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2015 PRESS FREEDOM

VIOLATIONS REPORT

Media Council of Tanzania

2015 PRESS FREEDOM

VIOLATIONS REPORT

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2015 PRESS FREEDOM

VIOLATIONS REPORT

MEDIA COUNCIL OF TANZANIA

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2015 PRESS FREEDOM

VIOLATIONS REPORT

© Media Council of Tanzania, 2016

Media Council of TanzaniaP.O.Box 10160Dar es Salaam

ISBN 978-9987-710-57-7

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CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction ........................................................................1

2.0 Trends in Press Freedom Violations ..........................2 i. Banning ...................................................................2

ii. Denial of editorial freedom/censorship .............2

iii. Denial of Access to Information .........................3

iv. Threats/Intimidation ...........................................4

v. Attacks/ Assaults on journalists ........................4

vi. Closure of media outlets .....................................9

vii. Harassment .........................................................10

viii. Damage of equipment .........................................11

3.0 Press Freedom Violations during 2015 General

Election Period .................................................................13

4.0 Where It Happened ........................................................14

5.0 Perpetrators / Violators .................................................15

6.0 Conclusion.........................................................................15

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1.0 Introduction

In March 2015 the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania intended to table two Bills namely Media Services Bill (MSB) 2015 and Access to Information (ATI) Bill 2015, under a certificate of urgency. These two Bills were to a large extent

seeking unmitigated control of press freedom. This is due to the fact that the Bills had sections which hinder press freedom, access to information and freedom of expression.

In mid 2015, the Parliament passed as law three bills which also affect freedom of expression. These were the Cybercrime Act of 2015, Statistics Act of 2015, and Whistleblower Act of 2015. The ways and means the government used to enact them through parliament received criticism from various information and media stakeholders including some of the legislators.

Although Access to Information and Media Services Bills were tabled for the first time during the 19th parliamentary session, media stakeholders managed to block them from being tabled for second and third reading during the 20th parliamentary session in 2015. The reasons MCT and stakeholders advocated that the bills should not proceed through Parliament was because they fell short of international and national standards regarding the right to information, access to information and freedom of expression and besides, media stakeholders were not consulted in the drafting process as required by law making procedures.

2.0 Trends in Press Freedom Violations

According to the data retrieved from the Press Freedom Violations Register (PFVR), there were a total of 20 press freedom violations registered in 2015, ranging from banning, denial of editorial freedom and censorship, denial of

access to information, threats/intimidation, assaults, attacks, closure of media outlets, harassment and damage of journalists’ equipment.

i. BanningIn January, 2015 the government banned a regional newspaper ‘The East African’ 20 years after it began circulating in the country. The government took the drastic move ostensibly because it had been circulating in the country without registration, contrary to Section 6 of the Newspaper Act number 3 of 1976. The government also accused the newspaper of having a negative agenda against Tanzania. The banning order singled out an opinion published by the newspaper that criticized the government stance on Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Moreover, ‘The East African’ newspaper published a cartoon that the government saw as demonstrating bad taste and disrespect to the person and Office of the president.

Furthermore, in October, 2015 the Zanzibar Broadcasting Commission banned Swahiba FM Radio for airing presidential results which were not authorised by Zanzibar Electoral Commission. Announcing presidential results from sources other than ZEC is against the law. The closure happened on 26th October, 2015 after the media outlet aired a news conference in which the opposition CUF’s candidate, Seif Sharif Hamad claimed that he had won the Zanzibar presidential race.

The radio station later wrote to the ZBC apologizing and promising to adhere to the Broadcasting Act. The Commission accepted the apology and allowed the station to resume broadcasting as of 13 January 2016.

ii. Denial of editorial freedom/censorshipDenial of access to information has been another obstacle that limits freedom of expression and right to access information. In February 2015, the State House Director of Communications, Salva Rweyemamu denied a journalist namely Athuman Mtulya of The Citizen newspaper an opportunity to ask a question to German President Joachim Gauck who was on a state visit to Tanzania. Mr. Rweyemamu directed the journalist not to ask questions that would embarrass the government, indicating he wanted journalists to ask questions prepared by his office. Mtulya refused to ask the prepared questions and his name was removed from the list covering the press conference organised by the State House Communications Unit. The journalist had wanted to know the opinion of President Gauck regarding Chinese investment in Africa, especially in Tanzania.

