Tundu Lissu – Fire Political Political Survivor presses for reforms

He was released 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, the great survivor of the Tanzanian policy – and one of the most persecuted politicians.

But some ask if it has now reached the end of the line.

Lesu, the leader of the opposition party, Chadima, has returned to the spotlight after being accused of betrayal – a crime that is the death penalty for it.

However, it is not exhausted. Despite the tremendous risks, it is believed that it can pressure the government to reform reforms, before the presidential and parliamentary elections in October.

But can the storm be overcome in a harsh political environment, and against what he thinks is political charges?

His party has been excluded from the elections and was being held in the past two weeks.

In September last year, Lesu BBC told nothing that will come on a silver dish, and it will take courage to demand reforms “in the streets and villages.”

To achieve his goals, he felt he had to take the leadership of Chadima.

He was not a fiery politician, and he was not criticizing the way he was running the party, accusing the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Freiman Mobo as he was very successful towards the government.

In an intense race, MBOWE overthrew the post.

After only three months at the head of Chadima, Lesu was arrested this month and detained a speech claiming to call the public to launch a rebellion and disrupt the elections.

He was not allowed to enter a call for treason, but he admitted that he was not guilty of separately from publishing wrong information.

Before his arrest, he was holding gatherings throughout the country with an invitation to a crowd of “no reforms, no elections.”

He said that the current regime had been forged in favor of the ruling CCM party, adding that without reforms, there was no benefit from participating in the elections.

It is scheduled to return again in court on Thursday. He cannot search for the guarantee because he was charged with betrayal.

His international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, told BBC that their mission to defend democracy. “

However, it is not a simple task – CCM has won every election since independence, and it is unlikely to be easily abandoned by strangling it to power.

There is also a disagreement in Chadima, with some members who do not agree to the Lesu strategy.

The party is prevented from competing for the October election after it refused to comply with the requirements of the Electoral Commission to sign the rules of behavior.

The main goal of the document “is to ensure that the political parties and their supporters act well … and maintain peace and harmony” during the elections.

Chadima believes that the Conduct Code is a trick to contain the opposition, and it is afraid that the state will continue.

In September, a senior Chadima party was kidnapped and brutally killed amid a wave of kidnapping of government critics.

During the local elections in November, Chadima said that thousands of its candidates were prevented from participating. The ruling party won about 98 % of the seats.

The government rejected the proposals that the elections were not free and fair, saying that it was detained according to the rules.

But for Leso, the local elections justified his calls for reforms before the presidential and parliamentary polls.

Human Rights Watch Campaign Group has expressed similar concerns and urged the government to end political repression.

The Catholic Church added its voice to invitations to the unconditional release of Lesu, and to the fair elections.

However, the arrest of opposition politicians continued, although Prime Minister Casim Magalio promised them earlier this month that the authorities would guarantee security and fairness in the polls.

The BBC has reached the government to comment.

President Samia Soloho gave good freedom of political freedom after assuming his post after the death of her predecessor John Magofi in 2021.

However, Tanzania was once again “began to see the wave of repression and the audited violence of the state” that was distinguished by the rule of Magofi.

During that era, they survived, not an assassination attempt.

Before his arrest, he said not that his party has a list of “minimum reforms, but the critical that must be made to ensure free elections.”

Mr. Amsterdam, his lawyer, told BBC that this included the formation of a really independent national electoral committee with members who are not linked to the government ” – and this must be devoted to the constitution.

Chadima also requires that when there are electoral conflicts, the burden of proof should be with the committee to show that the vote was free and fair.

The Lissu strategy came at a very cost to itself, and Chadima, as the manufacture of the party, known as the G-55, adopted a softer position.

He called for competition for Elections during the follow -up of talks with the government regarding their demands.

This is the approach followed by the second largest opposition party, Act-Wazalendo.

Along with 16 margin opposition parties, the Code of Conduct signed. I just rejected Chadima.

It seems that Leso sees the neighboring Kenya – as the mass protests forced the government last year to drop plans to increase taxes – as a follow -up model.

At that time, the BBC told that the Tanzanians did not “pressure strongly for democratic reform,” and what Kenya went through to obtain (democratic dispensation) is something that we need to do. “

Whether such a strategy will work unclear, as it seems that many Tanzanians are hesitating to support the campaign that can openly cut off the government.

However, Mr. Amsterdam said that the more the government is the more concerned, the more it would motivate the supporters of Chadima “to move forward and participate in civil disobedience.”

He added that Chadima will use “every legal and political tool” to achieve change.

However, political analyst Thomas Kibuana criticized the strategy of Lesu, saying that with the current term of parliament due to an termination in June, there will be no time to give legal impact on any major reforms before the October elections.

He said he might be better to wait for Chadima until after the elections.

“The party has had great obstacles, but the party had the right to go to the court to challenge its exclusion from the elections.”

Mr. Mindy said that if Chadima remains closed from the elections, it is likely that the ruling party is likely to increase its vast majority in Parliament.

The analyst added that Chadima may lose its position as the main opposition party, and “of course, nature will decline and perhaps the other opposition parties will take this opportunity.”

It is a danger that he chose Leso and the party to take.