Dodoma — The Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs has told Parliament it has taken steps to review and amend 41 laws it says contain legal inconsistencies, beginning with a disputed provision on appeals under the Workers Compensation Act.
The briefing delivered to Parliament’s Governance, Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee on October 20 named section 80(2) of the Workers Compensation Act, Chapter 263, as one of the provisions under review.
The Ministry’s public account, however, did not identify the other 40 laws, publish draft amendments, or give a timetable for introducing them in Parliament.
The available record does not show a general finding that 41 entire statutes contradict one another; rather, an earlier Parliamentary committee report described about 41 laws as containing provisions on appeals from administrative decisions to the High Court, alongside the Workers Compensation provision.
An administrative decision is one made by a public authority rather than a court. The route prescribed for challenging it matters because a claimant who files in the wrong forum or uses the wrong procedure may have a case stopped without the underlying grievance being decided.
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The committee said it received a direction from the Speaker’s office on May 28, 2024, to address uncertainty over section 80(2).
It subsequently recorded that the ministry responsible for labour had accepted a legal problem affecting that section and about 41 other laws, and promised to work with the Attorney General’s office to resolve it.
The committee’s resolution was direct: the government should review and amend the affected laws because uncertainty in their interpretation had created difficulties in courts and other justice institutions. Its report did not publish an inventory of the laws or set out the precise conflict in each one.
Section 80 of the Workers Compensation Act provides a two-stage route for a person dissatisfied with a compensation decision. An appeal from the Director General goes to the minister responsible for labour within 30 working days, and an appeal from the minister’s decision goes to the Labour Court within 60 working days.
The practical significance of following that route was illustrated in John Manson Kayombo v Prime Minister’s Office Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability & Another, decided by the High Court’s Labour Division in 2023.
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In that case, the court found that a revision application was improper where the statutory appeal procedure had not been used, striking out the case rather than dismissing it so that it could be refiled correctly.
The Workers Compensation Fund’s current public guidance similarly directs an applicant first to seek review from the Director General, then to appeal to the Minister, but describes the final Labour Court step as an application for revision.
The Act itself refers to an appeal; neither the Ministry nor the committee’s public documents explain whether that difference is part of the section 80(2) problem now being addressed.
The issue is consequential for employees, employers and dependants who seek compensation after work-related injury, illness or death.
The Fund administers this statutory scheme for workers in public and private employment on Mainland Tanzania, while the Labour Institutions Act gives the Labour Court exclusive civil jurisdiction over matters reserved for it by labour laws.
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Minister Abdallah Ulega told the Committee on Tuesday the exercise was intended to “strengthen the rule of law, protect human rights and ensure citizens obtain justice promptly.” He said the broader objective was to make laws and amendments support development and public welfare.
The need for clarity comes amid wider concern over the cost and speed of formal justice.
A 2026 Afrobarometer survey found that fewer than half of respondents (47 per cent) were confident a court case would be concluded within a reasonable time, and only 35 per cent knew of legal-aid services in their communities — suggesting limited access to affordable legal help.
