PREVIEW
Opposition leaders Tundu Lissu and hundreds of supporters were among those detained
The arrest and detention of hundreds of opposition leaders and supporters on 11 August, ahead of a planned rally to mark International Youth Day on 12 August, suggests that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has little intention of opening up political competition.
Police authorities said the arrests, which included Tundu Lissu, the deputy leader of the opposition Chadema party, and its chair Freeman Mbowe, were needed to avert the risk of violence. Lissu plans to run for the presidency next year.
The Commissioner of Police Awadh Haji said Chadema party leaders had ‘continued to issue statements which suggest that the real intention is not to mark the International Youth Day, but to mobilise youths to engage in acts aimed at disrupting peace’.
The Chadema rally was to be held in Mbeya, in central Tanzania.
‘We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all our leaders, members and supporters who were arrested in different parts of the country,’ Mbowe said in a post on social media platform X before his arrest on Monday.
Meanwhile, members of fellow opposition party, Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo), say several of their party’s activists were arrested at its Youth Day rally in Zanzibar on 11 August (AC Vol 65 No 16,Samia reshuffles the troops). The party’s former leader, Zitto Kabwe, has also signalled his intention to return to politics to contest next year’s presidential polls.
The clampdown is a reminder that despite earning international plaudits, for initiating some political reforms, President Samia has moved slowly and the (Dispatches 4/1/22, Hassan mends some fences with the opposition).
Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Tanzania’s ruling party, remains influential.
A ban on opposition campaign events was lifted in 2022, but much-demanded constitutional reforms to create a more level playing field for opposition parties to compete with the CCM will not take place this side of next year’s general election.
In the meantime, local government elections scheduled for October or early November, are likely to be used as a trial run by the CCM party as it prepares for next year’s general election.
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