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iii. Denial of Access to InformationIn August 2015, journalists from various media outlets in Mwanza region were barred by police officers from reporting on a murder case involving one Jumanne Mahende who was accused of killing two people in July 2015. Speaking to the barred journalists, Resident Magistrate in charge Wilbert Chuma said that the media men and women were prevented from entering the court for their own safety. However, it was not clear how journalists’ safety would be jeopardized by being in the court and doing their work.

Moreover, in October, 2015, three journalists namely Felix Mwakyembe reporting for Raia Mwema, Brandy Nelson and Ipyana Samson of Mwananchi newspaper, were denied access to information when Kyela police Officer Commanding District (OCD) Jingi Lissu, confiscated their phones and camera. The OCD barred the journalists from recording and taking pictures of the fracas between police officers and Kyela residents who refused to leave a polling station demanding the announcement of election results. The OCD returned the equipment after an order from the Mbeya Regional Police Commander who was contacted by the journalists.

On 29th October, Police raided the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Elections Monitoring Centre, operating under the umbrella of Tanzania Civil Society Consortium on Election Observation (TACCEO). During the invasion, the police searched the office for some five hours from 2:30 p.m. and a total of 36 Staff and Volunteers were arrested and later on, after a long interrogation at the Central Police Station, released on bail.

After several hours of search and seizure Police officers informed the staff that they were charged of publishing false information contrary to section 16 of the Cyber crime Act 2015. The police also confiscated 24 desk top computers, 3 laptops, 25 office digital phones and 36 staffs’ and volunteers’ personal phones. The invasion to LHRC office was without any warrant. They accused TACCEO Monitoring Centre of publishing election results which mandate is given to the National Electoral Commission (NEC). Up to the end of May 2016, all the staffers were out with bail but all devices were still under police custody.

The coalition also conducted similar work in the 2010 General Election and released Election Reports identifying strengths and weaknesses arising from the election processes and provided recommendations.

While the police say the centre was illegally collecting and disseminating presidential poll results which is the responsibility of the country’s electoral commission, TACCEO say the centre never engaged in parallel vote tabulation.

TACCEO was established to gather information from its election observers who were deployed across the country monitoring the progress of the election.

The office is legally registered and certified by the National Electoral Commission. All the staff that were arrested and later released on bail had IDs issued by NEC.

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iv.Threats/Intimidation In January 2015, journalist Jackline Masinde who works for Mwananchi newspaper was threatened by a former Medical Officer of Nyakabale dispensary in Geita Region, Josephat Msafiri. The threats were due to a report written by the journalist on the former officer’s unethical conduct including being drunk when on duty.

In June 2015, the Zanzibar based Coconut FM was raided by an estimated 20 people in balaclavas who were looking for journalist Ali Mohamed Abdulrahman. Abdulrahman had prepared a special programme discussing the voters registration exercise in Zanzibar where it was alleged that groups of vigilantes intimidated people who were registering for the election. The hooded vigilantes were allegedly seen to be ferried around in police cars.

However, the raiders were not able to do anything to the journalist as they could not identify him hence he managed to escape unhurt. Surprisingly, Abdulrahman was suspended for five months by the Coconut FM Radio management and all programmes discussing politics were stopped until the conclusion of General Election. The decision came after an internal meeting which decided to suspend the journalist and stop any programme that discussed politics and election process.

v. Attacks/ Assaults on journalistsIn June 2015, a Zanzibar freelance journalist, Omar Ali was assaulted and severely beaten and had both of his legs broken allegedly by police officers and then abandoned at Maisara grounds in the town. The attack was associated with his coverage of the voter’s registration in Zanzibar where it was alleged that government authorities used force to deny some people, suspected of being opposition sympathisers, the opportunity to register. The police officers who allegedly assaulted the journalist had covered their faces and accused the journalist of reporting lies which were being propagated by the Civic United Front (CUF), the main opposition party on the Isles.

