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Mtikila dodges Segerea by inches
2007-05-22 09:08:57
By Rosemary Mirondo
The Kisutu Resident Magistrate\'s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday pardoned Democratic Party Chairman Christopher Mtikila but warned him to observe court procedures whenever there was failure on his part to appear in court.
Resident Magistrate Khadija Msongo issued the warning during a brief court session. The warning came in the wake of Mtikila`s failure to appear in court a case scheduled for May 16 this year.
In the main case, Mtikila is accused of uttering seditious words in 2001 at Jangwani grounds where he is alleged to have claimed that retired president Benjamin Mkapa was a Mozambican citizen and that former Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye was a thief and gabacholi.
The case had been slated for the material day but Mtikila was not present in court.
The trial court then issued a warrant of arrest but having realized what was in store for him, Mtikila surrendered even before receiving the warrant of arrest.
Mtikila surrendered himself early in the morning before Assistant Inspector Dastan Kombe who led him to the trial magistrate.
The prosecutor then called upon the accused to tell the court why he did not appear for his case on May 16 this year.
Responding, Mtikila said he came to court on the material day. As he was waiting for his case to be called from the day`s cause list, he received a telephone call from his lawyers asking him to appear in the High Court at once for his constitutional case, he said.
He said before leaving, he instructed a relative he had left behind to tell the Resident Magistrate`s Court that he had been summoned to the High Court.
``It seems that my relative was a layman because after two hours he followed me at the High Court, saying the case was not slated for that date,`` he said.
Mtikila added that later on, as he was going through his diary, he noted that the case was supposed to come up on the same day and that is why he had decided to come to court for clarification.
It was after giving a lengthy explanation of showing good cause for his failure to appear in court that the magistrate became convinced of the reasons he had given and therefore pardoned him.
However, the court directed Mtikila to follow lawful procedures of personally informing the court or through his sureties whenever he failed to appear in court. The case was adjourned to June 26 this year.
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