During the talks between respective Ministers of the East African Community, the Kenyan side is reported to have raised the matter.
Nearly 10 months from the banning of The EastAfrican newspaper in Tanzania, the issue has made it to the discussion table of bilateral talks between Kenya and Tanzania.
When the ban was imposed in January, the official explanation by authorities in Dar es Salaam was that the regional weekly, in circulation in the country since 1994, was not properly registered according to the country’s newspaper laws.
During the talks between respective Ministers of the East African Community, Trade, Agriculture and Livestock, Communication and Information, and Foreign Affairs, the Kenyan side is reported to have raised the matter.
According to Kenyan officials familiar with the discussions, there have been several requests to lift the ban but the Tanzanian delegation, without giving a definite date for reversing the suspension, said the relevant authorities in the government are dealing with the matter.
Tanzania ranks 55th in Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press index. The US-based think tank says the country has at least 17 laws that encourage self-censorship and limit the ability of the media to function effectively.
The most restrictive of these laws is the 1976 Newspaper Registration Act, which empowers authorities to ban publications “in the interest of peace and good order.”
In July 2012, the Kiswahili-language weekly MwanaHalisi was banned indefinitely on charges of sedition and false reporting. In September 2013, authorities suspended two leading private Kiswahili dailies — Mwananchi and MTanzania — for 14 and 90 days, respectively, for sedition.
In March, the country’s parliament hurriedly passed two laws that rights activists say contain language that severally limits press freedom.
The Cyber Crimes Act imposes harsh penalties for sending unsolicited messages via computers, while the Statistical Act makes it an offence to publish misleading statistics.
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