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Protests after Tanzania government kicks Kulikoni out of newstands for three months for exposing an examination scam in the military

In what critics see as a move to suppress press freedom in Tanzania, the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports George Mkuchika hit at two newspapers in January. He suspended publication of a Kiswahili weekly, Kulikoni, for 90 days effective January 11, 2010 and banned indefinitely another tabloid, Leo Tena, published by Nabaki Africa.
Mkuchika said Kulikoni in its Issue No. 812 of November 27, 2009 had published a story that violated section 4 of the National Security Act of 1970 (No. 3) and the Newspaper Act of 1976, which prohibit publication of any story against the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF).

Entitled ‘Mdudu’ wa wizi wa mitihani sasa aingia Jeshini (Exams cheating now in the army), the story concerned some TPDF members’ grievances about double standards in promotions. Kulikoni reported that bribery has been going on for sometime now in the Army. Some officers bribe to go for further military training in or outside the country with a view to being promoted, while leaving behind some hardworking and competent colleagues.
The article referred particularly to the exams done in Dar es Salaam, Ruvuma, Tabora, Arusha, Mwanza and Zanzibar on May 25, 2009 and singled out Songea and Tabora as the leading exam centres where cheating took place. It was also reported that some army officers who had gone for training in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe were promoted after they came back home even though some of them had cheated in their exams.

Following the suspension of Kulikoni, which is published by Media Solutions of Reginald Mengi, the Tanzanian Cahpter of the Media Institute of Southern African (MISA-Tanzania) condemned the Government action, saying since Tanzania has a functioning Media Council (MCT), aggrieved parties should always seek redress through the institution.

Reginald Mengi, the IPP media conglomerate chairman and publisher of Kulikoni, was quoted as saying: “I am shocked. I have never seen any government fighting with the media, especially during elections year. It is a very sad move. This is to encourage misunderstanding and allow graft to continue. It is very sad”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based non-governmental organisation that safeguards press freedom worldwide, called for the immediate lifting of the suspension. It described Kulikoni as a “leading investigative weekly.”

“The Information Minister should not be able to censor a publication at will. We call on the Minister to lift the ban immediately and allow the Media Council to reach its own decision on the matter,” CPJ Africa Programme Coordinator Tom Rhodes said.

Presidential spokesman Salva Rweyemamu told CPJ that the minister had decided the newspaper had breached the security laws of the country. He suspended the newspaper under the 1976 Newspapers Act. The minister can make direct decisions for suspension without consulting the independent media monitoring body, the Media Council, the spokesman added.

Media Council of Tanzania Executive Secretary Kajubi Mukajanga castigated Mkuchika’s decision saying he acted beyond his mandate. He said that the Government needed to respect legally established institutions. He made it clear that Kulikoni’s suspension would be discussed at the editor’s forum.

Leo Tena ban
As regards Leo Tena, Mkuchika said the tabloid had published on a front page in its Issue No. 090 of the December 24-30, a photograph of lesbians in an indecent posture, which defied section 175 of the Penal Code, which prohibits publication of pornographic materials.

The suspension of Kulikoni for reporting about problems in the military raises the question of whether the army should be closed to public scrutiny. How is reporting that there is some cheating going on at some exam centres embarrassing to the army if that is the truth? There is no army officer who is above the ordinary law operative in the country. Does it mean that to be an army officer one is justified to break the law and no one should talk about it?

Mkuchika’s decision, however, has puzzled the media especially when one considers how politicians sing praises to journalists at campaigns. “You are doing a commendable job! We need the media to disclose corrupt politicians and their deals and make the Government accountable to its people. Keep it up! Don’t be afraid of criticising your Government.”

Yet, when it comes to reality the same politicians turn against the media and may even swear that they have never said anything of that nature!
In October 2008, Mkuchika suspended MwanaHalisi for three months after the tabloid exposed a stealthy plot by prominent politicians to oust President Jakaya Kikwete.

“The article of October 8, this year, was totally seditious, violated the law and professional ethics,” Mkuchika was quoted as saying. “That story was malicious, intended to cause misunderstandings and tension in the President’s family and between him and other senior Chama Cha Mapenduzi (CCM) leaders.”

MwanaHalisi Managing Editor Saed Kubenea was then called and interrogated by the police who said they would charge him with sedition under Tanzania’s Newspaper Act of 1976. In reality, there was no just cause for the suspension of MwanaHalisi. The paper simply reported the power games within the ruling party which are going on even today.

If Mkuchika continues with his hostility towards the media, he will certainly still suspend and close a few more media outlets before he finishes his term as Minister for Minister for Information, Culture and Sports.

but he would be hard put to explain the closure of Kulikoni. The paper does not disclose any military technical information that could jeopardise the army. It simply reports about decadent behaviour practised by some army officers.

Hardworking army officers would like the problem to be addressed so that promotion it is strictly on merit.
Mkuchika’s action against Kulikoni is in line with some Tanzanian politicians’ impatience with a prying press. In 2005, then Minister for Education and Culture Joseph Mungai, banned HakiElimu for publishing studies regarding Tanzania’s education system.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Tanzania among the ‘Partly Free’ countries on the worldwide press freedom list. The ranking was a result of responses from journalists who are members of partner organizations, researchers, jurists and human rights activists on how far in a given country the rule of law, good governance, freedom of expression and opinion, democracy and human rights are practised.

In Africa, Tanzania is often referred to as one of the countries that respects freedom of expression and opinion. Looking at the number of newspapers, radio and TV stations present in the country, one rightly agrees that the re-introduction of political pluralism in the early 1990s has been notably productive.

President Jakaya Kikwete, in particular, has often expressed his positive outlook of the media and encouraged various leaders to cooperate with the media so that their voters know exactly what they are doing. But if Kikwete values press freedom that much, what makes his subordinates quick to suppress it?