Dear all,
I've read the discussion on the decision to go after RC Paul Makonda aka Daudi Bashite, etc. with considerable interest.
The GC decision has sparked a very lively and healthy debate on what TLS should, or should not, do as a professional bar association.
I wish to clarify on a couple of points raised in this healthy debate.
One, will going after Makonda not be misinterpreted as politically motivated attack especially given TLS President's well-known partisanship in politics? ??
My answer is, that's a likelihood but so what??? If we all agree, and I hope we do, that Bashite has committed some very serious crimes as per the law established, then his status as Regional Commissioner, and apparently a President Magufuli favourite, should not be an issue for us.
Neither should my status or political position for that matter.
To hold otherwise is to render useless the notion of equality before the law. It'll be to sanctify the dangerous notion that some people are, because of their personal or economic or political or some other, status are, to borrow George Orwell's phrase, more equal than others.
The central question for us should, therefore, be: are we legally empowered to commence legal action in a situation of widespread impunity by those in power and by law enforcement establishment? ??
Does the law allow private citizens, or statutory bodies such as the TLS, to do what the Governing Council has resolved to do???
If it does then who's better placed to do so than our collective selves, who've a legal mandate to protect rule of law???
In fact, if you ask me, going after Makonda aka Bashite, will send a much more powerful message that no one is above the law than going after small fry.
And, to me, that's especially important in the current climate of a full-blown dictatorship than at any other time in our history.
Two, why Makonda and not a thousand and one others who commit serious crimes daily???
My answer is simple: why not Makonda and his thugs who committed their crimes so brazenly and are being protected by the state so shamelessly???
The evidence against them appears overwhelming. There are eyewitness accounts, an official investigative report commissioned by the minister who's soon sacked and, on top of it all, a CCTV video clip.
If we cannot go after this state-sponsored or state-protected criminal, even with evidence as strong as this appears to be, then all our talk about defending rule of law will be an empty mockery, if not a sacrilegious lie.
Yes, there'll be noise, lots of it, that we're activists or, apparently worse, politicians.
Our refrain to such provocations should be: were the crimes committed or not? ?? If so, is taking legal action, by whoever is entitled to do so, right or wrong???
I once again thank you all for this healthy debate. TL.
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