Court revises order on Mokiwa 300m/- case

BISHOP Valentino Mokiwa has moved the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam to revise its order, allowing his opponents to prove their alleged 300m/- dehumanising case in his absence.

The order sought to be challenged was issued by Senior Resident Magistrate Devota Kisoka on August 13, last year, in favour of three plaintiffs, Erasto Mhagama, Christopher Njavike and George Mwafalo, who are suing Bishop Mokiwa.

Through advocate Heavenlight Bethuel, the bishop has filed an application, seeking extension of time within which to apply for an order to set aside the order in question and allow the counsel to cross-examine one of the plaintiffs, who has started giving evidence in the matter.

In the main suit, the three plaintiffs are demanding the said 300m/- being damages for allegedly dehumanisation and abuse of dignity after being threatened by the bishop with a pistol.

They are also seeking for an order directing the bishop to surrender the gun he allegedly used for the dehumanisation.

“(Bishop Mokiwa) be further ordered to use the Holy Bible instead of the pistol,’ reads one of the players by the plaintiffs in the plaint of the suit.

In his affidavit to support the application, advocate Bathuel, for the bishop, stated that after they were instructed to represent him, in lieu of his former counsel Dennis Msafiri, they asked for copies of pleadings and applied perusal of court case file to ascertain the status of the case.

On perusal, he learnt that on August 13, last year, the court ordered the matter to proceed ex-parte for non-appearance of the bishop and Mr Mhagama started testifying on October 19, last year, in a bid to prove the claims contained in the plaint of the suit.

He stated that the records show that advocate Msafiri had already prepared all the necessary pleadings and had actually appeared in court for the bishop severally, but for the reasons not very clear to him, he did not enter appearance on the subsequent dates before their engagement in the suit.

“No official communications were made on reading the court file which indicates that the applicant (Bishop Mokiwa) was notified either by his advocate or the court of the status of his case to enable him attends in his personal capacity,” advocate Batuel narrated in the affidavit.

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