Fury as police block opposition meeting
What you need to know:
The party said the decision was proof of the government’s “crackdown” on the opposition.
Dar es Salaam. Police in Dar es Salaam on Sunday barred senior officials of the opposition ACT-Wazalendo from holding a meeting to review the 2016/17 Budget.
The party said the decision was proof of the government’s “crackdown” on the opposition.
The party’s chairperson, Ms Anna Mghwira, told reporters that the move was unacceptable as it was aimed at undermining democracy and its tenets.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident was related to the police ban on political rallies last week.
But the police on Sunday as well, briefly held Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe and several other party officials for questioning in Mwanza.
Chadema communications officer Tumaini Makene told The Citizen that the officials were grilled at Nyakato Police Station.
Mwanza police boss Ahmed Msangi later told The Citizen that Mr Mbowe and four other officials were released without charge.
“We have released them without charge after advising them to obey the directive on political rallies,’’ he said.
On Friday, Chadema filed a case at the High Court challenging the ban on political rallies.
Ms Mghwira told journalists that while they were aware that police had banned public rallies, it had come as a surprise to them that political parties were also not allowed to hold closed-door meetings.
