I’m ready to face Suluhu - Tundu Lissu

Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu has said that he is not ready to return to his home country until his assassination attempt is addressed by the president.

Addressing the press in Nairobi on Friday after launching his book titled Parliament and Accountability in East Africa, Lissu said that President Samia Suluhu  has not responded to his appointment request.

Lissu said that he has tried to reach the president through her secretary Juma Mkomi to address the issues of the country, but he has not received feedback from the president.

“I want to know who paid and gave them the arms, who protected them after the attack and also tell us why I did not access the rights to be treated as a legislator by then at the cost of the Parliament, which is in the law,” Lissu said.

When he was asked if he will not return to his country until the raised issues are addressed, Lissu said that:

“What I said is that she (Suluhu) has not responded to me, I'm still waiting for his feedback. But I will not wait forever, because I will not live forever. If the time comes and I do not receive the answers needed, I will tell her that I am coming home, be ready.”

Lissu’s car was sprayed with bullets in September 2017 after leaving the Parliament Buildings, sustaining several injuries.

The incident happened during the era of the late President John Magufuli, whom he did not see eye to eye with.

Lissu was a great critic of Magufuli’s administration, blaming him for undermining the rights of the opposition leaders as well as human rights groups in Tanzania.

He however returned home in 2020 for elections where he was seeking to ouster Magufuli through the Chadema party, but he lost.

In his book, Lissu said that the parliaments in the East Africa Community have been in the dark for a long due to their inability to do the right thing expected of them.

“According to history, our parliaments have been unable to carry out their functions well…Kenyan parliament is in a better position to implement these functions compared to both the Tanzanian and Ugandan Parliaments.”