No easy passage back into CUF offices for returning Lipumba

MAUREEN ODUNGA

Beleagured Civic United Front (CUF) leader, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba (photo combo), greets a section of party members after some supporters broke into the head office building and opened the closed offices at Buguruni in Dar es Salaam.

IT was not that easy for the National Chairman of Civic United Front (CUF), Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, to reclaim his position and return to office yesterday following a ruling by the Registrar of Political Parties, Judge Joseph Mutungi, on the matter.

A letter from Judge Mutungi, dated September 23, 2016, addressed to Prof Lipumba and others, under the heading ‘Registrar’s position and recommendations on CUF National Chairman Crisis existing in the party’, declared Prof Lipumba as the party’s leader as per their constitution.

Following the receipt of the letter, some CUF members were spotted at the party’s headquarters situated at Buguruni Rozana earlier before the arrival of Prof Lipumba at around 1pm. He was escorted by people who were dressed in party colours and holding party flags, singing and dancing as they approached the closed gate.

Upon their arrival and having found the gate closed, some of the members decided to force their way in by climbing up the gate before breaking it for Prof Lipumba and others who had waited for a chance to get inside the offices since morning.

The police on the other hand had parked their vehicles outside, calmly observing everything that was happening. A few minutes after some of the people had got inside, two gun shots were fired inside the compound by one of the security guards, forcing the people and one of his fellow guards to subdue and wrestle the gun from him.

Addressing reporters, Prof Lipumba said upon filing his resignation on August 8, last year and immediately after the general election, some of the party members and elders had approached him to return to his position “because the future of the party was deteriorating.’’

On June 8, this year, he wrote a letter to cancel his earlier decision to resign, because the national congress that had appointed him had not convened on the matter. Prof Lipumba confirmed that he had a chance to retract his former intention as per requirement of Article 117 of the party’s constitution.

“The decision determined that I could return to my position as party chairman. I, therefore, wrote a letter to notify the party’s secretary that I would be assuming my position on August 10. The secretary did not oppose my decision,” Prof Lipumba told reporters.

He further said that on August 9, he received a letter from the secretary, notifying him to hold on so that he could consult with the party’s lawyers for him to return to his position. However, according to him, he did not get any response, making him decide to see the secretary in person.

“I met him and we discussed on the nature of the matter and the secretary said he would seek a clarification on the matter from the leadership committee, which decided that the issue will be discussed during the National Congress on August 21,” he pointed out.

During the meeting on August 21, the person who was appointed to chair it, did not go about the letter nor raised the issue. That is when some of the members took the matter to the Registrar of Political Parties