By Tom Mugisha
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Tundu Lissu, the prominent Tanzanian opposition leader facing treason charges, has been transferred to a different prison, his party said on Saturday, ending a daylong period of uncertainty over his whereabouts.
The announcement by CHADEMA, the country’s main opposition party, came after concerns mounted on Friday when party officials and family members reported they had been denied access to Mr. Lissu at the facility where he had been detained since earlier this month.
“Lissu has been moved to Ukonga Prison,” CHADEMA spokesperson Brenda Rupia said in a brief statement. She added that prison officials did not offer an explanation for the sudden transfer.
Mr. Lissu’s detention has become a flashpoint in Tanzania’s tense political atmosphere ahead of general elections scheduled for October. A former lawmaker and presidential candidate, he was charged with treason last week, accused of delivering a speech that allegedly incited public unrest and called for disruption of the electoral process.
Government officials have offered little comment on the case. The Tanzania Prisons Service did not respond to requests for clarification, and government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa said that legal authorities handling the case were now solely responsible for any public communication.
Mr. Lissu, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt in 2017, returned from exile to challenge then-President John Magufuli in the 2020 elections. He lost that contest but remains one of the most vocal critics of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who assumed power after Mr. Magufuli’s death in 2021, has promised reforms and a more open political environment. But critics argue that recent moves—including the arrest of opposition leaders and the barring of CHADEMA from the election over a code-of-conduct dispute—undermine those pledges.
The Electoral Commission last week said CHADEMA would not be allowed to contest the election unless it signed a code of conduct, which the party has refused to do without assurances of deeper electoral reforms.
With Mr. Lissu now behind bars and his party at risk of exclusion, Tanzania’s opposition is facing a defining moment just months before voters head to the polls.
