Tanzania wept. East Africa and the continent grieved. But the Joe Biden administration in Washington acted exactly like the lone mourner in a village funeral who, high on chang’aa, shocks everyone by stating the uncomfortable truth. “Ukweli usemwe! This man was a notorious thief”.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price issued a one-paragraph message on March 17 condoling with Tanzanians on the death of President John Magufuli.
“The United States remains committed to continuing to support Tanzanians as they advocate for respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and work to combat the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
“We hope that Tanzania can move forward on a democratic and prosperous path.”
The sting was in this last sentence, meaning TZ had been moving backwards. President Magufuli gained notoriety around the world for two things. One, his dictatorship. He harassed the opposition, gagged the media and hounded his critics with demonic zeal. And two, he denied Covid-19 to a shocked world.
On Monday, April 6, new Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan declared the country was turning its back on Magufuli’s reign of repression and fear to embark on a democratic path. She would end TZ’s isolation from the region and the world.
“Optimism, jubilation after ban on media outlets lifted,” The Citizen newspaper reported on April 7. The president also announced a government committee would be formed to coordinate the war against Covid-19.
“President Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday made a bold move when she ordered authorities at the Information ministry to lift a ban on some media outlets. The move was a huge statement that could define her policy towards press freedom and freedom of expression,” the paper said.
Suluhu ordered a review of the draconian Media Service Act 2016 to remove provisions that allow suppression of media freedom.
The Legal and Human Rights Centre and Tanzania Editors Forum welcomed the president’s move. “For several years now there have been serious complaints about the narrowing civic space and media freedom in Tanzania. This was being done in violation of the country’s Constitution, particularly Article 18 which gives people the right to receive and disseminate information,” LHRC’s executive director Anna Tenga said.
Acting TEF chairman Deodatus Balile said President Suluhu’s statement came at the right time when most journalists were suffering due to the impromptu bans on newsrooms and online television stations.
“This is quite consoling….President Hassan’s stand on the rule of law is also remarkable, particularly when she warned that media houses must abide by the laws and regulations,” he said.
Journalists Workers Union Tanzania secretary general Seleman Msuya said many journalists had become jobless due to the bans on media houses.
The media in East Africa heaved a collective sigh of relief. Kimathi Street praised Suluhu. “Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu is taking a drastically different path from the one charted by her predecessor John Magufuli, rolling back some of his controversial decisions such as on Covid-19 and curtailing media freedom,” the Nation reported on April 7.
Suluhu’s action in the early days of her administration is commendable and sends an important message to the region’s leadership. Tanzania under Magufuli was not the only nation in the East African Community where media repression by the state was rampant. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda are other worrying cases.
The constitutions of all EAC member states unequivocally protect media independence and freedom. Our nations are also signatories to African and world conventions on fundamental rights and freedoms.
Yet as regional integration efforts intensify, it is strange that respect for media and other freedoms remains uneven among member states. In some quarters they are seen as irrelevant, or even as a stumbling block, to “development”.
That’s misguided and unacceptable. The leaders and peoples of East Africa must firmly uphold and defend these freedoms for a democratic and prosperous region. Development is freedom.
