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Some of the burnt buildings of a primary court and other houses
following clashes between riot police and angry wananchi in Mtwara
municipality yesterday
Four people were killed yesterday in the chaos that erupted in Masasi district, Mtwara region pitting ‘bodaboda’ drivers and police.
Commissioner of Police Paul Chagonja, the head of Operations and Training of the Police Force, confirmed the incident but could not give details.
According to the commissioner, twelve people were injured including a police officer. Earlier on it was reported that one police officer was killed during the violence.
Reports issued by the Ndanda regional hospital’s chief medical officer Dr Crispin Sapuli said the injured are Hosea Kibona (a policeman), Mohamed Abilai, Amami Ali, Athumani Maelezo, Zaruki Mussa, Mohamed Mshamu, Nassoro Mohamed, Yona Mareme and Feti William.
Others are William Matiponi, Jerome Frank and Maisha Hussein who sustained a bullet injury in the neck.
However, the chief medical officer said they received four injured people and the body of one dead person.
Commissioner Chagonja said the chaos erupted when rioting groups of young people clashed with law enforcers.
Yesterday’s violence is a continuation of chaos that has engulfed a number of locations in Mtwara and Lindi regions with continuing protests against government plans for a gas pipeline to process Mnazi Bay gas at Kinyerezi planned plant in Dar es Salaam.
In the violence yesterday at Masasi town, eleven vehicles and other property belonging to the Masasi District Council were set on fire.
Reports stated that the motorcyclists clashed with police after they had gathered in one of the streets protesting against the arrest of a fellow ‘bodaboda’ driver.
During the violence the rioting groups invaded a court building before setting it ablaze after they had done the same for the record files.
As if that was not enough the mainly youthful group went on to burn down the residential premise of Masasi Urban legislator, Mariam Kassembe (CCM) and the district education office.
They also torched a number of residential houses of police officers, destroying other houses before the police energetically intervened.
Other reports say that policemen from Lindi region arrived in numbers in the district to assist in arresting the situation.
Over 30 youths, including a young woman were in police custody in connection with the riots.
He said the arrests were made possible as the rioters seized a vehicle so as to carry their fellows injured in the fracas to Ndanda Hospital.
The district police head explained that the rioters were arrested by anti-riot police who blocked the vehicle which was heading to the hospital.
He named some of the arrested rioters as Beatrice Steven (28), Hamis Saidi (24) and Ismail Msepe (26).
A police officer, a member of the police taskforce was seriously injured after he was ambushed and his pistol grabbed, he said.
The OCD noted that other vehicles about to be set ablaze are ones with registration numbers DFP 3064 and the district director’s vehicle, SM 4409.
In another development, the Central Committee (CC) of the leading opposition party, CHADEMA yesterday held a meeting in Dar es Salaam and issued a resolution calling upon President Jakaya Kikwete to weigh into the natural resources contention in the southern regions to reach a positive accord.
Presenting resolutions reached by the central committee meeting to reporters, CHADEMA information and publicity director and Ubungo MP John Mnyika said the president should work on the demands raised by Mtwara and Lindi region residents.
He said during the meeting the CC called upon the entire government to stop propaganda on the issue and seek to resolve the dispute through adopting a workable solution.
The central committee said that President Kikwete should take appropriate measures and build consensus in order to make changes on the government plans, which residents of Mtwara would be able to comprehend, and thus bring an end to the conflict peacefully.
“This is a serious matter, and that is why we put it on the agenda for today's session and look at what steps Chadema should take regarding this crisis,” he said.
Without adopting a solution that satisfies the demands of residents of the southern regions, the public will continue to fight for their rights to being first priority on the use of the gas resources, “because this is a war of accountability and people of Mtwara want to benefit from the resources present in their part of the country,” he asserted.
“The government must not turn a deaf hear or politicize the issue in Mtwara. It must re-examine itself carefully and respect the people’s will to save the situation,” he said.
Elaborating on the central committee session, he said that the main agenda was to look on the whole program of the party for 2013, setting out and four basic elements of the party’s mobilization program.
The central committee had directed the building up of the party throughout the country and enhance its presence on a day to day basis at grassroots and branch level.
The session also discussed preparations for local government elections next year and the foundations for an electoral strategy for the next general elections the following year.
The central committee directed the secretariat to monitor commitments made in the 2010 polls and push for their being implemented, citing the need for pursuing work on a key issue that touches the public, the process of constitutional reform.
The session similarly reflected on the work carried out by the official opposition camp in Parliament, mainly constituted by Chadema MPs.
Details will be provided on deliberations of the session as the secretariat reports on the meeting to the party’s executive council which will be held in the coming week. The session is also expected to review political action on strategies and steps taken to end the problem of gas resource use in the country, he added.
source The Guardian Sunday
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