Ambassador Koki Muli slams Samia Suluhu for issuing threats during her swearing-in ceremony
By Luke Oluoch, November 5, 2025Ambassador Koki Muli has castigated the newly elected Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu, over her conduct moments after winning the controversial election.
Speaking to a local TV station on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, Muli stated that the president opted to extend grace rather than use the swearing-in platform to issue threats to her critics and protesters.
Extend grace
“The saying goes that you should allow the winners to win in humility and allow the losers to have their dignity too. As Mama of Taifa, she is a symbol of unity and reconciliation and ought to have extended grace to the losers. She opted to use her swearing-in platform to threaten those who opposed her. It was unexpected,” the governance expert stated.
Muli further termed it shocking that the president had the guts to congratulate her competitors in an election; the SADC gave a damning appraisal as not meeting the standards of democracy.
“I was shocked that he congratulated her 16 competitors when she got over 97 per cent of the votes,” she added.
“SADC reported about issues of staffed ballots and a low voter turnout, which explains why the military was arriving in trucks. You cannot amass 98 per cent from such a process,” she stated.
Muli’s sentiments come as the world and the African continent continue to dissect the polls that sparked massive violence and deaths in the country.
According to a preliminary report by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Monday, November 3, 2025, the bloc described the process as below par in terms of the standards of democratic process.
SADC remarks
SADC’s Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) concluded that the process that handed Samia Suluhu a second term fell short of the requirements of its Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.
“It is the SEOM’s tentative conclusion that, in most areas, voters could not express their democratic will. Overall, the 2025 General Election in the United Republic of Tanzania fell short of the requirements of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections,” part of the SADC statement read.
The mission highlighted concerns of increasing covert and overt limitations on the right to freedom of expression and heavy censorship of online information platforms.
Following her swearing in for a new term in office, Suluhu is set to serve until 2030.