Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu in an interview on the BBC’s Hard Talk programme in London. PHOTO | BBC
Tanzanian opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, has declared that he
is ready to contest for the presidency in 2020 if his Chadema party
gives him the ticket.
Mr Lissu, who has been abroad for
two years for treatment after he was shot by unknown people, says that
despite the many restrictions by government, such as the ban on public
rallies, persecution and arrests, support for opposition is growing and
they might just surprise the world if the election was to be free and
fair.
Speaking in an interview on Kenya’s KTN
television station, the former Singida East MP—whose seat was declared
vacant on June 29 due to absentia —said that he has fully recovered but
cannot return to Tanzania because his security is not assured.
“I
was supposed to die from the shooting or from lack of treatment. The
agents responsible are now warning through the Internet that this time
they will not miss,” he said.
He is concerned that the
opposition is under siege, and that members are being hunted down,
arrested, jailed and bought and that the president is using
unconstitutional means to finish the opposition
He said the opposition has never said no to dialogue, but the environment does not promote dialogue.
Mr Lissu, said that even during Jakaya Kikwete’s presidency, the
opposition operated under difficult circumstances, but the former
president occasionally met the opposition for discussions.
“Now,
we have a president who announced publicly that by the 2020 elections,
there will be no opposition. We believe that the banning of opposition
activities, arrests and my shooting are part of that promise,” said Mr
Lissu.
On being stripped of his parliamentary seat, he
said; “The law says that a seat can be declared vacant if the holder
misses three consecutive sittings. The Speaker says I did not officially
notify parliament but everybody knows that I was shot 16 times and I
was unconscious for one week. How can you notify the speaker in such
circumstances?”
Mr Lissu, who was first flown to
Nairobi and later to Belgium for further treatment, says that his
Chadema Party went to court to contest the declaration and it was
rejected but they have appealed again.
“If I keep
quiet, it will create a precedent where the Speaker can remove any MP he
doesn’t like. This trend cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
On
the recent civic election, Mr Lissu said that Chadema and other
opposition parties had prepared to take part but 3,000 candidates,
amounting to 96 per cent were disqualified.
“It was
difficult to participate in the election with only four per cent of our
candidates. We had decided to demonstrate to the world that that was not
an election and we have never seen such repression in the history of
Tanzania, even during the colonial time,” he said.
He
continued; “When a party that has been in power for nearly 60 years is
afraid of civic elections, it is an indication of what will happen in
2020 and Tanzania that has been the most peaceful in the region could
erupt.”
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