Left: Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe (2nd right) at Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Right : Chadema MP Esther Matiko also at the court. The two will be in remand till January 3. PHOTOS | ERICKY BONIPHACE
What you need to know:
Chadema National Chairman Freeman Mbowe and fellow opposition MP Esther Matiko to spend their Christmas and New Year in remand prison. The duo and seven others have been charged with offences related to the February 2018 protest during which a university student was shot dead
Dar es salaam. The Leader of Official Opposition Freeman Mbowe and Tarime Urban Member of Parliament Esther Matiko put on a brave face in court yesterday even as they were returned to remand prison where they will spend their Christmas and usher in the New Year.
The duo who have been in custody since November 23, remained poised and exchanged greetings and small banter with fellow opposition leaders and supporters who turned up to hear their case at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court.
Dressed in a red T-shirt and black trousers, Mr Mbowe who is the Hai MP for Chadema, sat in between the party’s secretary general Dr Vincent Mashinji and Kibamba MP John Mnyika, who is the deputy party secretary general for mainland Tanzania.
Ms Matiko was sandwiched between deputy secretary general for Zanzibar Salum Mwalimu and Tarime Rural MP John Heche in court as they waited for hearing of their case.
Mr Mbowe and Ms Matiko, along with seven others are charged with incitement to violence and holding an illegal demonstration in February that led to the death of a female university student, who was killed by a stray bullet.
Mr Mbowe and Matiko had their bail cancelled after they were accused of breaching them, and an appeal by their lawyers lodged with the High Court, is yet to be heard after the prosecution went to the Court of Appeal to challenge their appeal.
Yesterday, the Chadema leaders flashed their two-finger party salute as Kisutu Principal resident magistrate Wilbard Mashauri adjourned the case and sent them back in remand. The matter will come before the court again on January 3, 2019.
For this reason, the duo will be in prison cells as most Tanzanians will be taking their holidays to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
State Attorneys Simon Wankyo and Salim Msemo requested the court to set another date for hearing of the case because there was no information on what transpired in the High Court, where Mr Mbowe and Ms Matiko have appealed for their bail to be reinstated.
Defending lawyer Faraja Mangula told the court that Mbowe and Matiko’s lawyers Peter Kibatala and Sheck Mfinanga were also away to attend to some emergencies and requested the court to set January 4 as the date for hearing of the case.
Mashauri, however, set the hearing for January 3, 2019. It was Mashauri who cancelled their bail last month after accusing them of lying over failure to show up in court. Mr Mbowe, skipped court twice early last month, while the Tarime Urban MP failed to show up once. Mr Mashauri said Mr Mbowe and his lawyer Peter Kibatala gave conflicting accounts of why the opposition leader was not in court.
The judge said Mr Kibatala had told the court that his client had fallen ill and flown to South Africa for treatment, while according to Mr Mbowe’s statement, he had travelled to Washington DC but could not travel back in time for court after he was taken ill.
Ms Matiko claimed to have been on a parliamentary tour in Burundi as the reason she did not appear in court but her plea was rejected. Her lawyer said a letter from the National Assembly proved she was away on duty as assigned by the Speaker.
Early in the week, a joint declaration by leaders and senior members of six opposition parties who met in Zanzibar to deliberate on the state of democracy in the country declared Mr Mbowe and Ms Matiko as political prisoners and demanded that they be released immediately.
