The speaker of Tanzania’s parliament quit on Thursday after a very public falling out with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, exacerbating divisions within the ruling party, IgbereTV reports.
Job Ndugai, who is no stranger to controversy, had infuriated Hassan last week when he criticised her over what he called Tanzania’s “excessive” foreign borrowing.
Rifts have emerged recently in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) as the party prepares for new elections, although the ballot is not due to take place until 2025.
Ndugai, 58, said in a statement he had written to the CCM’s secretary-general informing the party of his resignation from the post he has held since November 2015.
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“This is my personal and voluntary decision for the interest of my country, government, and my party CCM,” he said.
Hassan, who took power in March last year, had on Tuesday hinted that she would be carrying out a cabinet reshuffle to expel ministers she suspects of siding with rival politicians in the party for the election.
The speaker’s remarks last week triggered a debate over the country’s debt levels, but many people including Hassan’s supporters in the CCM lashed out at him for criticising the president.
“I did not expect someone who leads a pillar of the state to utter such words,” she said, insisting that the government would continue borrowing for development projects
