Dar es Salaam – The Tanzanian government has firmly rejected international and domestic interpretations that the widespread civil unrest and violence following the October 29 election were political demonstrations, with the Prime Minister labelling the events as a calculated and coordinated act of “economic sabotage.”

Addressing editors from the country’s major newsrooms in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba, who is also the Iramba West MP for the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), argued that the sheer scale of the destruction, coupled with alleged foreign and armed involvement, pointed to a deliberate security and economic threat. 

The Premier claimed the aim was “totally an economic sabotage,” which was evident in the massive and indiscriminate targeting of infrastructure.

The official preliminary tally of damage presented by the government detailed a staggering catalogue of destruction: 756 government service offices were burned, 159 police stations targeted, and 976 government vehicles, including essential ambulances and health vehicles, were destroyed. 

The private sector was hit equally hard, with 672 private fuel stations, 273 private homes, 1,642 private vehicles, and 2,268 private motorcycles destroyed, alongside the complete destruction of 27 Rapid Bus Transit (RBT) stations and six RBT buses. 

The Prime Minister insisted this level of destruction, designed to hurt service delivery, was “purely an economic sabotage” designed to destabilise the nation.

Claims of a foreign plot

The government’s narrative was heavily focused on the external nature of the violence. 

The Prime Minister repeated claims previously made by President Samia Suluhu Hassan that many participants were foreigners, suggesting a large number of those involved “do not even know Swahili,” and asking rhetorically if an event involving “well-armed” individuals could be called a demonstration. 

READ MORE: Treason Charges Dropped Against Hundreds of Tanzanian Youths Following Presidential Directive

The Premier linked the incidents to broader geopolitical dynamics, suggesting Tanzania was being targeted because of its wealth in natural resources like gas, uranium, and iron, citing an unnamed person who was discouraging tourists from visiting the country.

However, the Prime Minister stopped short of naming the country or group allegedly orchestrating the sabotage, leaving the public to speculate on the external forces he vaguely linked to countries looking to exploit resource-rich nations. 

Furthermore, the claim that non-Tanzanian citizens were actively involved in the clashes has been met with scrutiny. 

On November 20, 2025, for example, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), through its representative William Maduhu, told The Chanzo that it had not encountered any detainees of foreign origin in Dar es Salaam in connection with the October 29 events, though the situation in other regions remains unclear.

To support the assertion of armed, foreign involvement, the Prime Minister referenced the recent arrest of one Charles Onkuri Ongeta, a 30-year-old dual citizen of Kenya and the United States. 

Police announced on November 16, 2025, that Ongeta, a U.S. Army Sergeant, was apprehended at the Tanzania–Kenya border area of Sirari while entering Tanzania from Kenya in a vehicle. He was reportedly found in possession of four CS M68 hand grenades.

READ MORE: The Full Text of President Samia’s Address at the Launch of the Commission of Inquiry

According to Mr Nchemba, the suspect allegedly told interrogators he brought the weapons for self-defence due to a perceived “insecurity issue” in the country. To date, neither the Kenyan nor the U.S. Embassy has issued a public response regarding the arrest.

Number of deaths

A key omission in the Prime Minister’s address was the failure to provide any figures on the fatalities that occurred during the unrest, acknowledging only that “life issues” were involved but refusing to disclose the number of civilian or security personnel deaths.

This prompted questions from editors in the room, who asked why the government is hesitant to provide the number of deaths. Reporters also pressed for information on the whereabouts of some of the bodies, including the body of one journalist whose family had to continue with the burial of his clothes, after failing to secure his body.

In his response, Mwigulu said the government is releasing figures for damaged properties, and not for lives lost, because of the value of life. “We have admitted that something has happened, something that all Tanzanians know has happened, something that cost lives, isn’t that so? Whenever chaos occurs, there is a loss of lives , we all know that,” Mwigulu said.

He continued: “We are now busy… we want, yet in a situation where someone has lost their loved one, we want to start counting as if children have been born. You want us to start counting as if these are achievements, guys? You want us to count people’s lives as if they are cars? Guys, people… people have lost their loved ones.”

In his response filled with filler words, Mwigulu dismissed the death toll numbers reported by various institutions, arguing that some of these organizations are not even present on the ground.

“Do you know what that means? [the number of] People [dead] like the ones being mentioned, we once witnessed things of that kind in a neighboring country,” he said as he continued to clarify.

“You know, first of all, you cannot… you cannot… eh… eh… even just this town alone, its smell [of bodies] would be… Do you know how human blood is? They are talking about how many thousands, I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands. We need to be careful,  there is an economic war,” he continued.

Further explaining, Prime Minister Nchemba cited the example of the MV Bukoba ship disaster, noting that approximately 850 people died. Nchemba said that with such a number, almost every household experienced bereavement. The PM appeared to be attempting to counter the death toll figures circulating on social media, as well as the reported rise in funeral convoys in various areas and at the neighborhood level in regions such as Mbeya, Songwe, and Arusha.

While Mwigulu did not respond to the question regarding missing bodies, on the issue of releasing official death statistics, Dr. Mwigulu opposed the idea, offering several reasons—including the need to avoid falling into the trap of people who “celebrate deaths.” He also emphasized the need to respect grieving families, and added that work is still underway by the commission that was formed to investigate the matter.