Dar es Salaam, June 9 — The leader of Tanzania opposition in the parliament and national chairman of the country’s main opposition party Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), was on Tuesday brutally assaulted by unknown assailants shortly after arriving at his flat in the capital city Dodoma shortly after midnight, his party and the local police chief said.
Gires Muroto, Police commander in the administrative capital, Dodoma confirmed the incident and said security forces have launched an investigation against the crime but warned members of the public against using the incident for political gain.
“We are investigating this incident to find out the truth and bring to justice all those involved,” he told Ubuntu Times
According to Muroto, Mbowe, who is an elected legislator, was ambushed by three people, who beat him up and broke his right leg by twisting it.
“This is a criminal incident like any other, nobody should use it to peddle political gain with the aim to get popularity,” Muroto said.
However, local media reports suggest, the attackers wrestled Mbowe on the ground, dragged him, and severely beat him up before they vanished.
Mbowe, who along with other opposition MPs were found guilty for sedition in March, jailed and made to pay a hefty fine to be released from prison, was rushed to a local hospital, and has now been airlifted to Dar es Salaam for further treatment, officials at his party said.
Before he was flown, Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, Speaker of the parliament Job Ndugai and his deputy along with several legislators paid him a visit at the hospital to wish him well.
The incident, which happened ahead of the general election scheduled to take place on October 25, 2020, is a grim reminder of a daring assassination attempt against another opposition legislator and outspoken critic of President John Magufuli, Tundu Lissu who suffered multiple gunshot wounds on September 7, 2017, after unknown people sprinkled machine-gun fire on his parked Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) at his home, leaving his body riddled with multiple life-threatening wounds.
The attack against Mbowe happened barely a day after Lissu, his deputy, currently living in exile in Europe officially declared interest to run for president in October polls, and aiming to use the democratic process to challenge the incumbent leader.
John Mnyika, the Secretary-General of CHADEMA told reporters in Dodoma that there’s every indication the assault against Mbowe is politically motivated since the assailants, allegedly mocked Mbowe, saying they wanted to “break him up” to see if he can participate in the campaign trail.
“Those who attacked Chairman Mbowe were saying some words, that you’re disturbing the government. They said we will not kill you. Though those people had firearms, they did not use them,” Mnyika said.
Tanzania, a nation of 57 million people has for a long time been perceived as a haven of peace for Africa’s most stable democracies. President Magufuli, whose first term in office comes to an end, is expected to be re-elected in the forthcoming polls on the ticket of Chama Cha Mapinduzi—a revolutionary party that has governed the country since its independence from Britain.
Peter Msigwa, an opposition legislator claimed that Chairman Mbowe’s security detail had been abruptly removed as the country was battling the Coronavirus pandemic, adding that the attackers cornered him as he was taking the stairs, saying they didn’t want to kill him but to break his limbs so that he couldn’t campaign.
Ubuntu Times couldn’t independently verify the claims.
Fatma Karume, an astute lawyer and vocal critic of the government who served as a president of the Tanganyika Law Society—an umbrella organization for lawyers described violent assaults against members of the opposition as “potent for a violent election.”
Ismail Jussa, a strategist with ACT-Wazalendo Party described the attack as “shocking” adding that “It should be strongly condemned.”