Does freedom of expression exist in Tanzania?

Salman Rushdie once said, "What is freedom of expression? without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist." Anna Henga quorted while presenting a legal framework on the freedom of expression in Tanzania to Policy Forum members in a breakfast debate held at the British Council today.

She said freedom of expression is a fundamental right in any democratic state, including Tanzania, as it is a signatory to various international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights; hence, Tanzania has an obligation to comply with the right to receive and give information.

Freedom of expression as one of the human rights in Tanzania is well stipulated in the National Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania (1977 as amended), specifically under articles 18 and 20. According to Article 18, "everyone has the right to freedom of expression and opinion; the right to seek, receive, and disseminate information regardless of national boundaries." Also, the Constitution of Zanzibar (1984) under Article 18 (1) says, "Without prejudice to the relevant laws of the land, every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression."

Mrs. Henga revealed that, despite Tanzania's international obligations and constitutional guarantees, a number of recently enacted laws interfere with the right to freedom of expression. In particular, these are: The Media Act, No. 13 (2003), the Communications Regulatory Authority Act, No. 12 (2016), and The Cybercrimes Act, No. 14 of 2015, which was enacted to "criminalize offenses" related to computer systems and information communication technologies and for the investigation, collection, and use of electronic evidence and related matters. Other laws are the Statistics Act of 2015 and the Access to Information Act No. 6 (2016).

In the meantime, a number of cases have resulted from the enactment of these laws and threaten the freedoms of expression, despite the efforts made by the CSOs and the activists. Tundu Lissu's various cases, Lema's case, which recently granted a victory and set her free from policy custody, and Mrs. Lema's Shoga text message issue Other cases are Chacha Wangwe's, Maxence Mello's as CEO of Jamii Forums, the banning of Mawio Newspaper, the arrest of BVR observers, and the arrest and trial of individuals chatting on WhatsApp groups.

In her opinion, freedom of expression is currently very limited in Tanzania and becoming more restricted on a daily basis; thus, she recommended that the government amend the laws which interfere with freedom of expression as stipulated above and repeal all laws which deny the right to access information and freedom of expression, but that the public in general should be empowered and enhanced in having a culture of seeking and giving timely and relevant information and the freedom of speech.