The Appellants were arraigned together with five other persons who are not subject of this appeal in the District Court of Morogoro and charged on two counts, namely, first, leading organized crime and second, unlawful possession of government trophy. The Appellants were convicted by the trial court on the second count only, and among others, each were sentenced to fifteen (15) years imprisonment. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence imposed against them, they unsuccessfully appealed to the High Court. Undeterred, the Appellants have preferred an appeal to this Court hence the current appeal.
At the commencement of the hearing, the Court suo motu drew the attention of the parties on a point of law and invited them to address the Court on the same, that is, whether the trial court had jurisdiction to conduct the trial in light of the Certificate issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP) conferring jurisdiction on the Resident Magistrate’s Court of Morogoro at Morogoro while the court that conducted the trial and convicted the Appellants was the District Court of Morogoro at Morogoro. The main issue was whether the District Court had jurisdiction to entertain the matter.