A gunshot wound is one of the most painful things on earth. This lethal phenomenon has, however, been survived by many people. However, when one person survives not one, or two, but 16 gunshots, it leaves everyone with mouths wide open.
This is exactly the story of current Tanzanian presidential candidate, Tundu Lissu, who survived multiple shots after he was operated on 22 times.
Tundu Antiphas Mughwai Lissu was born on January 20, 1968, in Ikungi district, Singida. He is a lawyer, politician and has been a Member of Parliament for Singida East constituency since 2010.
The fierce lawmaker has been arrested at least six times in 2017 alone, after being accused of insulting the president and disturbing public order, among other charges.
One of these arrests came on August 23, 2017, when his home was searched by the police after he was arrested and questioned over allegations of sedition and insulting President John Magufuli.
Lissu was shot 16 times in 2017. He had been arrested eight times a year before the attack. Eight bullets were removed from his stomach after 22 surgeries.
In the afternoon of September 7, 2017, during a parliamentary session break, Lissu, while in his car, was shot multiple times and seriously injured by unknown assailants in the parking lot of his parliamentary residence in Area D, Dodoma.
This happened just weeks after Lissu declared publicly that certain people had been stalking him for weeks.
Lissu received emergency treatment for some hours at Dodoma General Hospital before, in fear of his safety, was air-lifted to Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya where he was hospitalized for months before being flown to Belgium to undergo further treatment and rehabilitation.
He was hospitalized at the Leuven University Hospital in Gasthuisberg. Lissu has reportedly undergone 22 operations to date.
He has, however, remained unfazed in the face of his challenges as he was chosen as Tanzanian opposition party CHADEMA’s presidential candidate on 3 August 2020 and will challenge Magufuli for president in the 2020 Tanzanian general election.
