Tanzania media service Act, 2016 explained

The Government of United Republic of Tanzania^[1] has enacted four Acts concerning the control of freedom and regulation of media in the country. These are The Cybercrimes Act, 2015,^[2] The Statistics Act, 2013,^[3] The Media Services Act, 2015^[4] and The Access to Information Act, 2015.^[5] The Government of the Republic of Tanzania on one side claims that the four Acts were highly needed to facilitate access to information and control the media sector. On the other, political analysts, activists and everyday people have criticized the Acts, predicting that they will negatively affect freedom of the media and, eventually, citizens' freedom of speech. The Acts give Tanzania's Minister responsible for information the power to ban any media which may seems to report, publish, print or broadcast information contrary to the code of conducts or threaten peace in the state.

Brief history

The Media Services Act, 2016, was enacted in 2016 by the parliament of the united republic of Tanzania^[6] on 5 November 2016 and signed by President John Pombe Magufuli two weeks later. The Act replaced the then restrictive newspaper Act of 1976. The expectation of many people was that the Act would become an updated media law adhering to international conventions like the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), the East African Community^[7] Treaty and other sources which affect then liberty of citizens to access information. Instead, the Acts appears to many to act to deprive certain civil constitutional^[8] rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.

Reaction from the press

The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Legal and Human Right Centre^[9] (LHRC), and Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition^[10] (THRDC) on 11 January 2017 filed a petition at the East African Court of Justice^[11] (EACJ) challenging the newly passed Media Service Act, 2016. The petition, supported by a team of lawyers from MCT, LHRC and THRDC claims that the Act deprives civil liberties and access to information rights guaranteed under Article 18, subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Tanzania, respectively addressing:

• freedom of opinion and to speech
• the right to seek, receive and/or disseminate information, regardless of national boundaries;
• the freedom to communicate and protection from interference
• the right to be informed at all times of various important events of life and activities of the people and also of issues of importance to the society.

Notes and References

1. Web site: United Republic of Tanzania, Government portal. 21 September 2017.
2. Web site: Cybercrime Act, 2015. 21 September 2017.
3. Web site: The Statistic Act, 2013. 21 September 2017.
4. Web site: The Media Service Act, 2016. 21 September 2017.
5. Web site: The Access to Information Act 2015. 21 September 2017.
6. Web site: The Parliament Of United Republic Of Tanzania. 21 September 2017.
7. Web site: The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. 21 September 2017.
8. Web site: THE UNITED REPUBLIC, POLITICAL PARTIES, THE PEOPLE AND THE POLICY OF SOCIALISM AND SELF RELIANCE. 21 September 2017.
9. Web site: The Legal and Human Rights Centre. 21 September 2017.
10. Web site: African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. 21 September 2017.
11. Web site: Welcome to the East African Court of Justice. 21 September 2017.