Trouble continues to brew in Tanzania after the government once more blocked two top officials of the country’s main opposition party, the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, from leaving the country.
The development comes at the time when the CHADEMA party leader, Tundu Lissu is still being held in prison even after a treason case was filed against him.
Leonard Joseph Magere, the CHADEMA’s specialist officer in-charge of the party’s Resources, Projects and Investment was blocked from leaving the country as he was travelling to the United Kingdom.
On the other hand, the Party’s Director of Communications and Publicity, Brenda Rupia, was also denied entry into Kenya and was detained by authorities at the Namanga border, in Longido District.
Rupia was heading to Nairobi, Kenya for a scheduled meeting before traveling onward to Munich, Germany, where she was expected to participate in training on democracy and elections, the party says in a statement.
Still, the Acting Deputy Secretary General for the party’s mainland Tanzania, Amani Golugwa, was also blocked from travelling to Brussels for a Summit, a few weeks ago.
Again in June 2025, Godbless Lema, one of its top officials, and former Member of Parliament for Arusha-Urban constituency was similarly denied exit from Tanzania as he tried to cross over into Kenya to attend a medical appointment in Nairobi.
Lema stated that he was also detained at the Namanga border for over four hours and was forced to go back to Arusha, after his passport was confiscated.
The party and rights groups fear this appears to be part of an ongoing Tanzania’s government strategy to diminish the party’s influence and popularity abroad ahead of a general election later this year.
The main opposition party, Chadema, has been barred from contesting presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2025. Campaigns will start in August.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seeking to defend her incumbency through the ballot for the first time after succeeding the late President John Pombe Magufuli, who died in March 2021.