PATRIOTISM IS NOT TREASON: EXPOSING TUNDU LISSU'S SHAM TRIAL.

James, you can play music for another two minutes while we get the other speakers on and I see a goras here. I didn't give Maria the mic. I see she's also here. She also won't be able to stay with us for too long. So please go ahead and give her the mic and we will begin in just a moment. Karibu Nisanna, welcome. Once again, my name is Mwanase Ahmed. I'll be your moderator for the evening coordinator of the Pan-African Solidarity Network. As most of us know and what brings us together here tonight is the United stance against political persecution. So we all know that Tundulisu right now has been locked up for a very long time amidst the sham trial, where the rule of law and law is being weaponized, selectively applied, sometimes suspended but used to silence dissent to try to dismantle opposition to continue attacking and dismantling what is left of the democratic and civic space. So we're here tonight to join in a global call for Tundulisu's freedom. Apologies from Dr. Nshala Chadella's council as they cannot be here tonight as they are preparing for Friday. So as we begin and just before we begin, I would like to invite us to just begin with one, maybe 30 seconds of a moment of silence. Let us begin in that silence as we honor the disappeared, those we do not know where they are, some of which have been disappeared for a long time, the dissent franchised both to have been murdered, the political prisoners and also a special acknowledgement for Tundulisu's late brother. Alut Simon Lisu Mukwai, who very, very, very sadly has just passed away only a few days ago amidst this sham trial proceeding. So I invite everybody to just honor them with 30 seconds of silence before we begin for the evening. Thank you. Chege and Imshabaha, thank you so much for co-hosting Agora also from Uganda. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. Please can you give Bonifest the mic a l'Oikin praise is there if you can give Maria Sarunki the mic. Boni Maria不對 and please you can also please just go ahead and request in the bottom right or acceptance it's already been given to you. So I just want to get us going, let's start with a very brief opening round of introduction. This is a global space some of you are known globally but just one minute. minutes, in two minutes briefly introduce yourself and just in two to three sentences we'll start with Sifuna thank you for being here tonight so just in two minutes maybe brief introduction and tell us the importance of cross border solidarity in Africa's previous liberation struggles so we remember why we're here as we get the space going over to you yeah thank you very much when I say my name is Edwin Sifuna I pride myself as a friend of Tundu Lisu and the Chadema party in Tanzania generally I am the senator of Nairobi and the leader of the newly launched Linda Moranchi party we have a history in Africa generally about cross border solidarity with the liberation movements that go back to this crumble for independence of African states Tanzania for instance everybody knows that Tanzania was one of all safe havens for freedom fighters from all across the south even from Kenya many of our our liberation heroes and highly political leaders found refuge in Tanzania some of them were educated in the University of the rest of them in those days and we learned quite early that because the African cause is one it is extremely important that we support each other through some of these difficult periods and I wasn't expecting to speak this soon but there's a lot of things that I have to say I personally consider Tundu Lisu a friend I met him first in 2024 but through the platform for African Democrats we met at an event in Italy like Como in 2024 and we've been friends since then and we have realized or we have come to realize that we must stand up for each other because what happens in Tanzania what happens anyway in the world actually has a bearing on on what happens to wherever it is that you are in fact I tell people that the lesson that I learned from the 2020 global pandemic the COVID pandemic is that it is very easy for you to think that things that happen in places that you've never had of that you feel that or you think that are very far away from you could actually end up affecting your life because we never knew about this market called Wuhan and all of a sudden the entire globe is brought to a standstill because of something that we are told to happen that are wet market in Wuhan so as Africans and especially as East Africans we are gravely concerned about the things that are happening in East Africa we in Kenya do not take the space and the democracy that we enjoy for granted we actually believe that everything that we have seen happen in the region is very possible that could happen here and this is why we have to stand up and support and to fight it for each other as a personal friend I know that if I was in the situation that Tundu Lisu was in I know that you would have fought for me and the overriding philosophy at least for us in Linda Mouranchi is that we can see that the bad people those of them who you know have all this authoritarian tendencies they are