Suluhu Sworn In: Samia Suluhu's full inauguration ceremony

Honorable Evariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi; Honorable Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia; Honorable Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia; Honorable Daniel Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique; Honorable retired General Dr. Constantino Chiwenga, Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe; Honorable Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, Vice President of the Republic of Uganda; Honorable Moustadroine Abdou, President of the Assembly of the Union of the Comoros and second senior leader of the state; Honorable Professor Kithure Kindiki, Vice President of the Republic of Kenya; Honorable Anzuluni Iseleto, Minister of Regional Cooperation and Special Envoy of the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Honorable Dr. Emmanuel John Nchimbi, Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania; Honorable Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council; Honorable Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, retired President of the United Republic of Tanzania; honorable retired Vice Presidents; honorable retired Presidents of Zanzibar; retired Prime Ministers; Chief Justice of Tanzania; Chief Justice of Zanzibar; heads of defence and security agencies; all leaders from Tanzania; Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission; leaders of friendly parties FRELIMO and CNDD-FDD and political parties here in the country; honorable ambassadors, heads of international institutions and organizations, and representatives of various countries; honorable appointed members of parliament, appointed representatives, and appointed councilors; honorable religious leaders; members of the press and citizens in general; ladies and gentlemen. Tanzania, hoye! Let me begin by thanking Almighty God for granting us life and enabling us to participate in these historic ceremonies for our nation. Secondly, I thank all Tanzanians for their faith in the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party and for the great love and for giving me and the Vice President this great opportunity to serve them. Special thanks to the leaders and members of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party for the way they conducted the campaign with great success. I also thank the electoral commission for coordinating and overseeing the entire electoral process with unquestionable efficiency. Dear leaders and fellow citizens, in this election we had 17 candidates from various political parties in the country vying for the presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania. I would like to thank my 16 colleagues who have certainly shown democratic maturity by conducting campaigns where we competed on ideas, and we all showed that politics is not war. We have successfully completed the election and congratulated the winner. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Honorable Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, and the political parties that participated in the Zanzibar election for completing the election safely and peacefully. Zanzibar, hoye! My congratulations also go to all those who won positions of membership in parliament, the House of Representatives, and councilors across the country. To all, I say the election is over. Now, after giving you this, let us work to build our nation and build the character of a Tanzanian. Honorable presidents, leaders, fellow citizens, an event becomes good and enjoyable when attended by your loved ones. Tanzania today is filled with great joy to see some of my fellow presidents and various leaders from neighboring and friendly countries have joined us in this event. Although we sent invitations on short notice to those who were unable to attend, we recognize the weight of their responsibilities and we know their hearts are with us. We also thank all those who sent us congratulatory messages. We say thank you very much, fellow citizens. Elections are an opportunity for citizens to express their will regarding the type of leaders they think can serve them well and bring them sustainable development. During the campaign period, we were divided ideologically and as fans as a nation. But after the election is held, the one chosen by the majority becomes the choice of the country and should be a servant of all citizens, those who chose him, those who chose other candidates, and even those who did not participate in the election. To us who have been elected, our promise to you, citizens, is to serve this nation with all our strength, all our talents, and all our knowledge. My fellow Tanzanians, it is important to recognize that the general election of government leaders is a process of only one season within a period of five years. All other times, life must go on. Therefore, our collective responsibility is to build our country and make our tomorrow better than our yesterday. I urge us to continue protecting our ideology of unity and solidarity. All my fellow citizens who wish this country well, we have been saddened and distressed by the events of breach of peace, loss of life, and destruction of public and private property in some areas of the country, especially in cities and towns. What happened is inconsistent with the image and reputation of a Tanzanian and is not Tanzanian. It did not surprise us to see that some of the youths arrested due to that incident came from outside Tanzania. Our defence and security agencies are continuing to investigate and thoroughly examine what happened and to return the country to the state we are accustomed to quickly. The National Defence Committee and regional and district defence committees, I