How Tanzania elections observer escaped death
National
By
Pkemoi Ng'enoh
| Nov 10, 2025
Several months before Tanzania’s general election on October 29, governance expert Elizabeth Adundo was assigned to observe the polls.
She had previously observed elections in South Africa and Senegal on behalf of the African Liberal Network.
However, unlike in other countries, Adundo said obtaining accreditation to observe the Tanzanian elections was not a walk in the park.
“After months of persistence, I was finally accredited,” she said. “But those four days I spent in Tanzania — and surviving what I went through — still make me break down whenever I recall the experience.”
Adundo had been assigned to monitor two polling stations: Masaba Primary School and Ubungo Kisiwani Primary School.
But unlike in her previous assignments, she said that by 7am on polling day, no voters had turned up. Only agents, police officers, and fellow observers were present.
“We just sat there doing nothing,” she recounted in an interview at her home in Nairobi. “Two hours later, a truckload of army personnel arrived at the polling stations. It was frightening because it’s not every day you see soldiers deployed to such places.”
Around midday, Adundo said, a group of rowdy youths stormed one of the polling stations and began destroying ballot boxes. At the time, only about 15 people, all women, had voted at that station.
Fearing for her safety, she reached out to a Kenyan friend living in Tanzania and sought refuge at her house. But shortly after arriving, the area was plunged into darkness following a power cut, soon followed by an internet shutdown.
“All we could hear were gunshots,” Adundo recalled. “The following day, it was the same — gunfire and tear gas. I’m asthmatic, and I suffered several attacks from inhaling the tear gas that was being thrown even into houses.”
She added that whenever electricity was briefly restored, they managed to catch glimpses of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the situation.
“Local stations were only calling for peace and then switching to choirs,” she said.
Three days later, Adundo received a call from her daughter in Kenya, who had been desperately trying to reach her amid mounting concern for her safety.
On the night of October 31, while she was in the bathroom, gunmen opened fire on the house where she was staying. Adundo suspects the authorities might have been aware that a foreigner was being hosted there.
“Luckily, the bullets did not penetrate, but when the shooting stopped, we found bullet cartridges inside the house. My host was terrified,” she said.
That night, Adundo received a call from Kenya’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Isaac Njenga, who had been informed of her situation. He told her that arrangements were being made for her rescue after her family contacted the Kenyan mission in Dar es Salaam.
“Due to the chaos and difficulty locating me, it took two days before they finally found me,” she said. “I was then escorted to the airport.”
The journey to safety was equally distressing.
“On our way to the airport, we saw protesters, soldiers, and even bodies wrapped in sheets lying on the streets. It was horrifying,” Adundo recalled.
At Dar es Salaam International Airport, Adundo said some passengers were stranded, but she managed to secure a seat on a Kenya Airways flight. She landed in Nairobi on November 1 at 1am.
“The realisation that you could die far from home and no one would know where you are is terrifying,” she said softly. “I had simply gone there to do my job. Missing death by a whisker still haunts me. When I think about it, I shudder.”
Despite the ordeal, Adundo said she remains committed to her work.
“I am grateful to be alive and to be able to tell the world what really happened in Tanzania. Some people didn’t make it out,” she said. “And yes, I would still go back to observe another election if given the chance.”