Dar es Salaam – A former Tanzanian cabinet minister has won the first round in his legal battle to reclaim his passport from immigration authorities, but the High Court has denied his attempt to also sue on behalf of his wife and three children.
In a ruling delivered on January 30, 2026, the High Court in Dar es Salaam granted Geoffrey Mwambe leave to apply for a judicial review against the government’s seizure of his passport.
However, Judge Dunstan Ngunyale ruled that Mr Mwambe did not have “sufficient interest” to legally challenge the confiscation of the travel documents belonging to his family members.
The decision means Mr Mwambe can now proceed with his substantive case to compel the Commissioner General of Immigration to return his personal passport, which was impounded on December 17, 2025, as he attempted to travel abroad for medical treatment. He has been given 14 days to file the main application.
The central issue before the court was whether Mr Mwambe had an “arguable case” and “sufficient interest” to be granted leave for a judicial review. The government’s lawyers argued that he lacked the legal standing (locus standi) to sue on behalf of his wife and children, as passports are issued to individuals. They contended that this mixing of claims rendered the entire application incompetent.
READ MORE: Former Tanzanian Minister Geoffrey Mwambe Sues Over ‘Unlawful’ Passport Seizure
Mr Mwambe’s lawyers countered that judicial review is a matter of public law where the concept of sufficient interest should be interpreted liberally, especially as the seizure violated his constitutional right to freedom of movement and prevented him from seeking medical care.
In his ruling, Judge Ngunyale agreed that Mr Mwambe had demonstrated a clear and immediate connection to the seizure of his own passport.
“The impugned act directly interfered with his ability to travel and thereby affected his constitutional right to freedom of movement,” the judge found. “This establishes a clear, immediate, and personal connection between the Applicant and the action complained of.”
However, the judge sided with the government regarding the family’s passports. He stated that while the circumstances were “sympathetic,” they did not in themselves establish the required legal interest.
“Sufficient interest must be based on a direct legal or factual impact, not on indirect consequences or relational proximity alone without vivid proof,” Judge Ngunyale reasoned.
He noted that Mr Mwambe had not provided proof of his legal status to represent his children in court, such as being appointed their “next friend” under procedural rules.
The judge declined the government’s request to dismiss the entire case, stating that such a move would be “disproportionate and inconsistent with the settled principle that courts should, as far as practicable, determine disputes on their merits.”
The passport confiscation occurred just days after Mr Mwambe was released on bail on December 14, 2025. He had been arrested a week earlier on suspicion of plotting to assassinate an unnamed police chief and for online incitement, allegations he denies. His lawyers have stated that his health deteriorated while in custody.
The government’s action appears to test a 2020 landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal of Tanzania in the case of civil society leader Aidan Eyakuze, where the court determined that the government cannot legally confiscate a citizen’s passport without a court order or unless the individual is facing criminal charges.
Mr Mwambe, a former minister of industry and trade, was dropped from President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s cabinet in January 2022.
His recent legal troubles have been linked by some commentators to internal political tensions within the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which had earlier removed him from its list of parliamentary candidates in July 2025.
