Government Of Tanzania Dissociates Itself From Its Representative Makonda's Anti Gay Crackdown
On October 29, 2018, the regional commissioner for Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Paul Makonda, vowed to hunt down all suspected gays in his area of jurisdiction beginning November 5, 2018.
Mr Makonda's promised mass arrest of known gays in Dar es Salaam, has been castigated worldwide by human rights activists including Amnesty International, as well as some governments warning their citizens living in or wishing to visit Tanzania about the imminent anti-gay action. Even some Western holiday booking companies are said to have began boycotting Tanzania tourist destinations because of the promised anti-gay crackdown.
Notwithstanding, however, at the very beginning of his anti-gay rhetoric, Makonda is said to have categorically indicated he was on a God's mission hence unfettered by any human criticisms from any quarter, that may be raised against his moral crusade.
Mr Makonda is a regional commissioner hence represents the government of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam region. After keeping totally silent about its representative's promised controversial anti-gay crackdown, the government of Tanzania is said to have finally reacted just some hours before the beginning of the crackdown per se, saying it has nothing to do with it.
According to Tanzania media, on November 4, 2018 the country's ministry of foreign affairs and East African cooperation categorically said and partly quoted: "...Mr Makonda was only airing his personal opinion which does not reflect the official position of the United Republic of Tanzania,..."
Whether this dissociation by the government of Tanzania from its regional representative's inflammatory remarks means a shift from its hitherto rigid intolerance towards homosexuality as well as some other individual choices and decisions pertaining to individual freedom, that are harmless to others, is not known.
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