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Tanzania's Opposition Party Defies Oppression

Charles Kombe

   DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzania's main opposition group -- the Party for
   Democracy and Progress, or Chadema -- is speaking out against a call
   for a temporary suspension of the campaign of its presidential
   candidate Tundu Lissu, who is facing the incumbent John Magufuli in the
   coming general elections. Tanzania's National Electoral Commission has
   accused Lissu of violating several election regulations, and opposition
   members say they are observing the request even as they say it is
   unfair, illegal, and unacceptable.
   A recent announcement by Tanzania's National Electoral Commission that
   it will suspend for seven days from October 3 the campaign of the
   outspoken opposition presidential candidate Tundu Lissu is being met
   with verbal protests from Tanzania's main opposition group.
   The commission accused Lissu of violating some election regulations,
   including stopping to make unplanned addresses to masses of people.
   Lissu says the commission's move is to silence him in a period of one
   week while President John Magufuli is taking a break from campaigning.
   "I know their intention. They do not want me to be on the campaign
   trail during the same week that Magufuli is resting," he says, adding
   that "they are wary of the issues that I will raise, for which they
   have no adequate responses. It is a strategy to scare me, which I am
   not going to accept."

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