President Samia Suluhu Hassan has accepted Vice President Emmanuel Nchimbi’s resignation, confirming his departure from office but leaving unanswered a central question raised by his announcement: what he meant when he said he was convinced the President wanted a change.
The acceptance was announced on Tuesday, August 25, in a brief government statement attributed to Chief Secretary Dr Moses Kusiluka. It said President Hassan had received Nchimbi’s request to resign as Vice President effective September 4, 2026, and had accepted it.
The government said constitutional procedures for obtaining another vice president would follow, with further arrangements to be announced.
The statement, however, gave no reason for Nchimbi’s departure and did not address his assertion about the President’s desire for change.
That omission leaves a distinction between what has been officially confirmed and what remains Nchimbi’s own explanation for his decision.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nchimbi announced that he had decided to retire from politics and public service and would consequently relinquish the vice presidency from September 4.
In explaining his decision, Nchimbi referred to a commitment he said he made to President Hassan before taking office. He said he had promised to serve her and the country faithfully but would leave the position whenever she believed another vice president was needed.
Nchimbi then said he had become convinced “without doubt” that the President wanted change and had therefore decided to honour that commitment.
Neither Nchimbi’s public announcement nor the subsequent government statement publicly detailed how he reached that conclusion.
The President’s acceptance confirms that Nchimbi will leave office, but it does not establish that she asked him directly or indirectly to resign. No detailed public explanation from State House addressing that question had emerged by Wednesday morning.
The unanswered question has gained significance amid reports of tensions at the top of Tanzania’s political leadership.
Some media reports have linked the period preceding Nchimbi’s resignation to internal political tensions, including reports concerning his appearance before a Chama Cha Mapinduzi ethics committee. Nchimbi had also attracted attention in recent weeks with public remarks on justice, political reconciliation and constitutional reform.
In July, he urged Tanzanians to continue pushing for a new constitution, arguing that constitutional reform could strengthen justice, human rights, good governance and democracy.
Those developments provide context for the political questions surrounding his departure, but they do not by themselves establish why he resigned or prove that disagreements over constitutional reform caused his decision.
Nchimbi cited Articles 50(2)(c) and 149(2) of the Constitution in announcing his departure.
His resignation comes less than 10 months after he was sworn in as Vice President on November 3, 2025, following the October general election in which he served as President Hassan’s running mate.
Before becoming Vice President, Nchimbi served as CCM secretary-general and held several senior government and diplomatic positions.
Attention will now turn to the constitutional process for filling the vacancy. The government has said the procedures for obtaining another vice president will be announced, while the question raised by Nchimbi’s own explanation — what convinced him that President Hassan wanted a change — remains publicly unanswered.
