Tanzania cancels independence day celebrations after calls for protests

Tanzania has cancelled independence day celebrations next month, after calls for protests over mass killings during recent contested polls, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said on Monday.

The funds meant for the event on 9 December should instead be spent on rebuilding infrastructure damaged in last month’s election unrest.

This announcement comes as the opposition and others have been calling for people to gather on independence day to protest the killings that took place after the disputed general election on 29 October.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the poll with 98% of the vote but opposition parties rejected the results as “completely fabricated” and not “genuine.”

Hassan's main rivals were also either jailed or disqualified. Chadema leader Tundu Lissu has been in detention on treason charges since April while ACT-Wazalendo's Luhaga Mpina saw his candidacy rejected on technical grounds.

Thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the election. Tanzanian authorities cracked down on protesters, in a move rights groups denounced as "violent" and "repressive."

The opposition believes hundreds of people were killed during the protests.

The government has yet to give a death toll and has set up a commission of inquiry but opposition parties have expressed concern over the independence of this body.

On Monday, Nchemba also called for Tanzanians to avoid violence and engage in political dialogue.

"I urge my fellow Tanzanians to come together and discuss the issues affecting us. Let us not return to what we went through, because the consequences are irreparable," he said.