Reporter Omar Ali hospitalized after being allegedly beaten by police officers

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In August 2015, it was also reported that a group of journalists in Ruvuma Region, southern Tanzania were attacked by a mob of about 40 people when executing their duties. The incident took place in Ruanda Village where the journalists had gone to cover election related disputes. The victims of the attack were Kassian Nyandindi of the Business Times newspaper, Aden Mbelle and Pastory Mfaume employees of the Songea based Jogoo FM radio. The journalists were covering an incident whereby villagers locked the Ruanda Ward office because they were not comfortable with the ruling party CCM nomination procedure.

Another incident where journalists were attacked took place in August, 2015, in Mwanza Region. The journalists namely Charles Mseti of Tanzania Daima newspaper and Simba Kabonga of Barmedas Television were attacked by members of the Church of Throne of Glory Ministry International, who did not want journalists to record an incident in which the people who lived near the church claimed that the adherents of the ministry were devil worshipers. Yet another incident took place in September 2015, in which personal guards of Davis Mosha (business tycoon and political aspirant for Moshi Constituency) assaulted Chadema followers when they were chanting and flashing their party sign. Among the people assaulted by the guards are the two reporters namely Luinda Kidemi and Oscar Uroki of Moshi FM. The journalists were assaulted when they were covering the incident.

In September, 2015 Uhuru newspaper journalist Christopher Lissa was assaulted by a group of people who were alleged to be Chadema guards, when he went to cover a story of Chadema members who were protesting against a move by the Chadema presidential candidate Edward Lowassa of pleading to Lutherans to pray for him to become president. The reporter was on duty when the Chadema guards seized and assaulted him, claiming he was among the people who organised the demonstration.

Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) condemned the attack and a press release issued by TEF condemned the growing trend of restraining journalists from performing their duty of collecting news and informing the public. The attacked journalist filed a case at Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court. At the time of compiling this report, the court was in the process of hearing evidence from witnesses.

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Christopher Lissa after being assaulted.

In October 2015, Kyela police assaulted Masoud Maulid, a presenter with Kyela FM Community Radio. The investigation team formed by MCT established that the journalist was seriously beaten, badly injured and hospitalised. Worse still, the reporter who was known by every top district official had undergone treatment handcuffed on a hospital bed and under close watch of the police.

Masoud’s troubles started at the Kyela District Council Hall where he was amongst the many people who thronged the place to hear the announcement of the 2015 General Election results for the Kyela Constituency. The announcement of the results was postponed until the followed day—October 26, 2015. Giving an account of the incident, Masoud said the situation at the hall was tense, as people were chanting and demanding the announcement of results, and this made the police order the people to disperse and when they refused the police used tear-gas to disperse them.

Confirming the incident, the Kyela District Commissioner, Thea Ntara, said she ordered the use of teargas to disperse the people because the situation was becoming uncontrollable as people had started throwing stones at police while the vote counting was still in progress.

Masoud further said when hell broke loose, he took his office issued motorbike with Reg. No.T 830 BTY to escape the chaos and took refuge in the a friend’s house, one Rahim Sakabona. Police forced their way into the house in pursuit of Masoud Maulid and asked questions on his whereabouts. Masoud came out of the hiding

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voluntarily to face the policemen for questioning while displaying his press card. Despite his surrender and readiness for questioning, Masoud was severely beaten and sustained serious injuries on his back and legs.

Although one of the police officers named Awamu Mtundu, pleaded with his fellow policemen to spare Masoud whom he knew as a journalist of good repute, his colleagues continued assaulting Masoud.

Reporter Masoud Maulid who was assaulted by police officers

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He was later charged with two offences: damaging a police car and disobeying a lawful police order. When Tanzania Human Rights Defenders (THRDC) contacted the journalist for legal help, he turned down the offer on the grounds that his family was taking care of the matter. Interviewed colleagues were of the opinion that he had been so traumatized he just wanted the matter behind him.

