Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s eight-member Commission of Inquiry into the 29 October election violence is pressing ahead after the High Court refused to suspend its work, even as opposition parties maintain their refusal to cooperate and a parallel treason case against senior Chadema figure Tundu Lissu draws fresh diplomatic attention.
The commission, led by Judge Mohamed Othman Chande, was appointed on 1 November to examine the unrest that accompanied presidential and parliamentary polls held under tightened candidate-eligibility rules. At least 30 deaths have been reported, according to local hospital records reviewed by regional officials.
Chadema and ACT — Wazalendo immediately rejected the panel, arguing that its members’ past ties to state agencies make impartial findings unlikely.
Their boycott continues, and activists have filed a constitutional challenge arguing that the commission’s terms of reference breach fair-hearing guarantees.
The court has yet to set a date for a full hearing.
While hearings proceed in Dar es Salaam, Lissu — who was barred from the ballot—appeared in court Monday on charges of treason, an offence that carries the death penalty. Kenyan lawyer and opposition leader Martha Karua was deported hours after arriving to observe the proceedings, people present at the airport confirmed.
Lissu told supporters outside the courtroom, “We will be fine, don’t worry at all,” in remarks carried by independent observers.
Government communiqués describe the inquiry as a “home-grown solution” capable of delivering an authoritative account without foreign supervision. Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba, touring northern regions last week, repeated claims that “external financiers” channelled funds to provoke instability, linking the alleged plot to global demand for Tanzanian minerals.
Detailed evidence has not been released; officials cite national-security constraints.
Opposition leaders counter that participating would legitimise a process whose conclusion “is already known,” as former Arusha MP Godbless Lema put it in public remarks. Legal analysts note that previous state-commissioned reports on electoral violence have seldom led to prosecutions, a record that shapes current scepticism.
Civil — society groups continue to petition for an internationally supervised panel and for disclosure of the complete casualty list.
The commission is scheduled to collect testimony through late January and must submit findings to the president within 90 days. It remains unclear whether boycott by major parties will affect the final report’s reception in Parliament, where the governing party holds a commanding majority. Further details are expected once the court sets a hearing date for the activists’ challenge.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
