Monduli by-election: mysterious shooting of opposition legislator’s vehicle at Mto-wa-Mbu

Monduli. As voting got underway to elect the new MP for Monduli constituency in Arusha region, there are reports of a mysterious shooting at Mto wa Mbu township.

Like in Dar es Salaam’s Ukonga Constituency, voters in Monduli have gone back to the polling stations today, September 16, 2018, after the area Member of Parliament (MP) Mr Julius Kalanga defected from the opposition Chadema to the ruling CCM, citing a number of political, economic and personal reasons.

As expected, Mr Kalanga went on and got picked to represent CCM in the by-election.

He is now battling it out with Mr Yonas Laizer from Chadema, Omar Kawanga (DP), Mr Feruzi Juma (NRA), Mr Simon Ngilisho (Demokrasia Makini), Mr Fransis Ringo (ADA-TADEA), Ms Elizabeth Salewa (AAFP) and Mr Wilfred Mlay(ACT-Wazalendo).

And during the polling day (September 16, 2018), unconfirmed reports had it that a vehicle belonging to the Special Seats MP (Chadema) for Manyara region Ms Anna Gidarya had its tyres ripped by bullets.

The incident happened when she was overseeing the election process in the densely populated township which has a large number of voters compared to other areas in the vast district.

Ms Gidarya told The Citizen when recording a statement at Mto wa Mbu police station that the four tyres of her vehicle had been rendered flat after what she said was a gunfire.

The Citizen could not independently verify where the tyres had indeed been deflated and rippled by gunfire.

She could not elaborate the circumstances leading to the shooting or who was responsible and whether some people have been arrested for the alleged shooting.

She only said it took place at Mpango ward as voting was underway.

Security has been beefed up in the district. Trucks of anti riot police left Arusha yesterday for the constituency with most of them believed to be heading to Mto wa Mbu, a hotspot for local politics there.