Moreover, in October 2015, MCT conducted an investigation on assault of a journalist Benson Mwakalinga, another Kyela FM radio presenter, who was assaulted while on duty on July 31, 2015, at Kyela District CCM offices. Giving an account of the incident, Mwakalinga said on that day, he attended the last CCM campaign meeting that took place at the CCM District offices within Kyela town business area. Mwakalinga said that he had covered both the CCM and Chadema campaign meetings and in all Kyela District wards and was well known by both teams. He was however barred to enter the CCM district offices by one Emmanuel Bongo, the party Chairman of one of the wards in Kyela. He was emphatically told that journalists were not allowed at the meeting, especially journalists from Kyela FM Community Radio “who have of recent become too proud of their monopolistic, tiny studio in the district” and become the “opposition’s campaign voice”.

Mwakalinga was attacked by Bongo who punched him in the face as he was calling his workplace to report on the incidence. Mwakalinga reported the assault at the police station and Bongo was charged for assault. However, surprisingly on November 23, 2015 a Kyela Township Primary Court acquitted Bongo of the assault charges.

In October 2015, Tumaini Msowaya a reporter working for Uhuru and Mzalendo newspapers was attacked by Willibroad Samson a teacher of Kitunda Secondary School in Dar es Salaam when she went to follow up a story regarding rumours that students at the school were given fake voters cards. During an interview with the head teacher of the school, Tumaini started taking photos of some of the students who were involved in a fight. Samson however, punched the journalist in the head and stopped her from taking photos.

In October 2015, a journalists working for Sahara Media Group, George Nteminyanda was assaulted until he lost consciousness after violence between two groups erupted in Tarime. The violence erupted after two groups- supporting rival political parties were involved in an argument about who would win the presidency between Dr. John Magufuli and Mr. Edward Lowassa.

Nteminyanda was caught in the violence as he was heading to see the CCM parliamentary candidate for Tarime Constituency. A group of youths prevented him from entering the hotel where CCM was holding a meeting. As he tried o reason with the group another group arrived and violence ensued and some of the youths started to beat him.

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vi. Closure of media outlets In August, 2015 Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) closed Kyela FM Community Radio for an indefinite period. The officials refused to give the radio station the opportunity to announce the closure on air. The Manager of the station declined to accept a letter of closure since it did not indicate reasons for the TCRA action. Later, the Director of the radio station contacted TCRA which explained that the closure was due to the fact that the Kyela FM was operating without a permanent license and the radio transmitter was being housed in the broadcasting house instead of being offsite as per regulation.

The radio station started operations in 2010 and was given a temporary license by TCRA in 2012 to await conclusion of full licensing procedures which had not happened by the time of the closure.

Prior to the closure, on July 25, 2015, TCRA Southern Highlands Zone officials arrived at the radio station and demanded to be given a copy of a programme which aired that morning promoting the director of the radio station who was a parliamentary aspirant in the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) parliamentary primaries. After listening to the programme clip, the officials said that the owner of the radio was not allowed to promote himself on his station. The officials verbally ruled that that they would shut down the station. The radio station administration believes that the station was closed because of political reasons.

The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) formed a team of four people to probe incidents of press freedom violations in Kyela that included closure of Kyela FM Community Radio and other forms of press freedom violations. The team formed by the Council found out that:

1. The fact that the radio was closed ostensibly because the transmitter was inside the studio was not the real issue, because first TCRA learned about that fact the day they visited the studio to shut down the radio. The team further established that the transmitter was just inside the studio for maintenance purposes;

2. The reasoning that the radio was closed because it was operating using a construction permit was not valid because, on August 10, 2012, TCRA wrote a letter with reference No TCRA/A.70/136/20 informing the radio management that it had complied with the mandatory licensing formalities, including payment of corresponding STL7 licence fees, and thus had the permission to operate radio communication equipment with STL Frequency 229.90 MHz Moreover, in the same letter, TCRA admitted that formal operating licence was under process. The letter acted as a temporary permit, pending the issuance of formal licence;

