Ex-Botswana President Ian Khama denounces President Samia, cites "rigged election" and oppression in Tanzania

Former Botswana President Ian Khama has slammed Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu as an illegitimate leader, accusing her of rigging last month’s election and overseeing a violent crackdown on opposition figures.

Speaking on Sunday at Lukenya University in Makueni County during a forum on African renaissance, Khama said the recent October 29 election and ensuing violence highlighted a wider governance crisis in Africa, terming it “totally unacceptable” for leaders to kill their own citizens to cling to power.

“The recent election in Tanzania, and what transpired around it, including the killings, I, for one, do not recognise the person who was inaugurated as the president of Tanzania. She is an illegitimate president,” Khama said, receiving applause from the audience.

“It is totally unacceptable when an African leader, in order to stay in power, resorts to killing his or her own people. In order to stay in power, they will rig an election as if they are God’s gift to their country. When you have a country with millions of people, for any leader to think they are the only one who can be president is pathetic.”

Khama, who served as Botswana’s president from 2008 to 2018, also criticised Cameroon President Paul Biya, recently sworn in at 92 years old, saying the leadership challenges in both countries reflect a broader governance crisis in Africa.

Without naming others, he further condemned the intimidation of opposition leaders through arrests and party bans.

“That is not the Africa that we want,” he said.

The event marked two years since Lukenya University established the Pan-Africanism Institute to promote the continent’s renaissance. The late former Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga, who died on October 15, was honoured during the ceremony. Through skits and songs, students celebrated his legacy as a democracy and pan-Africanism champion.

Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior urged African leaders to follow Odinga’s example and challenge poor governance in Tanzania.

“We shall be failing Mr Odinga if we do not do so,” he said.

Speakers also called on youth to take an active role in shaping Africa’s future.

“Do not wait for permission to lead. It is your right. As the youth, you are the generation that will take pan-Africanism beyond rhetoric and make it a lived reality. In your hands lies the power to dismantle poverty, corruption, and inequality,” the governor said.

Wiper Democratic Movement leader Kalonzo Musyoka reaffirmed his commitment to Pan-African ideals and encouraged young people to hold leaders accountable. He linked recent waves of youth protests across Africa to frustration over misrule.

The criticism over Tanzania comes as Suluhu’s administration intensifies its crackdown on opposition leaders. CHADEMA party Deputy Secretary General Amani Golugwa was detained in Arusha on Saturday, following a police call for ten senior party officials to report for questioning. Chadema condemned the arrests as deliberate attempts to weaken its leadership.

“After the arrests of Golugwa, Lema, and Jacob, only three of the party’s six top leaders remain free, following the earlier detentions of party chairperson Tundu Lissu and vice-chairperson John Heche,” the party said in a statement.

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• cites "rigged election" and oppression in Tanzania

Other detained figures include Boniface Jacob and Godbless Lema, both senior CHADEMA officials. Jacob was reportedly taken into custody later Saturday, while Lema was allegedly arrested in Usa River and transferred to Moshi in Kilimanjaro province.

Human rights activists claim that security forces killed more than 1,000 people during the post-election protests. The government has dismissed these figures as exaggerated. At least 240 people arrested in the aftermath have been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty under Tanzanian law, though no executions have been carried out since 1995.

“The police force, in collaboration with other defence and security agencies, is continuing a serious manhunt to find all who planned, coordinated, and executed this evil act,” a police spokesperson said.

Boniface Mwabukusi, president of the Tanganyika Law Society, condemned the charges as a “mockery of justice” on his X account.