the unrest and help inform the reconciliation and peace efforts her government was planning to undertake.
Young Tanzanians hit the street on the election day to protest the controversial exclusion of presidential candidates from the two main opposition parties.
President Hassan went into the election with a rarely known challenger and was declared the winner with more than 97% of the total votes.
Hundreds of people were arrested during three days of protests, and some face treason charges.
President Hassan who came to power in 2021 after the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli said that “as a mother,” she had forgiven those who may have joined the protests out of peer pressure.
“For those who were just following the wave, let them be counselled and released,” she said.
The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, had called for a probe into the killings and the alleged concealing of evidence.
President Hassan agreed with the opposition party CHADEMA that for any meaningful dialogue and reconciliation to take place, constitutional reforms were key.
She said her administration would embark on a constitutional reform process within its first 100 days.
The CHADEMA party had repeatedly called for constitutional reforms to ensure transparency in the Oct. 29 election. It was disqualified from contesting the election after demanding basic electoral reforms before the polls.
Leader of the CHADEMA party, Tundu Lissu, is still in the custody where he is facing treason charges, and his trial is yet to resume following the election protests. His deputy, John Heche, was arrested on election day and released weeks later.
