Lt. Gen Kombe’s murder: Widow paid Sh200 million, killers set free

In the previous episode of the story of murder of retired director of national security, Lt. General Imran Kombe, we saw how a panel of three judges of the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of the police officers who committed the murder.

The police officers, Corporal Juma Mswa from Dar es Salaam, who was armed with a pistol with eight bullets, and Constable Mataba Matiku, who was armed with an SMG rifle with 30 bullets, were the ones who were sentenced to death for the murder.

However, they appealed to the Court of Appeal, asking the court to rule that it was by accident because they were in the process of arresting a habitual criminal, and they had not aimed at Kombe directly but at the car tires.

In their ruling issued on March 16, 1999, the judges, Lameck Mfalila, Barnabas Samatta, and Kahwa Lugakingira, upheld the death sentence, saying that Kombe was unarmed, so the police had used firearms incorrectly.

Today, we bring you the episode of how Roseleen, Kombe's widow and family, filed a lawsuit seeking to be paid Sh600 million in compensation, but the court ordered that they be paid Sh200 million in compensation.

The defendants in this case were six: Sergeant Thomson Mensah, Corporal Elisante Tarimo, Corporal Juma Mswa, Chediel Elinisafi, and Constable Mataba Matiku, and the only civilian, Ismail Katembo, who died in prison before the case was heard.

Compensation claim

After the panel of three judges upheld the death sentence for the police officers, the widow of the deceased, Roseleen Kombe, and her family, filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Moshi, seeking more than Sh600 million in compensation.

Roseleen, who is also now deceased, and her family filed a lawsuit number 80 of 1999, claiming that her husband's death was caused by gross negligence on the part of the police, so the government is responsible for paying the family compensation.

She filed the case on behalf of the deceased's five children, Sophia Kombe, Sonia Kombe, Salgha Kombe, Sharifa Kombe, and Sheira Kombe, the deceased's mother, Saadi Hussein, and two grandchildren.

The widow argued that apart from the negligence of the two officers, who are government employees, the death of Kombe caused the family to lose its direction, because he was the sole provider.

On October 4, 2001, the then judge of the High Court of Moshi, Lawrence Mchome, agreed with the arguments of Roseleen and other dependents and ordered the government to pay the family Sh300 million instead of Sh600 million.

However, the government, through the Attorney General (AG), did not agree with the ruling and appealed, saying that the court had erred in holding the government liable because it had not sent the police to commit the crime.

It also said that the court had erred in law in ordering the widow and family to be paid a total compensation of Sh300 million without proof of dependency and loss of profit from the projects that were caused by the death of Kombe, who was the provider.

However, Roseleen, on behalf of other dependents, also appealed to challenge the amount that the court had ordered them to be paid, saying that if the court had carefully considered the evidence, it would have ordered them to be paid more money.

In their ruling issued on November 17, 2004, the judges of the Court of Appeal, Augustino Ramadhan, Harold Nsekela, and Kaji, dismissed Roseleen's appeal and upheld the appeal of the AG. They reduced the compensation to Sh200 million.

Set free

In May 2011, two police officers who had been sentenced to death in 1998 after being found guilty of premeditated murder of Kombe were released.

The release of Corporal Juma Mswa and Constable Mataba Matiku was due to the constitutional power of the President to reduce their death sentence to a prison sentence of two years for manslaughter.

Matiku was quoted by this newspaper in October 2011 as saying that they had left prison in May of that year, where they were waiting to be executed after the President had granted them clemency.

“You know, after the judge sentenced us to death, we appealed to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the sentence and said we should continue with it,” Matiku said in the interview.

According to Matiku, the panel that advised the President recommended that their sentence be reduced from death to two years in prison for manslaughter. Since they had been in custody since 1998, the sentence was considered sufficient.

The President’s power to pardon anyone who has been convicted is enshrined in Article 15 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977, as amended up to 2005. The article states, “Without prejudice to the other provisions contained in this Article, the President may do anything including commuting any sentence imposed on any person for any offence to a lesser punishment.”

In law, the President’s clemency is known as Presidential Amnesty, while the President’s powers are known as prerogative mercy.

The release of Mswa and Matiku sparked a debate, with citizens demanding answers from the fourth-term President, Jakaya Kikwete.

The government issued a public statement saying that President Kikwete was not involved in any way in the decision.

A statement issued on October 13, 2011 by State House through the Presidential Communications Directorate, said that Kikwete was not involved in any way in the decision to reduce the sentence of the police officers from death to two years in prison.

“All matters concerning the police officers who were sentenced to death for the murder of Lieutenant General Kombe were decided before President Kikwete took office on December 21, 2005,” the statement by the Presidential Communications Directorate said.

Despite the evidence presented in court about the motive for Kombe’s murder and the release of his killers after their sentences were reduced, there are still mixed feelings among some Tanzanians to this day.