He was abducted, tortured and abandoned to die
News about the kidnapping of the leader began circulating in the public domain on Thursday before this newspaper got the details yesterday morning.
Security officials are once again on the spotlight following the abduction and torture of former National Service graduands leader, Mgoba, an incident that happened on Tuesday this week.
Mgoba is the leader of over 27,000 youths nationwide who completed National Service training between 2000 and 2013 but have since not been employed.
The group representatives reportedly met on 15th this month and were planning to stage a peaceful demonstration to the State House in push the government to employ them.
But two days later, Mgoba was abducted in the same way as the former chairman of the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) Dr Stephen Ulimboka was kidnapped and tortured nearly to death.
But two days later, Mgoba was abducted in the same way as the former chairman of the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT) Dr Stephen Ulimboka was kidnapped and tortured nearly to death.
Narrating his ordeal, Mgoba said on the fateful day, people who identified themselves as soldiers from JKT called him on his mobile phone requesting him to meet them at Mabibo.
The 28-years-old serviceman who is currently admitted at Amana Hospital for treatment said via mobile phone that it is true that he was called by strangers who asked him to meet them at Mabibo Mwisho bus stand and later ambushed him.
“I could not easily identify them because no sooner had they introduced themselves than they tricked me. They were two men and a lady but immediately after shaking hands with them the lady tricked me that there was a fly on my ear…..when I quickly rubbed my ear I lost consciousness and only found myself in Kibaha forest,” he sorrowfully stated.
He said he was tortured with his hostage forcing him to state who was behind their plan. “I was severely tortured and being asked to say who is behind our move. They demanded to know whether we were used by Lowassa or Ukawa but I was under pain I vividly told them no one was pushing us,” he said.
“They forcefully asked me to produce my phone password but I told them I could not remove the password since I was blindfolded. They removed the black cloth from my face and ordered me to open my phone. It was at this point that I saw a woman wearing shoes similar to those used by police officers. Unfortunately I could not look up on her face,” he elaborated.
While he was undergoing the torture he heard a radio-call calling and one of the abductors ordered the colleague to switch it off.
“After thorough torture and they left, leaving me in the forest and thought that I was dead but fortunately I did not died,” he said, recalling that as time went by he gained some energy and started crawling to the road and a Good Samaritan found him and took him to Kibaha police station.
At the station, the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) ordered junior officers to lock him up but one of them obediently explained to him that due to his situation he is supposed to be taken to hospital and they took him to Tumbi Referral Hospital for treatment.
He was admitted at Tumbi, treated and discharged but soon after being discharged Kibaha police officers asked him to go with them to the station to record a statement.
Later on, he said his relative who had arrived asked police officers to allow them to take him home but the officers declined, saying they were taking him to Muhimbili National Hospital themselves.
“However they did not take me to Muhimbili and instead they took me to central police for further information, whereby I asked them to take me to the hospital since my condition was not good. They refused and pressurized me to provide information but I failed to do so because I had no energy,” he further stated.
They gave me food (banana) I eat two spoons and then I could not eat anymore. Then they asked me to go home, and I told them that I had no bus fare then one police officer gave me Sh 2000 as bus fare. I managed to walk almost 200 meters and I fell down and lost consciousness…and found myself the next day at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital.
While I was at Mnazi Mmoja they tried to treat me and after sometimes they asked me to have a shower and I fell again and lost consciousness. Waking up, I discovered that I was at Amana Hospital, today (Friday).
Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam, the deputy chairman Parali Kiwango said that on 15th of this month they had a meeting at Msimbazi Centre and issued their stand on why their letters are not reaching President Kikwete.
Soon after issuing their stand they set out a plan to organize and meet all JKT graduates from the year 2000 to 2013 “so that we could have a discussion with President Kikwete about employment as we are so many. We are almost 27,000.
“The following day on 16th police officers from central police called our national chairman with his subordinates but since it was too late we could not go to central police at that time and planned to go next day,” Kiwango said.
“Surprisingly, on Tuesday our leader was called through his mobile phone by unidentified people asking him to meet them at Mabibo bus stand. He went there and met with one lady and two men. They greeted each other and then he was asked to remove an insect on his ear then suddenly he lost consciousness,” he explained.
After losing consciousness they took him to their car and started moving with him. He suddenly found himself covered with a black handkerchief on his eyes. Then he was taken to the forest in Kibaha where he was tortured for the whole night.
Meanwhile, this reporter tried to contact Coast Region Police Commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) Ulrich Matei for comment upon the matter. He said that the incident occurred at Mabibo area, Kinondoni so it is difficult to comment as the matter occurred outside his area.
“I cannot comment the matter since it falls outside my region so communicate with the responsible commander please,” SACP Matei said.
However, The Guardian sister paper (Nipashe) called Kinondoni Regional Police Commander, Camilius Wambura for comment and he said that the incident occurred at Kibaha, so he is not concerned with it.
“The issue occurred at Kibaha so you may contact the responsible commander,” Commander Wambura said
However, the reporter also called police force spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Advera Bulimba who responded that the Dar es Salaam Special Zone Commander Suleiman Kova is responsible to comment on the matter.
Nipashe called Commander Kova for comment and he responded that they are still investigating upon the matter and once investigations are complete they will have a meeting with the media.
“We are still investigating the matter so once investigations are completed we will tell the media about the matter,” Kova said.
Meanwhile government yesterday refuted claims issued by the youths blaming it of favoritism offering jobs to people who have never been recruited in the National Service scheme.
The Director of Information Services, Assah Mwambene said the government never promised to give jobs to the National Service graduates.
“The government is disappointed by the statement issued by the ex-national servicemen claiming to offer their military abilities to neighboring war torn countries if the government refuses to offer them jobs,” he said.
Mwambene said the group’s secretary, Linus Steven was recently heard in different media outlets claiming that the unemployment of the thousands of former National Service volunteers was mainly due to nepotism.
Limus was quoted tot have said many people who had never served in National Service were directly given jobs at various government bodies like the Immigration Department, Police, and the Fire and Rescue Brigade, “all being posts for which former volunteers like us have the requisite training.”
According to him, they were trained just like other soldiers with all military techniques and skills. They say if allowed they can seek employment opportunities in neighbouring countries.
Mwambene stated that the government has never promised to offer jobs to any person who passes military training due to the fact that unemployment is also one of among national enemies that haunts many youths in the country.
Claims issued by ex-soldiers regarding the Chief Secretary, Ombeni Sefue that he told them during a meeting at the State House that he would address the matter but to no avail is also untrue, he strongly asserted.
“Chief Secretary Sefue has never met with those soldiers, neither did he ever make such promises to the ex- servicemen,” he emphasized.
From 2003 till 2014 the government has offered jobs to more than 24,708 military trained cadres whereby 21,977 were employed with the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), another 3,965 with the police force, and still 2,044 went to Prisons. Other state institutions picked up 592 and about 1,622 were employed by companies like Geita Gold Mining, the Tanzania Port Authority, TANAPA, and Accacia (formerly African Barrick Gold), the director intoned.
A leader of National Service volunteers, George Mgoba (L) is admited at Ilala based Amana Hospital in Dar es Salaam yesterday after he was attacked and beaten up by unidentifed persons in the city. Right are some of National Service volunteers who gathered at the Msimbazi Centre in the city to discuss the fate of their colleague. Combo photo: Halima Kambi.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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