Africa-Press – Tanzania. … Suspends own newspaper
IN what could simply be described as ‘being accountable to the land’s laws’, the government and the ruling CCM have separately suspended the Uhuru Newspaper for misquoting President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Whereas the CCM imposed 7-day ban on its daily newspaper, the government suspended it for 14 days.
The newspaper’s edition number 24084 carried a headline, claiming that President Samia has said she has no intention of running for presidency in 2025.
A statement issued by the Director of Information Services who is also the government’s Chief Spokesperson Mr Gerson Msigwa has it that, the newspaper had published misleading information.
“The directorate of Information Services has established that the story was false and misrepresented President Samia’s words which is contrary to section 50 (1), (a),(b) and (d), together with section 52 (d) and (e) of the Media Services Act (MSA) number 12 of 2016,” he said.
Mr Msigwa added that in case that the newspaper will be dissatisfied with the decision, they may appeal to the Minister for Information, Arts, Culture and Sports according to section 10 (1) of the act.
Equally, the newspaper’s board has acted by suspending three editors of the newspaper, and formed a special committee to probe the matter into detail.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, the CCM Secretary General Daniel Chongolo used the platform to apologise to President Samia, admitting that the newspaper had published false information.
“I would like to apologise to President Samia for this mistake. The story was misleading and she was misquoted. Already some of the measures have been taken against those who were involved in preparation and publication of the article,” he said.
“Going by the whole interview that President Samia gave to BBC, it’s true that she didn’t utter such words put in the headline, it was wrong,” he added.
Mr Chongolo revealed that he had instructed the Board of Uhuru Media Group to meet immediately and act accordingly.
He said the board had already suspended the Uhuru Media Group (UMG) Managing Editor Mr Ernest Sungura, the newspaper’s Managing Editor Athumani Mbutuka and the editor on duty Mr Rashid Zahoro.
“The board has also formed a probe team to probe the matter; I congratulate the board for taking measures that are within its powers.
Lastly, as I’m the Secretary General, I have suspended publication of the Uhuru newspaper for seven days effectively from today (yesterday),” said Mr Chongolo.
In its earlier statement, the party also pleaded for its all members and the general public to disregard the information, saying it was written by people who have their own interest.
It assured that president Samia is now putting all her strength on serving Tanzanians for the greater interest of the nation, and not otherwise.
Meanwhile, the ruling CCM party has instructed Local Government Authorities (LGAs) to start allocating budget for early construction of classrooms and other school infrastructure to accommodate the increasing number of additional pupils and students expected to be enrolled next year.
“The government should prepare in advance to receive the students at the beginning of studies next year, the preparations should involve construction of classrooms especially in schools with shortage of the infrastructure,” said the party’s Secretary General Daniel Chongolo yesterday.
He added; “Early construction of the classrooms and other related infrastructures will enable the government to complete the work in time and avoid undertaking the projects under pressure that might also result in misallocation of resources.”
Mr Chongolo was referring to the past experience where most local government authorities start construction of school infrastructure in late December, January and February when students are already at school.