looking for each other they are supporting each other they are validating each other and it is also incumbent upon us if you ever consider yourself a democrat somebody who believes in right and wrong somebody who believes in democracy as I've said you must also fight for other people who are fighting the same cause because East Africa is shrinking I joke that I used to be able to sneak into Darislam with my family or to Zanzibar with my family and just enjoyed beautiful beaches in Zanzibar I can no longer do that because after what happened to my brother Boniface and the other activists who tried to go and stand with our brother Tundu Lisu there is no guarantee that if I were to go to or be within Tanzania and territory that I would actually be safe so we in Kenya have a history we have come through these things that Tanzania is currently experiencing we used to have detention with our strides we used to have these politically motivated trials including charges on sedition we used to have these courts that would sit at night we used to have these prosecutors and judges who are essentially at the back and call of the dictatorial state and we made a decision that we don't want to go back there and when we see what is happening in Tanzania we are very bad memories especially those of us who were born and grew up entirely our entire childhood speaking for myself my entire childhood was spent under the canoe stage I was born in 1982 when canoe was becoming canoe and we don't want to go back so when we see these things happening within our neighborhood we have every cause for concern because it is very very possible to fall back they usually say that the price of democracy is eternal vigilance that you must always wake up every day to defend democracy and these freedoms that we enjoy today and that is why I am here and this is why I'm showing up for Tundu Lisu and the Chadema party my friend John H.E knows everything that we have been able to do in order to try and help the cause but I am here to listen to hear what else or what more we can do in order to ensure that we push back on the growing you know authoritarianism within the region that is East Africa. Thank you, Sanna, Sanna, Sifuna and all very important points and as he said I think you know the injustices we are seeing we will experience them we are going through similar things or they are coming our way and ultimately we have a duty and a responsibility to fight for each other thank you so much for those opening remarks. Let's come to Tanzania, Maria, I know you don't have very long to be with us here tonight actually sorry I'm going to come to yeah so please go ahead brief introduction from you. What do we have to lose when we don't support each other as well? Maria Karibu Sanna. Thank you very much I appreciate and I'm very happy to have the opening remarks from our brothers it's not only to lose those brothers our brothers at the Sisi Watanthani at Luna Semani Nino Guieto and Sifuna Sasa I think the main thing that we need to look at very closely is first to understand who is Tundulisu. I am a media entrepreneur journalist by profession and I've known Tundulisu for a very long time. I interviewed him in one of the panels that I was holding on resources and land rights so people oftentimes think of him as a lawyer as a politician but he's an activist and he's been very active. The time when I met him I remember he was driving all the way from Mara region which is basically the village town of my father but also some of us many of us come from that area and it has a lot of minds and mining conflicts and he had just gone to investigate and was driving back to make it on time to the show that I had and he came in with his shorts and a big book I don't remember which book he was reading but I know it was one of those you know latest books on politics and philosophy and the only thing that and the reason I'm giving this anecdote is in order to understand his personality is when he arrived and just before he arrived and he kept calling me and says I'm on my way and we had somebody from the ministry this was during Kapa's era so this was the era when Tanzania was still civilized and we're not abducting each other for having a difference of opinion. The guy from the ministry said why didn't you tell me that I'm going to be debating to release so I'm not ready to debate that man and I said well I'm sorry I mean it's not my obligation to tell you who you're debating this is a debate and you're an expert and he wanted to leave he was actually packing when when to release walked in and to release immediately recognized him you know with his huge personality and he sat down and we went off and when it was done this this poor civil servant came to me and said you know you know this man is mad so that that is something that they always try to say about Tundulisu that he's not normal he's mad and for very long actually he was looked upon as somebody who is what they used to call him radical and when I met him finally in the Constituent Assembly where I was taking part in 2014 he walked over to me on the other aisle after I stood up to speak and he said you're one of us and I said one of us how he says you're radical like me