The Appellant who was an unsuccessful candidate in the
Parliamentary Elections of 2005 for the Songea Urban Constituency, believing he
had lost because of certain irregularities and illegalities which were
committed by the supporters of the winning candidate, sought to challenge those
results by lodging a petition in the High Court at Songea with a view to
avoiding the results of the election. Having lodged the petition, he applied
for extension of time to apply for exemption from paying of security for costs
which is required under section 111 (2), (3) and (4) of the Elections Act,
1985. That application was dismissed following a preliminary objection to the
effect that the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate on such an application.
Aggrieved by that decision, the Appellant lodged an appeal to the Court of
Appeal. Before the hearing of appeal there were preliminary objections to the
effect that the appeal was incompetent because the Notice of Appeal, the
Memorandum of Appeal and the Record of Appeal were drawn, signed, certified and
lodged by an Advocate who was not entitled to practice before the High Court
and the Court of Appeal and that no leave to appeal had been obtained in terms
of section 5(1) (c) of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1979.