Dar es Salaam. The People’ Liberation Party (CHAUMMA) has officially nominated its Secretary-General, Salum Mwalimu, as the party’s presidential candidate for the upcoming general election. His running mate will be Devotha Minja, the party’s Vice Chairperson.
The announcement came during the party’s congress held in Dar es Salaam on August 7. Of the 357 delegates in attendance, 340 cast their votes. Mwalimu received overwhelming support with 336 votes in favor and only 4 against. Minja secured 335 votes, with 6 delegates voting against her candidacy.
Mwalimu, born in 1979 in Zanzibar, joined CHAUMMA in May this year after defecting from CHADEMA along with a group of senior members known as the G55 — a bloc aligned with former CHADEMA Chairman Freeman Mbowe.
A close ally of Mbowe, Mwalimu previously held several leadership positions within CHADEMA, including Deputy Secretary-General for Zanzibar since 2014, and was a member of both the Secretariat and Central Committee.
His political journey includes multiple electoral contests: he ran for the Kikwajuni parliamentary seat in 2015 and the Kinondoni seat in a 2018 by-election — both unsuccessful bids. In 2018 he also vied for a seat in the East African Legislative Assembly but did not win.
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In the 2020 general election, Mwalimu served as the running mate to presidential candidate Tundu Lissu under the CHADEMA banner. The election was won by then-incumbent President John Pombe Magufuli, who secured a second term.
Mwalimu’s running mate, Devotha Minja, also defected from CHADEMA in May 2025, where she had served as the Central Zone Chairperson. She was a Special Seats MP for CHADEMA from 2015 to 2020 and cited differences with the party’s new leadership as her reason for leaving — particularly her loyalty to the former chairman Mbowe.
During the congress held at the Mlimani City Hall, the party also launched its 2025 election manifesto. They outlined plans to field candidates across both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
READ MORE: Freeman Mbowe and the Optics of Absence and Presence
The event was notable for the presence of several observers, including representatives from the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, civil society organizations, and foreign diplomats. For the first time in Tanzania’s multiparty political history, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China sent a representative to an opposition party event. Other diplomatic missions present included the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Mwalimu’s nomination as CHAUMMA’s presidential candidate is expected to quell speculation that the party might front Freeman Mbowe, whose recent political silence had sparked rumors. Many of Mbowe’s former allies and campaign team, following his loss in CHADEMA’s internal elections in January 2025, have since joined CHAUMMA.
