AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Dec, 10 – Former Tanzanian Member of Parliament Godbless Lema and his family departed Kenya on Wednesday night and travelled to Canada after they were granted political asylum.
Lema left Nairobi at about midnight and landed in Amsterdam on Thursday morning before taking a connecting flight to Ontario, Canada.
He told Shahid News from Amsterdam that he is now happier to be headed where he is free to express himself.
“I thank all those who helped us get to safety. We will be back soon to liberate our country. Kenya is great and i hope you keep it safe,” Lema said on the phone.
The politicians’s legal counsel Professor George Wajackoya was at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to safely see his client off further expressing contentment that his client would have a fresh start amidst political persecution in Tanzania.
Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe was also at the JKIA to bid Lema, his wife Ann and three children farewell.
Mbowe said they will not relent in their quest to ensure freedom in Tanzania.
Lema said he enjoyed being hosted in Nairobi for a month since he ran away from Tanzania fearing for his life.
He and the family arrived in Kenya through the Namanga border on November 8, 2020 after fleeing from Arusha over fears for their lives. At the border, he had to manoeuvre around security officials and used a motorcycle to escape into Kenya.
He had come with the family to the border and told security officials he was escorting his children to Nairobi to look for education vacancies at Brookhouse international school.
A travel ban had been imposed on Lema over 6 cases pending in a Tanzanian court. He however said the cases were politically instigated.
“I never planned to travel or cross that day. I knew I was banned and all I wanted was to ensure my wife and children cross before I would follow them.”
“But when I reached there I found a way and managed to cross over to Kenya before taking a motorcycle and quickly chased my family and lawyer,” he said.
It took the intervention of top Kenyan officials to have Lema and his family granted political asylum in Kenya as he prepared to move to Canada.
This was after Tanzanian police asked their Kenyan counterparts to arrest and deport him back.
Lema was a Chadema politician and MP from 2010 to 2015 and was a candidate for the same in the just concluded polls.
Opposition politicians in Tanzania were last month detained in the capital over a planned protest against the results of the October 28 General Election that declared Magufuli the winner.
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