What is President Magufuli doing to Promote Press Freedom in Tanzania?

Although many may not agree, especially the business community, the fifth phase government under President Magufuli has initiated some reforms that have brought a sigh of relief to the poor.

Many are optimistic that if Magufuli continues with the same speed, Tanzania will join many world countries as a middle income country.

For example, within the seven months that he has been in power, he has been able to turn his “free secondary education for all policy” into reality.

Again, President Magufuli has been able to restore a sense of discipline in public service. Today, public servants respect the people and are ready to serve them without demanding corruption as it used to be in the past.

But, what is Pressident Magufuli doing to promote Press Freedom in Tanzania?

On May 2 and 3, I was fortunate to be among the more than 500 media stakeholders who gathered at Malaika Beach Resort located on the shores of Lake Victoria to celebrate the World Press Freedom day. 

This was either my second time to take part in such national celebrations of the press day.

 The assembly gave media stakeholders namely practicing journalists, media owners and Journalism and Mass Communication related institutions of higher learning an opportunity  to take stock of their achievements and challenges with a view to chart the way forward.

One of the critical issues that surfaced in the discussions was the safety and security of journalists while undertaking their noble role of creating an informed society. 

Journalists in Tanzania just as it is the case with any other parts of the world, continue to work in a precarious environment. 

Journalists are killed, threatened and tortured as a way of silencing them. 

According to Simon Belege, the President of the Media Institute of Southern AfricaTanzania chapter, an advocacy group that monitors the state of press freedom in Southern Africa, two journalists were killed in 2012 and 2013 respectively. 

Journalists too are targeted online and receive death threats through their mobile phones. 

Also, although Tanzania ranks 71, which is a better position compared to her other five sister East African countries on the 2016 World Press Index, yet about 30 cases of harassment, abduction, torture and intimidation have been filed to the court.

The key perpetrators of such acts, according to journalists, are the state security agents. 

Often times, journalists are accused of siding with the opposition whenever they cover the activities of the opposition parties. 

They are also attacked with acid and deprived of their working tools whenever they expose major corruption scandals which continue to eat this nation.

According to journalists, with the coming into existence of a new government of President Joseph John Pombe Magufuli with its determination to root out corruption in this country, journalists have received death threats from corrupt individuals aggrieved by media reports.

The mood observed in the discussions for all the two times I participated in the world press freedom day was one filled with frustrations. 

Something must urgently and promptly be done to guarantee journalists of their safety so that they don’t continue to risk their lives. 

Tanzania’s media working environment leaves a lot to be desired. According to the MediaCouncil of Tanzania, Tanzania has about 27 registrations considered by the media fraternity to be draconian laws.

Some of such laws include the Newspaper Act of 1976, the National Security of 1970, the Prison Act of 1967 and the Broadcasting Act of 1993.

Others are the Statistics Act, the Cyber Crime Act which were enacted in 2015 as Tanzania was heading towards General election.

As a result of these oppressive media laws, some newspapers like Mawio and This Day have been banned.

As I write this article, two radio stations named Radio Five based in Arusha in Northern Tanzania and Magic Fm based in Dar es Salam have been closed. 

According to the World Bank, media is an important stakeholder in development.

“The creation and dissemination of knowledge are key factors in the development process where the media have been instrumental as a means of storing and sharing knowledge,” says the World Bank

One of the key priorities of the government of Magufuli has been to root out corruption which been eating this nation for quite long.

If President Magufuli is to succeed in his leadership and to leave a legacy for this country, he must include the issue press freedom in his development agenda.

He must remember that it is only a free media which can ensure transparency in both public and private sectors by exposing corruption in all its various forms.

I conclude this article by appealing to President Magufuli to extend his reforms to the media sector by repealing all the draconian laws that undermine press freedom in Tanzania.