instruct you to ensure that from today, the lives of citizens return to normal immediately. The President of Zambia and the President of Burundi have said here that chaos within a country is not good, has no value, and is not beneficial to anyone. Therefore, my fellow citizens, I ask you very much to prioritize the unity, peace, and tranquility of our country. My fellow citizens, let me take this opportunity to issue a warning, as a mother, to all those who incited the breach of peace. I want them to know that violence and breach of peace ultimately end up testing strength and self-defence capability. But dialogue fosters solidarity. Now let us choose what is beneficial to us, because the security of any nation is protected by all with all strength and at any cost. Dear leaders and fellow citizens, as is customary for countries with a democratic system, they invite election observers from international and regional communities to come and witness the electoral process. Their presence increases the legitimacy of our efforts to ensure that the election is conducted in an environment of transparency, fairness, dignity, and the rule of law. In this context, we thank all communities that brought election observers from Africa. We had observers from the African Union, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, the Southern African Development Community, and the East African Community. Along with them, we had others from various parts of the world. All observer groups have already issued preliminary reports, and we thank them for being with us and we have received their views with great respect. However, as the third-phase President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin William Mkapa, once said in the year 2000 when he was being sworn in as President, and I quote only a part of that speech which says: 'I thank the international observers for coming to witness how our election was conducted. When they praised us, we received those praises with great humility. We also heard those who thought things did not go well and other things, even we ourselves saw them. Instructions directing us what to do, we have rejected. Their advice we will consider so that we do better in the future.' End of quote. Fellow citizens, one characteristic of a human being is imperfection. The one who is absolutely perfect without any flaw is only Almighty God. That is why in human activities or endeavors, we are united by communication, dialogue, and understanding. Or in other words, we are united by the presence of a solution. The solution itself is not me, Suluhu. But even I, Suluhu, will do my work of uniting the nation. Therefore, we are united by the presence of a solution to matters in our societies. As you are aware, in uniting the nation, the sixth-phase government started with the philosophy of the four R's, which upholds the principles of talking and understanding each other, tolerating each other, exchanging or changing direction after understanding, and continuing to build our nation. As we move forward, we will not tire nor go backwards in upholding everything concerning building the unity and solidarity of our nation. Fellow Tanzanians, our gathering here today is not to reward those who won the election, no, but it is a constitutional requirement to be entrusted with the mandate to be the chief servant of the nation in bringing sustainable development in terms of economic, political, diplomatic, and social strength. In order to achieve that, we must ensure we encourage each other in unity and love for our country. We maintain peace and respect the laws of the country. The opposite of that, demonstrations, violence, breach of peace cause pain and do not bring benefit or profit to anyone. I urge Tanzanians to choose wisdom instead of anger, prudence instead of emotions, love instead of hatred, patience instead of grudges, unity instead of division, and peace instead of violence. But also it is our duty to choose humility instead of arrogance and compassion instead of anger. Our nation is one and is stronger than any individual. Democracy is not measured by who won the election, but by how we conduct our affairs after the election. We will be stronger when every voice, positive or negative, is heard, respected, and guaranteed, and also when we can heal those in pain. This is not the work of one side of the government alone, but for every community of citizens, political parties, our religions, and every citizen. And here let me take this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart the religious leaders who encouraged peace and love throughout the period before the election, during the election, and now after the election, as they continue to encourage peace and love. My fellow citizens, I have decided to use this platform today to thank and congratulate for completing the election, to encourage unity and national solidarity, and to emphasize that the United Republic of Tanzania as a nation is more important than the personal interests of any individual. Matters of the direction of government work for the next five years and a detailed explanation of the steps taken to implement the concept of work and humanity will be provided in the speech for the opening of the 13th Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania. Having said that, I thank you all for joining us in this important and historic event. I have received congratulations with great honor, and now the journey to serve Tanzanians for the second term of the sixth phase officially begins. I thank all citizens of Tanzania, and it is my belief that we will cooperate within this journey. Thank you very much for listening. God bless Africa. God bless Tanzania. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.