(MISA/IFEX) – On 11 June 1998, the chief executives of the “Kasheshe”, “Chombeza” and “Arusha leo” publications requested that the government of Tanzania consider lifting the bans imposed on their newspapers on 8 June. It was the second such appeal made to their government. The managing director of The Guardian Limited, Vumi Urassa, appeared for […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 11 June 1998, the chief executives of the “Kasheshe”,
“Chombeza” and “Arusha leo” publications requested that the government of
Tanzania consider lifting the bans imposed on their newspapers on 8 June. It
was the second such appeal made to their government. The managing director
of The Guardian Limited, Vumi Urassa, appeared for “Kasheshe”, while the
executive director of Kunta Enterprises International (Tanzania) Limited,
Deo Masakilija, appeared for “Chombeza” and “Arusha Leo”.
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 12 and 9 June 1998**
In a meeting with Minister of State for Information and Policy Kingunge
Ngombale-Mwiru in Dodoma, they jointly appealed for the withdrawal of the
suspensions of their papers, promising to check all the anomalies that led
to the government move.
In an apology directed at Mr. Ngombale-Mwiru, Urusa promised that the
lifting of the suspension would enable “Kasheshe”, which is a weekly
tabloid, to abide by moral values in the society. Masakilija also expressed
remorse for all the mistakes that his publications committed and promised to
do away with alleged pornographic cartoons and instead concentrate on those
that educate the public.
Reacting to the written apologies by the directors of the banned papers,
Ngombale-Mwiru promised to look into the request for the ban to be lifted.
“The decision to ban the papers was not made by one person. It was made
after consultation between various leaders in the Government”, he clarified.
“The Government took a long time to decide to ban the papers because it
wants to ensure transparency in such matters and we don’t want to be seen to
infringe on the freedom of the press”.
Background Information
On 6 June, Ngombale-Mwiru, in individual letters to each newspaper, informed
them that they had been banned with effect from 8 June because of their
“persistent featuring of pornographic cartoons and unethical articles”. His
action was sanctioned by Section 25(1) of the Newspaper Act, No. 3 of 1976,
which states: “Where the Minister is of the opinion that it is in the public
interest or in the interest of peace and good order so to do, he may, by
order in the Gazette, direct that the newspaper named in the order shall
cease publication as from the date…specified in the order”. Section 15(1)
of this same Act gives the minister the power to cancel registration of any
newspaper if he is convinced that such a paper was contravening “the policy
it had promised to adhere to” (see IFEX alerts).
