Some, if not many of us, are looking for a single, logical answer. A singular explanation. That genuine human attempt to make sense out of the senseless massacre, especially of young people, in the once relatively peaceful Tanzania, following the discredited election on October 29, 2025.
There is no single story that can fully capture how Tanzania descended to this deadly point on that tragic October. None. At least, what we have so far are bold attempts to come up with nuanced analyses of how we ended down here – from Ben Taylor’s What Went Wrong in Tanzania? to Baruani Mshale’s Tanzania Baada ya Oktoba 29, 2025: Tunarejeshaje Kisiwa cha Amani? i.e., ‘Tanzania after October 29: How do we restore the Island of Peace’ in reference to our then brand.
Yet there are factors that many are still too afraid to address head-on. The killer elephant in the room. Who or what exactly halted the brief repose that characterized the then-celebrated first 100 days in office of President Samia Suluhu Hassan in 2021? How did her seemingly sweet retreat from the late President John Magufuli’s authoritarian rule end abruptly and turn extremely deadly?
The turning point
An ongoing informal social media poll may give a clue to what may be hidden in plain sight, way before the year 2025. It asks #Tanzania: #HerTurningPoint? Was it in 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024?
Some specific dates are provided for 2021 and 2023. Of particular interest here is June 13, 2023, when President Samia appointed her longtime colleague, Haji Omar Kheir, to be the presidential advisor on political and social relations. Most of us in Tanzania Mainland–Tanganyika, as some call it now–did not pay much attention. But some of our Zanzibari compatriots raised their voices on social media. They all associated him with some major atrocities against dissidents in Zanzibar.
Following the arrest-cum-abduction of Agather Atuhaire from Uganda and Boniface Mwangi from Kenya in Tanzania, the muted outcry of our compatriots started to make sense. “With the assistance of the photographs, videos, and social media posts that were shown to them,” the duo was “able to identify… their captors and torturers…” One of those mentioned is none other than “Mr Haji Omar Kheir – Presidential Advisor.” That was July 2025. No one resigned. And no one fired him.
Digital historians opted to dig deeper online to see what was so special about this presidential appointee. Among many other sources, they found an article published on July 5, 2015, in The Citizen entitled ‘Straight Talk: Zanzibar now at the mercy of hooligans.’
It talks about hooded hooligans suspected to be from the “Zanzibar government’s own brigades–KMKM, Fire Department, JKU, Volunteers, and Mafunzo” who “beat and threaten people at the time when the voter registration system was going on in Unguja.” Guess who was accused of letting them loose?
It is the then minister Haji Omar Kheir who “denied having knowledge of the vigilantes and instead put it that those were hooligans and they” had “nothing to do with the government’s own brigades, whilst everyone saw them around in government vehicles.”
The Citizen also noted that the hooligans had “been spotted carrying sub machine guns, pangas, clubs, and at least when invading and parading at the radio station several times, they were spotted carrying a chainsaw.” Déjà vu!
READ MORE: A Curfew is Not a License to Kill: Tanzania Must Answer for Its Dead
Our historians also found a Weyani TV’s YouTube video on September 23, 2020, showing the late Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad of the ACT Wazalendo party categorically saying the person who was responsible for sending (“his own”) troops to kill some people in Pemba is “one person and is well-known” to the Zanzibari. Without mincing words, he mentioned him by name: “Haji Omar Kheir.”
Maalim Seif’s speech reiterated that the audience should not even think it’s the police; rather, it was Haji Omar Kheir’s own forces. Expressing disappointment that no legal action was taken, he singled out some of those in higher echelons of, or contesting for, power in Zanzibar in 2020, as not being any different. Earlier and later sources cited in the hashtag #HajiOmarKheir either echo or corroborate him and also add atrocities akin to those committed against Agather and Boniface.
Revisiting the past
Unfortunately, historians can hardly predict the future. The best they can do is to revisit the past in an attempt to make sense of the continuous present. So, they are wondering why a President of the United Republic of Tanzania would appoint a former Minister in the President’s Office of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, responsible for Special Forces, to be her political advisor?
Historians are therefore not surprised that Tanzanians are now revisiting the discussions on JamiiForums (JF) on October 25, which some simply dismissed as far-fetched and/or a mere conspiracy theory. It has to do with a claim that an ununiformed force of 320 had been deployed countrywide to arrest all those who oppose the government. That was four days before the fateful October 29.
Brittanica, the JF-Expert Member, who posted that thread, said they didn’t have special vehicles; rather, they were using Land Cruisers. He/She also said their order was “shoot to kill.”
READ MORE: Calls for Independent Inquiry Mount in Tanzania After Deadly Post-Election Violence
Why is this Modus Operandi (MO) so similar to what we witnessed on the tragic October 29 and its immediate aftermath? How come this MO is akin to what our fellow Zanzibaris were complaining about back then? Could it have something to do with June 13, when someone special entered the State House?
Life is sacred. May we use https://29102025.ushahidi.io/ to honor those who lost their lives.
Amen!
Chambi Chachage is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African Studies at Howard University, where he teaches courses on ‘African Systems of Thought’ and ‘Social Media and the African World’. He’s available at chachagechambi@gmail.com or on X as @Udadisi. These are the writer’s own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of The Chanzo. Want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.
