Speaking at a campaign rally in Serengeti, Mara Region, on Friday, October 10, 2025, President Samia Suluhu Hassan defended her record as Tanzania’s first female president and sought to win over voters from a region often regarded as highly conservative.
“Fellow Tanzanians, I want to speak to you and say that although we have our traditions and customs, the issue of unity among Tanzanians is a very important matter,” Samia said in her address. “When Almighty God created us, he did not create anyone with a particular head shape or feature to mean that they are more intelligent than others.”
Samia went on to emphasize how social roles have evolved, noting that women today work and take care of their families, roles that are no longer limited to men.
“I began with that story because I’ve started hearing people say that our candidate is a woman, and according to our traditions and customs, we don’t want a female candidate,” Samia explained. “But my brothers and sisters, women will bear pregnancies and give birth in pain, yet when it comes to development, there is no woman or man.”
“I, the one speaking here, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, have done great things within four years,” Samia said. “Now, if it were true that a woman cannot achieve much, I wouldn’t have been able to do all this. God created all of us with equal intelligence and gave us the ability to think. Whether you are a woman or a man, you can think.”
Samia also assured voters in Mara of her confidence in the four female candidates running for various constituencies in the region under CCM, telling them there was no reason for concern.
“Even when I first took office, there were those who doubted me and said I wouldn’t be able to succeed, but today, we are talking things differently,” she said.
So far, in this year’s election, gender has not been a major topic of debate. Critics of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ruling party have instead focused on issues such as corruption and the lack of competitive politics, after the country’s main opposition party, CHADEMA, was barred from participating in the election. Its leader faces treason charges, and the party’s operations remain suspended following a court ruling.
The ACT-Wazalendo presidential candidate, Luhaga Mpina, was also disqualified from the race after an objection filed by the Attorney General.
The ruling party has further faced criticism over an increasing wave of abductions across the country. The most recent case involves Humphrey Polepole, a former CCM insider and ex-diplomat who became one of Samia’s fiercest critics after resigning from his position in July 2025. Polepole was reportedly abducted on October 6, 2025, leaving behind a pool of blood. His whereabouts and health condition remain unknown to date.
