Dar es Salaam-Tanzania’s government said on Wednesday it was assessing a Commonwealth statement that set deadlines for resolving the detention of opposition leader Tundu Lissu, restoring access to digital platforms and convening an inter-party forum, and that it would issue an official response.
“The statement has indeed been issued. We in the Government have seen it, and we are carrying out an assessment to determine how to act on it,” government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa told a press conference in Dodoma on July 22, 2026, in response to a journalist’s question.
“Tanzania is a sovereign country, a country that decides its own affairs. But it is also a country governed on constitutional and legal foundations. We will carry out an assessment, we will examine all the areas the Commonwealth has written to us about, and we will get in touch with them and provide the Government’s response,” he added.
The Commonwealth is among the international bodies that have sought a resolution to the crisis that has gripped Tanzania since the October 2025 fallout. Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) issued the statement after its 73rd meeting on July 10, 2026, three months after a Commonwealth special envoy visited the country in April.
CMAG gave the government 30 days to resolve Lissu’s detention through a political and legal pathway and to release others held solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights; 60 days to restore full access to digital platforms and end the intimidation of media and free-expression advocates; and 90 days to convene a credible, inclusive inter-party forum with neutral facilitation, with a mandate covering electoral-framework reform, political competition, detainees and accountability.
The government’s response came as CHADEMA deputy chairperson John Heche set out the opposition party’s terms for any negotiations, insisting that its chairman, Lissu, must be present. Lissu has been in detention for 468 days on a treason charge. The state has appealed against a court decision to throw out all of its evidence. The case was halted on February 24, 2026, after the state’s appeal move and was resumed on July 03, 2026, at the appeal level, prompting Lissu to query unexplained delays in the case. Before the February 24 halt, the case had an 88-day hiatus and was resumed on February 9, 2026.
“There is nothing that we will do in secret. Matters concerning talks of any kind that relate to resolving the major crisis and the impasse in this country, these are matters that concern the citizens, not matters that concern a handful of people. And our party will discuss them openly, so that citizens know every step as it unfolds,” CHADEMA’s deputy leader, John Heche told reporters on July 22, 2026, at the party’s small offices in Kinondoni.
“First, we have said, and this is the position of the Central Committee, there will be no talks led by anyone unless the chairperson himself is out. So if there is to be any avenue for beginning talks, the chairman of our party must first be out himself, and the party organs must decide,” he continued.
Heche was speaking after leaving court, where Lissu is a party to a constitutional case over the treatment of his lawyers during visits related to his treason trial.
“Second, there are no talks we will enter into without a mediator. We will not go into talks of any kind with a gun held to us and while being blackmailed or accepting any thuggish behaviour, whatever it is, intimidating people so that we go into talks on our knees,” Heche added.
Several civil society organisations have called on the government to implement the Commonwealth’s recommendations as a first step towards resolving the crisis. The Commonwealth statement noted that an extraordinary session is scheduled for September 2026, during which Tanzania has been invited to submit a progress report on implementing the recommendations, and the meeting for Commonwealth response is set for November 2026.
