Lema’s appeal hearing hits wall again

DAILY NEWS Reporter in ArushA

HEARING of an appeal for bail filed by Arusha Urban MP on CHADEMA ticket, Godbless Lema, has once again hit a brick wall, which means he will have to spend more days in remand custody.

This followed an appeal filed yesterday by the prosecution side challenging Judge Modesta Opiyo’s decision to hear the MP’s appeal.

On December 20, High Court Judge Opiyo had ruled that the MP’s lawyers should go back to the drawing board, re-file the appeal for bail and present them before the court within ten days.

Before High Court Judge Salma Maghimbi, the prosecution, led by State Attorney Innocent Njau informed the court that their appeal was lodged at the Court of Appeal,claiming that the defence’s application for bail was filed out of time.

“The case had come for hearing on the bail application but the prosecution is not ready to proceed further,’’ he told the court, adding: “On November 11, this year, we declared our intention to lodge the appeal and thereafter, presented the application on December 21 in writing at the Court of Appeal,” claimed Mr Njau.

He, therefore, requested the court to grant him with three days to be able to present the grounds for appeal.

The defence, led by Advocate Peter Kibatala, expressed disappointment regarding the prosecution’s move and, therefore, requested the court to reduce the number of days for the case to end quickly.

After hearing submissions from both sides, Judge Maghimbi directed the prosecution to present grounds for their appeal today, with the defence’s response filed by December 30. She further required that both sides should meet on January 2, 2017 to give approval of the submissions.

“The High Court will grant a ruling on the issue on January 4, 2017,” said Judge Maghimbi.

The outspoken legislator, who has been in remand since November 2, is facing seditious charges, including insulting the head of state and inciting mutiny. Lema is in remand custody at the Kisongo Main Prison here following his arrest on November 2 at the Parliament Grounds in Dodoma and arraignment in an Arusha court on November 8.