Police stop Lowassa’s entry to Rukwa

Mbeya. The police have blocked Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa from entering Rukwa and Katavi regions where he was scheduled to hold meetings with Chadema leaders because PM, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, is in Katavi.

They also ordered stoppage of an internal meeting that had brought together Mr Lowassa and Chadema leaders in Mbarali District, which was taking place at Lujewa Village.

Earlier on, the police stopped Mr Lowassa’s convoy at Laela Village as it headed to Sumbawanga District from Songwe Region where he held various internal meetings.

The Former PM, who was a Chadema presidential candidate in 2015 elections and currently, a member of the party’s Central Committee, has been holding closed-door meetings with leaders in the Southern Highlands since Sunday.

Chadema’s Southern Highlands zonal secretary Frank Mwaisumbe said yesterday that police had on Monday at 7pm called Mr Lowassa, who by then was in Tunduma, and ordered him to put his Rukwa tour on hold.

Mr Mwaisumbe claimed that the police had told Mr Lowassa that the Prime Minister was expected to arrive in Rukwa yesterday afternoon and so they would be busy with the PM’s convoy.

“To ensure Lowassa was not allowed in Rukwa, police set up a check-point at Leila township, which is located at the border between Songwe and Rukwa regions. When he arrived, police blocked his convoy from entering the region,’’ he said.

Mr Mwaisumbe added that police briefly held Chadema leaders who were in the convoy before allowing them top proceed. At the same time, police confiscated over 250 Chadema flags.

Speaking to The Citizen over the phone, Rukwa regional police commander George Kyando, said they advised Chadema leaders to find another day of making their tour because the region was playing host to high-profile visitors.

Mr Kyando added that they agreed with Mr Lowassa over the matter because it would have been difficult for them to serve the two leaders at the same time.

Following the move, the Chadema leader headed back to Mbarali where he held a meeting with leaders in the district. However police later disbanded the meeting.

Mr Mwaisumbe said police went to the venue where the meeting was being held and ordered participants to disperse. The meeting was held at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania hall.

According to Mr Mwaisumbe, the police were led by Mbarali OCD Lucas Hupa.

“When we asked him why they were stopping us from holding the meeting, the OCD said he received orders from Mbeya RPC Dhahiri Kidavashari.

He added, “We called Mr Kidavashari and he confirmed that he had sent the OCD to stop the meeting because we had already held meetings in Mbeya on Sunday.”

Efforts to reach Mr Kidavashari failed as his phone went unanswered. Reached for comment, Mr Hupa confirmed that police disbanded Chadema leaders’ meeting.

“It is true that we stopped Chadema from holding the meeting because the agenda were the same as that of another meeting which was held in Mbeya on August 21,” said Mr Hupa, who refused to divulge more details, said he was only fulfilling orders from the RPC.

Chadema leaders have been holding internal meeting with party leaders across the country ahead of the “Defiance Day” event scheduled for September 1.

Chadema has called for a countrywide campaigns dubbed ‘Operesheni Ukuta’ to protests against what they termed as ‘suppression of democracy’ in the country.

Chadema has been claiming that growth of democracy in the country was in danger of being curtailed by the current government order against political meetings.