(MISA/IFEX) – On 27 October 2000, Seif Mpembenwe, the district commissioner of Temeke in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, and Khadija Kusaga, a ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party parliamentary candidate, filed a suit at the High Court against the editor, publishers and printers of “Wakati” newspaper, demanding a sum of 200 million Tanzanian […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 27 October 2000, Seif Mpembenwe, the district commissioner of Temeke in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, and Khadija Kusaga, a ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party parliamentary candidate, filed a suit at the High Court against the editor, publishers and printers of “Wakati” newspaper, demanding a sum of 200 million Tanzanian Shillings (approx. US$250,626) for defamation. The respondents are Hamisi Yowa, editor of “Wakati”, Alawi Rajabu and a Mr. Kilanghai, owners and publishers of the paper, and the Tanzania International Marketing Ltd, which prints the paper.
The plaintiffs claim that in the 18 to 24 September edition of the paper, the defendants falsely and maliciously printed and published a lead story titled “Kampeni za CCM Temeke zahamia msikitini” (Elections Campaigns of the ruling CCM in the Temeke Constituency moved into mosques), which was allegedly aimed at lowering the plaintiffs’ reputation.
In the papers filed in court, the plaintiffs say that in their natural and ordinary meaning, the said words of the defendants meant and were understood to mean that the plaintiffs were incompetent and useless as executive officers and that they were unfit for their
posts.
The court papers add that the defendants also implied that the plaintiffs were dishonest persons who had committed a criminal offence by campaigning in mosques – an act which is counter to the elections laws and regulations.
They further claim that with intent for sensationalism and increased circulation of their paper and maximum profits, the defendants had falsely and maliciously printed and published an article with distorted information and tarnished the plaintiffs’ names and
reputations.
The date for the hearing of the suit has not been set.
