Zitto Kabwe: I almost fled into exile after 2020 elections

Dar es Salaam. ACT-Wazalendo leader Zitto Kabwe has revealed how he had been lined up for exile to escape unspecified dangers related to uncertainties resulting from the 2020 General Election.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Kabwe said four foreign missions offered, and were ready to grant him asylum for fear of his life as political tensions peaked, especially following the election aftermath involving shooting people dead in Zanzibar by security personnel.

“It was one of my lowest times in politics and we feared for our own safety. I was personally tipped and advised to immediately leave the country for security concerns. Up to four envoys reached out to me with the offer to go into exile,” Mr Kabwe revealed during the interview.

He said, however, he weighed the herculean task that he was facing as a party leader and politician in the middle of the electoral crisis. Other than the reported shooting and killing of innocent people in the Isles, the aftermath of the 2020 elections thrust Tanzania into the global spotlight for the wrong reasons.

“That election year was simply the toughest and I faced a difficult decision to make. I chose to remain behind and deal with the situation that was confronting us,” Kabwe said. He said he could not have escaped at a time when reports of their supporters being shot and killed emerged while some of his fellow leaders such as Nassor Mazrui had been kidnapped and others were nursing injuries in hospital.

Mr Kabwe did not reveal the exact nature of threats he faced but opposition politicians Tundu Lissu and Godbless Lema, all of Chadema are currently in exile in Belgium and Canada respectively after escaping shortly after the 2020 elections.

Mr Lissu, who contested the presidency against CCM candidate John Magufuli, and Mr Lema who run for the Arusha Urban seat said they escaped after received death threats.

Mr Lissu earlier, in 2017, survived an assassination attempt while attending Parliament in Dodoma after being shot 16 times.

The two politicians have recently indicated their willingness to return home following ongoing political dialogue between President Samia Suluhu Hassan and opposition parties.

The ACT-Wazalendo leader spoke to The Citizen for the ‘Democracy in Tanzania series’ to mark 30 years of the country’s multiparty politics journey. Tanzania re-adopted pluralism in 1992 following the repeal of the constitution that granted the ruing prty, CCM, sole powers to practice politics from 1965.

Mr Kabwe noted that the period between 2015 and 2021 was the toughest for opposition politicians in Tanzania’s 30 years of democratic practice. He said Magufuli had ruled with an iron hand and returned the country to the era of struggle for the alternative voice to be heard. “The country was reset to the 1992 era where opposition voices had to fight for free speech and the space to do politics,” he said.

He said despite the difficult moments, he takes pride in how they managed to handle the post-election crisis and negotiated for a place in the Government of National Unity in Zanzibar.

“We continue to agitate for the people in government and I can today reveal it was not an easy task to negotiate at the time,” said Mr Kabwe, who added that the death of the party chairman Seif Shariff Hamad was also the lowest for him and the party, just as Hamad’s defection from Civic United Front (CUF) to ACT-Wazalendo was the highest for him as the leader of the new party.

The former Kigoma Urban MP said the lessons of 2015-2021 should inform Tanzanians to jealously guard their freedom and the need to take part in efforts to safeguard institutions of accountability.

“We are where we are because since 1992 the people have tended to rely on what he termed as “supplied democracy” where only CCM decides what to give and what not to give.”

He said there ias a new window of hope for Tanzania to change its course and return to a thriving democracy with recent moves by President Hassan to engage in dialogue and set the stage for political reforms.

“It is also welcome that her party has signaled the acceptance of the push for a new constitution which will be a boon to the change that the country requires,” Mr Kabwe noted.

“Personally, I trust Samia to deliver on the change that the country requires. Her approach is different from her predecessors and I have hope the country will take a big step forward,” he said, warning that no parties, including media and civil society should feel complacent “as there are many people within CCM who do not want to see any change.”

Mr Kabwe noted that his party was advancing the idea of negotiated democracy at this stage to enable practical reforms that will steady or level the playing field towards enactment of a new constitution.

He said there was need to quickly amend the political parties and elections acts and reform the police force as the minimal ingredient for the long-haul.