Tanzanian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu returned from years of exile in Belgium to cheering crowds on Wednesday, after the government lifted a ban on political rallies.
A former lawmaker and government critic, Lissu initially left the country to seek treatment abroad after being shot 16 times, mostly in the lower abdomen, in an attack by unknown gunmen in the administrative capital of Dodoma in 2017.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted the ban on political rallies this month, more than six years after his predecessor John Magufuli imposed the measures, which sparked tensions between opposition leaders and police.
The move was welcomed by the opposition and prompted Lissu to announce an end to his exile.
He was greeted by a crowd of supporters at the Julius Nyerere International Airport, before traveling by car to a rally in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.
Isolation has been difficult, he told the crowd waving CHADEMA party flags, adding that he would push for a new constitution.
“Without a new constitution it will be difficult to change anything. Without it we will not have a free and independent electoral commission,” he said.
The current constitution gives too much power to the executive, he said, adding the importance of pushing for reforms.
“If you are tired of all the high taxes, high food inflation… let’s find a political solution, let’s find a new constitution,” Lissu said.
Lissu, who had been arrested eight times in the year before the gun attack that survived, is returning to his homeland in 2020 to challenge Magufuli in the elections.
However, shortly after the election he fled to the place of the German ambassador after receiving death threats, and then left the country again.
Under the ban on public meetings, which was implemented in 2016, elected politicians are allowed to hold public meetings in their constituencies, but public meetings or other political protests are prohibited.
Magufuli died in March 2021 of a heart condition he had suffered for ten years. After ascending to the presidency, Hassan implemented a number of reforms, including lifting the ban on newspapers deemed critical and opening negotiations with opposition leaders.
Source: Reuters
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