Instigators of chaos deserve a thorough beating, says Pinda

Dodoma. People bent on breaking the law and instigating chaos will be beaten, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said yesterday.

He made the remarks when answering a question in Parliament.

Mr Pinda (right) said he heard one MP from Mtwara complaining in Parliament on Wednesday that soldiers were beating up people in the region, but added that this was a result of their (Mtwara residents’) actions.

“All those who are breaking the law will be beaten, and I insist that they should be beaten,” he said in response to a question by Mr Murtaza Mangungu (Kilwa North-CCM).

Mr Mangungu wanted to know what the government was doing to find a lasting solution to the escalating disorder in the country.

He said this week’s clashes between members of the public and police in Arusha and the brutality allegedly perpetrated by Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) soldiers in Mtwara showed that peace was at stake.

Mr Pinda said peace, security and tranquillity should be protected at any cost, and the government would do all in its power to safeguard them.

“We are fed up with what is happening in the country...we had earlier warned that when the government starts to use force to maintain peace and order there will be people who will suffer. This is what is happening now, especially in Mtwara,” he said.

Mr Pinda added that political leaders should take a leading role in sensitising the public on the importance of maintaining peace, and accused Chadema of instigating and fuelling chaos in the country.

Chadema’s threat to make the country ungovernable could be the source of what the country was going through, he said.

“The chaos and unrest we are seeing might be the result of Chadema carrying out its threat to make the country ungovernable,” Mr Pinda said, adding that there would be no winners when the country plunges into war.

Earlier, Mr Mangungu accused the government of overreacting instead of finding a lasting solution to problems which cause disharmony.

“Why doesn’t the government look into these problems and come up with a lasting solution?” he asked.

Mr Pinda said state organs would stop at nothing in pursuing all those inciting unrest.

He cited as an example, saying the government had compiled a list of people suspected to be behind the recent violence which left a number of people dead.

“When the state organs start to hunt down those who are behind the chaos people should not complain that we are using force,” the PM said.

However, Mr Pinda’s remarks did not go down well with Mr Khatib Said Haji (Konde-CUF), who said the statement was an affront to the Constitution, which provided that a person should be considered innocent until proven otherwise by a court of law.

But Mr Pinda said the Constitution referred to law-abiding people.

“What I alluded to are people who defy legal orders by the State. What do you do with such people?” he queried.