Dr Slaa stripped of ambassadorial title

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has on Friday September 1, stripped Tanzania's former envoy to Sweden, Wilibrod Slaa, of the ambassadorial title.

The President’s decision was made in a statement issued by Directorate of Presidential Communications on Friday evening, it did not state further details.

Slaa was appointed by President John Magufuli as Tanzania's Ambassador to Sweden in 2017 after controversially defecting from the opposition party Chadema at the height of the 2015 general election where Magufuli stood as a presidential candidate.

As Tanzania's ambassador to Sweden, a post he served until his retirement in September 2021, Slaa was also accredited to Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and Lithuania

Since his return to the country, the 74-year-old Slaa has sought to revive many saw as a fading political career.

Dr Slaa, being one of the critics of the Tanzania-Dubai intergovernmental agreement, was in August arrested at his home in Dar es Salaam.

He was released after several days with police saying he was arrested for incitement.

However, the government refuted reports that Dr Slaa’s arrest and two other individuals was connected to the debate surrounding the proposed investment deal between Tanzania and DP World.

In a statement issued by the Minister for information Nape Nnauye, it said the three individuals (Dr Slaa,  Boniface Mwabukusi, Mpaluka Nyangali) in question were arrested by the Police for making specific public threats of a serious criminal nature, which included calling for the violent overthrow of the Government of the day.