No external investigators in Lissu shooting, says govt
Singida East MP Tundu Lissu is put on a chartered plane that flew him to Nairobi after he was shot in Dodoma on September 7. The government maintained yesterday that the shooting will be investigated by local detectives. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The minister stressed that there was no need for people to continue recommending foreign investigators for the task, because even when they would be commissioned to do the job, they would always rely on the help of local experts and would be governed by local laws.
- “The investigation will be carried out by our security organs and those, who would be implicated will be charged though our own judicial instruments and convicted by our own judges,” he said.
Dar es Salaam. Home Affairs minister Mwigulu Nchemba has ruled out the possibility of the government to hire foreign security organs to investigate the shooting of Singida East Member of Parliament Tundu Lissu because Tanzania has the capacity and expertise to do the job.
The minister stressed that there was no need for people to continue recommending foreign investigators for the task, because even when they would be commissioned to do the job, they would always rely on the help of local experts and would be governed by local laws.
“The investigation will be carried out by our security organs and those, who would be implicated will be charged though our own judicial instruments and convicted by our own judges,” he said.
Chadema wanted foreign organs to investigate the shooting of Mr Lissu on the ground that local security organs would not be fair because they were also accused of having a hand in the offence.
Mr Nchemba insisted that the country’s security and defence forces would continue to investigate all incidents of crime, including shootings and killings, and book to law all behind them.
“An investigation can not just a day. Look at Americans, they spend a long period looking for Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden,” he said. “An investigation does not end easily. It ends only after the suspects have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted.”
Speaking during a press conference at Chadema’s headquarters in Kinondoni last Friday, Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe, who is the opposition leader in Parliament, said the party had no confidence in the internal security organs on their capacity to probe the attempted suicide and that’s why they were appealing for independent foreign investigators.
According to Mr Mbowe, evidence on the ground shows the likelihood of local security organs being behind the shooting of Mr Lissu.
“We have requested independent investigators from Germany and the UK. They are ready to help, but it is only the government that can allow them to do so,” he was quoted as saying.
Chadema’s call for foreign investigators to investigate the shooting of Mr Lissu, which occurred on September 7, was echoed by the Law Society, the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) and Bar Council of England and Wales (BHRC).
They wrote to President John Magufuli urging him to immediately carry out an independent and effective investigation of the facts and circumstances of the shooting of Mr Lissu, who is also Tanganyika Law Society’s President.
The letter was signed by the Law Society President Joe Egan, the Bar Council chairman Andrew Langdon and BHRC chairman Kirsty Brimelow, last week.
Mr Lissu was shot and seriously wounded by unknown assailants as he arrived at his Dodoma home after attending Parliament’s morning session on September 7. The Singida East MP was shot as he was about to disembark from his car in the municipality’s leafy Area D suburb.
His attackers sprayed the front passenger door of his dark Toyota Land Cruiser with bullets after Mr Lissu apparently hesitated to alight from the vehicle.
The MP was rushed to Dodoma Regional Hospital, where he was immediately wheeled into the theatre for surgery to remove bullets lodged in his body. He was later airlifted to Nairobi Hospital, where he is admitted.
