Samia removes Longido District Commissioner following controversial poll rigging video

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has dismissed Marco Ng'umbi from his position as District Commissioner of Longido, effective immediately.

Ng'umbi had served in this role for one year and eight months.

The official statement from the State House, signed by the Acting Director of Presidential Communications, Ms Sharifa Nyanga, did not specify the reasons behind Ng'umbi's removal.

However, the decision comes shortly after a video started circulating in which Mr Ng'umbi is seen discussing sensitive matters related to the 2020 elections.

In the video, Ng'umbi is heard addressing individuals he repeatedly identifies as councilors, asserting that their success in the 2020 elections was not due to their own efforts, but rather the influence of the Government. He further claimed that even those elected unopposed owed their positions to Government support, not to the candidates' merits.

"Allow me to assure you that I am a very tough person. If there is someone who is not afraid, it is me. All of you here, councilors in 2020, there was no councilor who campaigned here….Now, the conditions of 2020 did not come about automatically as an indication that you were very good candidates.

“It was an environment created by the Government, and it was the Government that made it possible for you to be elected unopposed. Do you know what happened out there in the bush? In some constituencies, I was involved….It is the government that created that environment and implemented it [the win],” he is seen and heard as saying in the video clip.

In the video, Ng'umbi is heard claiming that councilors have no real control over their wards and that winning elections is only possible with government support. “As a councilor, you do not have any control over the ward you lead. You cannot be assured of winning without the government’s hand. No way and don’t cheat yourself. That is why we have already done a lot of work making calculations in all wards and villages and we have all the information on the actual situation and how to approach it,” Ng'umbi said.

Similar pattern with Nape Nnauye

Ng'umbi's removal follows a pattern similar to that of former Minister for Information, Communication, and Information Technology, Nape Nnauye, who was dismissed exactly one month and ten days earlier. President Hassan removed Nnauye from his position amid controversy over his statements in a video that suggested election results manipulation.

On July 15, 2024, Nnauye, speaking at the Kashai Market in Bukoba Municipality, Kagera Region, hinted at alternative ways to ensure electoral victory. “You know, listen, the election results do not necessarily have to come from the ballot box. It depends on who counts them and announces them. There are many methods—some legitimate, some semi-legitimate, and some illegal—and all of them can be used as long as, when you finish, you say to God, "Forgive me for my mistakes,” Nnauye remarked.

The dismissals of Ng'umbi and Nnauye come in the wake of their controversial statements and have prompted widespread discussion about the integrity and administration of elections in Tanzania.