Josephine Christopher is a senior business journalist for The Citizen and Mwananchi newspapers
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At Buhigwe, President Hassan focused on social services. She promised more health professionals, the rollout of universal health insurance to cover even the most vulnerable, and facilities to add value to the district’s ginger crop.
Kigoma. The ruling party, CCM took its campaign trail to Kigoma this weekend with a unified message of safeguarding peace and seizing new economic opportunities.
The statement was made on Saturday, September 13, 2025, as CCM presidential candidate and incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Vice President Dr Philip Mpango, and former Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda rallied supporters behind the party’s vision.
Addressing a rally in Uvinza, Kasulu, and Buhigwe, President Hassan outlined how her administration plans to transform Kigoma into a strategic hub for trade and investment through infrastructure development, healthcare, and support for farmers and women entrepreneurs.
At Uvinza, Ms Hassan pledged to construct a modern teacher training centre and expand free education to ensure no child is left behind.
Farmers, she said, will continue receiving subsidised fertiliser and inputs to raise productivity, while women entrepreneurs will benefit from the establishment of modern market stalls.
She urged residents to prepare for the transformative opportunities that will come with the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
“The SGR will not only connect Kigoma to the rest of Tanzania but also open up cross-border business. Uvinza must be ready,” she said.
In Kasulu Town, Ms Hassan promised to tarmac key roads and emphasised that the arrival of the SGR would position Kigoma as a regional commercial hub, “This region has the potential to be a centre of trade.”
She added, “My work is to lift Tanzanians and improve the lives of my fellow citizens.”
In a light-hearted moment, she underscored CCM’s culture of peace, quipping: “You will never hear a CCM leader say tukiwashe (let’s set it on fire). If we ever say tukiwashe, it’s only ‘let’s switch on the TV decoder’.”
At Buhigwe, President Hassan focused on social services. She promised more health professionals, the rollout of universal health insurance to cover even the most vulnerable, and facilities to add value to the district’s ginger crop.
She highlighted the 46MW Malagarasi hydropower project as a game-changer for households and industries, alongside ongoing water projects that have already raised access in Buhigwe to 84 percent, to reach 100 percent.
Vice President Dr Philip Mpango, who hails from Kigoma, appealed to residents’ sense of pride and ownership, “Kigoma gave Tanzania a Vice President.”
He went on telling cheering supporters, “I have done my best to serve the nation, and the development projects we see here under President Hassan are proof of CCM’s commitment. Let us rally behind her and our parliamentary candidates to continue this journey.”
Former Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda reinforced the campaign’s central message of peace as the bedrock of development.
He warned Tanzanians not to be misled by leaders intent on disrupting stability.
“Tanzania is blessed with peace. Other countries suffer political instability, but we must treasure our unity and refuse to be deceived by those who would gamble with it,” said Mr Pinda.
The Kigoma rallies blended pledges of social and economic transformation with reminders of CCM’s longstanding message of peace and stability.
As the SGR nears completion, the party is banking on infrastructure, agriculture, and women’s empowerment to cement its support in western Tanzania, while contrasting its record with what it paints as the opposition’s politics.
