Africa-Press – Tanzania. ATTORNEY General (AG) Prof Adelardus Kilangi has urged Parliamentarians to effectively participate in full council meetings to avoid introduction of by-laws that contradict with national laws.
Prof Kilangi’s made the plea in Parliament yesterday after a proposal by the Parliamentary Bylaws Committee which recommended that before by-laws are enacted, councils would bring them to Parliament for approval.
The AG noted that his office has been implementing different programmes to improve the ability of lawyers at district council level, and the chambers are open for assisting district councils in designing by-laws.
The Committee’s Vice Chairman, Ridhiwani Kikwete said bylaws made by district councils should be approved by Parliament before being used, so that they do not contradict superior laws as it is experienced now.
When submitting their recommendations, Mr Kikwete cited rising complaints due to some of the bylaws made by councils which work against national legislation. Currently, the bylaws are written and endorsed by councilors and applied in districts and sometimes the legislature moves in to intervene due to conflicting interests between the district by-laws and national laws.
Presenting the committee’s report for the second reading yesterday on bylaws tabled in the House in the past four months, Mr Kikwete (Chalinze) said that the bylaws came into effect since last year. He said that some of them caused disturbances to the general public, proposing that the legislature should go through the bylaws before they are applied.
Some of the bylaws include nuisance levies and charges that were contrary to the spirit of the budget and other legislation, he said, noting that since February, a total of 915 by laws were tabled in the House from 61 districts, along with 106 ministerial regulations, 427 orders, 294 notices, 25 rules, one proclamation and one instrument, all from central government agencies.
Citing shortcomings in the bylaws, he pointed out that they require livestock keepers to join cooperative unions, which is contrary to provisions of Article 20 of the constitution. Another instrument in question was the Pharmacy (Premises Registration) Regulations 2020 under the Pharmacy Act CAP 311 of 2011 on wholesale pharmacy definition, as it was said to discourage operations by local medicine manufacturers in tax related matters.
“One of the most disturbing by-law was from Kiteto district council, which requires one to pay 20,000/- for each community function such as initiation ceremonies. Such a by-law is draconian on local communities that struggle to keep their tradition, norms and customs,” the MP said.
The other by-law was one levied in Moshi district, where entertainment businesses, especially cinema centers were levied 300,000/- to 1m/- as annual fees for running the business, he stated.
“However, there are shortcomings in regulations of the Films and Sports Act 2020 that put restrictions to actor or actress playing characters related to drugs, prostitution and other crime characters,” the MP underlined.
Contributing to the debate on the by-law, Kasalali Mageni (Sumve) said that the regulations and by-laws discourage growth of the film industry.
“We need by-laws and regulations that enable our movies to make sense to win regional and global markets,” he said.
Jenista Mhagama, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliament, Labour, Youth, Employment and People with Disability) admitted that there was a problem regarding drafting laws at the district level, and the ministry is taking up the issue with the Attorney General’s Chambers to institute regular training for legal officers at the district level.
