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Electoral body now moves to seal the fate of Lissu

Saturday July 06 2019
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Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu speaks to journalists at the Nairobi Hospital on January 5, 2018. He is currently in Belgium for specialised treatment. He escaped an assassination attempt on September 7, 2017 outside his Dodoma home. PHOTO | NMG

By ERICK KABENDERA

Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission on Friday announced July 31 as the date for the Singida East constituency by-election to replace Tundu Lissu, who was last week stripped of his MP’s seat by the parliamentary Speaker for absenteeism.

Announcing the date, NEC chairman Justice Semistocles Kaijage said the commission was responding to Speaker Job Ndugai's decision.

This has thrown a fresh on the outspoken Tanzanian opposition legislator’s plan to return to the country on September 7 after a two-year absence, and his ambitions to run for the presidency next year.

Mr Lissu, one of President John Magufuli’s fiercest critics, says Mr Ndugai’s move to kick him out of parliament is a scheme to lock him out of contention.

And he has got backing from strange quarters. Former foreign affairs minister Bernard Membe, a CCM party member who lost to Dr Magufuli in the race for the CCM ticket in 2015, has criticised the Speaker’s move and expressed the hope that Mr Lissu will be reinstated through court action.

Mr Lissu is in Belgium recuperating from injuries sustained in an assassination attempt in 2017. He has announced his intention to come home on September 7—the second anniversary of the day unidentified gunmen sprayed his car with 38 bullets outside his residence in Dodoma.

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Court battle

The former opposition chief whip and opposition party Chadema say they are preparing to challenge his expulsion from parliament in court.

Chadema secretary general Dr Vincent Mashinji told The EastAfrican that he read mischief’ in Mr Ndugai’s stated reasons for the ejection and the speaker’s “rush” to notify the electoral commission of a vacancy in Mr Lissu’s Singida East constituency to facilitate a quick by-election.

Skipping meetings

Mr Lissu is accused of skipping three consecutive parliamentary meetings, which by the House rules warrants automatic disqualification of an MP.

He is also accused of failing to file his annual wealth declaration forms with the Ethics Secretariat in accordance with the Public Leadership Code Ethics Act of 1995; and not keeping the speaker’s office informed about his whereabouts or the progress of his treatment abroad.

In his response, Mr Lissu described the move to expel him as illegal and designed to deny him a platform to engage the public once he gets back.

“There are, however, many other platforms to continue speaking out against the situation that President Magufuli has placed Tanzania,” he said.

He said his commitment to “actively participate in efforts to rid the country of a petty dictatorship” and run for president remained intact despite attempts to “frustrate” him.

On the claim that he had failed to file his latest wealth declaration forms, he said the Ethics Act cited by Mr Ndugai required the forms be filled out before a Tanzanian lawyer “and taken physically to either the National Assembly clerk or the Public Leadership Ethics Secretariat.” He argued that this was impossible in his current circumstances.

Opposition ACT Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe said the rules require that an ethics tribunal be formed to summon any leader for hearing should such a case arise.

“We are working with Chadema to establish whether such a procedure was followed before the decision to strip Mr Lissu of his legislative seat was made. You can be locked out of vying for any elective position only if the tribunal finds you guilty after a hearing,” Mr Kabwe told The EastAfrican.

It remains to be seen how the matter will pan out in court or in the next parliamentary session scheduled for September, around the same time as Mr Lissu’s scheduled return.

If precedent is anything to go by, it will not be easy for him to regain his seat. Since July 2017, Speaker Ndugai has ignored a court order to reinstate several MPs from the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) who had been stripped of their parliamentary seats.

But, irrespective of the outcome of his push for his reinstatement, political pundits say Mr Lissu’s return to the country will likely currently limping from the effects of a campaign to close all political space and shut all avenues for anyone to mount a credible challenge against President Magufuli for the presidency next year.

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