Parliament denounces dismissed CUF MPs

RODGERS LUHWAGO

The recent preliminary judgement issued by the High Court in the case filed by the expelled eight Civic United Front (CUF) legislators does not, in any way, direct Parliament to reinstate them into their seats, the Office of Clerk of the National Assembly has officially stated.

According to the statement issued yesterday by the Office of Clerk of the National Assembly, the High Court-Dar es Salaam Zone- issued its preliminary judgment on November 10 in the Civil Application No. 474 of 2017 targeting CUF’s board of trustees and the party’s management.

The preliminary judgment ordered the respondents (the board of trustees and the management) into the civil case to suspend an implementation of the expulsion order of the eight legislators.

In the preliminary judgement, the High Court also prevented the respondents from discussing any matter related to the membership of the plaintiffs until the High Court made its ruling on the basic case.

A preliminary judgment is simply a tentative judicial assessment of the merits of a case or any part of a case, based on the same sorts of information that the court already considers on motions for summary judgment.

“The case was filed by the eight CUF Members of Parliament on Special Seats to contest their sacking by the party and, according to court documents, the final verdict into the basic case is yet to be made,” the statement from the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Stephen Kigaigai read in part.

The statement added: “It should be understood that there is no place in the preliminary judgment where the High Court wants the sacked legislators to be reinstated to their parliamentary seats.”

According to the statement, wrong interpretations of the High Court’s judgment are being made by some individuals and media with false information circulating in public domain that the eight politicians have been reinstated to their parliamentary seats.

Mr Kigaigai said in the statement that the eight former MPs wrote to him, wanting to be informed on the modality of their reinstatement to their parliamentary seats. “We would like the public to take note that the posts left behind after the eight MPs were stripped of their party membership were filled in by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) as per the law, and the new MPs who replaced the fired CUF legislators are going about their parliamentary duties,” the statement read.

It would be recalled that in July this year, CUF National Chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, fired from the party eight Members of Parliament on special seats for gross misconduct. The MPs are Severina Silvanus Mwijage, Saum Heri Sakala, Salma Mohamed Mwassa and Riziki Shahari Ngwali.

Other evictees were Raisa Abdallah Mussa, Miza Bakari Haji, Hadja Salum Ally and Halima Ali Mohamed. Having the eight MPs lost their seats in Parliament after being stripped of party membership; NEC announced a new list of eight legislators who were sworn in in September.

The list included Alfredina Apolinary Kahigi, Kiaza Hussein Mayeye, Nuru Awadhi Bafadhili, Rukia Ahmed Kassim, Shamsia Aziz Mtamba, Sonia Jumaa Magogo and Zainab Mndolwa Amir. The expelled MPs were victims of the party conflict pitting its National Chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and Secretary-General, Maalim Seif Sharrif Hamad.