Mbowe hospitalised due to fatigue

The Chadema national chairman is admitted at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) Referral Hospital in Moshi due to a severe headache, the hospital has disclosed.

The KCMC Hospital’s public relations officer, Mr Gabriel Chisseo said yesterday that the Hai MP, who is also the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, was received at the medical centre on Sunday after he felt throbbing pain due to fatigue.

“We received Mr Mbowe yesterday. Information from doctors, attending to him shows that he had severe headache by the time he arrived here,” he said.

Doctors, he said, were of the view that the severe headache is a result of fatigue.

“We have since decided to prescribe bed rest and his health is progressing well,” he said, noting that doctors would conduct more medical tests on Mr Mbowe who doubles as the leader of opposition in Parliament.

Mr Mbowe was yesterday expected to be among the Chadema top brass who reported at the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam for questioning in connection with the party’s role in the February 16 demonstrations.

The demonstrations were staged on February 16 during the countdown to the February 17 parliamentary by-election for Kinondoni Constituency.

While demonstrating peacefully, police came to disperse them, firing a bullet that ended up killing a National Institute of Transport (NIT) student, Ms Akwilina Akwilini, who was not taking part in the demonstrations.

Both the police and the registrar of political parties have since written to the party as they seek to dig deeper into the opposition party’s role in the demos and come up with “relevant steps” to take.

The police force wrote to Chadema two weeks ago, requiring the opposition party’s top brass to report to the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam for interrogation.

The party’s top leaders heeded the call and reported on February 27. They were questioned, allowed to go home and told to return yesterday.

Those who reported for police grilling yesterday included secretary general Vincent Mashinji and deputy secretaries general John Mnyika (Mainland) and Salum Mwalimu (Zanzibar).

The group also included women’s wing (Bawacha) chairperson Halima Mdee, Tarime Rural MP John Heche and Tarime Urban MP Ester Matiko.

They were accompanied by lawyers Frederik Khiwelo and Alex Massaba.

Bunda Urban MP Ester Bulaya also joined her fellow party leaders at the station.

They were questioned and directed to return to the Central Police Station next Tuesday.