Tanzania imposes 2-year ban on weekly newspaper

By Peter Saramba Ongiri

MWANZA, Tanzania (AA) - Tanzanian government has imposed a two-year ban on a weekly newspaper for what it called publishing seditious content.

"The ban extends to its online publications and it starts today," Hassan Abbas, information services director and government’s chief spokesman, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on phone, Abbas said that the weekly newspaper published a story with the headline and contents insulting President John Magufuli.

On Sept. 18, 2017 application, the publication carried a news story titled -- Whom should we pray for, Magufuli or Lissu? -- referring to the president and the opposition leader, who is under treatment in a Nairobi hospital after being shot by unknown people in the capital Dodoma.

The spokesman said the ban is in accordance with section 12 of the new Information Services Act, which allows government to ban any newspaper, radio and TV stations if the minister entitled feels there is misconduct.

This is the second time MwanaHalisi newspaper was slapped with the ban. Previously, it was banned by the government under President Jakaya Kikwete in 2014.

Meanwhile, Saed Kubenea, a member of the parliament and the publisher of the newspaper, has been arrested Tuesday evening following an order from the National Assembly Speaker.

He was arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's business capital, and would be transferred to Dodoma. He would be produced before a parliamentary committee for accusing the speaker of lying on Lissu's attack.