Mutare - Movement for Democratic Change legislator for Mutare West constituency, Shuah Mudiwa was on Saturday granted US$2 000 bail by a Mutare magistrate's court. Mudiwa, who is currently in his first term as an MP, was last week sentenced to an effective jail term of four and a half years. He is being accused of kidnapping a 13 year old girl from his constituency in 2007.
His lawyer Douglas Mwonzora says Mudiwa was being persecuted for his political affiliation. Mwonzora, also an MDC MP, claims this could be the works of Zanu PF loosing candidate for Mutare West, Christopher Mushowe who is said to have used the girl to address crowds during his campaigns for last years elections.
According to Mwonzora, the girl was paraded at campaign rallies to “give testimony” of her ordeal in the hands of Mudiwa. Mwonzora also claims the parents of the minor are staunch Zanu PF supporters. His assertions tally with those of his party which accuses President Robert Mugabes Zanu PF of fighting to reduce its majority in parliament through continued arrests on its MPs.
Since the March 2008 harmonised elections, a dozen MDC MPs have been arrested on charges involving inciting violence, kidnap, rape and electoral fraud. The incarceration of Hon. Mudiwa and seven other MDC MPs facing trumped-up charges is part of a well-orchestrated campaign to intimidate and frustrate the MDC, the MDC said in a statement Tuesday.
There are residual elements in Zanu PF and in the inclusive government who want to scuttle the new political dispensation and bent on frustrating the MDC and whittling down its majority in parliament. The MDC is the majority party in Parliament and the largest political movement in the country after it garnered 100 seats in the House of Assembly in the 29 March 2008 harmonised elections.
The MDC has resolved to refer to SADC, persistent violations of its Global Political Agreement by Zanu PF. SADC brokered the unity agreement between the former arch rivals. The MDC is also keen to have the Attorney General Johannes Tomana replaced from his job. Tomana, who was appointed in December last year by President Mugabe is violation of the GPA, is an avowed supporter of Zanu PF and is accused of interfering with the prosecution of MDC activists.
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