Veronica Lyimo is a widow who lost her husband, Emmanuel Msoma Shija, on October 29, 2025, during the election-day protest crackdown, when security forces used live ammunition in several regions of the country.
Speaking before a commission established to investigate the events of October 29, Lyimo recounted how what began as a normal family day turned into a tragedy that changed her life forever.
“On October 29, we were at home because we had been told there was no going to work on election day. During the break, my family and I stayed at home. Around 12 o’clock, my husband was in the living room playing with the children while I was preparing lunch,” she explained when speaking to the Commission on January 23, 2026.
“Later, my husband said, ‘The commotion has calmed down; let me go outside,’ and he stepped out of the house. Once the food was ready, I called him to come back, but his phone was unreachable. Within half an hour, from around 12 to 12:30, I tried calling him about eight times, but there was no answer,” she continued.
Emmanuel Msoma, born on April 3, 1987, worked as a driver for a catering services company in Dar es Salaam. According to his wife, on days off, he would usually spend time with colleagues at a bodaboda (motorcycle taxi) stand near their home.
“Later, a young man who is one of my husband’s friends from their usual gathering place answered the phone and told me, ‘Please come. Bro has been shot in the stomach.’ When I arrived, I found my husband lying on the ground, unconscious. One of his friends suggested that we take a motorcycle (bodaboda) to try to reach the hospital.”
“They told me that the rider could only carry my husband and me, so I had to hold him in the middle. In the confusion and panic, I left the house without even carrying a scarf and was only wearing a dress. My husband was physically strong and heavy, and I could not support him properly, so I had to tear my dress to manage and take him to Mwananyamala Hospital,” Lyimo told the commission while sobbing.
She continued: “When we arrived, as he was being registered, a nurse told me to go to room number four. When I reached room four, I was informed that my husband had already died. The doctor said that he had passed away before arriving because the bullet had reached his liver and he had lost too much blood.”
Lyimo said witnesses told her that two people had been shot at the scene, and one had already been taken away before she arrived.
“In panic, I asked his friends if he had gone to Morogoro Road where we were hearing bombs; they said he had not. They reassured me, saying, ‘Don’t blame Bro. We were just standing here when a Defender vehicle [a police vehicle] came with a Noah in front. They fired recklessly, and by bad luck, the bullet hit Bro in the stomach. Don’t blame him—he was not on Morogoro Road.'”
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Msoma was buried on November 6, 2025, at the Kinondoni burial ground. In an interview with DW Swahili, Veronica described the condition of her husband’s body and the emotional pain she continues to endure.
“I do not wish to live; I truly do not. I live only because my children look to me, and I ask myself what will happen to them if I die. We went to the hospital and found that the body had already decomposed. At night, I keep asking myself what my husband did wrong to deserve such an end. At church, you could sense the smell from the coffin,” she said.
She continued: “How will I educate these two children? At night, I think to myself, ‘Should I just take sleeping pills and die? Maybe my relatives will raise my children.’ My mind refuses to accept what my husband did wrong. What mistake did he commit? Was he going outside his mistake?”
