Judge Hamidu Mwanga of a Dar es Salaam court, who is presiding over the Chadema case involving the party’s resource allocation, has refused to recuse himself.
The 2025 civil case was filed by Said Issa Mohamed, retired Vice-Chairman of Chadema from Zanzibar, and members of the Board of Trustees of the Chadema party from Zanzibar, Ahmed Rashid Khamis and Maulida Anna Komu.
Justice Mwanga has handled the case since April 17, 2025, when it was first mentioned, and has proceeded with it to date
The Chadema had written to Judge Mwanga requesting his withdrawal from the case, alleging open bias against Chadema and his conflict of interest.
In his judgment delivered today, Monday, July 28, 2025, Justice Mwanga dismissed all the grounds cited by the Chadema counsels for his recusal, stating they are baseless.
Justice Mwanga said the defendants’ reasons for asking him to surrender were based on his judgment delivered on June 23, 2025, in the case of the complainant’s minor application for a temporary restraining order.
The judge has also dismissed Chadema’s claims that his previous position as Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the National Electoral Commission (NEC), now the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will influence his ruling.
Justice Mwanga, in his ruling, said such claims by Chadema are unsubstantiated and without justification to compel a magistrate or judge to withdraw from a case, because they do not meet the threshold set out by the Court.
He insisted that a judge or magistrate cannot recuse himself/herself because one side was not satisfied with their decision, nor because of their previous work.
”I have therefore refused to resign as there are no sufficient grounds,” said Justice Mwanga.
The case will be mention again on 7th August 2025
