'If they come to you, flog them': Suluhu's blunt message to Ruto on protesters

President Willian Ruto with his Tanzanian counterparTanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Tanzania. [PCS]

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has told President William Ruto to flog anti-government protesters with canes, pledging a joint cross-border crackdown on dissent.

Suluhu made the remarks on Monday, May 4, during a joint press briefing at State House in Dar es Salaam, where she and Ruto witnessed the signing of eight bilateral agreements.

"Those who cause disorder and disturb their governments must face firm action," Suluhu said in Swahili.

 "I have told President William Ruto we must stand firm against those who lack discipline. We should not choose between Tanzanians or Kenyans. If they come to me, I flog them with canes; if they come to you, you flog them with canes, so that they behave."

The statement drew immediate attention for its candour, coming in the months after Tanzania's own security forces drew widespread condemnation for their handling of protests following the October 2025 General Election.

Former Kenya Chief Justice David Maraga condemned Suluhu’s remarks, terming them ‘abhorrent.’

“I am deeply disturbed by the remarks attributed to President Samia Suluhu during President Ruto's address to Tanzania's National Assembly. It is regrettable that the two presidents are reported to have discussed coordinating efforts to ‘chapa mikwaju’ the Gen Z across Kenya and Tanzania. These remarks are abhorrent,” said Maraga.

A government-appointed commission found in April 2026 that at least 518 people were killed during those demonstrations, a toll the opposition said was a gross undercount.

Human rights groups and United Nations experts had previously raised concern over reports of enforced disappearances, mass detentions and excessive force used against protesters during the post-election period in Tanzania.

“Citizens of East Africa must speak up. The axis of tyranny that Presidents Suluhu and Ruto are constructing threatens to return our region to autocracy,” Maraga added.

Suluhu won re-election in October 2025 with 97.66 per cent of the vote in a contest that excluded key opposition figures and was condemned by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observation Mission, which found the election fell short of democratic standards.

Kenya has its own unresolved record of protest-related deaths. Security forces killed dozens of demonstrators during anti-government protests in June and July 2024, and no prosecutions have followed.

The two leaders yesterday signed eight memoranda of understanding covering trade, infrastructure, and investment, and set a June 30, 2026, deadline to remove all remaining non-tariff barriers between the two countries.