All eyes are on the contest between incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), or "Party for Change," and a surprisingly successful challenger, Dr. Wilbroad Slaa from the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), or "Progressive Democratic Party."
Kikwete, who won the 2005 elections with a landslide 80 percent of the
vote, has seen his popularity plunge this month to 38 percent, according
to Tanzanian polls. "Slaa has emerged as an unexpected presidential
candidate and his message of change is resonating with voters anxious
for a new direction," political commentator Azaveli Lwaitama told Reuters.
Whether the Tanzanian press feel at liberty to cover this tight race is
another matter. Critical reporting on the government during this
sensitive time appeared risky after Ministry of Information Permanent
Secretary Sethi Kamuhanda toured print media offices earlier this month,
threatening
to shutter any media house that "put the government in a bad light,"
state television reported. More than 50 human rights and media
organizations issued a joint statement last week, claiming the government has threatened the press in advance of the forthcoming elections.
Since polling began, the Registrar of Newspapers,
a government-run licensing agency, has been busy issuing letters to
newspapers, warning against any negative coverage of the government,
local journalists told CPJ. Three private weeklies, Mwanahalisi, Raia Mwena, and Tanzania Daima have all been warned by the Registrar to avoid coverage deemed "inciteful" by the government or face suspension.
"Such kinds of threats have been common from the Registrar of
Newspapers, whom the minister [of information] uses as a means to
enforce self-censorship," the chairman of the Tanzania Editors' Forum,
Absalom Kibanda, told me.
The country's leading Kiswahili daily, Mwananchi, received two letters from the Registrar recently threatening to suspend the paper for negative government coverage, Managing Editor Theophil Makunga told me.
"For quite a long time now and during this election campaign period, in
particular, your newspaper has been writing negative stories about the
government," one of the Registrar's letters claimed. "Should you
continue publishing the articles, the government will not hesitate to
suspend or deregister your newspaper as per the laws of the land." The letter was signed by the Registrar's deputy director, Raphael Hokororo. Mwananchi
is considered the most balanced and professional newspaper in the
country and commands the highest readership, which makes this threat
particularly troubling, the former Tanzania Editors' Forum chairperson,
Sakina Datoo, told me.
The Registrar's letters to Mwananchi alleged that the paper had
denigrated the government but provided no examples of material the
authorities deemed offensive, Makunga said. "The Registrar has no
argument at all," he told me. "That's why they use sweeping, generalized
statements in their allegations." Since the presidential campaigns
started on August 20, Makunga said, his paper has not received a single
complaint from any of the political parties participating in the race.
Makunga fears the ruling party may shut down his paper using the vague
allegations put forth in the Registrar's letter. "It's a sign of
desperation on the side of the CCM. They believe if Mwananchi continues
to report objectively, CCM candidates will lose votes," he said. The
paper has filed a complaint with the independent press ombudsman, the Media Council of Tanzania.
But Hokororo, the Registrar's deputy director, told me that the
Mwananchi staff has exaggerated the issue. "The letter was supposed to
be a private letter but they published it to get media attention. It was
a warning, not a threat as they have portrayed it," he said.
Recent warnings aside, the Tanzanian government has reams of anti-press legislation
it can dangle above the media's heads to ensure self-censorship. The
Newspaper Act of 1976, for instance, allows the information minister
wide discretionary powers to ban newspapers.
"It gives the minister powers to close down any newspaper for
'inciting'. Since the term is not defined, it's up to the minister to
interpret it as he or she wants," Datoo said.
Investigative reporting on any area the government considers classified
is a punishable offense under the National Security Act. Later laws,
such as the Civil Service Act and Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act,
block access to information for journalists. The media laws in Tanzania
"force all media to practice public relations and avoid investigative
journalism," media analyst and Saut FM Producer Dotto Bulendu told me.
Saut FM,
a private station attached to St. Augustine's University, has faced its
own challenges trying to cover the elections. Bulendu told me that he
and Edwin Soko, a Saut FM reporter, received anonymous threats last
month via text message accusing them of negative reporting on the ruling
party.
"The messages threatened to kill us if we continued to work at the
station," he added. But the threats were somewhat misplaced; the Tanzanian Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA)
had already taken the station off the air in August. The Authority's
public relations manager, Innocent Mungy, told me Saut FM had been
closed on purely technical grounds because the radio signals interfered
with aircraft communications.
Bulendu is skeptical of the TCRA's findings. The station, he noted, has
operated since 1997. "Why would we have signal interference problems now
and not before?" he demanded. "Why just before the elections?" And he
has little recourse: the 1993 Broadcasting Act empowers the TCRA to shut
down any station at any time, he added. He hopes Saut FM will be back
on the air this week, just days before the poll results.
Over the years, press freedom monitors, including CPJ, have not
identified many cases of Tanzanian authorities attacking the press,
which makes the country appear to have a better media freedom record
than many East African nations. But what happens in Tanzania is
something more insidious: Thanks to the country's sweeping anti-press
laws, the threat of closure by authorities is enough to curtail any
wayward critics. For a ruling party facing a tight presidential race,
that's a formidable advantage.
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