President Samia Suluhu Hassan spent millions of shillings on a Kenyan public relations firm to repair her image after deadly post-election violence, but the campaign has collapsed and deepened public anger.
Failed attempt to rewrite the narrative
The contract went through Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service soon after the 29 October vote that sparked nationwide protests and left hundreds dead. The Nairobi agency was tasked with flooding social media with positive content, hiring regional influencers and redirecting outrage from killings and abductions to “destroyed property”.
Three weeks later the effort lies in tatters. Tanzanians instantly spotted the paid posts as foreign and out of touch. Screenshots of influencer contracts circulated widely while mockery hashtags turned “Kenyan PR” into a national joke.
Grief versus broken windows
Families continue searching for missing relatives and sharing videos of security forces opening fire on crowds. Against that backdrop, government-backed messages urging people to worry more about burnt kiosks than lost lives provoked fury.
“They want us to mourn cracked glass while we bury our children,” one Dar es Salaam protester told Newsroom. “Do they think we are stupid?”
Tone-deaf strategy backfires
Sources close to the campaign say the Kenyan firm repeatedly warned that no social media push would work without official acknowledgment of the deaths and genuine remorse. Those warnings were ignored in favour of quick, positive headlines.
The decision to frame the crisis as economic sabotage rather than state violence exposed a fatal disconnect. Every slick graphic praising Samia steady hand became fresh evidence that State House neither hears nor feels the country pain.
From hope to rejection
Samia Suluhu Hassan took office in 2021 seen by many as the reformer who would ease John Magufuli hardline legacy. Four years on, that goodwill has vanished. The failed PR blitz has not slowed her decline — it has sped it up, transforming a political crisis into a full-blown legitimacy crisis.
What comes next
Fresh protests are planned for 9 December. Opposition leaders remain in jail or exile, and petitions for an International Criminal Court probe into crimes against humanity keep growing.
The millions paid to Nairobi consultants have bought neither calm nor sympathy, only louder demands for accountability. In Tanzania today, raw public emotion is proving far stronger than any amount of hired influence.
