Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Monday.
Families Describe Burying Clothes of Loved Ones Shot in Tanzania’s Election Protest Crackdown After Bodies Went Missing from Hospitals
Several families appeared before a presidential commission established to investigate incidents that occurred in Tanzania following election protests and a subsequent security crackdown that resulted in the killing of civilians.
Speaking to commission members on Monday, January 19, 2026, several families reported seeing the bodies of their loved ones, only for them to later disappear from hospitals. Salum Mwinyimangala, a resident of Buguruni kwa Mnyamani, recounted how his son was shot dead by a sniper, and his body was later disappeared from hospital.
“While he was returning home from his activities, there was a commotion on the way. Where he was shot the police officer was stationed somewhere up and was shooting recklessly and shot my child in the head; the bullet entered at the forehead and exited,” Mwinyimangala said.
He continued: “Good Samaritans took him to the Plan Hospital. I was called on the phone and told, “Your child has been shot and has collapsed.” I went to the scene and found blood there. I asked where he was and was told he had been taken to Plan Hospital.”
“I went to Plan Hospital and found the body of the deceased and closed his eyes. The doctor there took my statement and told me to come back the next day to collect the body. I had closed my child’s eyes. Then his brother made arrangements to put a plaster band on him—he wrote his own name and phone numbers on it and tied it to his arm so that there would be no difficulty identifying him later,” he explained. Read the full article here.
Edwin Mtei, Founder of CHADEMA and Tanzania’s First Central Bank Governor, Dies at 93
Tanzania’s opposition party CHADEMA has announced the death of its founder and first chairman, Edwin Mtei, who passed away late Monday night at his home in Tengeru, Arusha Region.
Theannouncement comes as CHADEMA marks its 33rd anniversary week, culminating on January 21, 2026, the date the party received its permanent registration certificate on January 21, 1993, one year after Tanzania reintroduced multiparty politics. In a statement, CHADEMA declared seven days of mourning, during which party flags will be flown at half-mast. The party said further details regarding mourning arrangements, public viewing, and burial would be communicated later on Tuesday.
Mtei, who served as CHADEMA’s first chairman, held several senior positions in the government of Tanganyika and later Tanzania. He was the country’s first Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, later served as Secretary General of the former East African Community, and subsequently as Minister of Finance.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in an official statement, conveyed condolences on behalf of the Government and in her personal capacity to Mtei’s family, relatives, friends, and all those affected by the loss. She described Mtei as a distinguished public servant and visionary who played a key role in building Tanzania’s economic and financial institutions and acknowledged his historic contribution to the introduction of multiparty democracy as a founding leader of CHADEMA. Read the article here.
Canada Must Seize the Moment and Forge a Commonwealth Free Trade Powerhouse
spent the weekend reading The BIG READ by Ilya Gridneff in the Financial Times of January 16, 2026, which discussed Canada’s back-up economic plan. This prompted a chat with my wife, Anna, about why Canada has not stepped up to transform the Commonwealth into a free trade area.
We debated the pros and cons, focusing particularly on the risks to the economies of poorer Commonwealth members and the necessary mitigation strategies.
A free trade area, or FTA, is simply an agreement between countries to reduce or eliminate tariffs and other barriers on the goods and services they trade with one another. It makes buying and selling across borders easier and cheaper by cutting down on red tape.
While waiting to collect my girls from a friend’s house, I compiled this piece, with the help of AI tools, to advocate for a Commonwealth Free Trade Area (Cw-FTA). I wish to re-ignite conversations about this very idea, as it must surely have been discussed before.
However, times are changing, and the dynamism of geopolitics is mind-boggling. Perhaps the time has come for someone to place this idea back on the discussion tables. I believe Canada should take the lead. Read the full article here.
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