Dar es Salaam — The Tanganyika Law Society has publicly pledged support for its president, Boniface Mwabukusi, amid a police inquiry over alleged protest financing and a separate professional-disciplinary complaint.
In an October 18 public statement, the Society’s Governing Council said it would continue to follow the matter. It said it would offer practical assistance to Mwabukusi as president and issue further guidance when needed.
The Council cited section 4(d) of the Tanganyika Law Society Act, which directs the Society to represent, protect and assist legal professionals. It said it would “continue to monitor the case … to ensure the TLS president obtains justice” and members’ professional rights are protected.
The intervention does not determine the allegations against Mwabukusi, which arise on two separate tracks. One is an inquiry by police; the other is a complaint before the National Advocates Committee, the statutory body that handles professional misconduct by advocates.
Police questioned Mwabukusi at the Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone on October 15 over claims that TLS leaders financed October 29, 2025, demonstrations and assisted young people to travel to Kenya for protest training.
READ MORE: TLS President Mwabukusi Questioned for Hours Over Alleged Protest Financing
His lawyers said he denied the allegations, was treated as a witness and released after they provided sureties for his return when required.
The lawyers said investigators also reviewed video clips of Mwabukusi’s public statements, including appearances during the debate over the DP World port agreement.
They said he denied that TLS had authorised or funded demonstrations and maintained that the Society’s accounts were transparent. Police had not publicly set out the evidence, offence under investigation or legal basis for the surety arrangement.
The disciplinary matter concerns earlier comments about opposition leader Tundu Lissu’s treason proceedings.
Advocate Chacha Mwita Nashon’s Application No. 04 of 2026 asks the National Advocates Committee to find Mwabukusi guilty of professional misconduct and remove him from the Roll of Advocates, alleging that comments attributed to him prejudged a case then before the High Court.
READ MORE: Boniface Mwabukusi: High Court Pauses Disciplinary Case as Bar President Challenges Legal Framework
On October 7, a three-judge High Court panel temporarily stayed the committee proceedings while hearing Mwabukusi’s constitutional challenge to parts of the advocate-discipline framework.
The stay did not decide the complaint or the constitutional claim; the court had set October 16 for further orders, but no later order was publicly located. Mwabukusi’s leadership of TLS has previously been shaped by litigation over its internal elections.
In July 2024, the High Court restored him to the presidential ballot after an electoral appeals committee had disqualified him on ethical-standing grounds, finding that it lacked power to remove him and that a past breach had already been sanctioned.
The earlier dispute involved disciplinary action linked to his criticism of the Dubai DP World port agreement, but does not establish the current allegations or the merits of the later complaint.
Five regional and international lawyers’ organisations have separately called for the High Court stay to be respected, describing the proposed sanction as exceptionally severe. Their advocacy adds to scrutiny of the case’s implications for a bar association’s ability to speak on justice-related matters.
