Twenty Tanzania opposition party members have been reportedly arrested on charges of “fomenting trouble”.
The arrest took place over the weekend in the south of the country.
The opposition party’s secretary general Vincent Mashinji says one of their MPs Frank Mwakajoka was among those arrested.
Mashinji is quoted by the AFP as saying that “We don’t understand the reasons behind this arrest,”
“20 other members of Chadema who were gathered in a local office of the party to prepare these election” were arrested, according to Mashinji.
“According to the initial information we have, the police are saying they were fomenting trouble,” he added.
Last week a Tanzanian politician Julius Mtatiro was arrested and detained by police for allegedly ‘insulting’ the country’s President John Magufuli.
Julius Mtatiro posted on his Facebook page asking the question, “Who is the President, really?”.
The post according to police is considered offensive to President Magufuli.
Clampdown on free speech
This year Police in Tanzania arrested two men for asking Tanzanians to demonstrate against President Magufuli.
They were arrested and accused of their ‘inciting’ act on social media as they call for nationwide protests in April.
An opposition MP was also jailed five months after being found guilty of defaming the country’s President John Magufuli.
Magufuli has been criticized for his governance style with some analysts claim he is suppressing freedom of speech especially from his political opponents.
Source: Africafeeds.com
