By Lake Zone Writer
President Samia Suluhu Hassan today made a categorical statement, saying she isn’t a president of a certain group of people but stands upright as the mother of all Tanzanians.
Speaking at the State House in Dar es Salaam after swearing-in leaders she recently appointed to various positions, the president made a terse statement: “I as Samia have no group”.
The pithy statement drew standing ovation from her audience, who included the top echelon of the country’s leadership who attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new presidential appointees.
“What I want is that all Tanzanians should work together to push our country forward. I’ve no group,’’ the president said repeatedly.
She lambasted the prevailing notion that there are children of the mother while others are not as hypothetical thinking as “all good and bad children are mine as the mother of the nation.”
In her brief speech, President Samia spoke on several national issues which touched on good governance, the rule of law, innovative leadership, simmering land conflicts and leadership response to problems confronting the populace in general.
President Samia was especially bitter about some villagers in Tarime district complaining of lack of health facility when the nearby Barrick North Gold Mine had contributed a huge chunk of funds as part of its community social responsibility programme to support neighbouring villages in the development of various social sector projects.