On June 26, in a speech in Parliament, Internal Affairs Minister Patrobas Katambi directed the Police Inspector General to stop issuing permits for political activities nationwide.
Katambi invoked security threats related to alleged plans by unnamed individuals to incite violence as the country expects international visitors for the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair. The next day, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba declared that authorities had arrested people suspected of having been paid to recruit youth for violent activities and that the ban was a temporary security measure.
The ban comes in response to online activists’ calls for pro-democracy demonstrations on July 7. Dubbed locally as Saba Saba Day, the protests demand constitutional reforms to dismantle the ruling CCM’s de-facto one-party authoritarian rule, an end to regime-sponsored violent abductions, enforced disappearances, and assassinations of regime opponents, as well as the release of opposition leader Tundu Lissu from imprisonment. Tanzanian authorities have put out statements accusing organizers of plotting violent chaos and attacks on security forces. They have also threatened to use “unprecedented” force to crush the protests.
The regime’s threats come eight months after security forces massacred hundreds of citizens protesting the coronation of dictator Samia Suluhu Hassan after farcical elections in October 2025. Several local and international human rights groups have submitted a dossier to the International Criminal Court accusing the Tanzanian regime of committing crimes against humanity in the crackdown.
