Tanzania Home Affairs Minister says govt not involved with finding Mwananchi reporter Azory Gwanda who disappeared ‘mysteriously’ in November
What you need to know:
The minister has affirmed that if Gwanda has disappeared from his home then it is none of their business except that if a crime has been committed to a person including kidnapping, then state organs will track down the kidnapper.
Dar es Salaam. Home Affairs Minister Kangi Lugola says his ministry is not involved with finding Mwananchi Communication Limited (Ltd) journalist, Azory Gwanda.
Minister Lugola made the statement today Friday during a meeting with reporters at his office in Dar es Salaam after being asked a question by a journalist over the whereabouts of Gwanda. He had gone missing since November last year.
Journalist: Hon minister, there have been incidents recently that inconvenience us as journalists and one of them is the mysterious disappearance of our colleague, Azory Gwanda, who has gone missing since November last year. Police say they have not carried out a thorough investigation into what is going on. What do you say about this so that we as journalists can work in safe environments without being troubled?
Lugola: "There have been such reports like the one you have just mentioned. A person is at home and then disappears. We, as a ministry, don’t interfere in the freedom of an individual that gets lost while at his home. Everybody has freedom according to the country’s constitution to go from one place to another without breaching the law."
The minister has affirmed that if Gwanda has disappeared from his home then it is none of their business except that if a crime has been committed to a person including kidnapping, then state organs will track down the kidnapper.
"These people that disappear from their homes have many reasons because others, after facing life hardships, decide to move to another place. When I was working in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment), I visited some mines.
"At the mines I met some people, whose relatives had already mourned for them, knowing they were dead because they were not seen but alas they had just disappeared," said Lugola
The newly appointed minister says that is what he can explain about the disappearance of Gwanda.
Read more: 100 days on, we hold on to hope for Azory
