AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government has rubbished claims of insecurity by opposition politicians who are seeking asylum outside the country, saying their assertions are baseless, and ill-intentioned.
Following the 2020 General Election, in which the opposition suffered heavy defeat against the ruling CCM party, incidents of defeated politicians trying and fleeing the country have surfaced.
A notable incident involved former Arusha Urban legislator, Godbless Lema, 44, who lost his bid to retain his seat in the recently held polls and sought asylum in a neighbouring country.
Lema, a Chadema cadre and two-time MP for Arusha Urban constituency, fled to Kenya through the Namanga Border Post with his wife and three children seeking asylum from the Kenyan government.
He was arrested by Kenyan police officers in Bisil on the Nairobi-Namanga road and later handed over to authorities in Kajiado Police Station before being set free.
Tundu Lissu, who was the presidential candidate on opposition Chadema ticket in the just concluded General Election, is said to have sought asylum at the Germany Embassy in Dar es Salaam, claiming that he has been receiving death threats.
Government Chief Spokesperson Dr Hassan Abbasi said the claims being peddled by the opposition politicians were untrue and should be ignored.
He urged members of the opposition to ditch the antics, insisting the election is over and everyone should focus on developing the country.
Dr Abbasi said after a successful and peaceful election, the government is now solely focused on building strong institutions for the development of the country.
“As we speak, the Parliament is about to kick off with a number of agendas including election of the Speaker, receiving and approval of the name of the Prime Minister before the official inauguration of the house,” he said.
Responding to the claims that the opposition leaders Lissu and Lema have been receiving death threats, Dr Abbasi said if there were any, the duo should have reported the matter to security organs.
“They need to speak out from whom, where and when they received the death threats, it doesn’t make sense for a person who was given protection throughout all 60 days of campaigns is coming with such accusations just after losing the election,” he added.
Dr Abbasi, who is also the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Arts, Culture and Sports went on to quote the 1951 Refugee Convention that stipulates the criteria for one to be considered as a refugee.
“You can’t just wake up and from nowhere claim that you are a refugee, some might have a criminal case and they opt to flee the country,” he remarked.
He reassured that the country would continue to uphold peace and national unity, and went to ask Tanzanians to continue working hard and ignore all baseless allegations levelled against the country.
