Registrar wades into impasse between political parties and police over workshops

Summary

In July, police in Mwanza blocked a meeting organised by opposition party Chadema to discuss their demand for a new constitution.

By Louis Kalumbia

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Dar es Salaam. The Registrar of Political Parties, Judge Francis Mutungi on Monday, September 6, said his office, police and political parties are set

to meet to deliberate the police force's decisions to block closed-door meetings by the opposition.
Judge Mutungi said the meeting he says will aim at educating the police and political parties and coming up with the resolution that will end the differences in implementing their duties.
He said there was no intention to point a blaming finger at any side (police and political parties), rather provide education that would end the controversy.
“The meeting was expected to take place last Saturday. Unfortunately, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro who is coordinating was forced to travel to attend other duties. Therefore, the meeting will be rescheduled,” he told The Citizen at the sideline of the press conference.
According to him, his office is concerned with what transpired in the recent days, emphasizing that education that will be provided during the meeting to the police and political parties will open a new chapter in the country's politics.
He said his office was closely following what was happening and consulted the police chief for appropriate measures.
“Following the on-going efforts, I don’t expect any forum will be organized by political parties in the near future. They should give us space to deliberate and end the matter amicably,” he said.
Judge Mutungi said being a custodian of political parties; his office had the responsibility to prevent wrangles between the two sides.
“Representative from my office, senior police officers led by IGP Sirro and top leaders of political parties are the members expected to attend the meeting,” he said.
He said there was no need of deploying large numbers of police officers during political rallies, noting that Tanzania wasn’t a military state.
In July, police in Mwanza blocked a meeting organised by opposition party Chadema to discuss their demand for a new constitution.
Whereas on August 28, a meeting of NCCR-Mageuzi executive committee to discuss various issues including Covid-19, democracy and poverty was deemed illegal in Dar es Salaam.
Last Saturday, a meeting organized by Chadema’s youth wing Bavicha to discuss constitutional reforms in Musoma, Mara Region was also called off by police who also arrested nine members.

Additional report by Ashura Ngwai