3. The temporary permit was most likely issued in accordance with Rule 6 (3) (a) of The Electronic and Postal Communication (Digital and other Broadcasting Network) Regulation, 2011 which gives the mandate to TCRA to issue a one-month test transmission. Nevertheless, TCRA acted ultra vires by issuing temporary permit with no time limitation;

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4. TCRA acted unprofessionally, beyond its legal power and it breached its own rules for endorsing the beginning of radio operation, but failed to issue permanent operating licence since 2012;

5. The closure of the radio station was not proper and not in accordance with the law. TCRA acted ultra vires, because under The Electronic and Postal Communication (Digital and other Broadcasting Network) Regulation, 2011, Rule 22 clearly gives the sanction for person/licensee who will breach any rules, the penalty of a fine. It reads: “Any licensee who contravenes any provision of these Regulations commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than Shs 5m/=.

The building housing the Kyela FM Radio station

The report published by the Council on the closure of Kyela FM Community Radio received positive feedback from stakeholders and it was reviewed and published in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper of March, 27, 2016.

vii. Harassment In September, 2015 CCM dismissed a Mwananchi newspaper journalist Peter Elias from its campaign over unfavourable coverage. The journalist was an embedded journalist for CCM presidential campaigns in the 2015 election. The party said that it was not happy with the journalist’s report on an incident in which Chadema supporters flashed their party’s two - finger sign when CCM’s presidential candidate stopped at Uyole Ward, Mbeya Region and addressed the people impromptu.

In October 2015, the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) expressed disappointment and

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condemned the harassment and booing of ITV reporters who went to CCM sub head office along Lumumba Street in Dar es Salaam to cover the reception of the President - elect, Dr. John Magufuli on October 30, 2015.

The journalists and other employees of the TV station were at CCM offices at Lumumba to broadcast live Dr. Magufuli’s reception after the National Electoral Commission presented him with the presidency winner’s certificate at a ceremony held earlier at Diamond Jubilee hall. The booing of the journalists was a continuation of what had earlier started at the Diamond Jubilee hall where a group of people assumed to be CCM supporters heckled the IPP Media Executive Chairman, Reginald Mengi.

Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) said that a perfunctory research it had conducted, established that the harassment and booing of the reporters was reflection of anger on what the CCM supporters claimed as biased reporting by ITV against the party. “If this was the case,” TEF stated in its statement, “CCM and its supporters should stop such attitude. We are saying so because we are all aware that ITV was among media outlets which had professionally covered the campaigns”.

viii. Damage of equipmentIn December 2015, unidentified armed people raided Radio Hits FM situated in Migombani area in Unguja and set ablaze the station using gasoline. The reasons for the torching of the radio station are still a mystery as there were no warnings or any sign of danger that could be associated with the incident. A journalist with the radio station, Ali Abdallah, who was running the station’s midnight programme Helikopta, said he was suddenly attacked by people wearing masks who ordered him to keep quite if he wanted to live. The raiders blindfolded the journalist and inserted pieces of cloths in his mouth and took him out of the radio station building. The journalist was left with few raiders to guard him as others burned the radio station. The raiders did not state reasons for torching the radio station. After accomplishing their mission, the raiders left after taking all the money he had and his mobile phone.

Confirming the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Zanzibar, Salum Msangi, said they were investigating the matter and they would arrest those responsible for the incident. The attack was condemned by MCT and other media stakeholders.

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The wreckage of the Hits FM studio after the arson

Cyber AttacksJamiiForums, FikraPevu attacked

From mid October 2015, the popular social media platforms JamiiForums and FikraPevu owned by Jamii Media Ltd were victims of a cyber attack and could not be accessed for a number of days.

According to the Executive Director of Jamii Media, Maxence Melo, JamiiForums was continuously targeted in a DDOS Attack that started at level 3 and the attacks were stepped up to level 4 then up to the highest level 7 from mid October to November 2015.

