Chadema sees ‘dirty politics’ in Lissu saga

Dar es Salaam. The main Opposition party, Chadema, has said the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, to strip Mr Tundu Lissu of his parliamentary seat was a pure game of dirty politics.

Mr Lissu who was elected as the Member of Parliament for Singida East in 2015 has been absent since September 7, 2017 attending medical treatment in Belgium, after he survived an assassination attempt at his Dodoma home after attending a Parliamentary session.

On Friday, Speaker announced in Parliament that he wrote to the chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) that Singida East parliamentary seat, which was being held by Mr Lissu, was vacant.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Chadema Secretary General Vicent Mashinji said Mr Lissu has been judged without being given a chance to be heard.

He said since Mr Lissu was attacked, the Speaker has been promising that he will go and visit the parliamentarian in the hospital where he has been admitted to, but he never did so.

“The Speaker arrived at the hospital in Dodoma soon after Mr Lissu was shot and he has been participating in various meetings on his treatment, but he is now saying he doesn’t know where Mr Lissu is,” he said.

Dr Mashinji said further that Speaker Ndugai has never even reported the issue of Mr Lissu’s absence before the Leaders’ Ethics Secretariat.

“The leaders’ ethics committee has its own punishment in accordance with the law including demotion, seeking resignation or any other punishment depending on the type of office one is saving in,” he said.