Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed a politician dismissed for criticising her predecessor as energy minister in a cabinet reshuffle that also included the nomination of the country’s first female defence minister.
Former deputy environment minister January Makamba was sacked
from the government in 2019 and forced to apologise to then president
John Magufuli who died suddenly in March this year.
But in a reshuffle announced overnight Monday, Hassan, who has
broken from some of her predecessor’s policies, welcomed the 47-year-
old back to government and put him in charge of the strategically
important ministry of energy.
Magufuli had accused Makamba of criticising him during telephone
conversations with other members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi
(CCM) party and threatened to expel him unless he apologised.
Magufuli, nicknamed “the bulldozer” for his authoritarian style, made no
secret of the fact that he eavesdropped on the telephone conversations of
members of his government.
