Chadema na kesi ya "uhaini"

That’s treasonable, Tendwa tells Chadema THE Registrar of Political Parties, Mr John Tendwa, has described last week's move by Chadema to issue an ultimatum to President Jakaya Kikwete as seditious and warned the party against provocative statements during public rallies. "Such inflammatory statement could be nothing short of a treasonable offence," said Mr Tendwa in an interview with the 'Daily News' on Sunday. "In a country that abides by the rule of law we don't go by issuing ultimatum to the government because that would be contrary to the constitution which is the supreme law. "There are procedures and regulations to be observed in case anything crops up for dialogue in the interest of the entire nation," added the Registrar. He, however, declined to go into details promising to make a comprehensive statement tomorrow (Tuesday) regarding what has been referred to as seditious statements by Chadema leaders currently staging demonstrations in the Lake zone pressing for government's action on inflation. Rising commodity prices like sugar, rice, beans and flour due to increased fuel prices and power rationing likely to affect the country's economic performance are among the agenda in demonstrations by Chadema. A section of the media recently reported that the opposition party requested President Kikwete to explain how the nation would get out of the suffering and gave him a seven-day ultimatum to respond. Commenting on the situation, an activist from Legal and Human Rights Centre who preferred anonymity said it was not proper for political parties to issue ultimatum to the head of state. "Politicians and the nation at large should take the challenges as a test for proper thinking while drafting a new constitution to make sure that such hitches were addressed amicably. "Since our justice administration has not failed, ultimatum is not proper," the activist said. Referring to the country's culture of tolerance, the activist said the time left before the adoption of a new constitution was much shorter than 50 years since independence that the nation waited for positive changes to be made in the constitution. He said too much concentration of power in few hands, the situation which does not exist in Tanzania, led to mob action in some countries in North of Africa where people have chosen their own way of ousting their long serving leaders. "The situation is different in Tanzania and no one would dream of such a situation to happen as room for dialogue is still wide open," he observed. Source: Daily News 28th Feb

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