One day the state will be ignored in genuine terrorism cases

There is a tale of a villager who used to cheat his neighbours. This villager had developed a habit of crying for help, pretending that a leopard had invaded him. His fellow villagers rushed to his rescue only to see him laughing at them. The ordeal went on for sometime, prompting his fellow villagers to ignore his calls, believing he was just kidding.
Alas, he was farming one day when a real leopard attacked him. His calls for help went unanswered, not because his neighbours did not hear him, but rather because they believed he was making a fool of them.
The government has filed terrorism charges against Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) cadres twice now, but the High Court has been dismissing them. The court noted that the charges in both cases were immaterial.
The High Court Dar es Salaam chapter was the first to dismiss terrorism charges against Chadema director of security Wilfred Lwakatare and Joseph Ludovick, also the party’s cadre. The duo were arraigned after a You Tube video showed Lwakatare plotting to harm a journalist. Lwakatare and Ludovick are now facing trivial charges of plotting to harm the journalist following the court acquitting them of the terrorism counts.
The High Court Tabora chapter last week dismissed other terrorism charges against several members of the main opposition party. The charges were filed in relation to an incident relating to the 2010 Igunga by-election. A CCM member was reportedly splashed with acidic substance on the face, causing him grievous body harm. A judge, who presided over the case, dismissed the charges once again. He cautioned offices of the Attorney General (AG) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over the growing trend of plotting terrorism charges against politicians.
Terrorism is not a light matter, stressed the judge, urging the State to file such charges while knowing exactly what it is doing. Indeed, terrorism is at the centre stage of the global fight against crime.
It is very serious such that in some places when something is being related to terrorism, its repercussions are dear. As the judge rightly warned, it seems the authorities are abusing the terrorism law. Worse still, it seems that the law is being employed politically. All the two terrorism cases were filed against Chadema leaders at the time when some Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) leaders have been busy using political stages to make people believe that Chadema was a terrorist party.
 This puts to question the ability of experts in the DPP ‘s Office to interpret the law and frame charges against people, notably politicians, in relation to the evidence they receive from the detectives investigating the allegations. The decision by DPP to pronounce null and void terrorism charges against opposition politicians at a time when some of the ruling party cadres have been preaching about terrorism of that particular opposition party, leaves a lot to be desired.
The DPP’s Office might have filed the charges basing on the evidence at hand, but it will require a great deal of convincing that the charges were not related to the accusations by the ruling party cadres. If the DPP’s office has been playing to the whims of the ruling party, it should know that it risks being equated with the above village man who used to cheat his colleagues about leopard attacks. It will not take long before people start to ignore any DPP charges on terrorism against anyone.