On a different occasion yesterday, October 7, 2024, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs & Coordination) William Vangimembe Lukuvi and the Regional Commissioner of Dar es Salaam, Albert Chalamila, shared their views on the President’s 4R philosophy. The two have outlined very divergent understandings of this philosophy.
The 4R philosophy, which comprises four keywords; reconciliation, resilience, reform, and rebuilding, was introduced by President Samia Suluhu as a mechanism for bridging the political divide in Tanzania following her ascension to power in 2021.
Minister Lukuvi assured political parties that the country will conduct decent elections in line with the President’s 4R philosophy.
He said: “I want to assure all political parties and citizens that the environment, preparations, and procedures for conducting this local government election, as well as all other elections, as per the President’s 4R philosophy, she has genuinely committed to ensuring that all elections conducted under her administration will be decent and observe laws and regulations.”
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Lukuvi was responding to a question from the leader of ACT Wazalendo, Dorothy Semu, who highlighted that there is fear among citizens regarding whether the upcoming election will be free and fair.
“People still have great fear about this election, and many have been receiving threats from political leaders and officials, leaving them uncertain about how the election will turn out,” Semu argued.
Lukuvi, who was touring political parties as part of his strategy to build relationships as the Minister responsible for political affairs, emphasized that if there are threats, they are not coming from the government. He assured that the government is committed to adhering to the agreed-upon rules.
Lukuvi’s statement seems to contradict the views of Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila regarding the upcoming election and the understanding of the 4R philosophy. Chalamila emphasized the role of security forces in implementing the 4R.
“Our nation will be entering the local government elections on November 27, 2024. And here, we are not asking the security forces to go in and change the results. We are asking the security forces to be stronger so that when the results are announced, if someone does not accept them and they have truly lost, then they should be dealt with according to the procedures,” Chalamila told the police while handing over new equipment to them.
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“These Four Rs that the Honorable President talks about; resilience, reforms, and others, sometimes reforms cannot be achieved with gentle words. If you want to make changes, there are times when a strong hand is needed for a person to change. Therefore, these Four Rs mentioned by the Honorable President should not be interpreted as meaning that there are no guns, no bombs, and no water cannons anymore,” Chalamila argued.
He added, “No, you cannot build in that way. Reliance, rebuilding, and all other issues exist because we know that in rebuilding and reforming, there will be people who will not accept it. Now, if they do not accept, what do you do? You must use another approach to create an artificial culture in which this person will start to behave as if it is their normal behavior until they get used to it and it becomes their culture.”
Tanzania is expecting to hold its local government elections on November 27, 2024, followed by the general election next year. Voter registration for the local government election is expected to commence on October 11 and conclude on October 20, 2024. Candidates are expected to formally declare their intentions between November 1 and November 7, 2024, and campaigning will take place from November 20 to November 26, 2024.
