Arresting Democracy in Tanzania

Dingswayo · 2011-06-07T08:28:05+00:00

The statement by Kova shows vividly that efforts are being made to arrest the surge of democracy in Tanzania. He should be able to distinguish between demonstrating and rioting. Demonstrating is one way, among others, of expressing opinions in a democracy. Banning them is tantamount to muffling the voices of the people. The police is supposed to make sure that peace is maintained during these demonstrations and not being the source of riots by dispersing the demonstrators, usually started by using excessive force such as firing tear bombs and using water canons and beatings. ---------------------------------------- Kova sounds warning against demos By Correspondent Police in Dar es Salaam have warned leaders of political parties not to use youths to meet their political ends. Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone commander Suleiman Kova told a news conference yesterday that political leaders should not encourage their followers to engage in demonstrations. It has been a tendency by some political parties to use youths in demonstrations, claiming that they are demanding their rights. We are not going to torelate this, he said. "Leaders of some political parties instigate youths into chaos. We, the police, wont tolerate such unlawful acts," he said. He was speaking following Saturday's demostrations of Chadema followers who were demostrating demanding the immediate release of their detained leader. He said the police managed to arrest some of the demonstrators who had various placards instigating people to chaos. He named those arrested as General Kaduma (28), Juliana Daniel(24) and Joseph Ernest Msetti (50). He said the police will take strict measures against any person or party leader(s) who incite people to riot. On Sunday Chadema secretary general Dr Willibroad Slaa said Chadema MPs would boycott the budget session which starts today if their national chairman continued being held by the police. Dr Slaa said the court had contravened the law because Mbowe had sought permission to enable him participate in parliamentary committee meetings last week in Dar es Salaam. He accused the police of harassing the party, adding: We can no longer tolerate the acts. We have had enough. He said Mbowes arrest was blocking efforts to prepare an opposition budget which is expected to be tabled in the coming parliament. The government knows the importance of the budget from the opposition which is to be read by Mbowe, he noted. SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Thread starter Dingswayo
Start date Jun 7, 2011

Dingswayo

JF-Expert Member

Jun 7, 2011

WISDOM SEEDS

JF-Expert Member

Jun 7, 2011

M'bongo

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