By Our Staff Reporter,
DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania
Three weeks before elections, the Tanzanian government is getting scared and will do all in its power to stop the opposition, according to Tundu Lissu, a presidential hopeful whose convoy was teargassed by police last week.
U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, Donald Wright (R) meeting Tanzania's opposition chief, Tundu Lissu |
"It is getting harder. It is getting
hotter. We expected this," Lissu, from the main opposition Chadema party,
told our reporter on Wednesday.
Chadema says its party offices in Arusha in
northern Tanzania were firebombed. Meanwhile, dozens of opposition parliamentary
candidates were disqualified from running in the elections for president and
members of parliament on Oct. 28.
"The regime is getting scared and
therefore they are pulling out all the stops, using all instruments of
power in their capacity to fight my campaign," said Lissu.
Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said that
elections are under the purview of the National Electoral Commission when he
was contacted for comment.
Some iteration of Tanzania's CCM party has held
power since independence in 1961, and President John Magufuli is widely
expected to win a second term, tightening his grip on East Africa's
third-largest economy.
However, CCM's percentage of the presidential
vote has slightly declined over the past two elections.
Last month U.S. ambassador to Tanzania Donald
Wright tweeted his concerns about politically motivated violence and the
overall increase in tensions as the Election Day gets closer.
“I'm concerned by the reports I'm hearing of
politically motivated violence and the overall increase in tensions as we get
closer to Tanzania's elections. I urge all parties to commit to free, fair, and
peaceful elections. As the saying goes: Peace is the fruit of justice.”
The ambassador reiterated his call for a free, fair, and transparent election process when he met Tundu Lissu on Wednesday.
“It was wonderful to finally meet Tundu Lissu today. While the U.S. does not support any candidate or party in the upcoming election, we fully support a free, fair, and transparent process where all parties are afforded equal treatment." He stressed.
International watchdogs like Human Rights Watch
and Reporters Without Borders have warned that repression of the opposition,
activist groups, and the media has increased.
The government has previously denied clamping
down on dissent.
Lissu returned in July after three years in
exile following an unsolved 2017 assassination attempt. He was shot 16 times
but survived.
Police said they teargassed Lissu's campaign
convoy after unidentified people threw stones at them. They also said they had
arrested opposition activists in one case, after Chadema offices were firebombed.
Last Friday, the ethics committee of the
National Electoral Commission (NEC) suspended Lissu from campaigning for a week
for using incendiary language.
The NEC has also upheld the disqualification of
39 parliamentary candidates who were initially disqualified and reinstated 67
others.
The opposition says the disqualifications are
an attempt to boost the ruling party, an accusation the commission rejects.
"Why should the commission disqualify you
if you meet all the criteria? It is not true," said Emmanuel Kawishe, the
commission's legal services director.
Magufuli - nicknamed "The Bulldozer"
- won the presidency in 2015, promising to fight corruption and build
infrastructure.
But he has also clamped down on dissent. His
government banned public rallies in 2016, and at least 10 Tanzanian media
outlets have been banned for periods ranging from one week to indefinitely
between January 2016 and July 2020, according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
That means the opposition has effectively been
muzzled for several years, although now they are able to campaign, said
Nicodemus Minde, a researcher on Tanzania at Nairobi's United States
International University.
The media is wary of covering the campaign
however, said political analyst Aikande Kwayu, as the Media Services Act of
2016 and the Electronic and Postal Communications Regulations are vague and are
used to punish the media.
"This has made the media cautious in covering the campaign and scared to portray the ruling party in a negative light," she said.
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