New Vice-President selected

Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party has picked the Energy Minister as its nominee for the new Vice-President, the party’s secretary general has said, after the incumbent announced his resignation less than a year into the job. Outgoing Vice-President Emmanuel John Nchimbi will leave office on 4 September, having served since last November, reports CNBC Africa. His resignation followed criticism from some in the party for remarks about the Constitution last month that they considered unnecessary. The ruling party’s national executive committee has now picked Deogratius Ndejembi for nomination as the next Vice-President, ruling party secretary general Asha-Rose Migiro said. Ndejembi would be sworn in after he has been approved by Parliament, she added. She said the ruling party had also decided to expel Nchimbi from the party ‘due to conduct that violated our regulations regarding discipline and ethics’. She did not say what conduct violated the party’s rules. Last month Nchimbi urged Tanzanians to fight for a new Constitution, ‘a Constitution that leads us toward development, not just material and economic development, but the development of dignity and the human worth of every person living in Tanzania,’ he said. President Samia Suluhu Hassan won last year’s presidential election with nearly 98% of the vote, in an election marred by deadly violence.

Nchimbi announced he is resigning weeks after it was reported that he had fallen out with Suluhu Hassan, reports BBC News. The 54-year-old shared his brief resignation letter on his Instagram account, saying he wanted to respect the President's wishes. Nchimbi said he would retire from public life at the end of this week – less than 10 months after being sworn in and making him the first Vice-President to step down in the history of the East African nation. He was Samia's running mate in last October's disputed presidential election. The pair was sworn in last November after winning 98% of the vote. Violent protests in the wake of voting led to the deaths of at least 500 people, according to an official inquiry. Opposition parties and human rights groups accused the security forces of unleashing a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters. ‘I have become convinced, without doubt, that the President wants changes…,’ Nchimbi wrote in his resignation letter. The Vice-President has made some controversial remarks in recent weeks – which may point to the possible fallout with Samia. As previously reported in Legalbrief, Tanzania’s Information Services Department recently suspended newspaper MwanaHALISI’s publishing licence for six months over a story claiming that Nchimbi had rejected a call to resign.