Arusha — The outspoken Arusha Urban (Chadema) legislator Godbless Lema was in his true element yesterday when he was summoned to the Arusha central police station to explain his recent remarks on mysterious abductions of individuals.
He was unrelenting to the law enforcers; telling them point blank that he would continue to raise his voice against the mysterious disappearances of individuals and would never ever stop.
He told reporters after the interrogation, which lasted more than two hours, that he was summoned to explain what he knew about the recent abduction of billionnaire Mohammed Dewji but specifically why he pressed for the involvement of foreign experts during his search.
On October 16th, five days after Mr. Dewji was abducted outside Colossseum Hotel in Oyster Bay by gunmen, the lawmaker urged the government to allow independent foresic experts from abroad to join the investigations.
He hastened to say reluctance to do so would mean the government was complicit in the motive of the culprits.
"I told them that was my advice", he said,noting that as a patriot he, like other Tanzanians, would not keep quiet on the worrying trend.
Lema, the longest serving opposition MP for Arusha, reported at the central police station shortly before 11 am and was accompanied by his lawyer Omari Msemwa and some Chadema officials.
He dared to say he was ready to see the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro to discuss with him the spate of dissappearances in the country involving mainly the opposition leaders and journalists.
The Arusha legislator was the second high profile politician to be interrogated yesterday on the abduction of Mr. Dewji who was found unharmed in the wee hours of Saturday near the Gymkhana Golf grounds in Dar es Salaam.
Lema and other opposition leaders as well as members of the civil society have repeatedly argued Mr Dewji's abduction should be a wakeup call for the government to investigate the mysterious disappearances of other individuals.
These include Ben Saanane, an activist with the opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) and Azory Gwanda a correspondent with the Mwananchi Communications Limited which publishes Mwananchi, The Citizen and Mwananspoti newspapers.
While the Chadema official was last seen near his residence in Dar es Salaam in November 2016, Mr Gwanda was taken to an unknown destination by people who visited his home in Kibiti area in November last year.
