Chadema to sue top police officer, deputy registrar over youth meet crackdown

Dar es Salaam. The saga involving the abrupt cancellation of a planned celebration by Chadema’s youth wing, commonly known in its Kiswahili acronym as Bavicha, took a new turn yesterday when the party said it was now suing a senior police officer and the deputy Registrar of Political Parties.

The party’s youth wing had planned to hold a gathering on August 12, 2024, in Mbeya City, as part of celebrations to mark this year’s International Youth Day.

But working on some utterances from some Bavicha top officials, the meeting had to be outlawed.

The Deputy Registrar of Political Parties, Sisty Nyahoza highlighted several legal violations associated with some utterances by top Bavicha officials, accusing the party of potentially inciting violence and breaching provisions of the Political Parties Act and the Political Parties Code of Conduct.

Specifically, Nyahoza pointed to violations related to political activities in religious settings and the involvement of non-citizens in political events, further complicating the situation.

In response to the planned gathering, the Tanzanian Police force intervened, issuing a ban on the event.

As such, the youth who were travelling to Mbeya to attend the meeting were arrested and escorted by the police back to their areas of domicile.

Several Chadema leaders, including national chairman Freeman Mbowe, deputy chairman for Tanzania Mainland, Mr Tundu Lisu, secretary general John Mnyika and Nyasa Zone chairman, Joseph Mbilinyi, were arrested and were only set free a day later after being escorted to their places of domicile.

And, speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Mr Mbowe said the party will take legal action against Mr Nyahoza and the police chief in charge of operations and training, Mr Awadh Haji.

Mr Mbowe said the two will be sued in their personal capacities, basing on the roles they played in negatively affecting the party during the incident.

There was no immediate reaction from the police force yesterday but Chadema claims during the arrests, their leaders and members were assaulted, robbed of their belongings including money and mobile phones, detained without cause and denied access to legal advice.

A team of lawyers from the party, led by the party’s Vice Chairman for Tanzania Mainland, Tundu Lissu, who is also an advocate, will meet early next week to prepare the lawsuits.

They stated that they would submit the cases to the courts soon, though they did not specify the exact date.

Mr Mbowe said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the entire process of the incident was full of legal violations and disregard for human rights.

“The gathering of our party’s youth was legitimate because the only person with the authority to stop the gathering was the Officer Commanding District (OCD), and he did not do so. 

All those who were involved this action did not have the authority to block the gathering.

This party is legal and operates according to the law; it should not have gone through what it did for the past three days,” he said.

He said the accusations leveled by the police against the party’s leaders and members were baseless.

The police charges, he said, were based on two main issues: the illegality of the political gathering organized by the party's youth wing in Mbeya on August, 12, which according to him, was legitimate because it was known, and the violation of a lawful order by the police.

Additionally, he said regarding the violation of the police order, despite their orders being unlawful, the party’s leaders and members did not resist when they were arrested by the police.

However, the arrests, he said, did not follow legal procedures, such as informing them of the reasons for their arrest.

“Despite not following procedures, they continued to assault our leaders and members, denying them other basic human rights,” he said.

Mr Mbowe said that though they were scheduled to return to the police, they would not go back because they were charged with baseless cases that have no legal grounds.

Explaining about filing the lawsuits, Mr Lissu said they would file the cases to make those responsible explain the legality of their actions in court.

“For example, the Deputy Registrar of Political Parties and the Police Commissioner should tell us the legality of initiating this incident, which violated the country’s laws.

They should explain in their capacity as individuals so they won’t even have the chance to be defended by government lawyers for what they did,” he said.

For his part, Mr John Mnyika said the incident involved human rights violations, the suppression of democracy, and excessive use of force by the police against leaders and members who were not resisting when they were arrested.

“We were detained without charges and still beaten, despite obeying police orders, and even now, some people are still in bad condition, including the party’s regional chairman, Joseph Mbilinyi,” he said.