Public rallies were banned in Tanzania in June 2026 for the second time in a decade. The first ban was imposed by President John Magufuli in 2016. His successor, President Samia Hassan, lifted it in 2023 as part of a reform agenda. Now she has reimposed the ban. Dan Paget has spent over a decade chronicling the struggles of Tanzania’s democracy movement amid waves of repression. He’s had a special focus on a form of political communication that’s of extraordinary significance in Tanzania: mass rallies. He unpacks what this latest ban means.
Why has Tanzania banned political rallies again?
Tanzania first imposed a ban on political rallies nearly a decade ago, in June 2016, to slow down opposition organising.
The ban was part of a wider authoritarian turn led by John Magufuli, who became president in 2015.
Samia Hassan succeeded Magufuli upon his death in office in 2021. She signalled a new era of democratic reform, but the most substantive change she has delivered was lifting the ban on political rallies in 2023.
