EMBATTLED Dar es Salaam Mayor Isaya Mwita on Monday opted to withdraw a court application against his impeachment in a new twist to the battle for the City throne.
The mayor had lodged application at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court, protesting the impeachment by the City Council, Regional Commissioner (RC) and Attorney General.He was nevertheless voted out of the post last Wednesday amid strong protest from his camp.
And now the mayor, who took up office on March 16, 2016, has decided to pull back from legal battle.
Principal Resident Magistrate Janeth Mtega granted the withdrawal request advanced by Advocate Hekima Mwasipu, but ordered the applicant, Mr Mwita, to pay costs to the respondents.State Attorney Rashid Mohamed, for the respondents, had not objected to the request.
Before being allowed to withdraw the case, the advocate informed the court that the application has been rendered nugatory following therefusal by the magistrate to temporarily restraining the Dar es Salaam City Council from convening a meeting to impeach his Lord Mayor.
“The City Council convened the meeting on January 9, 2020 to impeach the applicant. My client feels that this case has been rendered nugatory as the process he was seeking to challenge has already been done,” the advocate submitted.
In the main application, the applicant was requesting the court to issue a permanent injunction against the ongoing process of impeaching him as Lord Mayor of the Dar es Salaam City Council.
He is also seeking for orders to declare that the impeachment process is tainted with procedural irregularity and substantively flaws.
The respondents have, however, strongly opposed to the application by filing counter affidavits.
In addition, the respondents have filed a notice of preliminary objection, containing three grounds, including the application being premature in law.
Furthermore, the respondents state that the application is untenable in law for lacking jurisdiction as the applicant has not exhausted available remedies.
In addition, they state that the application is defective and bad in law for being preferred under the wrong provisions of law.
Before hearing of the main application, Mr Mwita had sought for orders maintaining the status quo in that he should not be removed from the position he is holding, pending hearing and final determination of the main application to challenge his impeachment by the two respondents.
In her ruling, however, the magistrate pointed out that the advocate for the applicant failed to advance evidential proof on existence of the meeting by the respondents to remove his client from his Lord Mayor post of the Dar es Salaam City Council.
Furthermore, she said, the applicant council’s submissions failed to meet the required principles for grant of an injunction.
Among the principles, according to her, is for the applicant to prove irreparable loss he would incur if the order sought is not granted.
She emphasized that the loss to be proved must be such that could not be atoned by monetary compensation.
The magistrate also ruled that the applicant ought to have proved the existence of prima facie success of his pending case before grant of the injunctive order sought.
On January 9, 2020 the Dar es Salaam City Council voted with no confidence of Lord Mayor at a meeting convened at Karimjee Hall to receive a report following an inquiry on charges Mr Mwita was facing.
Sixteen members of the Council voted against the Lord Mayor.
Following the Council’s decision, Mr Mwita was locked out of his office. He remained locked out of the office yesterday.
The opposition Chadema cadre arrived at the Mayor office located at Karimjee Hall only to find the entrance code has been changed.
At the end of the proceedings, Mr Mwita maintained that he is still the Mayor of the City of Dar es Salaam, alleging that the quorum to remove him from the post had not been attained.
It is alleged that the Mayor could be removed from his post as per the Rules on two-third vote, that is, 17 members.