The DDOS Attack was aimed at paralysing the JamiiForums website by bombarding it with millions of requests. Melo said that when the attack started at level 4, they were able to counter it and that is when the attacks were upped to the highest level. “Many Server Hosting Providers when experiencing such an attack would decline to continue hosting the attacked website because of the consequences of damaging their infrastructure”, he said. He said few of them have the abiity to counter level 7 attacks as was experienced by JamiiForums.

The attacks started on the polling day, October 31, 2015 when JamiiForums started posting election results as they were announced, apparently in an attempt to deny people getting information on the polls results. After seeing that the JamiiForums website was down due to the cyber attack, the operators started using the discussion forum FikraPevu.com to post the election results and the website was also attacked.

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Melo said they stepped up security measures after the first attack in October but the attacks kept coming back until November 1, 2015 when the attacks were even bigger and at a higher level. He said they received assistance from some Human Rights activists who provided them with technical assistance to counter the cyber attacks. “They had used technology to attack us, we also used technology to counter the attacks,” Melo said.

3.0 Press Freedom Violations during 2015 General

Election Period

Trends of the recorded press freedom violation incidents show that 17 (75%) incidents happened during the 2015 General Election period. The incidents include 1 (6%) banning of media outlet incident 1 (6%) denied access to

information, 1 (6%) threats/intimidation, 9 (60%) attacks/assaults incidents, 1 (6%) closure of one radio stations incident, 1, (6%) closure of monitoring centre, 2 (13%) harassment incidents, 1 (6%) damage of journalist’s equipment and 1(6%) cyber attack against a social media forum.

Banning 6%

Denied access to information

6% Threats/intimidations

6%

Attacks/assaults 60%

Closure 6%

Harassment 13%

Damage 6%

Fig No. 1: Press freedom violations during 2015 general election period

The statistics show that the most press freedom violation incidents affecting journalists during 2015 General Election involved attacks/assaults. Some of the attacks/ assaults were done by police, political leaders/aspirants and political fanatics. The incidents happened in Zanzibar, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam and Mara.

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4.0 Where It Happened

Figure No. 2: Where Press Freedom violations incidents occurred in the country

The above figure shows that Dar es Salaam was the leading region accounting for 6 cases followed by Mbeya with 5 and Zanzibar with 4. Mara, Geita, Ruvuma and Kilimanjaro had 1 incident each. Mwanza had 2 press freedom violation incidents.

 1 Mara

1 Geita

5 Mbeya

1 Ruvuma

1 Kilimanjaro

4 Zanzibar

6 Dar es Salaam

2 Mwanza

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5.0 Perpetrators / Violators

In 2015 the police force, political leaders/aspirants and political party fanatics were the most notorious violators of press freedom. The report shows that the violations committed by the police force were 5 (25%) which were all attacks/

assaults against journalists.The 2014 Press Freedom Violations Report had shown that denial of access to

information as the most widespread violation, which accounted for eight incidents (30%). However, in 2015 the most reported violation was attacks/assaults against journalists which accounted for nine incidents (45%).

6.0 Conclusion

In 2015, journalists were in very tense situations whereby state organs such as the Police Force attacked and assaulted them while on duty. There have been incidents whereby journalists were assaulted and seriously injured. This happened

in Zanzibar and Mbeya during the 2015 General Election period.The safety of journalists was most precarious during the 2015 General Election

process. The biggest number of reported press freedom violation incidents (15 incidents or 45%) happened during the second half of the year when a number of electoral processes such as political party primaries, political campaigns and the polls were conducted.

Prior to the 2015 General Election, MCT and BBC Media Action organized training on Reporting Elections. The Council should keep on sensitising the journalists on how to conduct themselves in volatile situations especially during the elections so as to minimise the violations inflicted upon them.

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Published by Media Council of TanzaniaP.O.Box 10160, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaTel: +255 22 2775728/2771947 Mob: +255-784314880 Fax +255 22 2700370 E-mail: media@mct.or.tz Website: www.mct.or.tz

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ISBN 978-9987-710-57-7