Tanzania’s opposition boycotts national dialogue over new constitution exclusion

Tanzania’s main opposition party Chadema is boycotting a planned national dialogue because the agenda does not include talks about a new constitution.

Freeman Mbowe, Chadema’s chairman, was recently held on terror charges for eights months and announced the boycott on Friday at his first press briefing since his release.

The meetings are being organised by Tanzania’s Centre for Democracy – a non-religious, non-partisan organisation that includes all major political parties in Tanzania.

But Mbowe says that the planned cross-party talks are merely an attempt to scuttle Chadema’s push for a new Tanzanian constitution, and wants the president to include a truth and justice process in the talks.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has struck a reconciliatory note with the opposition since taking over last year after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magufuli.