Iringa Urban lawmaker Rev. Peter Msigwa has asked the High Court to dismiss with costs a suit filed by Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Secretary General Abdulrahman Kinana, demanding 350m/- in damages for calling him an elephant poacher.
Mr Abdulrahman Kinana
In his written statement of defence filed at the High Court’s Dar es Salaam District Registry by advocate Peter Kibatala, apart from denying all the claims advanced by the CCM leader, the opposition MP on the Chadema ticket, he has also filed an objection to the hearing of the case.
Rev. Msigwa has advanced five grounds of objection, stating that the suit was incompetent in law because the court lacks pecuniary jurisdiction to try the matter and that the case was filed contrary to High Court Registries Rules, as the cause of action allegedly arose in Mwanza.
“The suit is incompetent in law in that the plaintiff (Kinana) has not pleaded any special facts that give the words complained of the alleged innuendo meaning,” one of the grounds reads.
He also states that the case was incompetent because the plaintiff has not pleaded any special knowledge possessed by those to whom the words were published which gives the words the alleged innuendo meaning.
In the suit, Rev. Msigwa, who is the respondent, is alleged to have accused Mr Kinana of being an elephant poacher and a criminal dealer in ivory, including illegal transport and export of ivory.
Through his advocate, Mr Eric Ng’maryo, the CCM boss is also requesting the court to order the opposition legislator to pay other damages to be assessed by the court, interest at the court rate from the date of delivery of judgment to the payment of the decretal amount in full and costs of the suit.
Mr Kinana also seeks orders of the court to direct the MP to publish apologies in two daily English newspapers and two other Kiswahili tabloids to retract the alleged claims.
The defendant, according to the plaintiff’s other prayer, should be restrained permanently from publishing such defamatory remarks against him. Mr Kinana decided to take the matter to court after Rev. Msigwa refused to heed demand notices requiring him to retract the allegations.
It is alleged that the MP, who is also shadow minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, defamed Mr Kinana at various places in and outside Parliament, notably at a public rally held at Nyamagana playground in Mwanza city on April 21, this year.
During the meeting in question, Rev. Msigwa is alleged to have said that “Kinana (naomba waandishi wa habari mnisike na nyie Usalama wa Taifa mkapeleke habari) hana sifa za kupita barabarani na kuwaambia Watanzania waiamini CCM. Kinana mikono yake si misafi.”
He was also reported to have said, “Hata kwenye Nasaco, Shirika la Meli Tanzania, kuna harufu ya ufisadi ndani yake; ajibu hoja…Kinana meli zake ndizo zinazohusika kubeba mapembe nchi hii. Hajajibu hoja hizo! Kwa siku nchi hii tembo sitini na saba wanauawa… Rev. Msigwa went on: “Hao ndio wanaokifadhili Chama Cha Mapinduzi wakina Kinana halafu wanakuja eti kuwashawishi Watanzania muwasikilize na kwamba Chama Cha Mapinduzi eti ni kizuri.”
He added: ” Halafu leo tukikaa ndani ya Bunge tunapojaribu kuwatetea wananchi tumeacha majimbo yetu. Haya mambo ninayoongea ni hatari kwa sababu haya yote ni majangili, ni organized crime.”
Thereafter, it is alleged that Rev. Msigwa repeated similar claims in the National Assembly when presenting the opposition’s speech during debating budget estimates for the ministry of Tourism and Natural resources for the 2013/2014 financial year.
Mr Kinana contends that the alleged false and defamatory statements have disparaged him and lowered him in the estimation of right-thinking people, as the alleged defamatory utterances continue to be read and will permanently remain on record in various sources of information.
By FAUSTINE KAPAMA, Tanzania Daily News
