• Freeman Mbowe was arrested on the night of Tuesday last week in Mwanza when he was attending party meetings.
• He is detained at Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam.
Image: FREEMAN MBOWE
The Tanzanian main opposition political party has said that its chairperson Freeman Mbowe who was arrested is sick.
Mbowe was arrested on the night of Tuesday last week in Mwanza when he was attending party meetings.
He is detained at Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam.
In a statement released on Monday, the party said that they were informed by one of Mbowe’s family members his health was deteriorating.
The family said so after visiting him on Monday morning.
The party added that Mbowe had informed the police about his health situation, but there was no step taken to address his plea.
Chadema said that its lawyers will seek to access Mbowe and determine the next step if the government will not take him to the hospital.
“Tunalitaka jeshi la polisi limpeleke hospitali mara moja kwani ni haki ya mtuhumiwa kupatiwa matibabu kwa mujibu wa sheria za Tanzania (we want the police to take him to the hospital as quickly as possible because it is the right of the suspect to access medication as per the laws of Tanzania),” the party said.
During the arrest, the party said that 10 other leaders were arrested alongside Mbowe and taken to the Central Police Station in Mwanza.
Following the arrest, opposition leader Tundu Lissu criticised President Samia Suluhu.
Lissu said that Suluhu’s administration was slowly conforming to the era of the late President John Pombe Magufuli who died in March 2021 of heart complications.
“When President Samia Suluhu Hassan took over, there's hope that Magufuli's reign of terror and war on democracy would end. Last night's arrest of Chairman Mbowe and CHADEMA leaders has dashed any such hope,” Lissu said.