Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Friday

Kabudi calls CSOs’ contribution towards TZ’s development ‘indispensable’

The Minister for Legal and Constitutional Affairs Prof Palamagamba Kabudi said that Tanzania’s civil societies organizations (CSOs) play a significant role in the country’s economic growth and contribute to its development efforts in the areas of education, health, environment, water, legal aid and in other important issues concerning human rights guaranteed by the country’s constitution.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the launching of the CSOs plan to the recently launched government Five Years Development Plan (FYDP) III (2021/2022 to 2025/2026), Prof Kabudi, who represented Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa at the function, said that the government recognized the presence of human rights organizations in Tanzania, which have not only been providing employment to the jobless but also running free public awareness programs on legal and human rights issues.

“The number one defender of human rights is the citizen him/herself,” Prof Kabudi said during the occasion which coincided with the commemoration of the Seventh Anniversary of Tanzania’s Human Rights Defenders’ Day. Kabudi was highlighting some key issues that human rights defenders in Tanzania ought to know. “It is very important to understand this during the course of implementing your duties so as to know which type of empowerment should the citizen receive as the number one promoter and defender of his/her fundamental rights.

Organized by the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC), this year’s human rights day anniversary took place under the theme ‘Chatting Out the Role of HRDs/CSOs in the implementation of the Five-Year National Development Plan (2021/2022 – 2025/2026).’ Presenting the CSOs’ demands to the government, THRDC national coordinator Onesmo ole Ngurumwa said that the coalition exists in order to make Tanzania’s environment safe for human rights defenders as well as creating a good relationship between the defenders and the government. Mr Ngurumwa asked the government to lift some institutional hurdles that make CSOs works hard in Tanzania, including the need to reform the controversial NGO Act.

Ndugulile: privacy and data protection law is coming

Communication and Information Technologies minister Dr Faustine Ndugulile reiterated the government’s intention to introduce the Privacy and Data Protection legislation in Tanzania yesterday, giving an impression of the government’s appreciation of the increasingly popular and worldwide phenomenon which is motivated by the fact that more and more social and economic activities are taking place online.

While the constitution guarantees the right to privacy and other pieces of legislation appreciate the importance of data protection, Tanzania does not have a comprehensive law that addresses issues of privacy and data protection, two things which are increasingly becoming necessities given how digitization influences every aspect of people’s lives. Talks of Tanzania coming up with a bill on privacy and data protection law have been going on since 2018 but with zero results.

Speaking yesterday during the launching of a report An Overview of the Digital Ecosystem, Emerging and Applied Technologies on NGOs in Tanzania by Media Convergence, a local digital consultancy firm, Dr Ndugulile expressed his concerns about how Tanzania’s legal framework falls short of protecting people’s personal information, naming the changing of the status quo one of his ministries top priorities.

“We seek to give people interacting with the digital world more control of the information that is collected from them,” said the youthful and digital savvy minister. “We want to make people conscious of what data they share, to whom and how they are going to be used.”

You can read the story in length here.

Sabaya’s case postponed until July 16

The case facing the controversial former Hai district commissioner Lengai ole Sabaya and five others was brought for mentioning yesterday but the Arusha Resident Magistrate Court postponed its hearing until July 16, 2021, because the prosecutor’s witnesses were not available.

Mr Sabaya and his five accomplices appeared before the Arusha Resident Magistrate’s Court for the first time on June 4, 2021, facing six charges which included armed robbery, money laundering, economic sabotage and seeking and receiving bribes.

Editors threaten to boycott Simba’s press conferences

Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) chairperson Deodatus Balile yesterday warned the spokesperson of Simba Sports Club Haji Manara against mistreating journalists, threatening to boycott the club’s press conferences if the behaviour does not stop.

TEF warning follows reports that Mr Manara, during Simba’s press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, verbally attacked a Clouds FM journalist Prisca Kishamba. According to Kishamba’s accounts published on her Instagram page, Mr Manara attacked her after she intervened on behalf of a fellow journalist who was also verbally attacked by Mr Manara after posing a question. Manara started to attack Kishamba too.

Some of the words that Manara allegedly used against Ms Kishamba include “undisciplined,” “disrespectful,” and “who do you think you are,” threatening the journalist to “humiliate” her.  TEF described Manara’s behaviour as “totally unacceptable,” saying if journalists are perceived to behave unprofessionally they should be reported to their seniors for accountability instead of being verbally and publicly attacked.

“Manara’s threatening statements towards journalists is a continuation of his treatment of journalists who have been covering Simba’s stories by taking into account the bigger national interest as well as the welfare of football in Tanzania,” said Mr Balile in a statement.

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