Tundu Lissu, a prominent Tanzanian opposition figure is will return home on Monday, three years after surviving an assassination attempt within Dodoma – By Gerald Gekara.
Lissu is expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam and has asked the government to ensure his safe passage home.
Mr Lissu, 52, was stripped of his parliamentary seat while receiving treatment in Belgium for gunshot wounds.
He had declared intentions to challenge incumbent John Magufuli for the presidency and had picked nomination papers from his Chadema party through representatives.
Tanzania is preparing to vote during the October general elections and President Magufuli is vying for a second five-year term.
He was Tanzania’s former chief whip of the main opposition party Chadema.
Mr. Lissu had been shot by unidentified gunmen 16 times outside his parliamentary residence in 2017.
After 24 surgeries in Kenya and Belgium, Lissu is coming to contest against President John Magufuli, whose economic policies Lissu disapproved.
“Given that I had been the main critic of the president’s economic policies and government corruption, and was seen as a traitor by those surrounding the president, it was widely understood that the president was referring to me,” Lissu said.
However, the assassination attempt was made in under two hours of Magufuli’s statement.
“Within two hours of his televised statement, I was fighting for my life,”
