Makunga’s arrest order withdrawn

Dar es Salaam. The Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday withdrew an arrest warrant against former group managing editor of Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), Mr Theophil Makunga.

Earlier, resident magistrate Warialwande Lema had issued an order to have Mr Makunga arrested on Monday after he was found to be absent from the courtroom when his case was called for mention.

But, the court withdrew the order yesterday after Mr Makunga arrived and explained why he was late.

According to Mr Makunga, he had no intention to miss the court proceedings but he was delayed by traffic gridlock in the city.

Mr Makunga is charged alongside the former managing editor of Tanzania Daima, Mr Absalom Kibanda, and another journalist, Mr Samson Mwigamba, for printing and publishing content allegedly claimed to be seditious in the Kiswahili tabloid.

The case came on Monday for mention but the third accused (Mr Makunga) happened to be absent at the time of call.

The prosecution -- led by state attorney Lilian Itemba -- asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Mr Makunga. The accused are facing charges of sedition contrary to Section 72(1)(c) and 31(a) of the Newspaper Act Cap 229 of 2002.

It was alleged that the trio, in their professional capacities -- published and printed a seditious article in the Tanzania Daima newspaper.

The article, written by Mr Mwigamba, titled ‘Waraka maalum kwa askari wote’ (meaning a special letter to all security forces), was read and approved by Mr Kibanda before being taken to the printing press.

It was alleged that, the third accused, Mr Makunga, printed the article claimed to contain content aimed at inciting security forces to disobey their leaders.