Freeman Aikaeli Mbowe (born 14 September 1961) is a

Tanzanian Demographic features of the population of Tanzania include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The population distribution in Tan ...

politician and former chairman of Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo. He was elected as a

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

member representing the

Hai District Hai is one of the seven districts of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania.The district covers approximately . It is bordered to the southwest by the Meru District of Arusha Region, to the west by the Siha District, and to the east by the Moshi ...

in the

Kilimanjaro Region Kilimanjaro Region (''Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The regional capital and largest city is the municipality of Moshi, Tanzania, Moshi. With the 3rd highe ...

as from 2010 to 2020. Mbowe was elected to the

in 2000 representing Hai Constituency (

). He won 64.5% of the vote, which was the highest percentage of votes won among constituencies with opposition MPs. In preparation for the 2005 elections, Mbowe was nominated to represent Chadema as their presidential candidate for the 2005 presidential elections. Jumbe Rajab Jumbe, a

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

i was chosen as his vice-presidential candidate. The election was originally scheduled for 30 October 2005, but was postponed until 14 December due to the death of Jumbe. Mbowe constructively criticized the lengthy postponement, saying a week's delay would have sufficed and that his political party cannot afford to finance extra campaigns. Chadema eventually settled on Anna Komu to be the running political party executive. He placed third out of ten candidates in the presidential election of 14 December 2005, winning 5.88% of the vote. In the 2010 general elections, he was elected as a member of parliament for the United Republic of Tanzania parliament after winning against the experienced candidate the incumbent from Mapinduzi, Fuya Godwin Kimbita taking 51.63% of the vote. One of the founders of Chadema in 1992, Mbowe is a good strategist which makes him currently one of the main strategists of the Chadema political party and a main executive board member in the political party to ensure the political growth of his party, of which he has steadily led as chairman since 2004, in a healthy politically competitive environment that has witnessed a steady collapse of major opposition parties since the 1990s at the hands of the CCM government. In July 2021, Freeman Mbowe was arrested along with ten other members of the party left for Mwanza (North-West) where they were planning a rally. The state eventually accused him of terrorism. He remained in remand prison as his charges are unbailable in Tanzania. In March 2022, Tanzania prosecutors dropped the terrorism case against him. Following his release and his immediate conversation with President

Samia Suluhu Samia Suluhu Hassan ( ; born 27 January 1960) is a Tanzanian politician who serves as the sixth and current President of Tanzania, president of Tanzania since 19 March 2021. She is the first woman to serve in the position and previously served ...

, his first appearance days later was at the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

event in Iringa in 2022. This caused critics to accuse Suluhu of releasing Mbowe on condition of support for Western

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

policies. In August 2024, Mbowe was arrested again, along with 520 other Chadema supporters in a nationwide crackdown. Mbowe was later released on bail, a day after his arrest. He was again arrested the following month.

References

1961 births Living people Chadema MPs Tanzanian MPs 2010–2015 {{Tanzania-politician-stub