The government of Tanzania has banned another weekly tabloid for 90 days over publication of what the government termed as a 'cooked' article.
A statement issued by the Director of Information Services and Chief Government Spokesperson, Hassan Abbas, said the government had banned the tabloid called Raia Mwema loosely translated into English as "Good Citizen" for publishing an article entitled in Kiswahili as "Uraisi Utamshinda John Magufuli" loosely translated into "John Magufuli’s presidency doomed to fail."
The statement said the article for which the tabloid has been banned was a "fair comment" but insisted that some lines purportedly quoting President John Magufuli were "cooked."
"This tabloid has been warned repeatedly in the past," said the statement, adding that the decision to ban the tabloid was made in accordance with Section 59(2) of the Information Services Act, 2016, which gives the Minister of Information the powers to ban a newspaper.
The government’s decision to ban the weekly tabloid came hardly 10 days after another weekly tabloid, Mwanahalisi, was banned from publication for two years over publication of seditious news.
Abbas said the ban on Mwanahalisi which published seditious news and failed to adhere to professionalism extended to the tabloid’s online publications.
This was not the first time the government had attempted to ban Mwanahalisi.
In 2012, the government also tried to shut down the tabloid, but the editors went to court and the ban was ruled illegal.
Another Mwanahalisi publication, Mawio, was banned earlier this year.
Reporters Without Borders, which monitors press freedom, ranked Tanzania 83rd out of 180 countries in their 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
"Abuses against journalists and media outlets, including suspensions and closures, threats, attacks, and arrests, are frequent," the group said in their overview of Tanzania.
