CUF board set to file case against registrar
CUF interim chairman Julius Mtatiro (in hat) is escorted by party officials after the High Court gave the party’s board of trustees the go-ahead to file a case against Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and Registrar of Political Parties Francis Mutungi in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Prof Lipumba, who maintains he is the party’s bona fide chairman, is locked in a bitter power struggle with a group allied with secretary-general Seif Shariff Hamad. PHOTO | OMAR FUNGO
What you need to know:
- Judge Ama-Isario Ataulwa Munisi passed the decision yesterday after hearing the application ex-parte and granted 14 days to the applicants to file the case as required by law.
Dar es Salaam. The High Court has allowed the CUF Board of Trustees to file a case against the Registrar of Political Parties and the party’s embattled chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba.
Judge Ama-Isario Ataulwa Munisi passed the decision yesterday after hearing the application ex-parte and granted 14 days to the applicants to file the case as required by law.
However, an advocate representing the CUF Board of Trustees, Mr Juma Nassor, said they would file the case within seven days.
The Board of Trustees on October 5 submitted the application asking the court to allow it to file a case against the Registrar of Political Party and Prof Lipumba.
Other respondents in the application are the Attorney General and ten CUF members, who have been expelled from the party.
They are Ms Magdalena Sakaya, Mr Maftah Nachuma, Mr Abdul Kambaya, Mr Masudi Mhina, Mr Thomas Malima, Ms Ashura Mustafa, Mr Kapasha Kapasha, Mr Musa Kombo, Mr Habibu Mnyaa and Mr Haroub Shamis.
The applicants are also seeking an order prohibiting and restraining the Registrar of Political Parties from interfering in political parties’ internal affairs.
The Board of Trustees is further seeking a court order for a stay of execution of directives issued by the Registrar of Political Parties on September 23, pending the hearing and determination of the application. In their affidavit supporting the application, which was signed the party’s secretary-general, Mr Seif Shariff Hamad, they argue that the Registrar of Political Parties has no mandate to interfere in the party’s internal affairs.
Prof Lipumba and Mr Hamad have in recent months been locked in a power struggle, which intensified after the Registrar declared that he still recognised Prof Lipumba as the party’s bona fide chairman.
Earlier this year, Prof Lipumba reversed his decision to step down as chairman, saying the letter he wrote in August 2015 had not been formally accepted by the party’s congress.
