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We are not cowed by police warnings - Chadema
2007-09-12 09:06:23
By Patrick Kisembo
The Chama cha Demokrasia na Mandeleo (Chadema) has said it will continue with its campaign to educate the public on their rights, which it said have been ignored by the government since independence regardless of a police call that they observe the country`s rules and laws.
The remark was made yesterday by the acting Chadema Secretary General, Victor Kimesera at the party`s headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
Kimesera was reading the report prepared by leaders of four opposition political parties after their tour in Rukwa, Mbeya, Tabora and Ruvuma.
He said the four parties were also planning to tour Iringa, Morogoro and Coast regions.
Others regions on the list included Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Kilimanjaro and Arusha.
He said: `The government wants people to just follow what they (government leaders) want and not to allow them to implement their own ideas.`
`They want people to stop thinking and follow what they want?` queried Kimesera.
Kimesera insisted that rights were there for demand and not request.
He said they were not threatened by police reports, adding the police had no reason to wait for reports from the media while security organs were always around whenever they held public rallies.
`There is nothing wrong in telling people that they have lost their resources. They need someone to awaken them so that they can raise demands on their resources,` he noted.
`We need Tanzanians to think themselves and to decide what measures they should take on the development,`said Kimesera.
Kimesera said:`We will call a meeting on Friday to tell the public the names of all people involved in squandering government money.`
`Two issues will be considered during the meeting. One will be disclosing Dr Wilbrod Slaa’s report on the Bank of Tanzania scam.
It will involve mentioning names of people; and the second will be revisiting all the mining contracts, a point raised by Zitto Kabwe,` said Chacha Wangwe, MP for Tarime constituency.
Wangwe said it was not right for the police to issue political statements. `They have to observe Section 18 of the Republican Constitution.`
In another move, the Tarime MP said Tarime residents were tired of government collections from them that were targeted to construct secondary schools.
The MP said people in his constituency had decided not to contribute for the schools until when the government told them how much it had contributed towards the district.
Wangwe was giving a brief report on the visit of the Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa in Tarime recently, where majority of the residents reacted over the government`s reluctance to fund development projects in the district because they had voted for the opposition party.
Recently, police were quoted telling the embattled Kigoma North Member of Parliament Zitto Kabwe (Chadema) to desist from uttering words or doing anything else that could incite people to break the law.
Director of Criminal Investigations Robert Manumba was quoted as saying much as the Police Force respected freedom of speech, that right should not be enjoyed at the expense of peace and tranquility.
He noted that Kabwe had involved a number of other political party leaders in the upcountry rallies he had been addressing at which statements likely to incite people to break the law were issued.
`If Kabwe, Mbowe or anyone else has information they think has a direct impact on criminal activities or tendencies, they should convey the same to relevant authorities for necessary further action,` the DCI had noted.
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