Halima James Mdee (born 18 March 1978) is a Tanzanian politician and a special seat women representative
MP from
CHADEMA serving since 2020.
Mdee was a
Member of Parliament for Kawe constituency from 2010 to 2020 when she lost her seat to Bishop
Josephat Gwajima. In 2020 Mdee was appointed a special seat MP for
CHADEMA together with 18 others in a very controversial list which led to the conflicts between them and their political party. The conflict was because
CHADEMA denied having appointed the 19 Special seat MP's. Due to the misunderstanding between Halima Mdee together with her fellow newly appointed special seat
MP visa vis their
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
,
CHADEMA through its Central Committee expelled Halima Mdee and other 18
MPs from the Party. Following the decision of the
CHADEMA central committee Halima Mdee and other 18
MPs appealed to the
CHADEMA Governing Council
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establish ...
to challenge the decision of the Central Committee. On 11 May 2022 the
CHADEMA Governing Council anonymously confirmed and or upheld the decision of the Central Committee The 19 MPs who were expelled are Halima Mdee,
Esther Matiko,
Grace Tendega,
Cecilia Pareso,
Esther Bulaya,
Agnesta Lambart Kaiza,
Nusrat Hanje,
Jesca Kishoa,
Hawa Mwaifunga,
Tunza Malapo and
Asya Mwadini Mohammed.
Others are
Felister Njau,
Nagenjwa Kaboyoka,
Sophia Mwakagenda,
Kunti Majala,
Stella Fiyao,
Anatropia Theonest,
Salome Makamba and
Conchesta Rwamlaza. Following the expulsion Chadema General secretary
John Mnyika wrote a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly so that she can declare that the 19 mps have lost qualifications of being
members of Parliament as per Tanzanian 1977
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
. But despite that fact on 13 May 2022 the 19
MPs continued to attend the Parliament sessions in Dodoma.
On 16 May 2022 the Speaker of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
Tulia Akson Mwansasu declined to declare that the seats of the 19 Special seat MP'S from
CHADEMA are vacant citing the injunction which was filed in court. According to the Speaker, the
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
can not interferes with the
court
A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
decisions. On 22 June 2022 the
High Court of Tanzania
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
delivered a
ruling dismissing a case filed by Halima Mdee and 18 other
MPs seeking the leave of the court to challenge the decision of the
CHADEMA Governing Council by way of
Judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
. In his decision Judge Mgeta cited irregularities being the main reason for dismissal of the said petition, asserting that the
MPs addressed the wrong respondent who in law supposed to be the "Registered trustee of
Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo" and not the Board of Trustees of Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo as it was indicated in the
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
References
1978 births
Living people
Chadema MPs
Tanzanian MPs 2010–2015
Tanzanian MPs 2015–2020
Zanaki Secondary School alumni
Kilakala Secondary School alumni
University of Dar es Salaam alumni
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