Tanga – The death of a police corporal while held at Tanga District Police Station has prompted competing accounts, with a person identifying themselves online as a relative alleging torture and the Tanzania Police Force saying a scientific examination found death by hanging.
In a statement issued August 31, Tanga Regional Police said Police Force number H.1796, identified as Corporal Mwita, was found dead in a cell at 1:03 a.m. on August 27, 2026. The statement did not give his full name, but a message circulating online identifies him as Mwita Mecky Milumbe.
Police said Mwita was being held while criminal allegations were investigated. It said one police officer and five other police personnel of different ranks were also in custody before his death, but did not disclose the allegations or name the other detainees.
According to the statement, a scientific examination conducted in the presence of Mwita’s relatives found that the cause of death was asphyxiation resulting from hanging. It said his body had been handed to relatives for burial arrangements and that an investigation was continuing.
The force asked members of the public, journalists and social-media users not to prepare or disseminate unverified information, or reach conclusions outside official investigative findings. It described the spread of such material as misinformation contrary to the law.
Family allegations
The controversy followed an August 31 Instagram post by commentator and CHADEMA member Twaha Mwaipaya, which reproduced a message from a person who identified themselves as a family member. The person alleged that Milumbe was tortured and his death was made to appear to be a suicide in custody.
READ MORE: Police Brutality in Tanzania: A Rogue Police Force Or A Few Bad Apples?
The message also alleged that he had opposed involvement in kidnappings and killings, and had been transferred from Ukonga in Dar es Salaam to Tanga because of that stance. It said the family had received a call on August 28 saying that he had died, and later received his body.
Those allegations have not been independently verified. The police statement did not directly address them or explain the nature of the criminal allegations that had led to his detention.
The official account gives the time of death as August 27 at 1:03 a.m., while the online source says the family received a call on August 28. The message also makes claims about injuries to the body that have not been independently established.
What the law requires
The Inquests Act defines police detention as official custody and requires a coroner to hold an inquest into the cause of death as soon as practicable whenever a person dies in such custody. The inquest must sit with at least three assessors.
An inquest is intended to establish who died, and how, when and where the death occurred, as well as whether the circumstances disclose an offence. A coroner may order a postmortem examination, while the Director of Public Prosecutions may require an inquest in the public interest.
The Tanga police statement refers to “a scientific examination” and “a continuing investigation” but does not say whether a coroner’s inquest has been opened. It also does not state whether the examination was a postmortem conducted under the Inquests Act or whether a report will be made public.
Mwita’s death, however, is not the only documented case of a person dying while under police control. In June 2025, for instance, the High Court at Mtwara convicted former police officers Gilbert Sostenes Kalanje and Charles Maurice Onyango of murdering businessman Musa Hamis Hamis after his detention by police in 2022.
In its judgment, the court found that Hamis was killed after being taken into police hands, and the two officers were sentenced for murder. Judge Hamidu Mwanga said: “When the guardian becomes the aggressor, the fabric of society frays,” adding that those who swore to safeguard citizens’ lives could not be above the law.
In another more recent case, Mbeya police said in September 2025 that three suspects in the abduction and killing of law student Shyrose Mahande died during alleged escape attempts while in police custody. Police said two were shot after allegedly attempting to escape and a third died after jumping from a moving vehicle.
Rights groups’ concern
The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) reported in 2024 that some police facilities had been used to torture suspects during interrogation before their transfer to other stations. The commission’s findings, which we reported, included cases in which it found unlawful arrest and detention procedures and cruel treatment.
CHRAGG recommended disciplinary action against implicated personnel, CCTV cameras at police-station counters and regular human-rights training for officers. The commission’s findings do not determine what happened to Mwita, but they form part of the wider record on detention conditions and police accountability.
In June 2025, independent United Nations human-rights experts called on the government to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable for reported torture and enforced disappearances. The experts said they had raised their concerns with Tanzanian authorities.
However, the Police Force has previously said that misconduct is committed by individual officers and that those found guilty are held accountable. That position was set out by police spokesperson David Misime in 2024.
