Keep off Tanzania govt, Lugola tells ‘activist’ Musiba

Home Affairs Minister Kangi Lugola speaks at a past event. PHOTO | FILE

Dar es Salaam. Things may not be sitting pretty for self-styled ‘activist’ Cyprian Musiba, with a minister warning him to keep off government affairs.

Home Affairs minister Kangi Lugola yesterday said there were people who would like the public to believe that Mr Musiba is being instructed to carry the type of activism that he is doing.

“It is false and improper to believe so, that is why, I would like to strongly warn Mr Musiba who has been trying to make the public believe that he was probably being directed by the government or the president,” he told a press conference in Dodoma.

The activist who has courted controversy in recent years over his rabid tabloids has cut a figure of one who is untouchable.

He has used his newspapers to attack both the high and mighty, as well as the low in Tanzanian politics and business cycles with abound.

Mr Musiba currently faces a libel suit brought against him by former foreign affairs minister Bernard Membe while prominent lawyer and former Tanganyika Law Society President Ms Fatuma Karume is in the process of filing another libel suit against him. Ms Karume is the daughter of former Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume.

Mr Lugola’s warning is the first time that a high profile figure in government has come out to publicly dress down Mr Musiba who has fashioned himself as a defender of President John Magufuli’s agenda.

It was not immediately clear why Mr Lugola made the announcement yesterday and it remains to be seen what effect, if any, the warning would do to Musiba’s brand of ‘activism.’

Yesterday when reached on phone, Musiba remained defiant, declaring that there was no one to stop him in his mission of defending the government. “If he wants let him come and arrest me, I am ready,” Musiba told Mwananchi in an interview in a response to the minister.

In Dodoma, Mr Lugola distanced the government from his activism shortly after inspecting the construction of Fire and Rescue, as well as the Immigration Department

He assured the public that the government was not instructing activists, warning them to avoid getting involved in extreme acts that made the public believe they are official.

“Even religious leaders from various denominations issued a statement in the past saying Musiba was being protected by the government owing to his actions,” said Lugola who is the Mwibara Constituency MP. He warned that police will take severe measures against Mr Musiba for threatening the public through his statements and acts.

“We will take strong action without fear or favour. Therefore, Tanzanians who have been forced to believe otherwise should bear in mind that this is a warning to Mr Musiba. He should practice clean activism,” he said.

Politicians, lawyers and businessmen have variously expressed concern about Musiba and called on the law enforcement organs to take action against his threats and character assassination to no avail.

Recently, former ruling party secretaries general Abdurrahman Kinana and Yusuf Makamba issued a scathing letter to the party, questioning the force behind Musiba protesting that he was left scot-free despite his threats to peace.