Former presidential candidate Lissu says he’ll return residence on January 25 and ‘get again to work’.
Tanzania’s opposition chief and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu has mentioned he’ll return residence this month from exile in Europe to “write a brand new chapter” after the federal government’s choice to elevate a ban on political rallies.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted the six-and-a-half-year ban on political rallies final week, a part of her reconciliation technique after taking up the presidency in March 2021 following the dying of her predecessor John Magufuli.
The ban, imposed by Magufuli in 2016, allowed elected politicians to conduct rallies of their constituencies however barred different political rallies and protests.
“With the lifting of the unlawful ban on political exercise, it’s now time to return residence and get again to work,” Lissu mentioned on Twitter on Friday, saying he would arrive on January 25.
In a speech streamed dwell on YouTube and carried on native channels in Tanzania, Lissu mentioned “we can’t proceed to endlessly dwell in exile”.
“I’m optimistic that we’ll write a brand new chapter this yr … 2023 is a vital yr within the historical past of our nation,” he mentioned.
It is now official: I will be kissing Tanzanian soil as soon as once more on Wed. 25 Jan., 2023, at 13:35 hrs native time. I am going to arrive aboard Ethiopian Airways #ET805 from Addis Ababa. With the lifting of the unlawful ban on political exercise, it is now time to return residence & get again to work!
— Tundu Antiphas Lissu (@TunduALissu) January 13, 2023
Lissu initially left the nation in 2017 to hunt remedy overseas after he was shot 16 occasions, principally within the decrease stomach, in an assault by unknown attackers within the administrative capital Dodoma in September that yr.
He had been arrested eight occasions within the yr main as much as the assault. Lissu returned for a couple of months in 2020 to contest the election towards Magufuli, who died simply 5 months after successful his second time period.
Lissu garnered 13 % of the votes, however his CHADEMA occasion rejected the end result as a consequence of allegations of widespread irregularities.
He fled to the residence of the German ambassador in Tanzania quickly after the election after receiving dying threats earlier than leaving for Belgium.
Hopes for reform beneath Hassan dimmed in July 2021, when Lissu’s occasion comrade Freeman Mbowe was arrested on terrorism fees. He was launched after seven months, however some critics labelled Hassan a “dictator”.
The president sat down face-to-face with Lissu in Brussels in early 2022, once more buoying hopes that change might be on the horizon.
Since taking energy, Hassan reversed a few of Magufuli’s most controversial insurance policies, together with lifting a ban on 4 newspapers, and promised reforms lengthy demanded by the opposition.
“President Samia Suluhu Hassan, by means of her authorities and occasion, have proven they’re prepared for a brand new journey. We have to exhibit that we’re additionally prepared for that,” Lissu mentioned within the video tackle. “I’m coming residence for the brand new starting of our nation.”
