During her visit to an annual fair in Zanzibar on Saturday, President Samia Suluhu Hassan made a light-hearted remark when she encountered a restless lion at a National Wildlife Agency booth. The animal, which had not yet been fed, was pacing back and forth. A keeper informed the President that the lion had not been named.
In response, President Hassan quipped, “Name it after my son Tundu Lissu,” drawing laughter from those present. Her comment played on her affectionate nickname, “Mama Samia,” and referenced opposition politician Tundu Lissu.
On Sunday, President Hassan further elaborated on her comparison, describing the “spirited and somewhat mischievous lion” as similar to the “unsettled” nature of Lissu, who had previously run for the presidency in 2020 after surviving an assassination attempt in 2017. “So, I suggested naming it Tundu Lissu because it was as restless as my son Tundu Lissu,” she explained.
Tundu Lissu, a prominent critic of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, took the President’s joke in stride. Speaking to local media on Sunday, he remarked, “President Hassan was correct as I was born in a family of heroes… people who killed lions that attacked cattle.”
He went on to explain that in the Bantu language Kinyaturu, spoken by the Turu tribe to which his family belongs, such individuals are known as “ahomi” or “muhomi.” Lissu shared that his paternal grandfather, Mughwai, was a “muhomi” who had killed a lion that attacked his cattle, and that his father had also twice killed lions under similar circumstances.
The exchange between the President and Lissu comes only weeks after the arrest of several top leaders of Tanzania’s opposition party in the southern city of Mbeya ahead of Youth Day celebrations. Rights groups have expressed concern that these arrests could signal a return to the oppressive policies seen under the late President John Magufuli as the country prepares for elections next year.
President Hassan, who assumed office in 2021 following Magufuli’s death, has since eased some restrictions on the media and the opposition.
(AFP)
