Victims of Tanzania's deadliest election still searching for answers

When Tanzanians went to the polls on 29 October, many hoped the vote would signal a fresh chapter in the country’s political landscape.

Instead, for hundreds of young people and activists, it became a day marked by fear, violence, and silence.

As Tanzania grapples with the aftermath of the most violent election in its recent history, the voices of victims continue to push against fear hoping the world listens.

Among them was Kelvin Nyamori, a CCM member who says he was shot during the chaos — not because he was demonstrating, but because he found himself caught in the middle of a brutal crackdown.

“I was in the demo not because I was demonstrating. I was shot maybe because we failed to go and vote. They were in a white Noah and black Land Cruiser. The youth picked me and took me to look for medication,” Nyamori recalled.

But getting treatment proved impossible. Hospital after hospital turned him away.

“All hospitals where we went for medication refused to admit me. Most of them were asking for P3 forms, which are issued by the police. In the hospitals they would pick victims for custody with trison. They knew the youth were demonstrating,” he said.

He said, after staying with bullet wound for three days, he limped his way to the border of Kenya and Tanzania where he managed to find asylum in Kenya for treatment.

“I have managed to undergo operation here in Kenya after nursing injuries for a week. All hospitals had feared being reprimanded for holding criminals of trison,” he said.

“You would either be taken to morgue or police cells and charged with trison. Those who escaped police dragnet have been dying in silence in their homes,” he said.

Nyamori insists he was targeted for deeper political reasons: his criticism of the ruling party’s nomination of President Samia Suluhu Hassan as its flagbearer.

“I am a CCM member. I was targeted by the nomination of Suluhu as the candidate in Dodoma. As a member of Dodoma, we rejected her because she did not follow protocol. She is not accepted by the party and the nation,” he said.

He added that powerful business interests had compromised internal party processes.

“We are being cornered by tycoons, and that is why they are not following the right channel,” he said.

His shooting was one among many violent incidents across Dar es Salaam and other major cities as security forces attempted to quell widespread demonstrations led largely by young people frustrated with what they see as a political system resistant to change.

Nyamori described scenes of mayhem as “crowds ran in panic along dusty streets,” dodging gunfire and tear gas.

The protests erupted as allegations of political repression mounted. Several opposition leaders had been barred from running, and dozens of activists were detained ahead of the vote.

When the electoral commission declared President Samia the overwhelming victor with 98 percent of the vote, anger spilled onto the streets.

International observers have since raised alarms. The UN human rights office reported credible claims that hundreds were killed, while a diplomatic source told the BBC that at least 500 people may have died.

Internet access was shut down for nearly a week, and authorities threatened anyone sharing protest footage with arrest.

Once the blackout was lifted on 4 November, Nyamori noted that bodies which had been picked by the police could not be traced by families who were planning their burial.

“Bodies had been lying in the streets, officers shooting at fleeing protesters, and casualties piled outside hospitals,” he said.

One particularly grim stretch along Morogoro Road showed several bodies, including that of a Kenyan teacher shot dead on election day.

“More incidents surfaced from Mwanza, where inside Hospitals displayed bodies of young men with visible wounds, some later moved into the morgue,” he added.

He noted that a string of arrests of activists and opposition supporters accused of “incitement” and “online offenses” ahead of planned December 9 protests have been going on.

“We know the government has prepared well to counter the demonstrators who are only out looking for the missing bodies of their loved ones. Some people have been detained, some abducted by individuals in civilian clothes,” he said.

Despite calls for justice, critics say the government’s response avoids accountability. President Samia did order an investigation, but the appointed commission includes no civil society or opposition members.

“This is not the democracy we were promised. People want fairness. People want transparency. Instead, they are being silenced,” he said.