TANZANIA’S Attorney General (AG) has appealed against a decision of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) that there was restriction of press freedom in the country, thereby violating the Treaty for establishment of the East African Community (EAC).
The AG is challenging the decision that was issued by the First Instance of the EACJ on June 21, 2018, upon application by the Managing Editor of Mseto & Hali Halisi, purporting that an order issued by the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports restricted press freedom.
EACJ Appellate Division, led by its President, Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, heard pleas from Counsel Abubakar Mrisha who submitted that, he was late to file the appeal due to main reason that there was restructuring in the office of the AG of Tanzania moving from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma at the time, hence filed an application for extension of time to file the appeal out of time.
Dr Ugirashebuja who handle the matter along with EACJ Vice President, Justice Liboire Nkurunziza and Justices Aaron Ringera, Geoffrey Kiryabwire, and Sauda Mjasiri heard Mr Mrisha praying further that the Court allow the appeal be filed so as to give guidance to the Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports of Tanzania and the citizens at large.
He also added that the new law in place (the Media Services Act, 2016) provides a procedure to be followed by any person who wants to renew their licence hence arguing that Mseto Managing Editor & Hali Halisi had not adhered to it while they are duty bound to follow the procedure and renew their licence.
He was submitting after the Mseto Managing Editor & Hali Halisi had filed an application with the Court, seeking the Court to strike out a notice of appeal that was filed by the AG, intending to appeal against the decision of the First Instance that declared the Government of Tanzania had violated the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community.
The application was filed and argued in Court by Counsel Flugence Massawe and Hamis Mayombo.
The former submitted to court that the notice of appeal was filed on 19th August 2018 after the decision of the First Instance Division had been delivered and that there is no appeal that has been filed to date.
The lawyer argued that there was no justification for the delay, saying the applicants had not enjoyed the benefits of the judgment but rather continue to suffer the ban of the Mseto publication, contending that the ban expired in August 2019; the ban being for 36 months.
Also Counsel Mayombo submitted that the Government of Tanzania further filed an application seeking for extension of time to file their appeal out of time and that it was filed just immediately after the applicant had filed the current application to strike out the notice of appeal.
In his argument, the counsel added that there was no sufficient reason for the delay to file the Appeal as intended by the Respondent.
The First Instance in its decision declared that the order issued by the Minister vide Gazette Notice No. 242 restricts press freedom and thereby constitutes a violation of the Government’s obligation under the Treaty to uphold and protect the principles of democracy, rule of law, accountability, transparency and good governance as specified under Articles 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the Treaty.
While Mr Mrisha prayed to the Court to dismiss the Application with costs and allow the Appeal to be filed, the Court said it would deliver its ruling on notice.
