Dar es Salaam — Tanganyika Law Society President Boniface Mwabukusi was questioned by police on Thursday over allegations that the bar body’s leaders financed demonstrations said to be planned for October 29 and helped young people travel to Kenya for protest training, his lawyers said.
Mwabukusi denied the allegations during an interview at the Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone, according to Advocate Jebra Kambole, who said he and Advocate Ziada Mkwazo represented him.
Police had not issued a public statement by the time of writing setting out the purpose of the inquiry, the evidence behind the claims, an offence under investigation or whether Mwabukusi was formally arrested.
In a public notice issued before the interview, Mwabukusi said he had received a telephone summons to attend the Special Police Zone on October 15. He said a group of volunteer lawyers would accompany him.
Kambole said Mwabukusi was questioned as a witness rather than a suspect, but was later released after the lawyers provided sureties for his return whenever police require him to report.
READ MORE: Boniface Mwabukusi: High Court Pauses Disciplinary Case as Bar President Challenges Legal Framework
Kambole cited section 36(2)(c) of the Evidence Act in describing Mwabukusi as a witness. That provision concerns when a written or electronic statement may be used in criminal proceedings and requires its maker to declare that it is true and made with awareness of potential perjury consequences; it does not itself determine whether a person is a witness or a suspect in a police investigation.
The public record also does not clarify why bail was required. The Criminal Procedure Act permits an officer in charge of a police station to grant bail or release on a bond to a person arrested or detained without a warrant, but the absence of a police account makes it impossible to establish the legal basis applied in Mwabukusi’s case.
Kambole said police began questioning Mwabukusi at about 9 a.m. and that the process, which included reviewing video clips of his past public appearances, lasted until nearly 4 p.m. The clips reportedly included statements made during the public debate over the DP World port agreement.
According to Kambole, investigators alleged that Mwabukusi had neglected his responsibilities as TLS president and instead engaged in activism. They also alleged that the TLS Governing Council received money to fund demonstrations planned for October 29, and that Mwabukusi assisted young people to go to Kenya to learn how to conduct protests.
Kambole said the claims were put to Mwabukusi during the questioning but have not been independently substantiated. Mwabukusi denied organising, inciting or financing the activities, saying the TLS Council had never met to discuss or approve protest funding and that the Society’s accounts were transparent.
READ MORE: Firebrand Lawyer Mwabukusi Reinstated in TLS’ Presidential Race After Court Ruled in His Favour
“TLS engages in academic and professional activities, not violent or inciting activities,” Kambole said, recounting Mwabukusi’s response. He said Mwabukusi told police that his public interventions were part of the office he holds, not a departure from it.
That distinction goes to the centre of the matter. Under the Tanganyika Law Society Act, the Society’s objects include maintaining professional standards, assisting government, Parliament and courts on matters affecting law, representing lawyers, and assisting the public on legal matters.
After the interview, Mwabukusi told reporters that the Society was under attack and called on lawyers to defend the rule of law.
“This is not a time for lawyers to be silent or afraid,” he said. “It is the time to roar with a voice never heard before in this nation.”
The reported allegations concern October 29, 2026, the first anniversary of the general-election violence of 2025. A presidential commission said about 518 people died in the events during and after that election, while its conclusions have been contested by opposition parties and civil-society groups.
The police interview comes as Mwabukusi separately contests professional-disciplinary proceedings arising from his statements about Tundu Lissu’s treason case.
On October 7, a High Court panel temporarily stayed the National Advocates Committee case while it considers his constitutional challenge to parts of the legal framework governing advocate discipline.
The stay does not decide the professional-misconduct complaint or the constitutional petition. The court had set today, October 16, for further orders, while the police inquiry, according to Kambole, remains open because Mwabukusi has been required to attend whenever summoned.
