Tanzanian President Names Mischievous Lion After Politician
As the president of Tanzania mockingly proposed calling the “mischievous” animal after one of the prominent opposition politicians in East Africa, he was observing an enraged lion pacing in a small cage.
On Saturday, while attending the yearly fair in her home archipelago of Zanzibar, President Samia Suluhu Hassan spotted the enraged cat at a National Wildlife Agency stand.
In widely shared videos on the internet, a caretaker informs the woman that the huge cat has not been named and that it was pacing since it hadn’t eaten yet.
In an attempt to capitalize on her well-known moniker “Mama Samia” and opposition politician Tundu Lissu, she said, laughing, “Name it after my son Tundu Lissu.”
Hassan continued his comparison of the “enthusiastic and a little mischievous lion” to “unsettled” Lissu on Sunday. Lissu campaigned for president in 2020 after an attempted assassination in 2017.
Since it was just as fidgety as my son Tundu Lissu, I proposed name it Tundu Lissu.
The 56-year-old was one of the opposition leaders detained recently in Mbeya, a city in southern Tanzania, ahead of Youth Day celebrations.
Lissu, however, a fervent opponent of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, handled the president’s jest politely.
He also said to local media on Sunday, “President Hassan was right because I was raised in a family of heroes—people who killed lions that attacked cattle.”
He clarified that these individuals were referred to as “ahomi” or “muhomi” in the Kinyaturu, the local Bantu language spoken by the Turu tribe from which his family is from.
“Mughwai, my paternal grandpa, was a muhomi. In addition to stating that his father “twice killed a lion that attacked and killed his cattle,” he claimed to have killed a lion that had attacked and killed his herd.
Only a few weeks have passed since police detained prominent members of Tanzania’s opposition party.
Rights organizations denounced the decision and expressed fear that, as the nation prepares for elections that are scheduled for late next year, it may herald a return to the harsh policies of the late president John Magufuli.
Hassan came to power in 2021, following the death of Magufuli, and has relaxed some restrictions on the media and the opposition.
AFP
