The Citizen Reporters
Dar es Salaam. A High Court injunction suspending NCCR-Mageuzi’s decision to expel Kigoma South MP  David Kafulila may work against him, it has been learnt.

As it is, after receiving a letter from the opposition party, the Parliament, if it is satisfied with the process used to strip Mr Kafulila of membership, will go ahead and declare the seat vacant.But the High Court on Tuesday issued the injunction restraining the opposition party from doing anything that would jeopardise the membership of Mr Kafulila and others.

But in unprecedented move, NCCR-Mageuzi said yesterday that it is not going to inform the Parliament of the recent court development, as “doing so would be tantamount to breaking the court order.”

This means that in the absence of official notification of the court injunction, in the next Bunge session the Parliament may go ahead and declare Kigoma South seat vacant. According to experienced lawyer and NCCR-Mageuzi member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), Dr Sengondo Mvungi, the party could not do anything now as far as Kafulila’s membership saga is concerned.

“Doing anything will be tantamount to acting contrary to the court order which compels us not to do anything on this issue until the main suit is heard and determined,” said Dr Mvungi when addressing reporters at the party headquarters yesterday.

Dr Mvungi, who also heads the constitution and legal department within NCCR-Mageuzi, argued that their hands were now tied as far as Kafulila’s membership saga was concerned as the Court order bars them from taking any further action on the issue.

He said the decision by NCCR NEC and all steps taken before the order would remain legal.
Since the party had already written to the Parliament about expulsion of Mr Kafulila from party membership, Parliament would also continue working on procedures to unseat him as MP if it is not notified of the court injunction.

Contacted for comments yesterday on phone from Kongowa, the deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai (Kongwa-CCM), told The Citizen that the Court could not stop the Parliament from working on NCCR- Mageuzi’s letter since the two Government organs have independent functions.

“Unless the Court directs the party to write to the Parliament that it is not to continue with the process, there is no way the parliament will be stopped from going on with the issue because the Court has no mandate to directly bar the Parliament from undertaking its responsibilities,” clarified Mr Ndugai.

But, when this paper sought clarification from Dr Mvungi on whether their decision not to inform Bunge on the recent development amounted to the party’s determination to strip Mr Kafulila of his membership because Bunge will continue processing the letter from NCCR, Dr Mvungi was firm that they were not going to write to Bunge.

“With this Court order, Mr Kafulila has destroyed his own house with his own hands... we can’t do anything... even if we wanted to revise our decision on his membership, we are now tied by the Court order,” he stressed.

He blamed Mr Kafulila for taking the issue to the court without first consulting with the party, particularly after he had lodged a letter asking it to revise its decision.“As we were working on his plea, he demanded a letter of his punishment and we had no option but to give it to him,” he added.

Dr Mvungi also blamed the High Court Judge Alice Chinguwile for entertaining the issue exparte.
“NCCR-Mageuzi and its national chairman James Mbatia have been denied the right to be heard in the case,” he said.

He also blamed the media for misrepresenting the court order. Clarifying, he said the Court had not restored Mr Kafulila’s NCCR-Mageuzi’s membership as reported by media. Contacted for comment, Mr Kafulila declined to comment on the issue saying only that he respected Court’s decision

Reported by Bernard Lugongo and Ismail Lossini

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