Tanzania’s prime minister orders end to oversized government convoys amid austerity drive

Tanzania’s Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba has ordered government officials to shrink the convoys accompanying leaders on official visits, renewing a long-running debate over the cost of government travel.

Nchemba said that when a leader visits every district in a region, the regional commissioner and officials from the district being visited should be sufficient. Officials from the entire region should not travel to every district, he said.

The directive follows President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s April 8 announcement that she would reduce her convoy by using buses to transport some accompanying officials. Her measure focused on fuel costs, which had risen sharply. Nchemba’s order targets government spending more broadly.

The prime minister has addressed the issue before. In 2022, as finance and planning minister, he announced a plan to reduce spending on government vehicles, fuel, spare parts and maintenance, which he said had reached Sh558.45 billion. The plan included changing vehicle-use procedures and prohibiting officials from sending a leader’s vehicle by road when the leader traveled by air and met the vehicle later.

Speaking in Dodoma on September 4, 2026, as he closed the fourth session of the 13th Parliament, Nchemba cited fiscal discipline as a priority. He identified vehicle operations, domestic and foreign travel, diaries, budget processes, meetings, workshops and conferences as areas for savings. He instructed Prime Minister’s Office minister Riziki Shemdoe to direct regional and district commissioners to limit convoys to officials with direct responsibilities in the areas being visited.

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You visit Region A where you will tour all districts. But across all districts, officials from the entire region, even from districts you will visit, are present in every district.