Kenyan Journalist Billy Miya claims Tanzanian government threats
Radio 47 journalist Billy Miya has gone on record, alleging that the Tanzanian government is personally hunting him and his Maskani 47 co-host, Mbaruk Mwalimu
Radio 47 journalist Billy Miya has gone on record, alleging that the Tanzanian government is personally hunting him and his Maskani 47 co-host, Mbaruk Mwalimu, in response to their critical on-air coverage of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration.
The two host the Maskani 47 show on Radio 47, a Kenyan media platform with a significant following across East Africa, where their commentary on regional political affairs, including Tanzanian matters, has consistently attracted a large and loyal audience.
Billy further alleges that an insider within their own workplace was compromised, claiming this individual was paid a colossal sum of Ksh150 million to betray the journalists and secretly funnel sensitive, identifying information to the Tanzanian government.
“Tanzania is hunting me personally and my co-presenter, meaning they don’t like how we work, they don’t like how we tell the truth,” stated Billy.
He added, “ As we are speaking, they have used an insider in the office, who gave us Ksh150 million, so that they could disclose our number plates to make it easier for the Tanzanian Government to track us.”
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Central to his claims is the assertion that the government’s anger stems from the journalists’ approach to their work, particularly their habit of speaking uncomfortable truths about Tanzanian politics, which Billy says the government finds threatening and unacceptable.
For some time, the hosts were openly critical of President Samia Suluhu Hassan and her government on air, drawing significant attention from audiences on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border and generating sharp reactions from pro-government circles in Tanzania.
In March 2026, Billy Miya and Mbaruk Mwalimu appeared to reverse their position entirely, even joking publicly that they were now ready to work with President Samia Suluhu Hassan and were open to campaigning on her behalf.
That shift did not go unnoticed, and it drew swift backlash from commentator Dr. Cassypool, who publicly condemned the pair for what he saw as a contradiction, given their earlier sustained and intense attacks on air against Samia’s administration.
It is within this complicated and tense context that Billy Miya has now come forward with a series of serious allegations, claiming the Tanzanian government has mounted an organised, multi-pronged operation specifically designed to track and silence them.
In his statement, Billy also characterised the present Tanzanian government as a totalitarian regime that, in his own words, ‘was never genuinely elected by the people’ and one that he alleges has historically stolen from and taken the lives of its own citizens.
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