Ex-MP Lema freed, to seek asylum in Kenya

Former Tanzania MP Godbless Lema, who was arrested for sneaking into the country on Sunday, was freed yesterday to continue with his application for asylum in Kenya.

Mr Lema, who said he fled his country fearing for his life, spent Sunday night at Kajiado Police Station after he was intercepted by Kenyan authorities in Ilbisil on Namanga Road.

His lawyer George Luchiri Wajackoyah told the Nation that the former Arusha Urban lawmaker had been freed to carry on with his application.

Mr Lema had managed to sneak his wife Neema, two sons— Allbless and Terrence— and daughter Brilliance through the porous Namanga entry point.

He had left his home incognito in a taxi and alighted at the Namanga border.

Speaking to the Nation from his confinement in a small room away from the common cell at the Kajiado Police Station, the politician said he came to Kenya to seek political asylum.

He said he did not want to go back to his motherland, terming the country a "persecution paradise".

Dressed in a pink coat, white shirt, dark trousers, pink hat and a black pair of shoes, Mr Lema looked forlorn and in deep thought.

Seeking asylum

The opposition politician said he had already reached out to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) seeking asylum.

"I was being trailed by unmarked cars back in Arusha. My family also received death threats. I decided not to ignore the threat and left with my family. Tanzania remains a persecution ground for opposition leaders," said Mr Lema.

He insisted he is not a criminal running away from justice but a leader staring at a possible assassination due to his political stance.

Mr Wajackoyah said deporting his client back to Tanzania would amount to violation of human rights.

The lawyer, who had kept Mr Lema company the whole night, said security agencies were trailing the politician with the help of their Kenyan counterparts, seeking to deport him.

"We are aware that some powerful individuals in Tanzania are pushing for the deportation of my client. I have already handed over his family to UNHCR. Deporting a leader seeking political asylum is a violation of human rights," said Mr Wajackoya.

Being persecuted

He said the former MP had not recorded a police statement at Kajiado Police Station and insisted that he should be handed over to UNHCR.

"Kenya authorities must not return my client to Tanzania where opposition MPs are being persecuted. A person fleeing from persecution, according to Article 2 of the UNHCR Statute of 1951, does not need to present documents to any authority," he added.

Rights lobby Amnesty International also appealed to Kenya not to deport Mr Lema, to save him from “persecution.”

Amnesty said Kenya has a legal obligation to host anyone fleeing danger from their countries and that Mr Lema’s situation means he would be at risk if forcibly returned to his country.

“Kenya must not violate the internationally recognised principle of non-refoulement,” said mnesty International Kenya director Irungu Houghton yesterday. “The international principle is upheld by own national laws. It prohibits Kenya from turning away people at the border or returning them to a country where they would be at risk of persecution or danger.”

This came as Tanzania’s former minister of natural resources and tourism Lazaro Nyalandu was blocked from leaving the country for Kenya through the Namanga crossing point.

According to Longido District Commissioner Frank Mwaisumbe, Mr Nyalandu— who contested the Singinda North Constituency on a Chadema ticket— the ex-minister did not have the required documents.

"It is true that Immigration officials at the border have barred him from leaving the country as he did not have several documents including the car and other items that he was leaving with," he said.