Monday, June 20, 2011

Police yet to arrest Mokiwa despite order


Police in Arusha yesterday failed to arrest the Anglican Church of Tanzania (ACT) Archbishop, Dr Valentino Mokiwa, even as the High Court in Arusha issued an arrest warrant.And talking to The Citizen yesterday, Dr Mokiwa, who is in Arusha, vowed not to surrender himself to the police unless he is served with summons from the court. By the time The Citizen called him yesterday, the cleric said he had not received any formal communication from the police or the court in Arusha to surrender as reported by a section of the media yesterday.

“I haven’t received anything…where do I go and to do what?” he questioned this reporter, asking this paper to give him a break as he was “attending an important meeting.” The acting Arusha regional police commander, Mr Akili Mpwapwa, said they had no plans to arrest Dr Mokiwa as they had no order to that effect from the court.

“We can’t just arrest a person without an arrest warrant... if I get it I will act immediately. And they have yet to send it here,” said Mr Mpwapwa.However, later in the evening, reports from Arusha had it that the police had already received the court order to arrest the ACT head.

The report suggested that there was communication from the High Court to the Police Force over the order to arrest the clergyman for contempt of court.

To read more, click here.

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