Intelligence Brief | Tanzania’s Freeman Mbowe Sparks Controversy with Government Event Appearance Amid CHAUMMA Defection Rumours
Ujasusi Blog’s East Africa Monitoring Team | 📆18 July 2025 | 🕜0035 BST
📌 Executive Summary
Freeman Mbowe, the former chairman of Tanzania’s main opposition party Chadema, has ignited a firestorm of criticism following his high-profile appearance at a government-organised event in Dodoma. Seated alongside ruling party elites and posing for photos with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Mbowe’s public re-emergence—his first since losing the chairmanship to Tundu Lissu in January 2025—has been widely interpreted as a political betrayal. With Chadema currently suspended, its funding frozen, and its leader Lissu jailed for nearly 100 days on politically charged treason allegations, Mbowe’s remarks dismissing the “No Reforms, No Election” campaign have sharply alienated the opposition base. Fuelled further by unverified rumours of his potential defection to CHAUMMA, a rival opposition party, the controversy has fractured the party and brought into question the future of Tanzania’s opposition politics.
🧨 Key Development: Mbowe’s Appearance Triggers Shock and Rage
Freeman Mbowe’s appearance today, 17 July 2025, at the National Development