Tanzania’s opposition has requested that a telecommunications company respond to allegations of data sharing

The primary opposition party in Tanzania has requested that telecommunications company Tigo respond to allegations made by a former employee that the company assisted the government in tracking the location of an opponent who was subsequently the target of a thwarted assassination attempt.

This month, a former employee of Millicom (MICC.F), the parent company of Tigo, testified in a British court that Tigo had provided the government with mobile phone data that indicated the location of opposition lawmaker Tundu Lissu in the weeks preceding the attack.

In September 2017, anonymous assailants fired bullets at Lissu’s vehicle, as indicated by court documents obtained by Reuters.

“I have informed (lawyer) Bob Amsterdam today to initiate a case against the government of Tanzania and Tigo,” Lissu stated at a news conference in Dar es Salaam. He also expressed his skepticism regarding the ability of local courts to manage the case.

“We will compel Tigo to disclose the identity of the individual with whom they were communicating.” Who from the government requested that they monitor me for 24 hours? They are required to provide us with their identities.

In its own court filings this month, Millicom stated that it had been informed of concerns “about a local politician’s mobile phone data being passed to a government agency” in late August or early September 2017.

It was stated that the individuals involved were disciplined, and Millicom subsidiaries were provided with additional training on how to respond to requests for company data.

Michael Clifford, a former employee, filed a lawsuit against the company in which he claimed that Clifford was terminated for raising concerns regarding the monitoring of Lissu’s location data. The company denied the allegations.

The Guardian, a British newspaper, initially reported on the judicial filings on Tuesday. Reuters did not receive a response from Millicom or the Tanzanian government’s spokespersons on Wednesday.

In 2017, the assault on Lissu was condemned by Tanzania’s then-president, John Magufuli. No one has been apprehended or charged in connection with it.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who succeeded Magufuli following his death in 2021, promised to remove the restrictions on government critics that were imposed by Magufuli. However, rights groups allege that authorities have been engaging in harassment of opponents prior to the local elections in December. The allegations have been refuted by the government.

Several opposition leaders, including Lissu, were momentarily apprehended by the police on Monday before they could march to protest what they claimed were the abductions and killings of government critics.