A leader is defined by the demands of their time. A decade from now, we may well look back on these days and recognise that we witnessed one of the most significant speeches of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s tenure.
What follows is my candid, personal analysis of the address she delivered to the Parliament in Dodoma on November 14, 2025.
The President began by grounding her address in the constitutional mandate of Article 91(1), establishing both legal legitimacy and institutional continuity. Before delving into policy, she first observed a moment of national mourning for citizens lost in the unrest following the General Election of October 29, 2025.
This was a strategic and meaningful act, acknowledging national grief while signalling a leadership style anchored in empathy and moral responsibility.
Expressing deep personal sorrow, the President extended condolences to the bereaved and prayers for the injured. Crucially, she highlighted the establishment of an Enquiry Commission to investigate the violence.
READ MORE: Tanzania After October 29, 2025: Will Reconciliation Without Empathy Work?
This positions the state as committed to transparency and corrective justice, implying the findings will inform a broader framework for reconciliation and peacebuilding.
A renewed legislature
Turning to the new Parliament, she congratulated the newly elected Speaker, Mussa Azzan Zungu, his deputy, and the newly sworn-in Prime Minister. She underscored the weight of legislative responsibility: to embody public aspiration, conduct reasoned debate, and hold the government to account.
This Parliament, she noted, represents a demographic shift: 56.7 per cent of MPs are newcomers, and 40.5 per cent are women. Furthermore, 36 women won constituency seats, up from 21 in the previous Parliament. These figures were framed not as mere statistics, but as evidence of tangible democratic progress.
While praising the millions who participated in the election, the President’s focus shifted to the post-election mandate: national unity and the collective responsibility to protect the prestige of the Tanzanian nation.
She affirmed that elections remain the safest and most legitimate mechanism for leadership renewal, even as she confronted the painful reality of post-election violence in several areas.
READ MORE: Tanzania After October 29, 2025: Reclaiming the Island of Peace
Her tone became notably more pastoral and urgent as she addressed the youth. She warned against being drawn into destructive mobilisation, urging them not to “cut the branch on which they sit.”
In a significant move, she instructed prosecutorial authorities to review cases of youths charged with treason, many allegedly swept up unknowingly, and to pardon those whose involvement was incidental rather than intentional.
She anchored this clemency in scripture (Luke 23:34), building moral legitimacy for a restorative form of justice.
Work and dignity
Central to the speech was the philosophy of Kazi na Utu (Work and Dignity), linking citizen well-being directly to state performance. Governance was presented as a daily contract, with officials at every level accountable to the people.
Tangible measures, such as the recruitment of 7,000 teachers and 5,000 health professionals, were cited as “quick wins” to rebuild public trust.
This commitment to reconciliation was further illustrated by the proposed Reconciliation and Mediation Commission, a leadership style grounded in the principle of Experientia Docet, experience teaches.
The address demonstrated strategic economic thinking. Price stabilisation, industrial incentives, and support for domestic enterprise reflect an understanding that growth must be both inclusive and sustainable.
Integrating youth and women into investment schemes, alongside digital procurement reforms, ensures growth translates into public opportunity, not just capital accumulation.
A fiscally prudent approach—leveraging mineral resources for investment rather than external debt—reflects a mature developmental state philosophy: prudentia est potentia – prudence is power.
With over 60 per cent of the population under 35, the President positioned youth as the “operating system of national progress.” Vocational reforms and targeted investment aim to transform them from passive beneficiaries into job creators and innovators.
Blueprint for the future
For diplomats, investors, and global analysts, this address signals a Tanzania that is politically mature, economically strategic, and socially conscious. It communicates a nation capable of navigating its challenges without external imposition.
READ MORE: Tragic October 29: Tanzania’s Turning Point?
In sum, this was more than a ceremonial address; it is a blueprint for a 21st-century African developmental state. It is empathetic yet disciplined, visionary yet grounded.
Through the principle of Kazi na Utu, Tanzania is poised not just to recover from political tensions, but to redefine its societal contract-ad astra per aspera-to the stars through difficulties.
Novatus Igosha is an advocate of the High Court of Tanzania, an international affairs columnist, and a political analyst, appearing on TBC1 and CGTN’s Talk Africa. He can be reached at Norvum728@gmail.com or +255 747 130 688. These are the writer’s own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of The Chanzo. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.
