Three Kenyans held over 'illegal entry', voter registration

Morogoro Regional Police Commander (RPC), Leonard Lwabuzala

 Four people including three Kenyans have been arrested by police for allegedly entering the country illegally and registering twice in the permanent voters register.

 

Bunda district immigration officer, Elizeus Mushongi said yesterday that the Kenyans were arrested following a tip off from Good Samaritans.

 

Briefing the Bunda district commissioner Joshua Mirumbe on how the Kenyans were arrested, Mushongi said the Kenyan nationals had already registered in more than two centres when they were arrested.

 

Mushongi said that the suspects would be taken to court soon to answer the charges once investigations were complete.

 

Following the incident Mirumbe warned foreigners to keep away from the voters registration exercise, saying that whoever attempts to register would be arrested and prosecuted. 

 

He called on Bunda residents to collaborate with the authority to disclose illegal immigrants who want to register in the permanent voters register so that they can be arrested and taken to court.

 

Meanwhile, the exercise to register voters is going well in Bunda District despite. However, there were some hitches such as frequent breakdown of BVR machines.

 

Yesterday the exercise started in Serengeti division after successful completion of the exercise at the Chamriho division. Bunda district returning officer, Lucy Msoffe called on the National Eelectoral Commission (NEC) to add more BVR machines in order to speed up the registration exercise.

 

In the same vein, controversial reports circulated among the public early last Saturday via a private radio broadcast said the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab had organized a terror mission at Mziha village in Mvomero District, Morogoro Region. 

 

But later police in region refuted the rumours, saying the crossfire drama involved armed criminals battling the police. 

 

The reports said that three people died during  the crossfire, which rumours said they were Al Shabaab militants. 

 

The police did not confirm the deaths but later, other sources on the spot allegedly  said to affirm that this had actually occurred. 

 

Police disclosed that they had arrested six people in connection to the exchange of fire with the armed group.

 

Social media reports said one person identified as Cassian Peter died last Friday afternoon and that one police officer was admitted at Bwagala Hospital in the  district. 

 

Police launched a manhunt in search for what social media updates said were fifty members of an armed group who went deep into Njeula Forest in Mvomero District.

 

Police arrested members of the group who were found in possession of military uniforms, firearms, swords and other weaponry.

 

Responding in a phone interview by  The Guardian on Sunday Morogoro  Regional Police Commander (RPC), Leonard Lwabuzala broke the news about the incident by radio transmission, saying the police had only encountered an unidentified gang at Mziha, Mvomero District.

 

He refuted reports of the Al-Shabaab attack, saying he had instructed the radio station that escalated the reports to correct the false information that had generated apprehension among the public, as allegations of Al Shabab attack lacked any validity.

 

The RPC said a group of suspected thieves confronted the police in the area they were arrested, insisting that it was a normal swoop aimed at tracking down suspects.

 

He said there were no deaths, unlike what the radio had earlier reported. Six people had been arrested for interrogation in connection with criminal incidents in the area, he said.