By Tom Odulla, NAIROBI Kenya
One
opposition leader was shot 16 times and fled the country. Another had his leg
broken by unknown assailants and his newspaper was shut down. A third, the
country's most prominent politician, has been banned for a year from making
so-called “seditious statements," or what others might call dissent.
But he's speaking out anyway.
With Tanzania facing an October election that contentious President John
Magufuli hopes to win, opposition leader Zitto Kabwe tells The Associated Press
he's trying to unite the opposition behind one candidate for the best shot at
an upset.
And his party just
attracted a potential candidate, former foreign minister Bernard Membe, who
left the ruling party that has been in power since independence.
Magufuli's administration,
however, has set up one obstacle after another. In 2016 it barred opposition
groups from political gatherings, and there's no sign it will be lifted for
campaigning. Human rights groups say that ban has no legal basis.
Politics are behind the
attacks on opposition leaders and multiple arrests, rights groups say. And now
the coronavirus is a threat after Magufuli declared it defeated in the East
African nation.
His government stopped
updating the confirmed number of cases in April. The president has refused to
shut down the economy or bar any kind of gatherings — except the political ones.
Kabwe, the leader of the
Alliance for Change and Transparency party, the country's fastest growing
political party, has been arrested 16 times since Magufuli came to power in
2015.
“The best weapon against a
dictatorship is speaking up,” he told the AP.
This week Tanzania's registrar of
political parties added more pressure, threatening to deregister or suspend
Kabwe’s party and accusing it of flouting rules by mixing religion and
politics. Kabwe called the accusations “flimsy” and told supporters not to
worry because the registrar is barred from deregistering a party in the 12
months before an election.
Kabwe says he "crossed
the Rubicon” and became more outspoken after opposition leader Tindu Lissu,
deputy leader of the CHADEMA party, was shot 16 times in 2017.
“I decided and said this
should not continue," he said. “The state wants us to keep quiet, they
threaten us. The best weapon for us is to speak up and radicalize even more.”
Now his task is persuading
Lissu and CHADEMA leader Freeman Mbowe, who was attacked in June by
unidentified assailants, to join forces in the election against the ruling
Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.
Lissu has announced he
will run against the president, but he remains in Belgium. Mbowe has picked up
a nomination form, which suggests he may run, too.
Kabwe said that in
Tanzania, where whoever gets the most votes wins the election outright, a
united opposition has the chance at an upset. Magufuli won the 2015 election
with 58% of the vote.
“I have been across the
country and the feeling of the people is just change,” Kabwe said. He said past
efforts to form a united front had failed because of “selfishness," giving
no details.
On Wednesday, Kabwe told
reporters his party was in talks with CHADEMA to front a single candidate and
he will not vie for that position. Instead, he will support whoever emerges
after the two parties choose their candidates in the coming weeks.
Talks with CHADEMA are at
an “advanced stage,” he said.
He also warned the
election won't be free and fair, pointing out that Magufuli appoints the
members of the electoral commission. And independent media houses have been
banned or had their licenses suspended.
But the opposition cannot
boycott this election regardless of the obstacles, Kabwe said. Boycotting could
make the situation in Tanzania worse as Magufuli’s allies would have no
challenge for seats in the legislative assembly or local assemblies.
Ruling party delegates
this month unanimously endorsed Magufuli to run for a second term. Some even
want him to go beyond the two-term limit.
The president, although
criticized over repressive measures, has won some support for his
much-publicized fight against corruption, though some in the opposition
question its effectiveness.
Magufuli also celebrated
when the World Bank this month reclassified Tanzania upward as a lower-middle
income country.
Parliament speaker Job
Ndugai has said they will force Magufuli to pursue further terms "whether
he likes it or not."
Amnesty International
warns the October election will take place in a climate of fear as restrictions
tighten. “Already, organizations such as the Legal and Human Rights Centre and
Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition that have previously convened local
organizations on election observation or monitoring human rights in the context
of elections have been barred by Tanzania's government from playing these
roles,” researcher Roland Ebole said.
Kabwe said he and other
like-minded people will continue fighting.
“We will call for electoral and political reforms while conducting our politics. There is no way apart from that in order to save our democracy,” he said. - AP
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