Dar es Salaam – Clemence Kenan Mwandambo, a TikToker and nursery school teacher, was produced at the Temeke District Court in Dar es Salaam on January 10, 2026, where prosecutors successfully applied for a “binding over” order against him.
A “binding over” order is a court command that tells a person to: “Keep the peace and be on good behaviour” for a set period of time.
The move came just one day after his lawyers, unable to locate him since his arrest in the city of Mbeya on December 29, 2025, had filed a habeas corpus application at the High Court in Mbeya to compel the state to produce him.
In a dramatic turn, court documents from the Temeke hearing reveal that the prosecution admitted to the magistrate that, despite their investigation, they had “not been able to gather sufficient evidence to charge the respondent.”
Nevertheless, the court granted the state’s request, imposing stringent conditions on Mr Mwandambo. He must report to the police on the last Friday of every month for one year, is restricted from committing any cybercrime-related offences, and was ordered to surrender all his social media accounts to the police. He was also required to secure a bond of five million Tanzanian shillings.
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In a statement, Mr Mwandambo’s lawyers, Hekima Mwasipu and Philipo Mwakilima, said they were kept in the dark about their client’s whereabouts and the court proceedings.
“He was taken to Temeke District Court by the Police without his relatives or us, his lawyers, knowing,” the statement read. They explained that after his arrest in Mbeya, he was secretly transferred to Dar es Salaam. Following the court hearing, he was taken to another police station before his family was finally contacted to arrange for his bail under the new supervision order.
The circumstances of Mr Mwandambo’s detention and court appearance raise serious legal questions. His detention for approximately twelve days without being produced in court is a clear breach of Tanzanian law, which, under the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Act, requires any arrested person to be brought before a court within 24 hours.
Tanzanian courts have consistently ruled that detention beyond this period is illegal and have frequently issued writs of habeas corpus to secure the release of unlawfully detained individuals.
The use of a “binding over” proceeding, particularly after a prolonged and unlawful detention and with an admission of insufficient evidence, appears to be a tactic to place restrictions on an individual without meeting the threshold for a formal criminal charge.
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This action effectively bypassed the pending habeas corpus application that was intended to challenge the legality of his initial detention.
The case unfolds against a backdrop of a wider state crackdown on dissent following a contested general election on October 29, 2025. The period has been marked by what human rights groups have called a climate of fear, with numerous arrests and enforced disappearances reported across the country.
While the government has announced plans to reform the police, critics and human rights organisations remain concerned about the state of individual liberties and the rule of law. The case of Clemence Mwandambo, a prominent online voice now silenced by court order, has become a focal point for these anxieties.
