By TZ Business News Staff and Agencies.
President John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania has ordered a manhunt for unknown people who shot and seriously wounded a member of parliament for Singida East on the opposition party Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) ticket.
Mr. Tundu Lissu was shot on Thursday, September 7 when unknown assailants opened machine gun fire on the member of Parliament as he drove home from a parliamentary session in Dodoma, Central Tanzania.
Through a Twitt from his Twitter Account, President Magufuli ordered state organs to start a manhunt to identify the attackers and bring them to justice. The President said he received the news of the attack with sadness and said he was praying for Mr. Tundu Lissu to recover quickly.
Mr. Tundu Lissu, who is also President of the Tanganyika Law Society, is a fierce critic of President John Magufuli’s government.
Reuters reported on Thursday, 7 September, 2017 that Mr. Lissu underwent emergency surgery after being shot in the abdomen and other parts of the body by the unknown gunmen outside his residence in the administrative capital Dodoma.
James Kiologwe, a doctor at Dodoma regional hospital, said Lissu was in stable condition, Reuters reported. Police said an investigation had been launched into the attack on Lissu.
Police said they did not know what had motivated the attack and the suspects were still at large.
Tundu Lissu
Lissu is a vocal opponent of Magufuli and has been arrested on several occasions and charged with incitement. He was detained most recently in July after calling President Magufuli a dictator. He was later released.
“Authorities must take steps to reassure Tanzanians and the world that this shooting was not politically motivated,” rights group Amnesty International said in a statement seen by Reuters.
