Mama Samia has won Tyrant of the Year. Many Tanzanians voted for her. They mobilised each other online and campaigned for her to win. But here is the thing, I don’t think she should have won this one, even though her list of sins is endless. Sure, she abducted and jailed dissidents. Killed protesters. Let the police shoot, kill, beat, rape innocent Tanzanians without any accountability, just to name a few. Honestly, I thought Netanyahu had this one in the bag! I mean, what can beat a genocide? I imagine Donald Trump must be pissed he didn’t win despite his best [worst] efforts.
If it weren’t for the events of 29 October 2025, Samia wouldn’t have made the list, not by a long shot. Up until then she had been in the minor leagues, a wannabe tyrant at best. But she did what tyrants do and ignored the voice of the people who wanted electoral reforms before the general elections. There is a saying in Swahili – “Sikio la kufa halisikii dawa” – which loosely translates to “a dying ear hears no medicine”. Samia surrounded herself with chawa [bootlickers] and rounded up dissidents. She didn’t care about free and fair elections and forged on to the polls even as the main opposition party boycotted the election. She forged on as opposition leader Tundu Lissu was jailed, and another opposition candidate was thrown out of the race by a questionable court decision. She forged on, as protesters across the country took to the streets. She forged on, ballots stuffed and all, winning the presidency at a whopping 98%.
The 2025 general election was the bloodiest in the country’s history. The Tanzanian police and security forces turned on protesters, bystanders and passersby, shooting them in cold blood. The election day violence was haunting, but the atrocities that ensued in the days that followed are even more heart-wrenching. I heard, in Mbeya and Mwanza, the police went into houses, lined up young men, boys, really, and shot them one by one. They shot people inside their homes. They piled up bodies in morgues and allegedly buried them in mass graves. Many people did not get to mourn and bury their loved ones. They rounded up suspects, raped and tortured them without due process. All the while, people were locked inside their homes with no access to the internet or to credible local news [the local media wasn’t free, and the government shut down the internet].
Tanzanians want justice, and this poll was an opportunity to voice their grievances.
Still, as a Tanzanian, Samia’s win is scarier than it is comforting. Topping this list in January 2026 is dangerous, especially when Trump and more powerful tyrants can send their military to invade your country for having a fellow tyrant president, just so they can take your natural resources. #Imperialism. It reminds me of a line in a poem I wrote – “a neighbour can send troops to kill you and claim it’s for your own freedom”.
