Chadema says independent probe in Mo Dewji abduction is necessary

Dar es Salaam. The shadow minister for Home Affairs Godbless Lema on Tuesday October 16 said the government must allow an independent forensic investigation in the abduction of billionaire Mo Dewji.

Mr Lema said the investigation should also include a probe in related incidents where people vanished in unclear circumstances in the country.

In his first public statement since the news on Dewji’s abduction broke, Mr Lema said that independent investigators would help vindicate the government of the speculation making rounds in public that it may have been behind such incidents.

“If you look carefully at the statements made by the government and the police in particular,” said the Arusha Urban member of Parliament (Chadema), “you’ll see an utter lack of seriousness on the [the government’s] response on the issue at hand.”

Mr Lema, who is also his party’s Central Committee member, said he wanted the government to believe that seeking help from external investigators on such a matter of national security “is not a sign of weakness.”

Rather, he added, it shows how civil and wise the government is in doing anything possible in its possession to calm down the tension surrounding the critical issue.

“If we can ask for condoms’ assistance from our allies around the world,” he noted, “why can’t we ask for the same assistance on these issues [of people’s disappearances]?”

Mo, 43, was abducted by unidentified gunmen in the early morning of Thursday last week as he went for a workout at the high end Colosseum Hotel gym in Oyster Bay suburb. Police are yet to establish those behind Mo’s abduction or their motive.

So far, some 26 people have been arrested for questioning over the brazen attack which has shocked the country and attracted wide coverage internationally.

Yesterday, October 15, Mo’s family announced a record Sh1 billion reward to anyone who may provide information that would help find him.