The contestant claims the incumbent has engaged in a vote-hunting mission outside the correct period
Tanzania Football Federation presidential aspirant Ally Salehe has claimed incumbent Wallace Karia has committed an election offense by starting his campaign too early.
Salehe, who was not cleared in the preliminary round to challenge Karia, has moved to a local court to stop the election process, claiming there are numerous things that were not done according to the law, especially in the nomination exercise.
During the Premier League U20 final game between Yanga and Mtibwa Sugar - which the latter won - some people were seen at the Azam Sports Complex wearing T-shirts bearing Karia's campaign banner and images. To Salehe, that can be construed as early campaigning and he now needs the election disciplinary board to investigate the matter and take the necessary action.
"The chair and his assistant must investigate the matter of Karia. Or is the act not a campaign move?" asked Salehe. "Were it not an electioneering period, there could have been no issue with those people wearing such T-shirts, but now we are campaigning for seats and, thus, it was a wrong move.
"How can one run a campaign when the time for it has not been declared open? If the disciplinary committee is keen on serving justice, then action must be taken against Karia."
The committee's vice-chairman, Benjamin Karume, said he could not comment on the matter because they have not been served with images of people wearing T-shirts with Karia's campaign image and slogans.
"We have not seen those photos and thus I can not speak of something that is not on our table," Karume said. " Although I understand it could be problematic for Karia, or it may not be because he is still the president."
Campaigns for the TFF's top seat have been scheduled to be conducted between August 1 to August 6 before the election is conducted on August 7.
Salehe, Oscar Oscar, and Ally Mayay Tembele were barred from running for president because they lacked the support of five stakeholders. Rahim Kagenzi, Deogratias Mutungi, Abbas Tarimba and Zahoro Haji came with nomination papers but did not return them for verification and clearance.