A dead body of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a member of the CHADEMA national secretariat, was found at the Kinondoni Regional Hospital, Mwananyamala, in the mortuary, with severe facial injuries.
This news comes hours after CHADEMA Secretary General John Mnyika, speaking at a press conference on September 7, 2024, called on police to either release or prosecute Kibao, instead of holding him at ransom at an undisclosed location.
The last time Kibao was seen in public on September 6, 2024, he was travelling by TASHIRIF bus (with license plate T 343 EES) from Dar es Salaam heading to his home in Tanga.
When the bus reached Tegeta area in front of the Kibo Complex building, two white police Landcruiser hardtop vehicles blocked it, and unidentified people, later known to be plain cloth police officers, arrested and handcuffed him.
During the incident, a police officer from the traffic division, who was sitting in the front seat as a passenger, identified as Machiwa, witnessed the entire event. He played a vital role in identifying the police even as authorities later distanced themselves from the arrest.
Kibao had previiouesly served as an officer in the Tanzania People’s Defense Force (JWTZ) before retiring and joining the ruling party CCM. He was later elected as the CCM Publicity Secretary for the Tanga region. Later, he defected to the opposition party, CHADEMA.
With the murder of this CHADEMA secretariat member and assistant to the secretary general, the number of CHADEMA leaders who have been abducted in recent days continues to rise. They include Dioniz Kipanya, Kombo Bwana, Twaha, Godwin Mlay, Deusdedith Soka, and Frank Mbise – all of whom are still missing.
Abductions and arbitrarily killing of civilians are becoming a common place in present-day Tanzania, reminiscing the dark days of the Magufuli administration that introduced abductions and arbitrarily killings as a political tool to manage and silence critics and opposition, tarnishing the image of the once-upon-the- time peaceful country in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Police authorities have officially claimed no involvement in the abductions and killings, insisiting that they were not aware of the incidents. But the media and civil society have records of similar episodes clearly implicating the police and other state apparatus in such criminal incidents for personal or political motives.
Apart from politically motivated abductions and killings, there have been scored of individuals, including women, disappearing after a series of threats from some rogue elements in the government’s security system. More than 100 people have gone missing in recent months.
