Tanzania bishop urges truth, forgiveness to prevent further election violence

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — The chairman of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) has urged Tanzanians to uphold the truth and examine the country’s electoral framework to prevent further election-related violence.

In his homily during Mass on Oct. 29, Bishop Wolfgang Pisa of the Lindi Diocese appealed for forgiveness for those held in connection with the October 2025 election violence, adding that acknowledging difficult realities should guide the country’s response to the violence that followed the disputed elections.

He was speaking at St. Andrew Kaggwa Cathedral in his Diocese of Lindi on the day TEC dedicated national prayers for victims a year after the Oct. 29, 2025, polls.

“If we say that the current electoral law and the present constitution cannot deliver elections that are fair, truthful, peaceful, and secure, then that is the truth that should guide us,” Pisa said.

He added: “We must defend the truth, not protect wrongdoing. Let us do what is good and seek it at all times, so that we may avoid evil and abandon it completely.”

Drawing on the account of John the Baptist in Mark 6:17–29, the TEC chairman called on Tanzanians to acknowledge and defend the truth,…