Tanzania’s Vice President, Emmanuel Nchimbi submitted his resignation on Tuesday, marking a shift in the East African nation’s political landscape.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has accepted Nchimbi’s resignation, according to an announcement by the Directorate of Presidential Communications.
The resignation takes effect on September 4, 2026, meaning Nchimbi will have been in office for exactly 10 months, having assumed office on November 3, 2025.
Nchimbi explained that he was resigning to respect Hassan’s wishes, having committed to relinquish his position if the head of state wanted a different deputy.
President Hassan, 66, was declared the winner of the controversial presidential election held last October, with approximately 98 per cent of the votes.
The poll and the deadly repression of post-election protests, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, were widely criticised by the international community.
Hassan’s main opponent and CHADEMA chairman, Tundu Lissu, could not participate in the election as he was incarcerated, while another rival, Luhaga Mpina, was disqualified.
Lissu’s trial commenced this week after Judge Dunstan Ndunguru ruled that “the prosecution established a case which the accused needs to answer”.
The 58-year-old politician-cum-activist has asked the court to summon several high-ranking government officials, including President Hassan, as defence witnesses.
Lissu, a human rights lawyer, is representing himself in a treason case carrying the death penalty. He has been in detention in Dar es Salaam for over 500 days since his arrest in April 2025.
Police took Lissu into custody after a political rally in Mbinga town, where he called for electoral reform ahead of the 2025 general election and allegedly incited the public to boycott the election.
Lissu, who has faced multiple arrests over the years, returned to Tanzania in January 2023 after fleeing to Belgium in 2017, when he survived an assassination attempt in Dodoma.
Tanzania’s VP resigns as opposition leader’s treason trial begins