Tanzania’s Information Minister Nape Nnauye has been removed from his post after outrage over comments he made suggesting election fraud.
Mr Nnauye was filmed at a rally on July 15 saying he would help a fellow ruling party MP win the 2025 elections.
He added that “the election results are not necessarily those that are in the (ballot box), but they depend on the person who counts the votes and makes the announcements.”
After public outrage erupted after a video of his controversial comments went viral, Nnauye said he made them as a joke.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan dismissed him from the Cabinet on Sunday as part of a broader reshuffle. She gave no reasons for her decision.
The video, which was filmed during Mr Nnauye’s visit to the northern town of Bukoba, also showed the former minister saying: “Because I am good at election tricks, I will help to emerge victorious.”
He said there are different methods to guarantee a victory: “legal, semi-legal and illegal”.
“They can all be used, provided you seek God’s forgiveness afterwards,” Mr Nnauye added.
Many Tanzanians criticized the former minister, saying he violated the principles of electoral democracy and failed to respect the decisions of voters.
In his apology, Mr Nnauye said he believed in “free and fair elections”.
Mr Nnauye also came under fire in the run-up to the 2015 elections when he said, using a football analogy, that the ruling CCM party would win the election no matter what – even if it meant scoring a “handball goal”.
CCM – short for Chama cha Mapinduzi – is one of the longest-ruling parties in Africa.
The party has been in power since its founding in 1977, but opposition leaders accuse the party of winning the last elections through fraud and state repression.
However, the electoral commission denies that the results were tampered with.
According to a biography on the Ministry of Information website, Mr Nnauye has been employed by the CCM since his primary school days.
He was first appointed as Information Minister by the late President John Magufuli, but was subsequently removed in a reshuffle.
President Samia reappointed Mr Nnauye in January 2022.
He is now replaced by former Minister of Land and Housing Development Jerry Slaa.
Foreign Minister January Makamba has also been dismissed. Tanzanian Ambassador to Italy Mahmoud Thabiti Kombo has been chosen as his successor.
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