The government has tabled objections before the Kinondoni resident magistrate court against Saed Kubenea’s charges upon Paul Makonda, the former Dar es Salaam regional commissioner. Paul Makonda was charged for abuse of public office, including the raiding of Clouds Tv office in 2017.
Kubenea’s allegations met strong objections from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutor and Director of Criminal Investigator after Kubenea requested a permit from the court to sue Makonda for abuse of public office and raiding of Clouds TV offices in 2017.
Succinctly, for Kubenea or anyone to open a criminal case, they must be granted a permit by the court to be claimed as a private prosecutor.
Kubenea’s lawyer, Hekima Mwasipu, presented the DPP’s objections before the Judge saying, Kubenea, who used to be Ubungo MP (CHADEMA), has no interest in the case. The second objection, the court has no legal jurisdiction over the case. The third objection, the lawsuit was filed on hearsay, and the last objection, by the time Makonda raided Clouds TV on March 17, 2017, the law used to open charges against him was weak.
Advocate Mwasipu presented those allegations after the public prosecutor, Subira Mwalumuli, hesitated to present arguments of the objections before the court. On March 2, 2022, Ms Mwalumuli raised the preliminary objections before Judge Aaron Lyamuya.
Before, Kubenea’s lawyers requested the court to reschedule the hearing to wait for Makonda’s lawyer to submit the counter-affidavits of the claims. Kubenea’s lawyers presented the request following the delay of Makonda’s lawyer to submit their counter-arguments.
After the consensus from both ends on the case’s postponement, Judge Lyamulya provided 14 days to the government to submit their written objection on April 8 this year. Subsequently, the plaintiff will have to submit their arguments against the government’s objections on April 22.
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