ZITO KWABWE
Zitto loses case against Chadema
11th March 2015
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Zitto Kabwe
Zitto who is a Member of Parliament for Kigoma North under Chadema
ticket filed the case at the High Court of Tanzania on January 2, last
year asking the Court to bar Chadema’s Central Committee from
deliberating or determining his membership until his appeal is
determined by the governing council.
He also requested the Court to order Chadema Secretary General to
furnish him with a copy of the proceedings of the Central Committee that
determined his various positions . Kabwe also requested the Court to
prevent Chadema from interfering with his obligations as MP.
In yesterday’s ruling by Judge Richard Mziray, the High Court also
ordered Zitto to pay Chadema costs after losing the case. Judge Mziray
reached the said decision after accepting the submissions of Preliminary
Objection (PO) submitted by Chadema through the party’s advocate, Peter
Kibatala.
Kibatala requested the Court to throw out Zitto’s case giving at least five reasons for the objection.
According to Kibatala, one of the objections was that the suit
filed by the Kigoma North MP is incompetent since it was not instituted
in the lowest court with jurisdiction to hear and determine it with
accordance to Section 13 of Civil Procedures Code, Chapter 33 (RE 2002).
The other objection is that the suit is incompetent as it has been
filed at the High Court’s Main Registry in Dar es Salaam instead of the
Court’s Dar es Salaam District Registry.
However in his judgment Mziray concurred on only two submissions of
the objective saying that after passing through the two submissions the
Court was satisfied and decided to throw out the case.
Judge Mziray said that there wasn’t a need to continue reading other submissions.
Other PO reads as follows, the suit is incompetent in that the
Plaintiff has not applied to the High Court for its opinion on the
question of his membership in CHADEMA contrary to the provisions of
Section 26 of the Trustees Incorporation Act, Chapter 318 (RE 2002).
And that the suit is bad in law and amounts to an abuse of the
Court process in that the Plaintiff is pursuing a parallel appeal
against the decision of the Defendant’s Central Committee.
Speaking to journalists at the Parliament grounds in Dar es Salaam,
Zitto claimed not to have been informed about the ruling date. He
insisted to continue performing his duties as an MP and chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (PAC).
He however wrote in his Twitter account that the Judge who was
handling his case was transferred to Tabora and that he wasn’t aware of
the appointment of the new Judge. He said the matter was being dealt by
his lawyer who will issue a statement today.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in
Kinondoni District, Chadema’s lawyer, Tundu Lissu announced to expel
Zitto Kabwe from the party. He said the legislator had violated section 8
(a)(X) of the party constitution by taking it to the court.
Lissu explained that Zitto acted against the party procedures
because such matters should be dealt with in accordance with the
procedures. He said that Zitto Kabwe filed a court case while knowing
that once losing the case he will automatically seize to be a party
member.
“He filed a court case while knowing that once he lost the case he will no longer be a member of Chadema,’’ Lissu said.
Lissu explained that Chadema will soon inform the National
Electoral Commission (NEC) for further actions. He said the Court will
also be informed that Zitto is no longer a party member.
According to him, the Kigoma North constituency will continue to be under Chadema.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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