CIVIC United Front (CUF) supporters of the party’s Chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and Secretary General Seif Shariff Hamad respectively, yesterday exchanged fists at the High Court in Dar es Salaam when the suit involving the leadership crisis within their political group came for mention. Prof Lipumba is alleged to be the source of the chaos.
It all started when presiding Judge
Sekiet Kihiyo ordered the parties to appear before him in a chamber,
wherein party members had to scramble for space to enable them follow
the proceedings. Due to limited space inside the chamber, some CUF
members believed to be on the Secretary General’s side stood on the door
in an attempt to bar the disputed Chairman of the party from entering
in.
It was at that point in time when
members from the two opposing camps started exchanging abuses.
Thereafter, those CUF members started fighting, thanks to police
officers around who managed to control the situation. However, when the
police intervened, already two people were injured.
No arrest was made at the scene. At the
end of the day, Prof Lipumba was allowed to get into the courtroom. But
after the court session, he could not use the normal way to leave the
place.
Instead, he was whisked away through
underground path to the main entrance and left the court’s grounds
without delay, with his supporters cheering him. It was a mixture of
facts on what transpired before the courtroom.
As was ordered during the last court
session, the Attorney General and other defendants, Prof Lipumba and 10
other party members filed their responses to the suit with a set of
grounds of objections to the hearing of the matter.
The defendants claim in their grounds of
objections that no leave has been granted by the High Court’s Main
Registry to determine the suit and that Seif Shariff Hamad has not been
authorised by the CUF Registered Trustees from initiating the suit for
the party.
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