Reported by
Faridah N Kulumba
The outspoken Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu who was shot almost 20 times during President John Magufuli’s regime, want the current government led by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to disclose people who gave orders for his bloody assassination attempt.
This week Mr Lissu tweeted that it is time for the current Tanzanian President Suluhu to reveal to him and the world the people who were behind the attempt, The Star reported. Lissu also wants the government to disclose those who gave the orders for his attack.
“When Magufuli is gone, it’s time new President Samia told me, the nation and the world who’s behind the shooting and why? Who gave what order to whom? Her silence on this issue can’t hold any longer.” Lissu said.
The incident
In September 7, 2017 Lissu was shot several times by gunmen, whom up to date never been identified nor convicted for assassination attempt.
The incident happened near his home in the capital Dodoma, and he was rushed to a Hospital in Kenya where President Suluhu who was President Magufuli’s Vice by then visited him. After the attack, Lissu underwent more than 20 operations in Kenya and Belgium in order to recover but Magufuli never visited him.
While returning back home from Belgium, his supporters greeted him at the airport as a hero, and also called him brave and fearless when he ran for president of Tanzania three years after surviving the assassination attempt.
Why does Lissu want the assassins to be revealed now?
Lissu after undergoing the 25th surgical operation this week said with Magufuli gone, it is time for the new President Samia to tell the nation and the world at large who was behind the shooting and why? And who gave orders? “Her silence on this issue can’t hold any longer,” said Lissu.
The opposition had asked the Commonwealth Secretariat and the African Union to investigate claims of electoral fraud, violence, and human rights violations in Tanzania.
Tundu Lissu was the one who generated intense speculation of President Magufuli’s Covid-19 illness weeks before his sudden death on 17 March 2021, when he started asking questions over his whereabouts.
