As far as Chadema is concerned, the District Commissioner Paul Makonda has no mandate to order the arrest of an MP and as such, the party plans to take legal action against the DC.
“Makonda has ordered the arrest of a public leader without any legal precedence,” the party said in a press statement released yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
The statement goes on to accuse the DC of attempting to hide the evils of the Tanzania Took Garment factory whose workers are on strike and at which venue the DC and MP Kubenea locked horns.
The Chadema statement alleges further that the DC did not want the MP to talk to the striking workers who had invited him to explain the problems they were facing including small wages and difficult working conditions.“We are aware that the DC has authority over the arrest of some people but Makonda has gone beyond the law for his own personal interests,” Chadema alleges in the statement which goes on to demand “...we want him to set the MP free because he violated no law.”
According to Chadema, the DC’s order is against the law and therefore, the police should release Kubenea to continue implementing his duties.
According to the Union Constitution of 1977 and international human rights conventions, every human being has the right to be respected in accordance to his or her social position.
Meanwhile, MP Kubenea was yesterday brought before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate court charged with abusing the Kinondoni District Commissioner Paul Makonda. The hearing is set for December 29 and the MP was released on bail after a night in jail.
Notably, the incident occurred but a day after the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG) issued a statement to the media condemning tendencies by authoritarian leadership specifically DC’s to order the arrest of public officers.
According to the commission, arrested public workers are normally in breach of administrative prerogatives but not guilty of any criminal offence.
“Therefore administrative punishment was supposed to be applied, not arrest since they are not criminals,” the Commission argued and in this regard, Chadema also wants DC Makonda to respect the statement issued by the CHRGG.
“You also have a moral obligation to assist the poor when they seek justice in the course of your career, since we are all potential victims of poverty or ignorance,” he insisted.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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